Subbing (Part 2) : Preparing I’ve seen many similar articles on the web and in magazines lately on the subject of preparing for a subbing situation and the only real commonality is that no two subbing situations seem to be the same! I feel its important to adopt a method of preparing that works for you and makes you feel confident at the rehearsal or show. When I get a cd or tape of original music that I’m not familiar with I will listen to it front to back 5 or 6 times before I pick up a stick. Around the 4th listen I try and pay attention to the lyrics and try and plan out What textures are going to complement the vocal line. After all, the majority of people at the show are going to be listening to the singer so you should be too! Once I do begin to practice, I keep a set of index cards next to me (1 for each song) that have the same 3 words on each. STYLE, TEMPO, SOUNDS-LIKE. Style: 4/4 Rock, 8th note groove, Swing in 2, Brushes 6/8 etc… I use these descriptions, and many others, to remind me what the feel of the song should be. Tempo: 120, 90 etc… The point I’d like to make here is to take a metronome to the rehearsal so you could use it to count the band in and check your tempos throughout the song. Sounds-like: Because I might not remember the way a song begins in the heat of the moment I always list a song I’ve heard that stylistically sounds like the one I’m playing. Sometimes this is easy to do. On a recent gig I wrote “Alice in Chains ­ Would” on the index card because the opening groove was very tom-tom oriented. If I can’t pinpoint a similar sounding song I’ll write down adjectives that will remind me of the frame of mind of the song. For example, recently the phrase “Industrial Rain Dance” clued me into the vibe of the tune. Now that phrase may mean nothing to you, but it gave me a good starting point. Lastly, I chart out in musical notation any figures/fills that sound like they are important to the song. Reading/writing music is a lifesaver. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then four bars of standard music notation is worth a book when it comes to describing a phrase/fill/important groove. History has shown that the song you like least and thus practice least is either (A.) the first tune the band wants to rehearse or (B.) the song that must be perfect because it’s the next single of the album or the fan’s favorite. So my advice is to learn all the tunes as best you can. If there are a couple weeks between getting the music and performing/rehearsing it may be a good idea to call the person who hired you and update them on your progress. Telling them songs you enjoy or parts of songs that you found important will make the artist feel a bit more confident. How will you know if you are prepared enough? Well, if you find yourself hitting the rewind button on the car stereo 100 times while driving to the rehearsal or show, you probably didn’t prepare enough. In the next article on subbing I'll talk about how I rehearse with band. Now go buy some index cards and music staff paper.