Introduction
The four fundamental principles of social music
- It’s for fun
- Any song has five musical elements that everyone in your group needs to know in order to play it
- Start with simple songs
- Start playing with other people as soon as you can
Who is this for?
If you’re thinking about playing music with other people for fun, or if you already do and you want to get better at it, I hope this will encourage you and help you. You may have little or no musical training—not a problem. Or you may have some musical training, which can help.
“Social music” is just playing music with a group for fun. And it’s easy. If you can keep a beat, you can participate.
If you can play chords and sing a song at the same time then this is geared most toward you– we’re going to make you more proficient at learning, teaching and leading songs.
The process of learning, teaching and leading songs is at the heart of social music. Some knowledge about this process should help you learn songs faster, avoid common pitfalls and conflicts, and have more fun as a group.
A necessary part of this process is learning the minimum of musical elements that you need to coordinate a song– there are five. No musical “theories” here– just five musical elements you need to know about every song:
Key
Tempo
Rhythm
Melody
Form (Chord changes)What social music looks like
Disclaimer
This is not about how to make music in any kind of “professional” way. This is about how to make music socially, and that can go a hundred different ways. None of what I’m about to describe is absolutely necessary to have fun.
However, in my experience the principles that follow make music a lot more fun than if it were a free-for-all. Often these principles are not talked about, they’re just part of the culture of one group or another. If you are in a group already and you’re all having fun (and you know this because you communicate with each other!), then by all means ignore me.
But if you’re open to seeing how I do it, then I’m going to talk about one form of social music. It’s a combination of customs I have pulled from different groups I’ve been a part of. And when you put it all together it tends to work pretty well.
House rules
In one such arrangement there are at least one or two people who can sing and lead songs. To give you a sense of what social music can look like, the following are the house rules that I like to use and that we’ll be going over in more detail:
- We all sit in a circle and we all get a turn as we move around it clockwise.
- The host/emcee leads the first song or chooses the first person to lead a song.
- When it’s your turn you can choose whether to a) lead a song, b) ask anyone else to lead a song, or c) pass
- When you are leading a song, you are in command of the song’s five elements– tempo, rhythm, key, melody, form, and you are responsible for starting and stopping the song. No one else should step in unless you ask for help.
- Beyond those five elements, which are up to the song’s leader, do whatever you please. Listen, be nice, and have fun!
Principle #1: It’s for fun
Don’t tell people what to do
Social music is for fun. This is the first principle, the most important one, and it can be expressed in a variety of ways.
The most important way that it can be expressed is in the following rule: “Don’t tell people what to do”. Think of dancing for a moment. You can ask a stranger to dance, but if you then told them how to move their feet that would be rude. It’s the same with social music.
But wait a minute, you may say. This is music, not dancing. There must be some amount of direction to make it all work, right? After all we usually play with a few people, and we can’t read each other’s minds. Some musical elements have to be communicated. This is true. In fact, there are five musical elements that have to be agreed on by the group. Everything else is up to the individuals in the group to do or not do on their own– without anyone else telling them how to do it. Those five song elements are:
Key
Tempo
Rhythm
Melody
Form (Chord changes)That means there is one important exception to our rule about not telling people what to do: If it’s your turn to lead a song, you can pick a song and determine the five elements of that song.
It’s up to you to make sure everyone understands those five elements so that they’re able to play the song with you you. And it’s up to you to start and stop the song. That is where your authority as the song’s leader ends, and everything else is something you should request of your fellow musicians.
For example, if you’re leading the song you can tell people what song you’d like to do, what key it’s in, how fast you’d like to do it, what chords are in it. But you shouldn’t tell someone how to play a bass line, or what notes to play, or when to sing or what to sing.
It’s common for song leaders to make requests– for example for an instrumentalist to play a song intro. It’s fine to make requests as long as people can decline them, and as long as participants are only doing what they consider to be fun.
People who are unfamiliar with all of this might find themselves in a group where one or more people are bossy and tell them what to play or how to play it. They don’t know that the group only really needs to agree on five things per song and that the song’s leader is responsible for finding agreement on them. And so there might be some conflict about it. Not knowing any better, they might think they’re just not good enough, or music must just not be fun.
It is important for a song’s leader to be able to teach the song. They need to iron out most or all of the five critical elements before the song starts. They can ask the other players for help ironing out these elements, and other players can offer them ideas. But the song leader alone is responsible for settling the matter and making sure everyone understands.
Others are free to make suggestions within reason. But they should be offered as suggestions. And no one should not get their feelings hurt if their suggestions are ignored.
Participation is more important than skill
Another idea that follows from the “It’s for fun” principle is that participation is more important than skill. You are all there to enjoy each other’s company, not because you are the best musicians. You may be the best musicians, but that would be beside the point.
For example, you get more points for including a friend or neighbor who is just learning an instrument than you get for including someone you barely know who’s really good at music. From me. I am assigning the points.
Skill in music is overrated anyway. It requires little musical skill to play with a group and have fun. The bare minimum skill to participate musically in a group is really being able to keep a beat. Someone who can keep a beat may surprise you with their ability to add something simple but powerful to the music.
Encouraging people to participate, especially those who don’t think they’re skilled enough, can be very rewarding. You will probably find that some people have musical skills that they didn’t know they had.
Bringing new people and new ideas into a group has a way of bringing it new energy. It is usually a good idea, as long as that person can keep a beat, can observe the group’s rules of etiquette, and as long as your group isn’t getting too large.
Practice vs. performance
My friend Lou used to tell people who came by to play music for the first time, “There are no f%&#-ups.” What he meant by that was, don’t worry if you make a mistake. Unfortunately, one time somebody misunderstood him and thought he meant the opposite: You’d better not make a mistake. Mistakes are not allowed.
It’s either practice or performance. It’s one or the other. And if it’s practice (which it usually is) then you are expected to try things out and make mistakes.
Overplaying
Another idea that follows from our “It’s for fun” principle is: “Don’t overplay”. This one is more difficult to describe.
Music is made of sound and silence. When you are playing music by yourself you are free to make as much sound as you want. But when you play music with a group you need to think more about silence. If you are in the spotlight 100% of the time, no one else gets to be in the spotlight. Give this some thought. Don’t overplay. Understanding how to listen and how to play enough but not too much is what makes a good musician. And it’s what makes the kind of musician that others enjoy being around.
If you can listen while you play you can increase your enjoyment and understanding of music. What do you like about music? Is it a wall of sound with everyone playing at the same time, or is it more like a conversation between voices and instruments?
“Don’t overplay” isn’t a hard and fast rule that can be enforced. It’s more like a reminder. Listen.
Can you hear everybody? Can anybody hear you? Are you too loud? Too quiet?
According to our first principle, it can be very rude to ask someone not to do something, or to do it less-– even when you are leading a song. Telling someone that you think they’re overplaying is not going to fix them. The only way you can teach someone about overplaying is by being a good listener and making musical space for others.
Allowing people freedom to make a mess of things is not a feature of all musical situations. But it should be a feature of social music because it’s usually a better arrangement among friends, and it can lead to good music.
Don’t stop the song
This is jumping ahead a little bit because we haven’t yet talked about how to lead songs. We’re talking about this now because it’s another idea that follows from our first principle– “It’s for fun”.
Eventually something will go wrong. Errors are very common in new or unfamiliar songs– even for experienced players. The most popular errors are: confusion about chord changes, skipped beats, confusion about who should be playing a solo, forgotten lyrics, and how to start and stop the song.
If the song doesn’t start well, then the leader should should just stop it and give it another try. If you’re leading and singing in a key that doesn’t work well for you and you realize this early on, then stop the song and try it in another key.
But if you get well into the song and notice a problem, this is another situation. The first thing to understand is that when the song is underway and you notice a problem, you may be the only one who notices it. If you are not leading the song, then you have to be very careful about trying to correct a problem– especially a problem that other people don’t know about. You really have to know what you’re doing. Your best option is usually to continue on making the best of it, and let the song leader notice it and try to correct it. I suggest you don’t don’t try to have a conversation about it in the middle of the song. That doesn’t tend to go well.
If you are not leading the song, do not stop the song because of a perceived error. Roll with it and do your best.
And if you are leading the song, you should do your best not to stop the song either. For a few reasons:
1) It is good practice to recover from an error.
2) You take up more time from the group that you really should be sharing.
Don’t take over the song
Just as bad as stopping a song that you are not leading is taking over a song that you are not leading.
Leading a song takes practice, and healthy practice sometimes means failure. If a song is failing do your best to play along but never take it over. The song’s direction remains in the hands of the song’s leader, no matter how sideways it goes.
Be nice
Music is for fun so “Be nice”. Make an effort. When someone chooses to lead a song, support them in it– even if it’s a song you don’t really care for.
And if it’s your turn and you choose to lead a song, choose whichever song you’d like, knowing that the others will support you too. But only play it once– unless someone requests that you do it again.
It’s acceptable when you’re teaching others a new song to ask to go through it again. New songs should be rough and they should require some practice. It is acceptable to ask to do it two (or maybe three) times on the first go round.
But if it’s a song people already know, do the song once and then pass it on. Don’t make the session all about you. Give others a turn.
Thank yous
There are some people I need to acknowledge and I’m putting them in the chapter about fun, where they belong.
Thank you to Lou Sohn, Nancy Rush and Doug Marx for showing me how social music works and for introducing me to weird old music.
Thank you to my Dad for patiently helping me write this.
Thank you to Raqi Hurtado-Gonzalez for the illustration at the beginning, and for putting up with me in general, especially that time I tried to teach myself the violin.
Principle #2: Social music requires five musical elements
The second fundamental principle of social music is that every song has five important elements that everyone should agree on to make the song work. If you’re in an elite jazz quartet, maybe all you need is a fortune cookie. But the rest of us need the following five things:
Key
Tempo
Rhythm
Melody
Form (Chord changes)If you have even a basic understanding of these words, you’re probably good to go. But if any of these five concepts are completely new to you, check out Appendix A where I go over them more thoroughly.
Some groups may read from songbooks, some may pass out sheets (or charts) with music and lyrics, and some groups just call songs verbally. Whatever the case, the leader of the song is still going to need to coordinate and make sure everyone understands what’s happening. Some of the five elements of a song may be in a chart, but usually not all of them. And even if they are all there, someone still needs to start and stop the song– that’s the song leader.
How to teach a song (the 10-point checklist)
This is my 10-point checklist for introducing a new song to a group.
- Tell everyone the name of the song, pass out any sheet music if you have it.
- Sing a little bit of the melody to make sure it’s in a key where you can sing and project comfortably and be heard. If you can’t project in that key, don’t tough it out. Find another key.
- Tell everyone the key, e.g. “alpha”, “bravo”, “charlie”. It’s fun to say “golf” and you’ll be understood the first time. “B”, “C”, “D”, “E”, “G” all sound very similar in a big room.
- Speak or tap out the tempo and the count, e.g. 3-count or 4-count.
- Teach each section of the song (the chorus, the verse, bridge, etc) separately, counting each one in and calling chords. Stop after each section, see if everyone gets it, then teach the next section.
- Tell everyone you’re going to do two run-throughs (if that’s ok with everyone). The first one to get your bearings and the second one to put some polish on it and lock it in.
- I recommend you do one or two solos maximum. Ask the group before you start, “Who hasn’t solo’d in a while who wants one?”. When it comes time to do a solo, make eye contact with the soloist. Yell if you have to. Make sure they understand it’s time to go.
- Count the song in (as always) and do the first rough run-through. It’s ok to start over if the song doesn’t get off the ground. Try to get a strong start. Give people hints when you change sections (verse, chorus). Don’t worry if it’s rough.
- Make sure the song ends on purpose. Say something like “one more time!” or “this is it!” so that people look at you and you can conduct it to a close by nodding your head to the tempo, or moving the neck of your guitar, etc.
- Ask if there is anything that needs fixing or clarifying. It’s up to you to decide what to do next. You can try a fancier intro or outro. Either way, play the song a second time to lock it in.
Principle #3: Start with simple songs
This is the third fundamental principle. In social music you want to get as many people as possible teaching and leading songs– and playing along with them too. It will help if the songs are simple.
What is simple?
Let’s define simple. A song is simple if it has three chords (or fewer). One thing that is not obvious to people who haven’t played a lot of music is that a lot of songs are simple. A very, very large number. I don’t have a way to quantify this, but if I had to guess I would say that something like fifty percent of the songs you are familiar with have just three chords.
Not only do these simple songs have three chords, but they are the same three chords (just in different keys). When you reach the point where this makes sense on your instrument many doors will open for you. More on this in the appendix if you are curious.
If so many songs are similar in this way then how do they all sound so different? They all sound different because:
- The songs are in different keys
- The three chords are arranged in different ways in the song
- Their melodies are different
Fortunately, if we want to start with simple songs, there is an enormous wealth of non-licensed, catchy songs that are the foundation of almost all of our popular music. Folk music sometimes has a reputation for being a style of music, but it’s really just music that was passed from folk to folk through playing. Since most music is based on it, if you can learn to play folk music, you can learn to play pretty much any kind of music.
If you’d like a detailed example of a folk song, with instructions on how to learn it and teach it, check out Appendix B. Otherwise, just find a three chord tune you enjoy and learn it.
Dynamic form
It is very common in social music to dynamically re-arrange song sections that make up the form as you see fit. For example, you can omit verses if you feel the song has too many. Or you can add or subtract solo sections to suit the size of your group. Some groups never play a song the same way twice. This is perfectly normal and it doesn’t make things more difficult as long as you focus on learning the song in terms of its sections (per above).
The alternative is to try to learn a song as if you are going to learn it one way and play it that way forever (set-it-and-forget-it). If you are learning and teaching songs in that way, that is perfectly fine. But just understand that a lot of social music groups aim to be dynamic.
Practicing dynamic song leading, section by section, is a valuable skill. It will help you remember songs better, lead verbally, and adapt and recover from errors more reliably.
Even though being dynamic is something to shoot for, it is not a requirement for leading a song. You may have just a basic grasp of a song and still be able to have fun with it.
The Nashville Numbers
The Nashville Numbers (or just “the numbers”) is a way of describing the chords of a song using numbers, not letters. For an understanding of how this works, please see the appendix. The numbers will often help in making you more dynamic in leading songs. Once your group starts using and getting comfortable with it, learning songs and coordinating songs can get easier.
Conducting
It’s helpful if a song leader can do a little bit of conducting. At the very least this includes starting and stopping the song. Conducting doesn’t take much. It can mean nodding your head, wiggling your eyebrows, moving the neck if your guitar in a meaningful way. If you’re leading the song (at least some) people will be watching you to see what you do. If you’re stopping a song, just get everyone’s attention a little before you stop. Nine times out of ten they’ll stop with you.
Tag it!
One of the most common ways to end a song is with what’s called a “tag”. A tag is when you repeat the musical phrase you all just played and it becomes the last phrase of the song. Here’s an example of how to do it. Let’s say you are singing John Prine’s “Angel From Montgomery”. You’ve been playing it for a few minutes and you’re in the middle of another chorus. Let’s say you want to end the song with this chorus. What you do is sing the last line, “To believe in this living, is just a hard way to go”, and then yell, “tag it!”. Everybody sings the last line again, “To believe in this living, is just a hard way to go” and then you end the song.
For this particular song I would probably end with a tag on the chorus (per above) and then either a stop or a slow-down, but now I’m just showing off.
A note on the major/minor triads
This is a little advanced, but you might come across songs that otherwise look simple– having three chords for example– but they have some strange-looking chord names. Oftentimes you can substitute a simple major or minor chord– also known as a triad– instead of a more complicated chord. You’ll have to play with it to see how it sounds. The chords that most of us are familiar with, for example “C”, “F”, “G”, “Am”– are triads.
However, there are some jazzy chords that are not easily substituted. Trust your ear. As long as it doesn’t sound bad, don’t be afraid to try it. But if it sounds too weird or looks like rocket science you might want to just wait on that particular song until you’re all more advanced. It’s good form to bring songs that you know everyone will be able to handle easily.
Principle #4: Start playing with a group as soon as possible
Am I ready?
Start playing with a group as soon as possible is the fourth and final fundamental principle of social music. But what is as soon as possible? When are you ready?
Let’s divide the people who do social music into three groups. These groups are not grades. In other words, one is not more skilled than another. If you qualify for any one of these groups, then (I think) you’re ready to play with other people.
Group A
As soon as you are able to make some rhythm on your instrument and keep a beat, even percussive rhythm– something as simple as tapping on a guitar– you are ready to play with others. This qualifies most adults, believe it or not.
What does keeping a beat actually mean? It means that you are able to keep the count– whether that count be 3 or 4 or 6, etc. And it also means that you are able to make a sound and repeat it as you repeat these counts. For example, that could be playing a note or a chord on the second and the fourth beat of every measure. You should be able to make rhythm to a sustained tempo and not speed up or slow down.
It’s ok to try different things before settling on something. If you have the ability to figure out something rhythmic and stick with it consistently then you are in Group A. There may be songs that are fast, weird or difficult. It’s ok to sit out during these songs, or to experiment very quietly. Don’t let a few difficult songs keep you from participating. Remember that most of the time what you’re doing with others is practicing together and it’s ok to make mistakes.
Group B
If you can not only make rhythm to the beat, but also play or sing multiple notes then you are Group B. Group B includes a lot of people with a lot of different skill sets.
If you play an instrument that allows you to play chords, maybe you can play a few major and minor chords. As far as major chords, you can probably get away with knowing F, C, G, D, A, E, B for a while. And as far as minor chords you could probably get away with knowing Dm, Am, Em and Bm for a while.
If you have an instrument that does not play chords, maybe you can play some scales or at least fake your way through some of the keys above. By “fake your way”, I mean you can start playing some notes, and you can hear if they’re “good notes” or “bad notes”. At that point you can make corrections. Stumble along and repeat. Playing along quietly until you find some good notes is fine. It’s better that you play and stumble along than not play. This is how you learn.
And if you’re singing, it’s the same as if you were playing an instrument, but you have to do it all by ear. Can you tell if you’re singing a note that sounds good or weird or bad? You won’t know until you try.
If you can do any of the above then you are more than ready to play music with a group. Everybody is in the same boat you’re in. You hear a new song and try to figure out what will sound good with what other people are doing.
Group C
If you are able to teach and lead a song, even if that’s not primarily what you like to do, then you are Group C. If you are able to do these things then you are unquestionably ready to play music with other people. In fact, there is a shortage of people who are able to do these things, so you owe it to all of us to get out there and play.
The emcee
How many is a good number for a group? It depends on what you want to do, but probably about 2-8 people is good for a group of beginners. The larger the group gets, the harder it gets for people to hear each other, to understand what’s going on, and to coordinate between songs.
More important than how many, is what the individuals are doing. At least one person should be able to lead songs (people who are in Group C).
And it helps when every group has an emcee. An emcee hosts the get-togethers and they can do important things like starting out the session, making people aware of the rules and customs at the start, enforcing them if necessary, and generally keeping things moving.
Having an emcee does not mean having a person who leads every song or who becomes the focus of the music.
The emcee should be careful about who they invite and do not invite. Do not knowingly invite rude people, even if they can play. If yours is an open invitation, sooner or later a person who is rude or who just doesn’t know your group’s customs will show up. Having a strong culture and an emcee to enforce it will help in such situations.
Short-term groups
It’s sometimes fun to be in a short-term group. It can be a good way to go about things with people you don’t know yet very well. I’ve been in groups where the mission was to make a certain kind of recording or to play a specific show. When the group achieves its mission, the group is thereby dissolved. On to the next thing.
Keeping it moving
One of the things that varies from group to group is how much music actually gets played. During any given session, some groups end up playing a lot of music, and some more chatty groups barely play any music at all.
There can be frustration both ways. Some people want to chat more. Others feel they’re not playing enough music.
I find that one thing that can balance things out is a common understanding about who is responsible for keeping things moving. If you’re in a group where the leadership rotates around a circle, then whoever is up next is responsible for getting the next song into gear. Anyone else is allowed to remind whomever is up that it is their turn and to ask them what they would like to do next– lead a song, request a song or pass. Someone can also remind others of who is “on deck”. Often the emcee is the person most comfortable doing the reminding.
If everyone in the group understands that this is how to keep things moving, and if the group is not too large, generally people will keep things moving on their own. If people do understand this, and you still have people who chat instead of getting down to “business” when it’s their turn, well, then maybe you’re just in a chatty group. Remember, this is fun– and we all have different ideas of what fun is. You may be happier in another group. That’s life.
Acoustic instruments
Acoustic instruments are highly recommended for a few reasons.
If you are going to explore folk music, which is recommended, there will be many acoustic recordings. You can more easily figure out what they’re doing and learn from those recordings on the same instrument.
Overplaying is harder to do in a group of acoustic instruments. You’ll generally have an easier time hearing each other and finding a good sound balance if everyone is playing an acoustic instrument.
Acoustic instruments tend to be more portable. Take them to somebody’s house, to a park, wherever. Less setup, more music.
There can be less obsession and frustration with gear like amps, mics, cables, sound boards, etc. But don’t worry, there’s still plenty of acoustic gear to be obsessed about.
The exception: bass
In my experience, there is an exception that can and often should be made for bass. Many basses need some amplification.
Be careful if you make other exceptions. Once you open things up to amplification things can change quickly and you may have frustrated players who can’t hear either themselves or each other.
The bassist
To explain the importance (and magic) of the bass is beyond the scope of this book. Make your bass player happy and show them appreciation. One way to do this is by offering to play bass while they lead a song on another instrument. It can be difficult to sing and lead a song while playing bass. Let them put that bass down for a moment. Being a substitute bass player a few times per session is the best way to say “Thank you for all that you do”.
Dynamics
Dynamics, or volume, can be a tricky beast, especially as the group gets larger. Though we’re really not supposed to tell people what to do, sometimes people are unaware that they are too loud or too quiet. It’s ok to kindly let them know.
It’s also ok for the song leader to ask the group to break a song into dynamic sections. For example, playing together quietly in one section and then bringing more energy to another section.
Oftentimes the song leader does not sing or give direction loudly enough. The most common cause is choosing the wrong key to sing in. When we practice songs we are usually at home by ourselves. We tend to sing to ourselves quietly in a key that (we think) is in our range. Come to find out later it is not in our range because we can’t sing loudly in that key. This is very common.
Don’t suffer through singing a song in a bad key for your voice just because you’d rather keep things moving. Just try another key until you find one that gives you more power. It’s there, you just have to keep trying. The hard part is finding it while everyone is waiting for you because it’s your turn. Keep in mind, a key that works well for you in one song may not work well in another.
A note on singing louder
There is a good chance you aren’t singing loud enough. Let’s assume you’re in a good key already that matches your range. How do you sing louder?
- Imagine you’re raising your speaking voice so that someone across the room can hear you. You’re not yelling or screaming, just raising your voice in a comfortable way. Speak a short sentence in this way. Then sing-speak the same sentence. Singing loud should feel like that.
- Imagine that only vowels can be used to amplify your voice. Consonants are like applying the brakes. Don’t attempt to amplify consonants. Think about how a choir sings. The only important difference between the way a choir sings and the way Tom Waits sings is how long they are holding their vowels and how much they are relaxing about a hundred different muscles in the head, neck, chest and beyond. Be more intentional and relaxed with your vowels and make your consonants light, almost nothing. It may feel like wearing a strange new outfit you don’t belong in, but you’ll eventually make it your own.
- Relax. It’s easy to strain the many muscles that can go into singing. But it’s far easier to relax them and sing loudly and comfortably for hours. Tom’s a genius, but don’t try to sing like him. Sing like yourself for better results.
Bigger groups
Solo limits
In bigger groups you’ll often have many soloists. Some groups want to be inclusive and ask every soloist to take a solo on every song. This can have a big effect. It could mean that a song that would otherwise take three minutes to play may now take twice or three times as long. This has the effect of turning the event into what is sometimes known as a “jam session”. In general this is something I want to avoid because with longer songs fewer songs will get played. Fewer people will get a chance to lead songs.
I prefer shorter songs, more variety, and more people leading songs. Fortunately, there are other ways to make all your soloists feel included. For example, you can split up the solo sections into smaller pieces or ask two soloists to play a section together. My favorite solution is to limit songs to only one or two solos but to make sure that your most skilled players aren’t monopolizing all the solos. Creating a solo queue or rotation can help with this.
If you limit each song to two solos and keep the soloists in a rotation, then you will end up playing more songs and each soloist will get just as much solo time. It’s just that the solo time will be spread out over multiple songs (instead of lumped together into every song).
Purpose
There are many reasons to play music socially. Some want to work on songs and improve them with the group. Some are there to socialize. Others want to improve a particular set of skills, for example soloing or leading songs. In a smaller group, you can do all of these things and still have time left over. But when the circle gets bigger, in a given period of time each person has less time to do the things they are there to do. This will mean that the question “What kind of group am I in?” will become more urgent for some people as the group gets larger.
It’s a good idea for people to talk about the goals or purposes of the group, especially if it’s growing– or you may find that people get frustrated.
Side projects
If your group gets big and you have more than one potential emcee, consider starting a side project. Ideally everyone should openly support side projects, and never express jealousy about them. Side projects are good for everyone, even if you get left out because:
- Another group means you can have smaller groups. In smaller groups everyone has more opportunity to do what they want to be doing, and can spend less time waiting for their turn.
- A new group plus smaller group size creates more time to explore new material. This can keep things interesting for folks who might otherwise get bored, lose interest, and go away.
League play
Let’s say there are a lot of newcomers and there’s no place to put them. You can’t just keep inviting people to your group, it’s already too big. Why not get serious and organize a league? If you feel like playing matchmaker you can start organizing the newcomers into cohorts. A cohort would be a group of semi-random people with at least a few people who could lead songs, and with a good balance of of instruments and abilities– who are together for a season or some period of time.
Parties
However big or small your musical community is, consider putting together a party on occasion. This lets all the musicians in your network get together, and it gives each group a chance to perform. There may even be a few people there listening who wish they could play too. If only they knew how easy it was to join in. You could be the one to show them.
Appendix A: More on the five song elements
Key
The bare minimum
The key of a song, is the note that is strongest in a song. If you know the key of the song, and the chords in it, and you can sing it, then you’re in business. You might not want to worry about what’s to follow in this section for now. You might just want to get out there and make some music. You could say it’s in the key of “G”, or whatever it is, and move on.
Transposing
But… what if your song is not written down and you want to figure it out yourself? Or what if you want to change the key of the song– also known as transposing? If you know how to transpose it will open up the possible songs you can sing. That’s because with our limited vocal ranges, there are notes that are difficult for us to reach when we sing– and this is different person to person. If we can transpose we can “move” a song to a key that is easier to sing in.
If you can transpose you can also do your musician friends a favor and sometimes move a song to a key that’s easier for them to play. And they will appreciate that you did that for them. For example, if you learn a song in the key of “F#” and it’s just as easy for you to sing it in the key of “G” (a half-step up), they will probably greatly prefer it in “G”.
It is worth learning how to transpose.
If you want to learn how to do it, there are some vegetables you have to eat. You have to learn, if you don’t know already, what the chromatic and major scales are.
The chromatic scale
This will be the most difficult thing that we do. There are resources out there that can explain this more clearly than I can. But I’m going to do it here quickly, in an attempt to prove to you that it’s not that bad. And again, you don’t necessarily have to learn all this. You can just learn songs that are in a key you’re comfortable singing and live your life. But for the rest…
At some point in the 1500s humans started to like the idea of dividing up all the possible musical notes we’re able to hear into a repeating 12-note pattern.
These twelve notes, that repeat with another twelve of the same notes both up and down, are known as the chromatic scale. A chromatic scale is just all the notes played consecutively. Imagine a piano, it’s all black and white keys played in order either upwards or downwards. They are named like this half the time:
C, [C#], D, [D#], E, F, [F#], G, [G#], A, [A#], B
And like this half the time:
C, [Db], D, [Eb], E, F, [Gb], G, [Ab], A, [Bb], B
This whole thing is repeatable starting from any other point, in other words, it could also look like this:
F, [F#], G, [G#], A, [A#], B, C, [C#], D, [D#], E
Or:
F, [Gb], G, [Ab], A, [Bb], B, C, [Db], D, [Eb], E
Once you hit the end of the pattern (on either end) you just keep repeating it, going to the next octave.
Notice that some of the notes are named the same thing all the time:
C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C
And that the names of the bracketed notes change. For example, C# (“C sharp”) and Db (“D flat”) are the same note. The bracketed notes have the same names as the black keys on a piano. The bracketed notes are named with sharps half the time and with flats half the time, depending on which song you are playing (and the key you are in). This crazy double naming convention helps simplify the way that music is written down– try not to worry about it. I know I don’t.
The major scale
Ok, we’re getting close.
We need another bit of terminology. The distance between a note and the next note immediately following it or proceeding is known as a “half step”. Two half steps equal a “whole step”. Here are all the notes again:
C, [C#], D, [D#], E, F, [F#], G, [G#], A, [A#], B
So from “E” to “F” (or “F” to “E”) would be a half step and from “E” to “F#” would be a whole step.
A musical scale is just a collection of half steps (“H”) and whole steps (“W”) in a certain order. For example, an ascending major scale would start on any note and then proceed with: W, W, H, W, W, W, H. In other words, two whole steps then a half step, another three whole steps, then a half step. A major scale going downwards would just do the opposite: H, W, W, W, H, W, W.
See if you can look above and figure out the “C major” scale. It is the easiest one because it is just: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. Then there are more complicated ones like Db, which would be: Db, Eb, F, Gb, Ab, Bb, C, Db.
The major scale is only seven of the twelve notes in the chromatic scale. The eighth note is the next octave, which is the major scale resetting and starting over.
Major chords
A chord is a few notes played at the same time. Chords provide a lot of the background of a song as a melody accompanies it. Many songs, what we called “simple songs” earlier, have three chords. The first chord is based on the first step of the major scale of the “key” of the song. Another is based on the fourth step. And then another is based on the fifth step. That’s why we call these chords the “1”, the “4” and the “5”.
You compose those chords with three skipped notes. Let’s put the “C major” scale in here for reference again:
C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C
A typical song in the key of “C”, would have a “C major” chord (the “1” chord), which is C, E, G (three notes in the scale with skipped notes in between them). Then it would have an “F major” chord (the “4” chord because “F” is the fourth note of the “C” major scale), which would be F, A, C. Then it would have a “G major” chord ( the “5” chord because “G” is the fifth note of the “C” major scale), which would be G, B, D. Notice how each of these chords is made up of three notes. The first note of each chord is the name of the chord, the second chord note skips a note in the scale, then the third chord note skips another note.
These chords are major chords. They are also called major triads (a triad is three notes). A minor chord would be the same, except the second note would be a half step down. So for example, we have major chords:
C, E, G (C major)
F, A, C (F major)
G, B, D (G major)
Minor chords
And we have minor chords:
C, Eb, G (C minor)
F, Ab, C (A minor)
G, Bb, D (G minor)
The Nashville Number System
A huge number of songs have only three chords, and these chords are all relatively the same, which means that they are the “1” chord, the “4” chord and the “5” chord of whatever key you are in. All major chords.
If you are playing a song in “C” with a “C major” chord, a “G major” chord and an “F major” chord that goes like this:
C.. G.. F..
C.. G.. F..
Another way to write the chord pattern would be like this:
1.. 5.. 4..
1.. 5.. 4..
And if you were to transpose this to the key of “A”, you could just use the 1, 5, 4 scale steps to figure out the chords in “A”, which would be:
A.. E.. D..
A.. E.. D..
And that is how you transpose a song.
By the way, the system of referring to chords by their major scale step number instead of their letter per above is called the Nashville Number System. Sounds fancy right? Congratulations you just learned it.
Listening skills
How do you find the key of a song on your own by listening to it?
The easiest way to find it, is to listen to the song and at the same time play notes on an instrument. Different notes will sound good or strong at different times. You are looking for the note that has the most gravity. It will feel like all the other notes want to return to this one. In the large majority of songs that you will ever hear it will be the last note in the song, at the moment when all the musical tension of the song is resolved. Find that note. It’s the key of your song. It may take some trial and error.
Some keys are better than others
It’s ok for your group to stick to a few keys you’re all comfortable playing in. If someone chooses a key you’re not comfortable with, it’s ok to request another one. Some keys are easier than others depending on the instrument you’re playing, or the range of your voice.
Tempo
Figuring out how to count is very important. You want to figure out how to easily count a song so that your repeating measures (or bars) line up with the chord changes.
Most songs will be a four count. That means that the song will be divided up into measures, or time units, with four beats in them.
Some songs will have a three count or a six count, but they aren’t as common. The person leading the song should usually count the song in to start it, by saying “1..2..1.2.3.4”. And then everyone comes in (if the song is a 4-count). If it’s a fast song, sometimes it’s a good idea to tell the group, hey, let’s start this out a little slower and see how we do. If you’re good at calling out chords while you’re leading the song, going slower allows you a little more time to make those verbal cues happen without the whole thing falling apart.
Getting a good tempo everyone enjoys playing is important. If people have problems playing at a certain tempo there will be rhythm problems. Tempo problems and rhythm problems are the worst problems to have. Someone, or multiple people, is usually the time keeper for the group. By default, unless there is a drummer, the time keeper is the person leading the song.
If you’re excited, you will count too quickly. Take a moment before playing to imagine the song and tap it out to find a good tempo.
And if you’re following along, find a way to keep the beat that is easy for you. Many people tap their feet or move their body in some way.
Rhythm
You may find sheet music that describes what’s called a “time signature”. Examples of these are 4/4 or 6/8 or 3/4. The top number in that fraction is the number of beats per measure– i.e. the number that you would count and repeat. Don’t worry about the bottom number in the fraction. We don’t really need it unless we’re reading out musical notes in a piece of sheet music.
On top of that, there may be a certain emphasis to the rhythm that you want to mention. Here’s an example: If the count is four, then there is often an emphasis on the second and the fourth beat. But this is not really essential– more something that you all can figure out on your own. Being able to tell everyone it’s a three count, four count or six count is more important.
There can also be an emphasis on the way that each beat is subdivided. The most common example of this is called “swing”. When you play such that the beats are divided in half 50/50, this is called a straight feel. But if you give a little more time to the first half of every beat, this is called a swing feel.
Melody
The melody is, arguably, the most important part of the song. Some people need to be reminded of the melody to know which song you’re talking about. The best way to teach a melody is to sing it or to play it.
Form (Chord changes)
The form of the song is the major sections of the song, such as verses, choruses and solos, intros and outros. It also the chord changes that make them up.
You can probably find the chord changes to your song somewhere, but if you can’t find them, you’ll need to figure out the changes for yourself. It’s easy to do this with most songs. You’ll just use the same listening method that you would use to figure out the key of a song, per above. First you would figure out the key, then you would listen for chord changes and figure out what step of the scale that chord is rooted in.
When you’ve found the correct step, try to figure out whether that chord is a major chord or a minor chord, just by using your ear. Usually, the second, third and sixth step of the major scale will be the start of a minor chord.
Solos
Solos are a chance for one or more instrumentalists to be featured in the song, usually without any singing happening. A solo usually happens during the chord changes associated with the verse, chorus or bridge. All of this is up to the song’s leader to decide.
In some song circles the custom is to sandwich one big solo section into the middle of the song. Everyone who wants to solo, solos one after the other going clockwise around the circle. This may be the most effective way to do it if you have a big group. But, as stated above, it can also make songs much longer (often too long).
In smaller groups, there is usually some discussion up front about who wants to take solos. With fewer people, it’s easier to call solos on the fly. If you try this with a bigger group, you may leave people out, and you’re more likely to cause confusion.
Intros and outros
The hardest part of starting a song is making sure everyone is ready and knows what is about to happen. Try counting off one measure and then jumping in the deep end. If people don’t follow you in, interrupt them and try again. As long as we are close to the start of the song, we can stop it. It’s ok.
As far as how to end a song, this gets a little trickier. It can help a lot if you’re able to tell everyone verbally that the song’s about to end. You can just yell out: “Ok, last time through!” or “This is the end!”. It’s not the most elegant, but it’s better than a train wreck. I find just moving your instrument as if something is about to happen will work, as long as people are watching you.
Some songs are just difficult to end because they have chord patterns that don’t naturally sound resolved. The chord pattern ends on a cliff-hanger. If you have one of these songs and you’re having trouble ending it, it’s really not your fault. Here are some things to try. Get people’s attention first, and then do one of the following:
- Slow down to a dramatic stop,.
- Decrescendo (get quieter and quieter).
- Doing both at the same time
Which one will sound better? That depends on the song and your own personal taste. Try them and see.
Appendix B: A simple song
The Coo-Coo Bird
We’re going to use “The Coo-Coo Bird” as a simple example song. It’s an English folk song that was recorded by Clarence Ashley in the United States in 1929. It was featured on a compilation called the Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music.
I don’t expect you to lose your mind over this song, or even to enjoy it. But if you understand what is going on in this song, and you are able to teach this song to other people and lead it, then you’re well on your way. It’s a simple song, but there is nothing any more complicated about a vast majority of the songs you will play-– unless of course you are the person who seeks out complicated songs just because that’s what you enjoy doing. And if you are that person, you probably don’t need me and I wish you the best.
So if you haven’t yet, please listen to the song. Otherwise nothing that follows will make sense.
The five musical elements
Let’s go through the five elements of this song.
Key
If you have an instrument in front of you, use the technique I described in the last chapter to determine the key of this song.
In this song there are two repeating sections– one section where singing is happening (the verses), followed by an instrumental section with banjo only. In both these sections, the note that gets returned to or landed on is the key of the song. It’s the last note that Clarence Ashley sings, and he holds that note before the banjo section starts again. Try singing a note that you think is the key, and then using your instrument to identify this note.
Tempo
Figure out a way to count the song in repeating “measures”. In this song, try counting 4 beats per measure. It will work in a majority of songs, so it’s a good count to try first.
Pickups
Now that we have a good number to count, which is 4, you may notice that the vocalist in this song doesn’t start singing smack dab on the first beat of the measure. He really starts singing a little before the first beat of the measure.
When someone starts singing before the start of the measure like this we call the musical phrase that comes before the start of the measure a “pick-up”.
Happy Birthday!
Many songs have pick-ups. Think about the Happy Birthday song for a second. Happy Birthday is a waltz or a “three count”. If you were to count it, would you start counting with “1” on the word “Happy” or “Birthday”? You would start on “Birthday”, which would make “Happy” a pick-up. Whenever you are learning a new song, think about where it makes sense to start counting.
Rhythm
To describe the rhythm of this song, try imagining yourself playing the drums along with it. If you were counting four, would you put the snare hit (or major emphasis) on the one and three count, or on the two and four? Slow the song down in your head and try it. I think you’ll find it can go either way.
Melody
In this song the banjo and the singer are both taking turns doing the melody. They’re both just doing it a little differently.
Form
The two chords in this song are the “1” and the “5”, in other words the “A minor” and the “E”. We have one repeating chord pattern. One way to count it would be that it has two bars (or measure) of “1”, one bar of “5”, then one bar of “1” again (see Appendix “A” if you don’t know what these numbers mean).
In this song there are a few instrumental solos or “breaks”. The banjo plays the melody in between the singing.
The intro and the outro are the same as the instrumental/break part.
Appendix C: House rules
- We all sit in a circle and we all get a turn as we move around it clockwise.
- The host/emcee leads the first song or chooses the first person to lead a song.
- When it’s your turn you can choose whether to a) lead a song, b) ask anyone else to lead a song, or c) pass
- When you are leading a song, you are in command of the song’s five elements– tempo, rhythm, key, melody, form, and you are responsible for starting and stopping the song. No one else should step in unless you ask for help.
- Beyond those five elements, which are up to the song’s leader, do whatever you please. Listen, be nice, and have fun!