Practical MIDI

I have been a working musician for nearly forty years and I have to admit that after all these decades, I still can’t read a note of sheet music. I guess you could say that makes me a “musical illiterate.” Now, that doesn’t hinder me one bit. On the contrary. In my particular case, I think reading music may have slowed me down, stifled me or otherwise choked my creativity. Not to take anything away from those of you can read music. More power to you. It just was something that wasn’t right for me and my particular situation.

You may have noticed a section on this Cybermidi site called “Cheat Sheets.” They are lyric sheets with chord labels above the words. I donated most of these sheets and they are my way to “read” music. That is, when I perform live these days, I rely on these sheets to guide me through the songs. Even though I may not be able to read and comprehend the notes on sheet music, I am very proficient in understanding chord structure. Years ago I bought a piano chord book that displayed hundreds of piano chords and their inversions. It also listed the notes that went into making up the chords. It’s my chord encyclopedia, so to speak.

I started out playing guitar and eventually taught myself to play the piano by comparing the notes on the guitar neck to the notes on the keyboard in order to duplicate the guitar chords on the piano. It’s pretty much the same procedure when it comes to making out the cheat sheets. I obviously don’t need help on three-chord ditties like “Louie Louie” but when it gets a bit more complicated like Billy Paul’s “Me and Mrs. Jones” or Earth Wind and Fire’s “After The Love Is Gone” I turn to MIDI to help me figure out the proper chords for the cheat sheets.

Here’s how it’s done. And for this example, I’ll be speaking about the sequencing program that I use, Midisoft’s Recording Session, but the same principles could just as well apply to Cakewalk or any other notation software. If I want to create a cheat sheet for a song I want to play in my act, I first find the lyrics on some lyrics site on the web (saves me a whole bunch of typing). Then I search for the best version of the MIDI file I can on the web, and I usually find what I’m looking for on Cybermidi. Next I play the song through Session and when I get to a place where I’m not sure of the chord I stop the song, go into my SCORE view where the notes are displayed in sheet music form.

The best tracks to look at will be the piano, guitar and bass tracks. The piano and guitar tracks will hold the chords for a particular measure. When I find the spot I’m looking for, I drag my cursor to highlight that chord and go to the VIEW menu and look at the list of notes. The notes for the chord I selected will be highlighted in red and I can just write down the three, four or five notes in that chord. I’m familiar with most chords and usually don’t have to look in my chord book, but I do refer to it when I get stumped.

For example, the highlighted notes for a chord might be G – Bb – D and F. Based on this alone, I’d determine that this was a Gm7 chord. However, after looking at the bass track and finding an Eb note, that would change the chord in question to an Ebmaj7 chord. The two are similar, but the bass note determines the actual name of the chord. On the cheat sheet, it could be written ad Ebmaj7 or Gm7/Eb. Either is correct. Sometimes these jazz arrangements seem illogical if you’ve been used to straightforward chords with matching bass notes, but I find this a joyful challenge.

Using this procedure has also taught me which notes and chords go well together. By studying the strings track, for example, I can see how a particular string note played throughout several measures of different chords really rounds out the sound canvas the composer was trying to achieve.

The bass track is another source for creative ideas. One of the best examples of creative bass runs is found in Paul McCartney’s compositions. He plays bass like a lead instrument and if you look closely at a song like “Penny Lane,” you’ll see that his bass notes meet the chords on the correct measures, but in between he adds a wide pallet of complimentary notes to paint a broader, more interesting musical picture.

Go on, experiment with your notation software and look “behind the scenes” at what goes into making up a MIDI file. You’ll be fascinated by what you find there.

©2002 Bill Bernico for CYBERMIDI.com Downwind Publications