Blog post #10: Arranging the songs

Most amateur bands copy the original versions of songs they cover note-for-note. Their aim is to perfectly recreate the studio versions of the songs live on stage. Even guitar solos, the obvious place in a rock song where a musician could go wild and do his own thing, will often be an exact copy of the original recorded solo. Or, at least, an attempt to be an exact copy of the original recorded solo.

However, there is one main reason why you should consider breaking away from the blueprint of an original version when covering a song. This is to change key to help the singer sound the best they can with their particular voice:

Transposing songs to different keys

Once you have considered your singer’s vocal style and approximate vocal range when selecting songs for the band (see blog post #5: Choosing which songs your band will play), you should now work with the singer to figure out precisely the key that will be best for them to sing each song in.

Have the singer sing through each song in different keys. Are low notes or high notes difficult for him/her in the different keys? Hone in on the best key through trial and error. You don’t need to do this as a band. You can accompany the singer alone on your acoustic guitar or keyboard in order to decide on a key for each song. On the guitar, this is easy: just use a capo on different frets and play the same chord shapes. Obviously, you shouldn’t put the capo on fret 11 to play when on stage at a gig (your guitar will sound like an out-of-tune mandolin), but you can do this when settling on the best key for the singer. If it so happens that the best key is when your capo is on fret 11, you can figure out afterwards how to play the same chords in a more comfortable position further down the neck.

In some cases, transposing a song to another key will not be possible. For example, when a song has an iconic electric guitar part using open strings, such as is the case with some Jimi Hendrix songs. Changing keys means the iconic guitar part cannot now be played. So, a choice has to be made: totally rearrange the guitar part (many amateur guitar players will resist this idea!) or drop the song and choose another. For the most part though, you will be able to change the key of an original song to better suit your singer. This is the sensible thing to do. As mentioned previously, the singing IS the song, literally. So, how the singer sounds should be the first consideration and the rest of the band should fit in around the singing.

Lengthening a song

Another reason you may want to break away from an original version of a song you are covering is to lengthen it. Studio recordings of the past were often limited to three minutes due to the constraints of vinyl singles and radio airplay. These constraints don’t apply to live gigs. And, often, if the band is grooving and members of the audience have started to get off their seats to dance, three minutes is a bit short. It will be disappointing for the dancers when the song ends so soon.

Here are some examples of how you might consider altering original versions to lengthen them for live performance:

• Gradually introduce instruments one-by-one at the beginning of the song. You don’t need to come out all guns blazing at the start of a song when playing live.
  
• Create a breakdown section mid-song, where all the instruments drop out and it is just drums keeping the rhythm going. Or a section where one instrument and the singer play alone. Other instruments can then feed back in to create a crescendo which builds to the end of the song.
  
• Create an instrumental section where none exists in the original version.
  

Ending a song

Even if you are planning to cover original songs note-for-note, some creativity will often be required at the end of a song. This is because many studio-recorded songs fade out to silence, something that is not easy for a live band to coordinate. Instead, it’s better that you invent some snappy, synchronised endings. Check out other live bands to hear how they end their songs. This will give you some ideas if you are struggling to come up with good endings of your own.

Avoid too many uncoordinated ‘drizzle out’ endings. A drizzle out is when the band reduces intensity and slows down slightly over the final chords, perhaps playing these chords as single strums on guitar and single hits on the cymbals, before playing a final sustained tonic chord. The band holds this last chord for a while and then band members go silent at different times in an uncoordinated way. Perhaps the guitar player will have a last little inconclusive tinkle after everyone else has stopped. The audience is confused. Is it over? They don’t know when to clap. They may not even clap at all, due to the sad and uninspiring demise of the song. Drizzle outs are not big applause getters.

Crash! Bang! Wallop! endings are better applause getters. A Crash! Bang! Wallop! ending is a coordinated and snappy ending where all the players stop dead at precisely the same moment. The abrupt silence that follows shocks audience members and has the effect of an electric cattle prod spurring them into spontaneous applause, for some reason. This technique rarely fails.

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If you will be performing your own compositions or radically different arrangements of other artists’ songs, here are some things to keep in mind:

Avoid too much predictability and repetition in your arrangements

Years ago, I played in a violin/guitar duet. We played background music in restaurants. One of our songs was Elenor Rigby by the Beatles. There are two different sections in the song: an A and a B section. Our arrangement of the song was a very unimaginative A B A B A B A B format. It was easy for us to remember this way. One evening, when we were in the middle of the song and had just started playing the third A section, I distinctly heard one diner seated close to me groan and say “Oh no! Not again!” Little did he know we were only a little past the halfway point of the song!

It’s best to break up a Verse/Chorus or A/B format. For example, you could play Verse Verse Chorus Verse Chorus Middle 8 Verse Chorus Chorus. (A ‘Middle 8’ is a contrasting section.) Alternatively, you could play Verse Chorus Verse Chorus Instrumental Verse Chorus. To avoid being too repetitive it’s best not to play a third verse after having played Verse Chorus Verse Chorus. The same applies to playing a third A section after having played A B A B. This is the curse of the third verse. Something different should occur after the second chorus/B section for the sake of variety.

Add dynamics

Many guitarists start playing at one dynamic level and maintain it throughout the entire song. There is no light and shade in their playing. No variation in intensity nor energy. When arranging songs, aim for all instruments in the band to have varying dynamics throughout each song. Have some instruments drop out for sections. Or have them play less notes or less heavily at certain moments. Make verses dynamically low and build to crescendo for the choruses (without increasing the tempo too much at the same time, which is a common issue when crescendoing). The band sound will then burst into the musical equivalent of glorious 3D technicolour.

Think frequencies

When arranging songs, think frequencies. Especially in regard to the vocals. If the musicians learn how to play the vocal melody of the song on their guitar or keyboard, in the same octave as the singer, they can then better make decisions about which notes they should play to stay out of the way of the singer. If the singer is having a hard time being heard clearly you can arrange the other instruments to give him or her some space. For example, the guitar player could play chords with reduced notes in them, rather than full-on barre chords.

A related point: if the singer is finding it hard to pitch their voice at a moment in a song, another player may be playing a note that conflicts with the note the singer is trying to sing. For example, somewhere within a guitarist’s chord, there may be a note one semitone away from the note the singer is trying to sing. Have the guitarist replace or get rid of the offending note in his chord in this instance.

Fills

I have played the song Hey Joe by Jimi Hendrix a lot in bands and at a lot of jam sessions over the years. The format of the song is two bars of singing (over the chords C G D A) then two bars of no singing (over an E5 chord). When there is no singing, the musicians can get creative and fill this gap, i.e., play a fill. In some renditions of this song that I have been involved in, ALL the musicians in the band pile in and start going crazy during the E5 part: they all play different fills at the same time. Some of them highlight the minor third (a G note). Some highlight a major third (a G# note). It can be pretty chaotic. When arranging and rehearsing songs, it’s best to figure out who will fill where.

What sounds good in your bedroom may not sound good in a band setting

For example, in a student band I was recently involved with, Censorious John and the J-Pegs, the guitar players started playing Rock Around the Clock using full barre chords strummed like a thrashy punk song. It had a lot of punk energy. You couldn’t hear the singer nor the walking bass line clearly. At home, when practising, the guitar players had probably gotten the most satisfying sound playing this way. Their chords included bass notes and their many strums produced a lot of energy and rhythm. They created a full sound all by themselves. However, when with the other instruments at rehearsal, this maximal way of playing was overkill. In the original Bill Haley version of Rock Around the Clock, the guitar chords use only the higher notes and relatively few strums every bar. It’s a sparse guitar part and it sounds great. The bassist and the drummer provide all the other stuff to fill the sound out. And there is space for the singer to be heard clearly too.

Be aware of what the other musicians are doing in your band. It’s okay to do a Phil Spector* and double up parts for a fuller sound. Often though, you’ll want to reduce the amount of notes you play for the band to have a clearer, less cluttered sound. Especially if you are playing chords on guitar or keyboards. You can reduce the notes you play both vertically (i.e., reduce the number of notes you play in a chord) and horizontally (e.g., reduce how many times you hit the chord over, say, two bars).


* Phil Spector was a producer in the 1960s, famous for his ‘Wall of Sound’. This was a technique of recording many musicians in a room, all playing at the same time. Often there would be a doubling or trebling of certain instruments. For example, two or three guitars. Phil Spector produced records had a dense, orchestral texture that sounded good through the speakers of the radios and record players of the time.

Summary

Even if planning to copy original songs faithfully, consider changing their keys to better suit your singer’s range. Consider lengthening each song. You don’t need to be constrained by the three-minute format when performing a song live. You will have to create your own endings to some songs. For your own compositions and also unique interpretations of originals, consider these aspects of song arrangement: variety (avoid the curse of the third verse), dynamics, frequencies, fills and restricting individual parts so they fit better with the rest of the band.


(Some names of individuals and bands mentioned in this blog post were changed to protect identities.)


Mark Baxter (c) 2024