I wrote this one song sitting at the piano. When I sat down and played guitar and sang
over it there were some starts and stops. Now you have to understand this was just
what came out. I asked our piano player to put a part on it, but when he heard it he
got very concerned and said he'd have to chart it out??!! Once he got done he pointed
out that it was in 3/4, 4/4, 5/4 and 7/8. Now there is no way I would have sat down
with the intention of writing a song this complicated. Even our drummer, who is well
schooled had to work hard at it. Trying to get another guitar player on it proved
impossible, he just wouldn't try. When I went over to London to have a very very good
bass player redo the bass, he almost didn't want to. I had to count him through the
whole thing. To me it seemed obvious, follow the vocal, well except for when it
changed.

Once someone asked my pal Pugwash Weathers if he was playing complex time signatures
with Gentle Giant. He laughed and said "no, just 4/4 while the others did all the
weird stuff".

Now a two beat measure is sometimes necessary, and doesn't ruin the groove. I guess I
was trying to make that point. Thanks for articulating that for me. I was thinking
about listening to Terry Williams play those Chuck Berry songs. You know how most
people would. But Terry would do all these wild back beats and stuff that just make it
so interesting. Actually if you listen to the originals, they aren't "all the same" as
most people would interpret it.

Ringo created some very complex grooves by adding snare and high hat overdubs. There
are some pretty impossible parts on some of those records. You can hear that same
thing on some of the Beach Boys cds too. I wanna say they alternate version of Little
Honda, but I'm not sure at the moment.

There is a difference between being a master and a clever dick. See Gentle Giant for
the latter.

My advice, get a good drummer, who understands song writing.

RS

AdamGhost@aol.com wrote:

> I think throwing in a bar of, say, 7/8 just for the sake of rhythmic
> diversity and no other reason is silly and pedantic.  And this is coming from a
> songwriter who is notorious for throwing in odd bars of 2 beats in every other song
> (ask my band).
>
> Now, if we want to talk about lack of a GROOVE (as Ron began to), by all
> means, let's.  I think that would be a great discussion.  A better sense of a
> groove (or understanding the concept at all) would make all the difference in the
> world to some of the more mediocre bands I've seen, pop or otherwise.
>

-- Ronald Sanchez
Director Of A&R
Career Records
 www.CareerRecords.com

The Donovan's Brain Web Site
 www.Donovans-Brain.com