Some Songs Just Don’t Want to Get Learned.

[Jim Comeaux]

I started teaching myself to flatpick some fiddle tunes and bluegrass type music at the beginning of this pandemic thing that we are experiencing. I have had a fair bit of success with the 18 or 20 or so songs that I have “learned” so far. I put that in quotes because one never fully “learns” a song, just a version of it and it can always be improved upon or embellished in some way. But I digress. What I’m whining about is that the song “Salt Creek” is really giving me a fit, or at least the version that I am trying to get registered in my muscle memory. I must admit that I am purposefully making this a bit harder on myself by eschewing a capo. The free, online version that I heard and liked very much is written out as “capo 2 and play it out of the open “G” position, and a good part of the B part is played well up the neck with a double stop at the 5th, fret on the “B” and “E” strings while also fretting notes on the 7th and 9th frets. Well, sorry about that my old arthritic fingers just won’t allow that, so I did a little transposing and found that double stop on the “G” and “B” strings at the second fret without the finger breaking stretch that the original arrangement forces on you. True, it is an octave lower that the original, but I think that it sounds pretty good. In case you are interested the original version is at https://acousticguitar.com/salt-cree...guitar-lesson/. Do you also run across songs that just refuse to get learned?

[M19]

I've given up on more songs than I care to admit. But if it isn't happening, it just isn't. No benefit to me to fret about it. <ha ha! see what I did there?>
Interesting coincidence here, in that I just printed out Matt Bruno's "treatise" on playing Salt Creek for the Mandolin.

[rstaight]

I have a few songs that just are being buggers to get. I will step away for awhile and then come back to it. Then remember why I stepped away.

[TBman]

If there's a tune that I want to learn I have learned not to let 1 or 2 unreachable notes stop me from learning it. You can always make something up to take its place.

The only time it's a real problem is if the unattainable note position(s) is in the hook of the tune.

Sometimes I will put a capo higher than what is called for in the music to make stretches easier.

Remember, a listener doesn't care if you played with a capo or not, they just want to hum/sing along with something.

[cc132]

I have been trying to learn Fahey’s “Variations on the Coocoo” off and on for years. There’s nothing particularly difficult about it, but my brain and fingers just will not retain it for some reason.

[Jamolay]

From a beginners standpoint, I have to ask: only some songs?

[Robin, Wales]

Being enough of an index finger short to stop me from playing barre chords. And having a limited vocal range that I can guarantee is going to be probably something awkward like a flattened 7th away from the track that I'm listening to. I end up transposing and rearranging pretty much every single song I want to learn!

If I did have a go at "Salt Creek" then I'd be tempted to arrange it in Eb, so I could kick off with it at a bluegrass session and see who was good enough to pick it up and run with it. I know that some of the guys l used to play with would be all over it like a rash whatever key it was opened in.

[musicman1951]

Originally Posted by Jim Comeaux

Do you also run across songs that just refuse to get learned?

I don't, but I occasionally decide a song is not worth the effort it will take to learn it.

I can break down the difficult parts into small enough chunks to repeat 20 or 30 times a day until they are tamed. But sometimes the number of days/weeks of woodshedding exceed my desire to play the song. I haven't found anything that can't be eventually learned with slow passages frustratingly repeated with the smallest increase of 2 bpm on the metronome. But you really have to love some songs to keep at it for as long as it requires.

[RussellHawaii]

Recently while learning ‘I Will’ by the Beatles, I find out why this sweet little song is rarely covered. Like many Beatles songs it get tricky at one point, with a quick diminished chord that happens only once.
What I did was to fix it! Removed that chord and it still works. It’s now my favorite new song, and people seem to like it.
If only I’d been around to help out, maybe they wouldn’t have needed 53 takes!
Sorry if I’m off topic!

[Pdubs76]

Yes. More so with certain artists because they have such a unique way of playing that it’s hard to slow it down and figure out what they’re doing exactly.

[Bluenose]

I don't understand why I can't get the B section of Classical Gas under my fingers. I got the A section pretty much down but the B section gives me fits. I think I'll make my own B section.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by musicman1951

I don't, but I occasionally decide a song is not worth the effort it will take to learn it.

Me too.

Sometimes, I can tell that straight off. Some tunes are just ridiculously complicated - they're exhausting to just listen to, never mind trying to learn them.

Other times, I'll hear a tune I really like, and it seems too much of a challenge. But I find I can sit down and go through it step by step and eventually I'll get it. There's been a few like that recently. I might give up at some point, having nearly got it, but feeling like my fingers just won't go that final step.
But then I'll come back to it a day or even a week later, and that final step is not so bad. I.e, the previous effort has paid off, most of it has gone into finger memory, and that last push is a little easier.

But there is still the occasional one where I do put in a similar amount of time and effort, but just get bored with it. As great as the piece it, it's really just not that great. So I let it win, and leave it - there's so much more good music out there!

[Andyrondack]

Originally Posted by Jim Comeaux

I started teaching myself to flatpick some fiddle tunes and bluegrass type music at the beginning of this pandemic thing that we are experiencing. I have had a fair bit of success with the 18 or 20 or so songs that I have “learned” so far. I put that in quotes because one never fully “learns” a song, just a version of it and it can always be improved upon or embellished in some way. But I digress. What I’m whining about is that the song “Salt Creek” is really giving me a fit, or at least the version that I am trying to get registered in my muscle memory. I must admit that I am purposefully making this a bit harder on myself by eschewing a capo. The free, online version that I heard and liked very much is written out as “capo 2 and play it out of the open “G” position, and a good part of the B part is played well up the neck with a double stop at the 5th, fret on the “B” and “E” strings while also fretting notes on the 7th and 9th frets. Well, sorry about that my old arthritic fingers just won’t allow that, so I did a little transposing and found that double stop on the “G” and “B” strings at the second fret without the finger breaking stretch that the original arrangement forces on you. True, it is an octave lower that the original, but I think that it sounds pretty good. In case you are interested the original version is at https://acousticguitar.com/salt-cree...guitar-lesson/. Do you also run across songs that just refuse to get learned?

Transposing such dance tunes to make it more playable by you is a big part of arranging for guitar, but just as important is getting into a mentality where you are wanting to play the tune not necessarily someone else's arrangement of it .
There are always different options as to where and how to play the same notes, this is where knowledge of the fretboard comes in. Explore the different options and try them out, see if you can use any open strings.
I have come to realise that a big element of learning to play guitar is searching around the fretboard to find the easiest location and technique to play something.
If I were you I would not eschew using the capo to make stretches easier. Lots of great guitarists use a capo for that reason, nothing wrong with it.

[Don W]

Alex DeGrassi's "Causeway"...my favorite fingerstyle piece...I don't have what it takes to play this yet...on hold until I do.

[The Bard Rocks]

Often, if it doesn't "come", I will figure it's not going to and will go ahead to the next one I wish to learn. But there are some I like enough and play well enough at the onset that i will keep working on them for a long while. A couple of fiddle tunes have been "coming, but not there yet" for 20 years. And I have another where the yodel is inconsistent. Sometimes I nail it, other time I butcher it. I've got to get it right every time before I do that in public.