Active Band Man Chats - Abbreviations for Each Instrument Part

So, what’s today’s topic?

There are all kinds of musical instruments, right?

Huh? Well... yeah.

Guitar, bass, drums!

Most bands have those.

Keyboard, piano, organ!

That would be keyboard instruments.

Saxophone, trombone, trumpet!

Wind instruments.

Tambourine, bongo, conga!

Percussion?

Wow! Instruments!

Instruments! What’s going on?

(Ignoring that) When we load in at a live venue, they always give us a form to fill out with the band members’ and staff’s names, right?

Yeah, and when we hand that in, the venue staff gives us backstage passes for the number of people listed.

There’s a section for writing down each member’s instrument, right?

Oh yeah, that’s true. And for staff roles too.

How do you fill it in?

What do you mean, ‘how’? I just write “bass” normally.

The space for writing it is usually small, right?

That’s... true.

So you have to write instrument abbreviations, right?

Okay, sure.

Like how “vocal” is written as “Vo”.

And “bass” is “Ba”.

It’s usually the first two letters of the English name, right?

I guess...?

But for me, “Gu” for guitar just looks like it would be read as “gu” in Japanese, and that feels weird, so I want to write “G”.

Does that really feel weird? No one’s going to read it as “gu” anyway! I’d write “Gt”.

So I always write “Kizuhiko Vo & G”.

Got it.

If you’re not the main vocalist, it’s “Cho”.

Chorus, right. Then Ted would be “Ba & Cho”.

Exactly.

What about drummers?

I usually just write “Dr” out of habit.

Yeah, that’s pretty standard. But doesn’t it kind of look like “doctor”? “Shimizu Toru... Dr & Cho”. Dr. Shimizu Toru?

That’s why some people write “Ds”.

Oh, maybe for “drum set”? If you want to be even more precise, maybe “Drs”.

Probably. Nationals has a keyboardist, right? How do you write that?

Hmm... usually “Key”, I guess.

That’s it! But I always used to write “key” in lowercase when Count Kei was in the band.

Huh? You mean... just all lowercase?

Exactly! It just looks better!

I’ve never really thought about that... Also, I didn’t know you were the one filling out the member list.

Yep! I write the setlist and the member list!

You don’t help with load-in anyway.

How do you know that?

Lol. You literally said it yourself before: “I don’t carry anything heavier than a rose!”

That’s the way of the Prince Rose.

So... what were we talking about again?

Aesthetics! It just feels right for bass and drums to be “Ba” and “Dr”, not “ba” and “dr”.

It’s easier to read that way.

Exactly! That’s the most important thing.

Right.

Of course, you could just write in katakana, too.

Depends on how much space you have.

If you want to be more specific about guitar, you could write “EG” or “AG”.

Electric guitar and acoustic guitar, right? That’s important because it affects the amps and gear you need. If it’s “AG”, do they need to prepare a DI box?

Exactly. And for bass, if you want to be particular about calling it a “bass guitar”, maybe “BG”?

If you’re particular... I guess that makes sense?

Or maybe “EBG”?

Electric Bass Guitar? That just makes it more confusing!

For a grand piano, I’d like to write “pf”.

Pianoforte, yeah. That’s the correct notation.

What about organ? “Or”?

That just says “or”.

Maybe “Org”.

Probably.

Well, if it’s an electronic keyboard, “Key” is fine.

Yeah, that’s the easiest. What about percussion?

Just “Perc” should be good.

For specific ones, like a triangle, you might see “Tri”.

Now, the tricky part—wind instruments!

Brass and woodwinds.

I’m a total outsider, so I might be totally wrong here!

You’re an outsider and totally wrong! That actually sounds cool!

First, saxophone!

Since “saxophone” is already an abbreviation of sorts, “SAX” is fine, right?

Yep! And for different types, like alto or tenor, you write “A SAX” or “T SAX”. I looked it up!

Oh, nice job!

For ska bands, there’s often trumpet and trombone, right?

Yeah.

Trumpet is either “Tp” or “Trp”, and trombone is “Tb” or “Trb”.

Either one works.

Whether you include the “r” is important.

The “r”? “R” shouldn’t be omitted.

I heard a band we played with recently arguing about it backstage—“You need the ‘r’!” “No, you don’t!”

They really argued about that? That’s some serious dedication.

Right?

Is that all?

There’s also... strings!

You’re definitely an outsider there.

Violin is “Vn”.

That one makes sense...

Viola is “Vla”.

Okay.

Now, what about cello?

C... Cl?

It’s “Vc”. (According to Kizuhiko’s research!)

That’s tricky.

Now, a special quiz for you, Horry! drumroll What about double bass?

I used to play it, so I know this one... It’s “Cb”, right?

Correct! Though I also found “DB” in my research.

“DB”? I guess that makes sense since some people call it a double bass, but I don’t think it’s common.

Got it. Now you can start writing orchestral scores!

No way! That’s a whole different skill set.

Man, music is deep!

It really is. Now, with this knowledge, everyone can read a score and instantly recognize the instruments!

Because everything is?

For love!