Lyrics? No. Song structures? Jamming? Bring it on

A little while ago, I was thinking about the fact that I'm no good with memorizing lyrics and too ambivalent to care about rehearsing them. I had a Usual Suspects gig coming up April 12 at the Fish Head Cantina in which I was to sing "Gimme Some Loving" entirely from memory. Well, now that the date is behind me, I can say it went by fine. In fact, I was one of two guys in the band suddenly handed lead singing duties for the evening as our main lead singer was too incapacitated to come to the gig. No way we were going to cancel. No way we would admit defeat. We pulled through. We churned out a show that was pretty much second-nature to us. I sang some stuff, and I'm not sure what, but it was all fine. Actually, it felt better than fine. And I think that was conveyed to the audience. While it was not the large crowd I preferred, there was a hardcore throng in front of us enjoying everything. Yep, that's exactly what I needed: positive reinforcement for my ambivalence.

Tonight I have a solo piano gig, and I'm not exactly sure what kind of stuff I'm going to play. But I'm playing directly after rehearsal with my other band, the G Tones. That band's first gig with the current lineup is tomorrow night, so this is our last practice together before our onstage debut. So tonight is kind of important. Hopefully, I can give it the amount of time and attention it deserves before I have to roll out and head over to that solo piano gig of mine. I want the show to go over well tomorrow.

The differences between my two bands are pretty wide. On the surface, it's easier to tackle the similarities between them. We both do classic rock; in fact, both groups cover "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder and "Time" by Pink Floyd. We also both do modern rock; in fact, both groups cover "My Hero" by the Foo Fighters.

So while the tastes are quite similar, the groups differ in their approach. The Usual Suspects prefer to come off sounding tight, professional, polished and rehearsed. The G Tones, on the other hand, aren't afraid to let an audience know that we're gonna jam it out and let the parts of a song come together however they do.

So given this difference, it was really ironic that the Usual Suspects gig on Saturday the 12th had to happen without our front man. It definitely made the four remaining members improvise more and listen to each other more -- and not shut me down when I started playing songs we'd never rehearsed before.

Another big difference between the two groups is that in the Usual Suspects, the repertoire is comprised entirely of cover songs. Not so with the G Tones, whose leader and namesake, Tone G, has written a host of hot little numbers. And bits and pieces of songs I'm working on writing with fellow G Tones members may possibly take form at some point down the line in the group's set.

What's a bit daunting at this point is that all of a sudden, the G Tones want to sound polished at this first concert! I really don't care either way. I just think anything you do in covering a song should be aimed at making the damn thing sound better. If you want to play somebody else's tune, you can do one of two things: play it exactly as it was previously performed or recorded, or devise your own arrangement and do it that way. Either way, the goal ought to be to improve the tune. There's no point in playing a song if you're going to make it sound worse. That's detrimental to your act. Make it sound better, and you'll stand out.

So now there's talk of shortening our version of a song that lasts 11 minutes and 28 seconds on album. The tune is "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" by Pink Floyd. We've been struggling to approach the song section by section. We don't have to play it note for note, and in fact I would never really want to waste my time doing that. But we at least have to nail the song structure, or else there's no point in playing the song. We could go another route and improve the song structure, but that's for some other day.

"Pigs (Three Different Ones)" is an easy song. It consists of a few sections. Map the song out if you have to, to become familiar with the song structure, and you're fine. Memorize it, or just feel it out, whatever you have to do. Use notes. Use nods. Or just internalize and replicate. Whatever works for you. But seriously, you can play the stupid song. Look, it's only this.

1. Intro (eight measures with just bass, then eight measures with bass and guitar -- only during the last four measures are there any drums)
2. Verse one ("Big man, pig man" through "And when your hand is on your heart" -- and be careful on the timing of that last line because one of the measures has one less beat, as dictated by the rhythm of the lyrics)
3. End of verse one ("You're nearly a big laugh" through "You're nearly a laugh but you're really a cry")
4. Four measures of nothing
5. Verse two ("Bus stop rat bag" through "You radiate cold shafts of broken glass")
6. End of verse two ("You're nearly a good laugh" through "You're nearly a laugh but you're really a cry" -- exactly the same as end of verse one)
7. Four measures of nothing, ended by the quick drum fill at 4:12 (now I'm going to start giving time cues because there aren't lyrics to reference)
8. At 4:13, the arrangement drops down to the elongated chord progression of E (4:13) to C (4:28). The first time it goes back to the E, the E comes in half a beat early for effect (4:42), assisted by a repeat of the same drum fill heard at 4:12.
9. Then it's E to C (4:58), as before. The second time it goes back from C to the E, the E is preceded by the B riff (5:09-5:12).
10. This E at 5:13 is when the talkbox comes in. Then it's E to C (5:28), as before.
11. Again, the E comes in half a beat early for effect (5:42). Then it's up to C (5:57), and the E is preceded by the B riff (6:08-6:11).
12. It's E (6:12) to C (6:26), as before.
13. Again, the next E comes in half a beat early for effect (6:40). The C comes in at 6:55. The B riff goes from 7:06 to 7:09.
14. A reprise of the intro begins at 7:09. The bass part is different this time but still lasts exactly eight measures. After those eight, there are eight measures with the guitar, the last four of which are accompanied by drums. The last half of this intro reprise is exactly as it was at the beginning.
15. Verse three begins at 8:09 ("Hey you, Whitehouse" through "You try to keep our feelings off the street")
16. End of verse three ("You're nearly a real treat" through "Mary, you're nearly a treat but you're really a cry")
17. Four measures of nothing
18. Rock out the ending. This part starts at 9:39 on their version and lasts another minute and 49 seconds, but that fades out anyway, so who knows how long Pink Floyd actually did spend on it in the studio.

There. That's the whole damn song. Simple song, really. There are tough Pink Floyd songs to play. Really, that ain't one of 'em. Hell, I might print out the lyrics for myself and play it tonight at my solo piano gig. Which goes to provie my original point that I can remember musical arrangements much better than I can lyrics. See, I have all that stuff above memorized -- just not the lyrics. It's all a bunch of musical cues that make sense to me as a musician. Try to tweak the song, and you risk doing harm to it.

As for that ending, I think we can rock it out for a while and -- this is where improvisation comes in -- we look at each other to figure out how to end it. That might mean we instead segue into a different song entirely, as we did at rehearsal once. In practice, we once went straight from this into "Time," followed of course by the rest of Side A from The Dark Side of the Moon, and we've been trying to recapture the spontaneity of that move ever since. Another way to end the song would be by spontaneously writing a new riff and playing that. Good lord.