I was recently walking through the store and Come Monday by Jimmy Buffet comes on. I play several of his songs but that's not a favorite, so, at first, I thought maybe I should add that one. But it's not a favorite. Sure enough, somebody requested that song at last gig.

Now, as far as requests go, you guys always seem to fulfill them but heck, I can't remember lyrics. But some people will tip you if you play a request. I like money. I need money. But I have to have a cheat sheet because I can only remember fragments of songs. I want to do this all on laptop but I haven't yet done it.

So, I was thinking, heck, no telling how many songs you could have with a laptop. I mean, there are literally thousands of songs I could play if I'm looking at the lyric/chords. I know the melodies.

I probably have almost a thousand song lyrics in text files. I guess I could just keep adding them daily and build a giant database.

How do you guys pull up a song? I mean, you are going to have to search for it on the hard drive. Anything that's made it faster to find?

Of course, in pop/rock/country/blues, my gosh, how many gazillion songs are there? A bunch.

Various different ways to do this...

I carry a file box of all my charts. I use charts for 95% of everything I play. Usually, when I get requests...I already have them pulled for that night's playlist.

If I don't have it pulled already-I know what's in my song database...I snag it the first chance I have. If I'm with the band...I can usually find that tune during a lead section that my sax guy covers...then we can play it right away...as long as it fits in the song flow...

If we've just played 2 fast ones...I'm not going to give my crowd strokes by overdoing it. After we play a ballad and then maybe a waltz or mid tempo piece, then he'll get his fast request.

If I'm by myself...usually, I'll pull it on my next break.

If I know I don't have it-I'll write the title down, with the venue name and the requesters name if possible. (This goes over great...) Next time I'm in the club, I intro the song as a request for "so & so"...Cash is almost always dropped on my keyboard in those cases. They're pretty impressed you tok the trouble to learn the song, knew it was THIS club where you needed to play it and who wanted it in the first place. Also, if the requester is a regular-that song gets added to the regular play list.

My song database is set up by song styles and and a alpha/numerical indexing system.

Standards (S-1, S-2, etc...)
Pop (P-1, P-2, etc...)

I update and print out an updated database master list very few weeks. Its not hi-tech, but it works well for me.

Bill

[This message has been edited by Bill in Dayton (edited 09-22-2004).]

All your lyrics are stored as text files in a single folder..From the explorer window, you only need to enter the first letter of a song, it will go to the selection immediately, displaying around fifty or more titles on the screen...use the arrows to select the song and push enter...bingo your text is on the screen..

You can locate and show your lyrics in about 5 seconds...

Also this same laptop can locate your SMF's and MP3's in the same manner...

[This message has been edited by Fran Carango (edited 09-22-2004).]

Just put all the songs in a folder, use MS Word and "click" on the song you want to play.
I use a cordless mouse.
You can edit the properties of each song file to include Title, Artist, Genre and whatever else you want. Then you can sort the list according to any of the properties.
There are dedicated programs for lyrics, but I think most of us use MS Word.
DonM

SemiLiveMusic:I use the user programable Music Finder database built into my Yamaha Tyros to manage my core song repetoire collection (600 Songs), which makes it easy to search for (by genre, era, artist, tempo, style) and pull up any song in just a short few seconds.

It's nearly impossible to know & have memorized every song request out there, so I usually try to take take along at least one thick fakebook with me. The toughest trick (for me) isn't recalling the melody, but figuring out the correct harmony (chords) that go with it. The lucky advantage though is that (for most requested songs) the chord progression follows a commonly played chord progression pattern.

One way to learn to pick up (by ear) the chords to songs is to learn to recognize & play these commonly heard chord progressions (I-VI-II-V; IV-V; etc) and then hear how they fit into specific melodies. Checkout this excellent resource book which lists all the popular chord progressions as well as the many songs which use them:

Money Chords, by Richard Scott: http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/moneychords/MC.html

Here's a terrific online chord tutorial to get you started: http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/moneychords/lesson.html


As mentioned in an earlier thread, this highlights the importance of developing good ear training skills (note internval recognition, chord and chord progrogression recognition) which is the key to playing by ear.

Further developing these above skills will increase your ability to satisfy audience song requests by ear & on the fly.


Scott

I am starting on my third thick 3 ring binder of songs that I've accumulated, printed out, downloaded, etc.
Now I find that I'd like to have them on my computer but I'm not about to type them all out into Word or something. It would take me forever. I could scan them into the computer, I guess, but I haven't quite thought out how best to do this. MSWord? or make a database? I'd like to easily call up a song. Any ideas? Thanks.
Chuck

I also us MS Word, keep all the songs in a single folder, and as Fran said, access time is lightning fast. And, once MS Word is open, the next selection opens in less than a second with my 933-mhz computer.

The easiest way to access the style files and everything else you need is via the Music Finder Directory, or by using registrations with the information imbedded in the registration and titled by the song title.

This one popped up in less than a half second and this is how it's displayed on my laptop:

The top line shows the Song's Title, Tempo and chord I sing it with. The next line shows the PSR-2000s folder where the style is stored, the stye and the variations used in the performance. When I save the information in my music finder, the chord information is in parens such as: Who's Sorry (D) Now Always put the chord after the second word in the title so it does not affect the MFD sorting system.

WHO'S SORRY NOW T=92 (D)
(POP & ROCK—COUNTRY SHFL—B-D)

WHO'S SORRY NOW, WHO'S SORRY NOW
WHOSE HEART IS ACHIN' FOR BREAKIN= EACH VOW
WHO'S SAD AND BLUE, WHO'S CRYIN' TOO
JUST LIKE I CRIED OVER YOU

RIGHT TO THE END JUST LIKE A FRIEND
I TRIED TO WARN YOU SOMEHOW
YOU HAD YOUR WAY, NOW YOU MUST PAY
I'M GLAD THAT YOU'RE SORRY NOW

RIGHT TO THE END JUST LIKE A FRIEND
I TRIED TO WARN YOU SOMEHOW
YOU HAD YOUR WAY, NOW YOU MUST PAY
I'M GLAD THAT YOU'RE SORRY NOW

I use 14-point, Times New Roman Font, bold and all caps. When you get old your eyes will thank you for this. I also use a white screen with black letters. You can see the display on the 14.1-inch screen from several feet away.

In order to put as much of the lyrics on the screen as possible, turn off all the tool bars, rulers, etc. This provides the maximum viewing area and least amount of confusion.

I stopped carrying fake books and lyric books after meeting up with Uncle Dave and Donny Pesce. The laptop, IMO, is the only way to go.

Gary

[This message has been edited by travlin'easy (edited 09-22-2004).]

You're going to have to scan them. Which I am also going to have to do with most of my songs as I have penciled in the chords and all kinds of stuff in the margins.

Once it's scanned, I don't know how we should access them. I dunno how this is going to work, regarding load time and such. You could convert to pdf files. I dunno, have to investigate this. It's certainly not ideal.

another option, albeit pricy:
http://www.freehandsystems.com/products.html

I've asked for going on two years about these things... if anyone has used one. Nobody has replied that they have. It is actually more attuned to what I want but it's so expensive, you could buy a laptop for $1,000. Although, as I said, it does have merits. There are two of these type devices. I forget the other one.