Help Me, Rhonda
WHAT INSTRUMENTS ARE USED?:
Vocals - The lead vocals are one of three instruments to start the song. It is the first single by The Beach Boys to feature Al Jardine as the lead vocalist. The vocals are throughout the whole song with only really short breaks every now and then. The part where the vocals aren't in it for the longest is the piano/guitar solo towards the end (1.47 - 2.09). I would probably say that Al Jardine has a Tenor vocal range. Throughout the song it sounds like he stays on one note, obviously with a few higher or lower parts. I think the best part, vocally, in this song are the last three bars of the choruses. During the verses the lead vocals sing very quaver based melodies. During the choruses the lead vocals sing very crotchet based melodies. Bass Guitar - The bass guitar is the second of the three instruments to start of the song. The bass is very prominent in this song. It follows the guitar chords exactly but goes - Root, Third, Sixth, Fifth, Fifth, Third, Second. This phrase is done throughout the whole of the verses but just moves to different chords. The choruses just play Root, Flattened Fifth (or sharpened forth), Fifth. And this is played on each chord as well. I would say that both the bass and treble are set to about half way. It also sounds like this song is being played with a plectrum. Tambourine - The tambourine is the third instrument. It is played throughout the whole song and acts as a sort of metronome. It is shaked on every beat of the song. Guitar One - I guess this would be classified as the 'lead guitar.' This guitar does the short fills in the intro verse. The fills are at 0.04 and again at 0.11. This guitar is the one that also plays the short guitar solo after the piano solo. Those three parts are the only time where the guitars are split apart. Other than that, the guitars play the same thing. The guitar is very 'twangy' during it's solo parts. During the guitar solo, there is definitely a little bit of distortion. The guitar is played very lightly throughout the rest of the song. Guitar Two - This guitar is played very lightly as well. It does the same as the lead guitar during the choruses and verses. During the guitar solo, this guitar just does the same thing as the bass. The way the guitars are both being played is in a very loose bluesy style. Drums - The drums enter at 0.15 which is on the start of bar 5. From there on out, the drums are played continuously throughout the whole song. They sit on a 4/4 swing groove. Rather than using a full size drum kit, they just use the hi-hat, bass drum and snare drum. The beat is the same throughout the whole song.. There aren't any variations with the drums. Backing Vocals - The Beach Boys have so many backing vocals in their songs. It's what makes them so iconic. During the choruses of this song there are so many different voices doing completely different things. Below is the lyrics t o the song, the words highlighted white are when the backing vocalist are also singing: Well since she put me down I 've been out doin' in my head Come in late at night and in the mornin' I just lay in bed ("oh's" behind lead vocals) Well, Rhonda you look so fine (look so fine) ("fine" is held behind lead vocals) And I know it wouldn't take much time ("heart" is held behind lead vocals) For you to help me Rhonda, Help me get her out of my heart Help me Rhonda Help, help me Rhonda Help me Rhonda Help, help me Rhonda Help me Rhonda Help, help me Rhonda Help me Rhonda Help, help me Rhonda Help me Rhonda Help, help me Rhonda Help me Rhonda Help, help me Rhonda Help me Rhonda yeah Get her out of my heart ("oh's" behind lead vocals) She was gonna be my wife (bo, bo, bo's) And I was gonna be her man (come on Rhonda) ("oh's" behind lead vocals) But she let another guy come between us (bo, bo, bo's) And it ruined our plan (come on Rhonda) ("oh's" behind lead vocals) Well, Rhonda you caught my eye (caught my eye) ("eye"is held behind lead vocals) And I can give you lotsa reasons why ("heart" is held behind lead vocals) You gotta help me Rhonda, Help me get her out of my heart (bo, bo, bo's) Help me Rhonda Help, help me Rhonda Help me Rhonda Help, help me Rhonda Help me Rhonda Help, help me Rhonda Help me Rhonda Help, help me Rhonda Help me Rhonda Help, help me Rhonda Help me Rhonda Help, help me Rhonda Help me Rhonda yeah Get her out of my heart (INSTRUMENTAL) Help me Rhonda Help, help me Rhonda Help me Rhonda Help, help me Rhonda Help me Rhonda Help, help me Rhonda Help me Rhonda Help, help me Rhonda Help me Rhonda Help, help me Rhonda Help me Rhonda Help, help me Rhonda Help me Rhonda yeah Get her out of my heart WHAT WE CAN'T LOSE?: Instrumentally this song is very simple. You can hear everything you need instrumentation wise but the vocals is definitely the toughest part to this song. I think we kept just about everything. 1.) The drums were kept exactly the same. The verses and choruses has a very 4/4 swing drum beat. Before the choruses and the instrumental there is a little pause but then the drums build up with crotchet hits back into the swing groove. 2.) The guitars were also kept the same. They enter 16 bars into the song and sit on a swing (dotted quaver, semi-quaver) rhythm. They do this throughout the whole song. The are very faint. The instrumental 64 bars in sits on a 12 bar blues. The 'solo' kicks in on the 8th bar and plays off beat hits on bar 11. 3.) The bass is very prominent in this song. It was kept exactly the same. I had to hear out the bass line to this song. There isn't any variations. The verses are F, Bb, F Bb, F, F, F, F Bb, F. The choruses are C, C, F, F, C, C, F, F, Bb, Bb, F, F, G, C. 4.) The lead vocals must be kept the same. The lowest note sung is middle C. The highest note sung is a D above the octave of middle C. 5.) The backing vocals are the most important thing in this song. There are so many different backing vocals/harmonies in this song. The first verse doesn't have any backing vocals. Both pre-choruses are mostly made up of "oh's" and "ah's." The choruses have a lot of different things going on. The two obvious things are "Rhonda" and the "Bo Bo's." On top of that, there are harmonies. The aim of what we have to do is basically replicate our chosen song. And to replicate something, it means to make an exact copy/reproduce something. So in order to do that we obviously can not lose anything! Not one single thing. BASIC INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG: The basic information of the song are things like structure, key, tempo etc. The original key to this song is F Major. The structure to this song is very basic. It contains the usual verse, chorus and instrumental. - VERSE (0.00 - 0.14) 8 BARS - PRE-CHORUS (0.14 - 0.28) 8 BARS - CHORUS (0.28 - 0.56) 16 BARS - VERSE 2 (0.56 - 1.09) 8 BARS - PRE-CHORUS (1.09 - 1.24) 8 BARS - CHORUS (1.24 - 1.50) 16 BARS - INSTRUMENTAL (1.50 - 2.11) 12 BARS - CHORUS (2.11 - 2.38) 16 BARS - OUTRO (2.38 - 2.47) 4 BARS The tempo for this song is a moderately fast (medium rock) tempo. BPM - 140. WHAT'S MAKES IT SO ICONIC? The thing that makes this song so iconic, without a question, are the vocals/backing vocals. That's why the Beach Boys are such an iconic surfer rock band. Another thing that makes this song iconic is the lyrical content. As well as their close vocal harmonies. Their known for their lyrics usually referring to surfing, cars and romance. PRACTICE:
Technique - Our rehearsal technique is always the same. We learn our individual parts before the rehearsal week. Everyone usually has their individual parts learnt (unless the singers didn't work on the harmonies before hand, which is nearly always the case). It's then just a case of putting everyones part together as a band. Methodology - The first thing we do when we enter the rehearsal room, is put on the track. We listen to it two or three times while we set up. Then once we are all ready, we play along to the track (unplugged) just to get into the song and get a little warmed up. After that we begin playing as a band and go over it a few times. Then if there are any parts that anyone aren't happy with, we focus on that part until everyone is pleased with it. Use of time - During rehearsals everyone is very laid back. I'm still not convinced we use our time to it's full potential. We run over the song a few times before our break at 12pm. Then after 12, we'll go over it another few times. Everyone else (rhythm section mainly) will just want to 'jam' through other songs that have nothing to do with what we're meant to be doing. Self Evaluation - Learning the song was fine again. In fact a lot easier than the first song. I always learn my part before rehearsals so I can come in ready to go!. I think I'm always well prepared for rehearsals. REHEARSAL: Effective use of time - Like I said above, the band are very laid back during rehearsals. We'll go over it not more than ten times in a two hour rehearsal! Two hours!? Okay so the song is 2 minutes and 50 seconds and we have 120 minutes of rehearsal time. If you divide 2.50 by 120 you'll get 48. So essentially we could be having 48 run throughs of this song! Taking away time for sorting out little sections, we should be getting at least 20 - 30 run throughs in 2 hours! Like I said, I don't think we used our time effectively but, we made up for that with three or four additional rehearsals. Organisation & Preparation - Everybody is well prepared for the rehearsals. The singers will come in with the track and their lyrics. The guitarist will bring in some sort of chord sheet for the both of them. The drummer has all ready listened to the song and got a ruff idea of what's going on. And then I always bring in some sort of tab/notes for myself, just for referencing, to keep me right (for this song however, I didn't need any notes). There is always one thing we forget to get though. An Audio cable. To plug our MP3 device into the desk to actually, properly listen to the track and keep referencing back to it. Identification of artistic and aesthetic musical considerations - I think that there are two main things in this song that we need to keep the same. The opening drum fill is the first. That needs to be replicated because it's probably the most memorable part of the song. The second thing is the little vocal fills (woah, who, growls etc.) There are a lot of little fills here and there. I think they are so cool. They fill out the song and make it much better. Musical Direction - This time the tempo was much better than our last song. Instead of fluctuating a lot. It was at a steady continuos pace throughout the whole rehearsal. Just like any other song we then fixed the dynamics (or should I say, added some dynamics). We didn't really do much but we done a little. The rhythm section tried to play quiet during the verses, but when it came to the chorus' and the instrumental section, we played louder. Self Evaluation - During rehearsals I have to say that I don't talk a lot. But when in a rehearsal I want to knuckle down and use up all the time for getting the song solid! I'm always ready to do anything suggested and just get on with it. PROFESSIONALISM: Time Keeping - Since our class starts at 11.15 on a Friday, everyone is usually on time... usually. In this case everyone in my band was on time. So no one let us down. Group Dynamics - Working in a group has always been one of my down sides. I'm not a very socialable person so when it comes to group tasks I will struggle to communicate with everyone (unless my brother is there). Since my band have been together for half of the course, we have all started to become very relaxed around each other (not so much me though!) Standards - I'm not really sure what my bands standards are for the our rehearsals. I think everyone comes in hoping our first run through to be absolutely perfect. Obviously it isn't perfect or performable with the a few run throughs. We need to really get it good! We try to get at least three additional rehearsals prior to the final performance. Instrument/Voice care - During rehearsals nobody plays over the top. Everybody plays at a nice volume so we can work things out without getting sore ears/a sore head. We take most consideration for the singers. We are always asking if they can hear themselves okay or if any of the instruments are to loud. Every time the band plays the song, the singers usually sing a long. We never go over it as just an instrumental section. Consideration - Everyone is looking out for each other and making sure everyone is all right with their parts. Nobody is lost during rehearsals. The singers are the main focus of the band. We make sure we're not too loud for them. Also if the singers are struggling with the key (which they did) of the song, then we will move it up or down - in this case we moved it up - to suit them. This blog is about me learning my individual (the bass part of course) part to this song - Take The Money And Run. I usually write down a page of notes to keep me right during rehearsals. For this genre, or in fact this particular song, I didn't need any notes as the song sits on three chords. Since this song is very simple, I will definitely be ready to perform without worrying about messing up! Here are the three notes: WHAT I HAD TO DO: First of all the original three notes of this song are G, F, and C. But we had to move the key up by a tone. So now the notes are A, G and D. 1. The first part of this song is the drum intro (0.00 - 0.11). For this I don't (and nobody else apart from the drummer) need to play anything. This consists of 4 BARS (in 4/4). 2. The second part of the song is the first verse (0.11 - 0.51. This is where all the instruments come in, vocals, the two guitars and the bass. Each note is played for two bars. So that's A for two bars, G for two bar, D for two bars and D again for two bars (or D for four bars). Since the verse last 16 bars, we go over that same cycle four times - A G D D, A G D D, A G D D, A G D D, A G D D, A G D D, A G D D, A G D D. 3. The third part is the chorus (0.51 - 1.10). Nothing really changes here for the instrumentation. We still sit on the same for notes (or three even) A G D D. The chorus only lasts for 8 bars, so we would only go over the cycle twice - A G D D, A G D D, A G D D, A G D D. 4. The fourth part is the second verse (1.10 - 1.49). This verse is played exactly the same as the first verse. So everything is the same - it lasts for 16 bars and sits on the exact same notes. A G D D, A G D D, A G D D, A G D D, A G D D, A G D D, A G D D, A G D D. 5. The chorus again (1.49 - 2.08). This is nearly exactly the same as the first chorus. Lasts for 8 bars and plays - A G D D, A G D D, A G D D, A G D D. There is only one difference. On beats 3 and 4 of bars 2 and 4, there is a tremolando part played on the guitars, I played the same thing on bass. 6. The next part is the instrumental section (2.08 - 2.27). The guitars do a lot of tremolando parts here too. I was just doing the same rhythm I done throughout the rest of the song. This section was the same structure as the chorus'. 8 bars - A G D D, A G D D, A G D D, A G D D. 7. This is the final section and it is the final chorus (2.27 - 2.51). This is part is played exactly the same as the first chorus (with no tremolando). 8 bars - A G D D, A G D D, A G D D, A G D D. Instead of fading out we will most likely go for D and end on the root note A. Above is the basic rhythm I played throughout the whole song. It's very simple. On the last bar (bar 4 - D), I usually through in a little bass fill. In the actual track there are a lot of variations on the forth bar. Mine weren't exact but I took basic ideas from them.
HOW I FELT WITH THIS SONG: Learning the song was fine, no problems at all! This song was so much easier than our last song (The Who - Pinball Wizard). Like the last song, I go the chords/notes from my guitarist who I think just worked it out by ear. The guitars and bass are doing nearly exactly the same thing, so there was no complications with the chords (apart from moving the key up a tone. But with a song that only sits on three chords, moving it up or down is not hard at all). After I learnt the song, I went through it a couple (when I say a couple I mean... twice) of times to make sure what I was doing was all right. The case of memorising wasn't a worry. This song is very together. What I mean by that is, everything is doing something very close to each other (mainly the rhythms) so that's what we done. Kept everything simple and together. Take The Money And Run
WHAT INSTRUMENTS ARE USED?:
Drums - This is the first instrument to make a statement with its short groovy intro. The drums just sit on a basic 4/4 rock rhythm with the hi-hat hitting on every beat, the bass drum twice on beat one (two quaver notes) and the snare on beat three, throughout the whole song. The drummer throws in a hit on other cymbals (probably just the crash) every now any then. He also has a lot of snare fills throughout the song. Vocals - The vocals are the next thing to enter the song. The vocals are continuous up until the end of the song (2.10 - 2.25). I think the vocals in this are very mono tonal, they don't really vary, it just sounds like they sit on one note throughout most of the song. I think the most memorable vocal parts are the little fills towards the end, such as the little growl at 2.00 in. The Two Electric Guitars - The guitars start at about 0.10 and from there on they play the same thing, G F C C throughout the whole song. The verses, chorus', it's all the same. Each chord last for two beats so, G for two beats, F for two beats and then C for four beats (So that's two bars all together). The guitars are played very loosely/strummy with sixteenth notes played throughout. Bass Guitar - The bass player starts at the same time as the guitars. It does the exact same thing as the guitars - G F C. Instead of sixteenth notes the bass plays: G - quaver quaver crotchet F - quaver quaver crotchet C - quaver quaver crotchet C - quaver quaver crotchet In the second C which is always half way through the second bar. The bass has a few little fills (mostly on just them three notes.) Backing Vocals - The vocals are being accompanied a lot in this song. You can really hear the backing vocals in the song. Below is the lyrics tho the song, the words highlighted white are when the backing vocalist are also singing: This here's a story about Billy Joe and Bobbie Sue Two young lovers with nothin' better to do Than sit around the house, get high, and watch the tube And here is what happened when they decided to cut loose They headed down to, ooh, old El Paso That's where they ran into a great big hassle Billy Joe shot a man while robbing his castle Bobbie Sue took the money and run Go on take the money and run Go on take the money and run Go on take the money and run Go on take the money and run Billy Mack is a detective down in Texas You know he knows just exactly what the facts is He ain't gonna let those two escape justice He makes his livin' off of the people's taxes Bobbie Sue, whoa, whoa, she slipped away Billy Joe caught up to her the very next day They got the money, hey You know they got away They headed down south and they're still running today Singin' Go on take the money and run Go on take the money and run Go on take the money and run Go on take the money and run Go on take the money and run Go on take the money and run Go on take the money and run Go on take the money and run WHAT WE CAN'T LOSE?: This is a very simple song, you can hear everything that's 'going on' so it's easy to get everything we need. I think we kept everything. 1.) The drums were kept exactly the same (obviously our drummer had his own fills) but the intro groove was near enough replicated. We can't add insane drumming, we've just got to keep it how it is... basic and simple. The complete opposite of our previous song. 2.) Same with the guitars, they have got to be loose and relaxed. Just sitting on the four simple chords (well three.) And we can't add any crazy guitar solo, in fact, we can't add any guitar solo because there isn't any. 3.) The bass, exactly the same as the guitar, sitting on the three chords just playing a simple groove. With the occasionally - not too fancy might add - little bass fills. 4.) The vocals are easy enough to keep the same. Just sitting on the one note singing with ease. However it's the little vocal fills every so often that make this song what it is. I think that's what the singers should replicate before even working on the harmonies. The little yells and growls add so much to the song, you take them away then the song becomes, well... boring. 5.) If we were to take out the backing vocalists, the singing would definitely become very 'samey' and the listener would get bored (well I know I would.) Which is why the have to say and can;t be over done with anything to fancy, just keep it how it is and where it is. The aim of what we have to do is basically replicate our chosen song. And to replicate something means to make an exact copy/reproduce something. So in order to do that we obviously can not lose anything! Not one single thing. BASIC INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG: The basic information of the song are things like structure, key, tempo etc. The original key to this song is G major, However we moved it up two semi tones. So we were playing it in A Major. The structure to this song is very basic. It contains the usual verse, chorus and instrumental. - INTRO (0.00 - 0.11) 4 BARS - VERSE 1 (0.11 - 0.51) 16 BARS - CHORUS (0.51 - 1.10) 8 BARS - VERSE 2 (1.10 - 1.49) 16 BARS - CHORUS (1.49 - 2.08) 8 BARS - INSTRUMENTAL (2.08 - 2.27) 8 BARS - CHORUS - Fade out (2.27 - 2.51) 8 BARS Me and my brother tried to work out the tempo for this song and we thought is was around - BPM 100. But again when you try to click to it (or even put on a click to it) it feels like the song varies in tempo. WHAT'S MAKES IT SO ICONIC? The thing that makes this song so iconic, I think, are two things. The first thing being the drums. That intro the drummer plays is probably the most memorable part of the song. And the way he holds the simple, groovy beat throughout the song. The second thing being the vocals. When I say vocals I don't mean the main melody that is sung throughout the song, I mean the little vocal fills every now and then (yeah's, oh's, growls etc.) I know it's such a little thing in the song but I think them little vocal fills are what makes the song what it is today! |