How to learn a new tune

[Carle]

The past two months I have experimented with ways to learn a tune. I had a thread about it some time back. What I have found that works for me is this. Most tunes are made up of three or four measures to a line. I learn one line and start on the next line and keep playing the first line to get it smoother. I keep adding lines and smoothing out the others but have not played them together yet. I also found that if I play a line 4 or 5 times and then play a tune I know or take a 5 minute break and play the line again I learn it faster. The longer I try to play a new line without a break the more I flub it up. I also preview the next line by sight reading and playing slowly. This gets me ready to learn it and memorize it. I have only been doing this new trick for a few weeks but it seems to have helped. When I get all the lines in this tune memorized and smooth I will tie them together. I am playing fingerstyle but it may work on any style of playing. I will post the end result but it may be a week or two so I may post a new thread if i can't find this one. Please post the way you learn a tune. I am a slow learner so this may only work for slow learners.

[kwakatak]

I guess it breaks down to what works for you. As a kid I originally learned to play on colored catgut strings with the Mel Bay method but then as the years went by I moved on to primarily playing by ear. Ultimately I was taught to read music and listen along to the recordings.

 

With lead playing I was taught to listen for passages that were separated by intervals of silence, a change in key or fretboard position or the transition to a recurring rhythm figure. After trying this method in vain - even with tab- I fell back on either paraphrasing the theme of the music (faking it) or completely improvising (pulling notes out of my a$$)!

 

There were occassions where I got better results by not even having the tab. I would just use my ear to pick up on rhythm figures and lines of melody but I still never got 100% proficient at it.

 

Lately I've been doing something different and use PowerTab. I also listen to the same pieces of music over and over so that my conscious mind doesn't get in my way. Strangley, I don't get sick of music as fast if I'm trying to reproduce it. I swear that I can also actually hear the music in my sleep and sometimes find myself subconsciously humming the tunes in my head during the day!

 

It must be working because I've been able to more accurately interpret the written music, but I primarily still use my ear and tab to feel through the hard parts. I can't play along with the MIDI track, but it's still nice to have it to refer to if I don't have the actual recording. I've been able to pick up a good dozen songs where before I could only learn 2 or 3.

[FingerBone Bill]

I've tried and used your method a lot Carle.

I've found I know a lot of songs really well in the beginning parts.... and not well at all at the ends!

I try to take a more hollistic view these days, cutting a tune up into its "parts" and working on each piece individually and then stitching them all together at the end.

Works better for this slow learner.

I also find if I work a piece out myself it sticks in the brain much quicker than trying to learn from someone elses tabs.

[Carle]

I have always learned a tune from start to end one measure at a time and always had a problem with the last parts because I had not played them as much. I seems this latest way to learn a tune is better. I also don't pay a lot of attention to getting the timing right untill I can play the whole tune without stopping. Then I can start to put feeling in the timing of the tune and make it sound real. Life and music is an experiment I guess and we can't hurry the process.

[desaljs]

In addition to the excellent suggestions in this post, try learing the last bars first. Then you will not be stuck 3/4 of the way from the end. Many of us know the first part of a lot of songs, but not the last. I have tried this and it seems to work well. No nerves as you get closer to "uncharted territory".....................

[kwakatak]

Originally posted by FingerBone Bill I've tried and used your method a lot Carle. I've found I know a lot of songs really well in the beginning parts.... and not well at all at the ends! I try to take a more hollistic view these days, cutting a tune up into its "parts" and working on each piece individually and then stitching them all together at the end. Works better for this slow learner. I also find if I work a piece out myself it sticks in the brain much quicker than trying to learn from someone elses tabs.

 

Yeah, but I never manage to get the solos or interludes down perfectly! desaljs' post makes sense, though - working backwards does seem to help me sometimes. Then I sorta work my way to the middle parts which are the most fun but the toughest parts to play - can we call this the OREO method?

[0341]

I find it easier for me to start at the begining and work my way through. I don't have a great ear for music so I need to listen to an example of how the song should sound then start at the beginning. After I learn one part really well I move on to the next part. However when I am practicing part two I don't always start with part 1 and play all the way through. I only do that once or twice just for review then I concentrate on what I haven't learned yet. If I try to put too many things together at once I forget the new part. When I am done practicing for the day I might play the whole thing all the way through once or twice just to remember ho it all fits together. I hope my rambling helps.

[rushboardrider]

What works for me (I've no ear for music), I use cool edit and cut up the song into sections and then into bars. I play these cut up sections over and over until I can pick out the lines. Once I can play that particular part reasonably well I move to the next part adding the previous part until I can do the whole song.
It takes a bit of time and also helps with learning to play by ear.

rbr