Mommy, where do chord
charts come from?
As the pressure of the Christmas season bears down on us, I
want to give a special shout out to all the Worship Leaders out there. Here’s a familiar scenario: someone from our worship team comes up to you
and says, “There’s this song we absolutely have to do. I’ll send you the YouTube link.” On the outside, you keep a straight face, but
for me, on the inside, I’m panicking.
The panic is induced by the mistaken assumption that a video
is all worship leaders need to crank out that song on stage. I might be the exception, but even with a
suite of tools to help, requests like this trigger my fight or flight
response.
Variation of the scenario:
Someone, either from church leadership or worship team leadership takes
on such a request and tells you, “I’ll find you a chart on the web.” One of the triumvirate I serve with was a
little miffed when I said, “All charts on the internet are wrong.” I stand by my statement.
The underlying problem is 99% (no, wait, 105%) of people
making song requests can’t imagine what it takes to produce accurate chord
charts. It’s like sausage, everybody
loves it, but no one wants to know how it’s made. Here’s a peek behind the curtain in the
process of turning a request into a performance.
YouTube links are a great starting point for
figuring out a song, as well as a reference for the singers. The problem is the videos are somewhat
unwieldy for practicing with. When
someone sends me a video link for a song, the first thing I do is use a tool
called Song Surgeon to strip the audio off the video and convert it to an
mp3. The mp3 is more compact (smaller
file size) and is usable across a variety of playback platforms.
Getting the most out of mp3’s for practice requires a
platform that allows
- · The ability to set start and end points to start and stop the song
- · The ability to set start and end points to loop certain parts of the song
- · The ability to slow the song down without changing pitch (instrumentalists)
- · The ability to shift the pitch of the song (singers) without slowing down the music
There is software that does all of this (Song Surgeon) as
well as hardware (TASCAM GT-R1) that also does those tasks. I own both because Song Surgeon is great for
stripping audio from videos, but the GT-R1 has the added ability to record
using onboard microphones, line in or ¼” guitar/bass jack. I use it to record rehearsals and then send
the recordings to the team so they can practice. In a pinch, I can run an 1/8” cable from my
phone to the TASCAM and record audio from a video right into the unit.
Every chart on the
internet is wrong. Still sticking to that. The overarching problem with using charts
from the internet is usually when you’re searching for a chart, you’re usually
in a hurry and wading through all the ads and clickbait adds to your impatience
and usually forces you to go with the first (free) chart you can find. Your problem is compounded by the fact that
while there are many sites with chord charts, many of the charts for a
particular song will all be the same, with the same inaccuracies.
Logic would dictate that if you pay for a chart, the odds are
it would be more accurate. Logic is
wrong. I currently subscribe to a
service I won’t name. That said, when
that subscription runs out, I won’t renew.
I found a song on the site and after downloading and printing out the
chart, I noticed the person who produced the chart caveated the chart with a
note stating, “I know this chart is wrong, but this is what I use.” I contacted the service and pointed out the
note. Their solution was to remove the
note, but not change the chart. I PAID
for that.
So, suffice it to say that any chart from the internet will
need some work before it’s ready for prime time. Among the common tasks needed:
- · Adjusting font size so it is readable from the music stand. You can have the most accurate chart in the world, but if it looks more like the fine print from your last car loan, it’s useless.
- · Capo markings. As a guitar player, I don’t use a capo at all. I usually have to consult a capo user to tell me what key a capoed song is in, and then transpose accordingly. For bass players, the capo notation is useless.
- · Key. Is the key in the same key the recording you’re using to practice? Is it in a key the singers can sing in? More importantly, is it in a key the congregation can sing in?
- · Musical sense. Does the chart make sense musically? Unless there’s a weird modulation, you’re not going to see F# in a song in the key of C. (yes, I know, inverted chords might have notes outside the key if the bass note is a passing tone)
- · Is it accurate? When playing the chart along with the recording, does it sound like recording?
Music
Academy (http://www.musicademy.com/)
has a chord chart format they call “Super Chord Charts” that is well laid out and
sets the standard for chard charts that are accurate, easy to read and
follow. A quick look at those charts
give you an idea what a good chord chart should look like.
So, after
converting the video to an mp3, figuring out the key of the mp3, finding (or
altering) a chord chart to match the key and then making sure that chart is
accurate, it’s time to get that chart out to the team. Before uploading a chart, or when sharing
charts via email, I always convert the chart to a PDF. Word documents are nice, but the PDF is
bulletproof for sharing.
The proof
of any chord chart is whether the team can play it. Sometimes it’s only when we get to rehearsal
and recognize musical speed bumps in a chart.
Sometimes is as simple as deleting a chord that isn’t played in the mp3,
or simplifying the introduction to the verse or chorus progression. Regardless, the work isn’t done. However the worship team decides to alter a
chart, it’s a good idea to document that change for the next time you play the
song. Everyone always thinks they’ll
remember, but that rarely happens.
Fortunately for our team, there’s usually someone who brings their old
chart and has to remind everyone else.
We always
want to do new songs, and it really helps if people requesting new songs help
their worship team out by making it easy for us to do the songs you want to
hear. If anything, appreciate the time
and effort that goes into the process.
