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Joined:
April 2008
Posts: 2985
Location: Sydney, Australia | Some people can just hear a song a few times, then pick up the guitar and play it (I hate you BTW). But for the rest of us mortals, learning something new takes a while. I suspect I'm a bit slower than most, because my process now involves several steps. I thought I'd post it up here to see if anyone has any suggestions or if it helps anyone else.
Step 1: Find a song that is learnable, and that you like enough to put in the effort.
I have a cupboard full of music that was too far above my ability, or that I didn't like enough to put that much work into. Know your limits people. Focus on a reasonably small number of tunes at once.
Step 2: Get the sheet music and TAB
The sheet music doesn't tell you where to put you fingers - which can be a complex operation and could involve re-learning the first section, when the next bit requires you to have started in a different position. TABs don't always help you with your timing - especially when the timing is a bit unusual (Black Water, I'm looking in your direction!).
The TAB also helps by making it clear that a capo makes things easier. I spent ages learning a two finger hammer/flick-off, combined with a barre chord across the second fret for "I am a rock" only to find Paul Simon plays it with different chords on a capo (hammering an Am7 formation across a G chord, which is quite easy) - D'Oh!
Step 3: Practice playing the notes correctly
This part is just about getting the fingers going to the right place. Pay attention to fuzzed notes. The intent is to get the notes right, don't worry about timing at this stage. Go slow, practice getting the notes right.
Step 4: (only needed if the timing is very hard) Plug the notes into Garageband
Garageband allows you play along and cycle each bar, or group of bars at a speed you can handle. Get the timing right, then gradually increase the tempo. For difficult sections, set a loop and just play it over and over and over ...
Step 5: Amazing Slow Downer
If you have a recorded version that matches the sheet music* you have learned, you can load it into ASD and play along, gradually increasing the tempo, until you can do it at full tempo. Be patient, practice getting it right, rather than getting it fast.
ASD also lets you cycle, but it's difficult to do so continuously, because it's very hard to find the end/beginning of the bar. If you have to cycle a section, it is best to cycle several bars at once and put a pause at the end. Otherwise, you may learn the wrong timing (which you'll have to unlearn).
(* This is something you should have in mind when you get your music in the first place) |
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Joined:
January 2009
Posts: 4535
Location: Flahdaw | I'm more like one of the annoying people that you "hate", but I've gotten lazier in my old age. Now if I hear or think of a song I want to learn, I first go to youtube to see if there's a tutorial. If it's too complicated, I'll hit up Chordie.com
I don't go for all this Garageband or Slow Downer stuff....just not for me. |
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Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Step 1 is very important. So often I hear at open mics people just stinking it up. Usually it's because they always "loved this song" and wanted to do it, and they're trying to sing too high, play to fast and haven't rearranged the song to a format that works for them.
My approach is
1. pick the right song
2. get the words printed out
3. Play along with it so I can figure out the right chords and note where they go in relation to the words
4. If there is instrumental breaks there are two choices, A. learn it or B. come up with an alternate. (I always come up with something else because I'm always a single guitar. Long leads don't fill enough of the air, you need more sound. Also a song that is longer than 3-4 minutes puts the audience to sleep usually)
5. then you practice the hell out of it. Sometimes I'll change the key, or timing or even kill the song at this point. If it stays it usually is at least two weeks of polishing before it gets played out and more if I'm not going to use a word sheet.
If I'm having trouble with time I'll practice with a metragnome. I don't use the slowdowner stuff of garage band because I don't have it and probably couldn't figure out how to use it if I did. |
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Joined:
December 2005
Posts: 247
Location: Seacoast NH | I agree with Beal's input. My two friends and I recently played at a pub open mic, and were asked afterwards if we wanted to play some Friday or Saturday nights this winter. Seeing as how none of us have gigged in ten years (should get interesting!), and don't have nearly enough material down for 3 full sets, we're going through this right now...
As mentioned above, picking the right song is crucial. Get the lyrics, chords, and tab together. Then figuring out what parts of the original to keep and what to "reinvent" to suit the assorted playing styles and vocals comes into play. I'm of the opinion that you should never try to cover a song to sound EXACTLY like the original -- that will never happen. Have fun with it and play your own interpretation and you and your listeners will enjoy themselves.
If you're in Haverhill, MA some weekend this winter look for "100% MSG" playing at the Chit Chat Lounge. Os and As will be in abundance. :D |
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Joined:
January 2009
Posts: 4535
Location: Flahdaw | Yeah, I agree with changing the song to fit you. On my tutorial channel, I stress that I don't usually play the song the "correct" way, just an easy way that sounds pretty good. I capo just about everything to fit my singing range (which is very limited these days). My tempo on songs is usually not correct, the key is usually different, and I don't play the instrumental breaks. And you know what people generally say.....? "Hey, that was pretty good." So, I don't try to be perfect. |
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Joined:
August 2005
Posts: 616
Location: cincinnati, ohio | And dark bar's versions always sound just as good as, if not better, than the originals. If you go down the list of Bob's tutorials and learn them, you've got a whole night of great music!
I agree with the idea of arranging a song to fit your style and abilities. I'm an unabashed fan of the capo, and use it a lot, especially to change keys and/or chord fingerings. I've been really lucky with my voice; even with advancing age (61) I can still hit all the high notes.
I try to play the tunes as close to the original version as I can get. I play a lot of James Taylor; for the most part, JT's chords are easy 1st and 2nd position. Every once in a while though, he'll throw in something like an F#aug27th/b45th, with a five fret fingering stretch. To which I say, "You can't be serious!" At this point I find a substitute. I see what the main notes are and try to find a three or four note arrangement I can throw in.
Another thing when you're fingerpicking - you don't have to grip and play the entire chord at once. You can put the fingers you need (or your thumb) to fret the bass notes down on the low strings and pick them, and while you're doing that, fret the high strings with your other fingers and THEN pick the high strings. You do it in steps. Makes some of those more challenging chords a little easier. Again with JT; sometimes he doesn't even play all the notes they show in the chord diagrams, just fragments of them. The fewer notes you play, the more open, airy, and ringing the guitar sounds - and that sounds great. After a while, too, you'll be able to "hear" things. "Oh, that guy's playing a standard D chord, but it sounds too high. Must be a capo."
One more thing - if you're going to buy books, invest in the authentic guitar tab editions. You'll be wasting your money on the piano/vocal/chord books. They usually don't invest a lot of time in working out guitar chords and usually just put piano chords in frames. If you see a lot of flats and sharps, that's most likely just the piano arrangement. You probably need a capo. I've got an extensive tab book collection amassed over 40+ years of playing. I have the original 1970 James Taylor tab book with all his great songs (Fire & Rain; Carolina, etc.). I have Gordon Lightfoot songbooks with Gord's original handwritten lead sheets in them, which are priceless. Back then, artists took an active pat in producing song folios. It was great.
As far as online tab sites - most of them are crap. There are some great tab sites, usually dedicated to one particular performer, though. Rog Kiel does some top-notch JT tabs. Check him out at:
Cafe 512 at James Taylor 512.com
http://jamestaylor512.com/phpbb/ |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12759
Location: Boise, Idaho | When I first started playing, I was a stickler for doing it note for note like the original. It took a long time to learn very little, but I had lots of time then. I focused on songs within my vocal range.
Jump ahead 20+ years without any significant playing, but the kids are gone and start playing guitar. I can't hit the high notes anymore, but I'm OK with dropping down an octave, which also opens up some decent songs by women that I've never played before.
Our daughter showed me tabs and that was somewhat helpful, but I agree with Rick. Most are crap. I usually ignore any that starts with "this is my first tab" or "this is close". I can do "close" without a tab. They are useful if they tell where to put a capo, but oftentimes if they show a really weird fingering it's because the tab has the right notes, but in the wrong place on the guitar.
Some of the books are also crap. I've learned to look for a song I know is right before I buy a book and hope that the rest are right.
Since I don't play out or record anything, I can fuss around with the same song forever. If I get tired of trying to learn a song, I can play plenty of songs all the way through where I may be close enough for most people. I tend to forget a phrase or a verse if I don't have the lyrics in front of me, though. |
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Joined:
September 2003
Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | Great question... great responses.
Lots of good advise listed above.
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All I can add is if you really like a song and find it beyond your reach, don't give up. Throw the Chordie page in a pile and come back to it every so often and have another go at it.
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Brian & I have put songs "back in the stew pot" to simmer till ready. We have a good handful of songs that at one time were beyond our abilitys of the moment only to have them now be some of our favorites to play.
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One of the very first songs we played was Mr. Bojangles. We worked and worked on it but it never got to be something we'd want to play for someone. Now... 6 or so years later, with one guitar capoed up and the other open, and 6 years of learning about singing harmony, it's starting to come together and really shine.
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We like The Zombies. We figured out "Tell Her No" well enough but we'd really like to do "Time of the Season". We need to come up with a way to fill in where they play a Hammond organ. Without it the song is very short and repeditive.
We'll get it someday. If we found a way to fill in for the drum solo in Itchycoo Park, we'll find something for this.
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Rock on. |
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Joined:
November 2010
Posts: 125
Location: Derry NH | Currently polishing up Pink Floyd's San Tropez from Meddle. Fun tune, outside their particular niche. Helped me better appreciate the finger position and tone of the Gmaj6 chord. Pretty simple song, maybe 6 chords, shortish lead in the middle ending with some slide work. Cranked the CD the other day and just wanted to play this one. |
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Joined:
June 2008
Posts: 66
| The best thing for me was FretBoard Logic.A thin book.
My big discovery on the secret of playing a song on the guitar and sound like you know what your doing,is just change the key but still play in the open position. |
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Joined:
September 2011
Posts: 108
Location: eastern united states | excellent advice everyone ! hope some of you dont mind if i borrow it for some beginners i work with . |
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Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 4619
Location: SoCal | stepchild...curious as to your screen name... |
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Joined:
January 2007
Posts: 137
Location: Massachusetts | I envy the new guitarist just starting out. They've got you tube, tabs, charts up the ying yang, slow down devices to help them learn a song at their fingertips.
I started back in the fifties and had to keep playing a record over and over until I "got it". Fortunately, by learning this way I developed a decent "ear", but man it took a lot of work and some missed chords.
My suggestion would be to use every possible learning-aid you can find, and enjoy all the music you can make. |
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Joined:
September 2011
Posts: 108
Location: eastern united states | been waiting for that one tony. pm me if ya want, curious about your son in law. |
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Joined:
December 2009
Posts: 686
Location: Route 66, just east of the Cadillac Ranch | There's some really good advice in this thread. I must admit I've never had a strategy when learning a new song, but it makes perfect sense. I'm guilty of trying to sing out of my vocal range in an effort to keep the song authentic, but more times than not I'm just "stinking it up." I need to work on changing things up to fit me.
Most of the time I'm playing alone and struggle with tempo. For some reason the more challenging a song is, the faster I try to play. It can turn into a real train wreck. How do you deal with tempo if you're playing alone? Is there some sort of discreet metronome to help? |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12759
Location: Boise, Idaho | Nick,
I've found that singing along helps with the tempo. Sort of like being your own metronome. I've played an instrument or sung since I was a kid though, and tapping my foot to the beat is almost a reflex.
I also forgot to mention that I often hear the bass line in a song and will learn the bass harmony. I suck at music theory, but still remember that the bass line is the foundation for any song. I'll try various barre chords that fit the bass and pretty soon I have the chords to the song. |
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Joined:
January 2009
Posts: 4535
Location: Flahdaw | You're right, Mark...singing definitely helps. You can only sing so fast, and purposefully tapping my left foot in beat helps me focus on my tempo also. But I'd still be willing to bet that by the end of the song, my tempo has increased by 20%. Maintaining tempo is my biggest challenge, but I just can't function with a metronome. |
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Learning a new song
