Need help learning songs.

[Daveman]

Hi:

I have a hard time learning songs. Whether it is from tab or sheet music, it takes a while getting through the measures. I find myself migrating into other songs before getting a very good handle on the ones I was working on. There are probably 50 songs I really want to learn well.

Can anyone offer some suggestions on how to either discipline yourself or organize and approach to keep from gettin off track while rehearsing the material you have mastered. Unfortunately, time is not abundant for me.

Thanks for your help, thoughts, and insight on this.

[ibmindless]

There are a number of things you can do for this situation - I know, I've had (have) the same problem. Personally, I rarely use tabs or sheet music, preferring to learn the songs by ear. Of course every once in awhile, I have to seek help from those sources, but I enjoy the challenge. Usually, I can figure out a song by hearing it - and not needing a guitar to figure out the chords.

For practice, I oftentimes play along with MP3 music on my computer. This works fine, except I quickly get bored and move on to another song, feeling I've just mastered the previous song when I really haven't. As a result, I can play the first verse or so of hundreds of songs, but then I'll forget lyrics, or forget a chord, or some piece of the song.

So, you might want to make a list of the songs you want to play, and then pare that down to what you want to MASTER now. Pick ONE song and master it from start to finish. Play it over and over until you're satisfied you know it - THEN move on to the next. You could also RECORD yourself. Then you can better critique whether you've mastered the song or not. Or, sign up for an open mic night. THAT will force you to know the song inside & out.

As far as I can tell, those are some of the important elements towards mastering some songs, BUT it will cost you lots of time - no way around spending time on practice. But if you organize yourself and your resources, you can make the most of that limited time. Ever so slowly, I'm starting to follow my own advice. Good luck & enjoy.

[freestyle]

Oddly enough, another great help will be a metro gnome. This little guy will help you keep time and improve your timing skills as well as enforce the music into your head. Start slow, get faster gradually. When you reach the proper speed, you will have the song down pat.

[thisisbrianly]

You might want to check out Windows Media Player 9-it has a cool feature that lets you slow the song down i think up to 75%.

[JW1111]

It is easier to write songs, I think, sometimes, then to learn someone elses from tab.

[mapletrees]

Daveman...

don't know what your interests are...

the following will describe someone on this forum.....it describes a lot of people...





grew up on classic rock...

started to learn how to play that stuff...

wasn't too thrilled with their progress...

don't really play with other players much or even at all...

started to think that the secrect to advancing their playing was to start focusing more on specific areas such as blues and/or jazz and/or improvising and/or fingerstyle and/or bluegrass and/or theory...etc........invested some/a bunch of time and money going that route...

and....



found out that...gee whizz...although they like those other forms of music....they're not rabid fans of it.....and gee whizz....still like that good ol' rock -n- roll......and really would deep down just like that play that stuff on a whole different higher level....

still crank up Skynrd/Zep/Stones/Beatles while driving in the car? do you choose it over the New Age Acoustic Fluff Brunch or whatever comes on your local radio channels....no shame in that...


again, have no idea what's up with you...

if this is irrelevant, ignore it...


most radio-oriented rock tunes do not feature just one guitar...

record yourself playing one part (pick a simple part or simplify down one of the parts) ....

and then try to add in bit by bit of the elements of the other parts when you play along with your own recorded self...


flow, rhythm, timing, authoritative ooooomph and control of your playing...........those are the things that are misssing from *most* dissatisfied unfocused players' playing......leads to guitar playing that is mostly a physical event (not interesting) instead of a musical event (interesting)...

[JW1111]

Sounds good to me.

[mapletrees]

Daveman...

and I might very well be getting you mixed up with someone else on the forum....there are so many folks on here with 'dave' in their name...

someone with a 'dave' name recently went through a flurry of posts that centered around finding all sorts of self-instructional materials...looked like the big middle-aged push of 'gonna get serious with this thing before I die'.... ....seemed like someone who was perhaps thinking to 'get serious' with the guitar they needed to move on to 'more serious' forms of music...




music is interesting...

and when someone perhaps gets a bit bored or unfocused with their practice, it might very well mean that somehow their playing has become quite un-musical...(especially if they're working out of material they supposedly like)


music is melody, harmony, and rhythm....

and playing music is doing all the various things we do to expressively bring out the melody, harmony, and rhythm...

very typical scene of someone trying to 'learn guitar' would be Joe of Jane Q Public sitting in isolation in their living room with a TAB book...

but tablature is a blessing and a curse....

with TAB you can quickly work up various parts of a song to a recognizable level...just getting your fingers on the right notes makes it recognizable...but that might not be even close to musical level......

if someone is playing and practicing in isolation, it is very easy for them to play terribly poorly with respect to the aspects of music concerning rhythm and not be aware of it....

no good ryhthm = no good music = non-interesting event...yawn...yawn...yawn......well, let's see, what's on this page....etc...


get yourself 'in the groove'....

record a part (doesn't matter if it's with a cheap $10 tape recorder) and try to play another part with it...

try running various parts together to make a bigger whole...

don't just try to play along with a CD...make it more 'live'...make it more interactive...



again, don't know you, and it might not be relevant to your situation....

[JW1111]

"no good ryhthm = no good music = non-interesting event...yawn...yawn...yawn......"

I disagree. Ever hear an adagio? No good rythm.
Its difficult to appreciate for some. But for others, its heavenly.

[mapletrees]

??????????

[Taylorplayer]

Here's a pretty good "system" to use (each day - or whenever you get to play):

10 minutes playing whatever you want (just for fun)

10 minutes practicing what you learned yesterday

10 minutes working on something new



You might be surprised how good that works! Hope this helps ~

Taylorplayer

[4Gtrs]

Dave,
How long have you been playing (what is your relative skill level)...it takes a while to develop 'musical stamina'. Is the music uninspiring that you wander? Having a buddy (or a band) that you can jam with forces you to keep rhythm and focus for the entire song or set. Let us know what you're trying to achieve.
Best wishes...

[freestyle]

Just one cautionary note here, folks. The music you hear on a CD is done by a professional. He/she has spent hours and hours working on each individual song to get it to where he/she can play it even with a hangover. This post is about the time required (yes, and the discipline) to make a song your own. You have to make it nearly automatic, yet retain the "life" in the music. The "soul," if you will. You have to learn the music, learn it well, and add some spice to keep it interesting. A lot of practice can be very boring, if you let it. Repetition is a key ingredient here. Your fingers have to KNOW where you want them to go for each song. The idea I am trying so hard to express here is: find the fun and the interesting things in the music you practice, in order to keep it fun. Learning my guitar does that for me. Finding the nuances, the inter-relationships on the fretboard is a very rewarding part of this. Finding the alternate fingerings for each situation and figuering out which one I want (vs. which one is easiest) to make the music more meaningfull and rich. This gives me the impetus to keep on practicing, and the patience to put up with the hard parts like difficult stretches and hand cramps and just plain old pain in my hands. This is what gives me joy in my music. Not the pain, nor the frustration, but overcoming these obstacles to acheive the sounds I want. It's a great sense of accomplishment, and very rewarding.
There now. The mass has ended, go in peace.

[Taylor110]

Originally Posted by JW1111

Ever hear an adagio? No tempo.
Its difficult to appreciate for some. But for others, its heavenly.

Ummmm, "adagio" refers to a specific tempo, generally in the 66-76bpm range. When used to refer to a movement in a particular piece, it is a description of the tempo the movement is performed at.

[JW1111]

Thanks Taylor 110. I listened to my adagio (Barber; Adadio for Strings Op. 11 -Baltimore Symphony Orchestra -Zinman conductor) and heard it in a different way. It does have a tempo. Thank you for pointing that out. I have never listeded for a tempo in it before, but it is there. I also looked up adagio in the dictionary and it is defined as 'slow in tempo'. Cool.

But my point was that music does not have to have an obvious "good" rythm to be interesting. I think the same is true for guitar. I know it is. Case in point, Alex Degrassi. Most of his stuff, while it may follow a tempo, is, in my opinon, more melody dependant. In other words, you dont have to be able to tap your foot to it for it to be interesting. Melodies are just as instrumental as rythm.
I was inspired to defend this because it is something I am used to defending about my music. People like to tap their foot to music, and if they can't well, whatever...... I cant stand their music either .

Thanks again -J