The inaugural 'learn a song a day for a month' challenge.

octatonic

LOL. Awesome.

TheOtherDennis

Congratulations, @octatonic, a genuinely awesome achievement, waaaay beyond anything I could manage in my current circs.

I couldn't even manage to learn one song in a week! Why not? See below -


I did it last Friday, couldn't even hold a pic for four days, let alone use it. Jammed the end of my thumb, hard.

Still hurts now.

Vaiai

We do Gloria into Hot Stuff - never fails I also find it kind of funny it's all minor chords but so up tempo and happy sounding!

Modellista

octatonic said:

"Alright Now" chart is below.

Harmony: clever use of very few chords.
Guitar: probably one of the most argued over riffs in history.
I'm playing it like this:

A: x 0 2 2 5 5
D/A: x 0 4 2 3 2
D add11: x 5 4 0 3 0

Chorus:

A5: x 0 7 9 10 x (then descending with F# E on the A string) to
G5: x 5 5 7 8
G/F#: x x 4 7 8
The final A I'm playing: x 0 x 9 10 9 (plucking the open A with the pick and puling the top 3 notes with my fingers.

Before I start, please forgive my pedantry, but the guitar parts are my zone of interest here.

Just a tuppence-worth on my take on the verse chords, for the record.  I like your chords, but I can hear a chord before the Dsus4add9, which is something like A6sus4...

A5: x 0 2 2 5 5 
D/A: x 0 4 2 3 2
A6sus4: x 0 4 2 3 0
Dsus4add9: x 5 4 0 3 0

And you seem to have lost a string off your guitar in the chorus!

Do you mean:

G5: x 0 5 7 8 x
G/F#: x 0 4 7 x x

Otherwise, well done in getting to the "end"!

mrkb

@octatonic - did you describe how you documented the drum sections/rhythms? You mentioned it being copied from a friend - i'd be interested in how you do it if he's Ok with sharing the method.

octatonic

mrkb said:

@octatonic - did you describe how you documented the drum sections/rhythms? You mentioned it being copied from a friend - i'd be interested in how you do it if he's Ok with sharing the method.

Unfortunately I cannot share this approach at this stage- the chap who taught it to me is going to be using it in a series of videos quite soon and I would be stealing his thunder.
Once it is out in the open I should be able to talk about it.
It is pretty cool.

hollywoodrox

Plectrum said:

Learning a song a day for 30 days sounds more like a punishment than pleasure! It often takes me months to get a song to point where I'm happy to gig it what with learning the chords and any distinctive fills and riffs, arranging it for solo guitar, memorising the lyrics and practising to get the vocals to a decent quality (which may involve a key change).

This lol. 

DLM

octatonic said:

Once it is out in the open I should be able to talk about it.

Do you have more details on this now, James?

DLM

DLM said:

octatonic said:

Once it is out in the open I should be able to talk about it.

Do you have more details on this now, James?

@octatonic

munckee

If I learned a song a day for 30 days at the end I would know one of the songs (from the last day) plus a few bits of others.

octatonic

DLM said:

DLM said:

octatonic said:

Once it is out in the open I should be able to talk about it.

Do you have more details on this now, James?

@octatonic

I really can't say anything about it right now.
I'm meeting him for a catch up in a week or so, I'll ask him if he has published anything.

hollywoodrox

This is tempting me to start a 3 songs a month regime . I’m very slow I usually get stuck on tricky rhythms or solos . I’ve enjoyed reading this thread so please don’t castigate me for necro threading lol. Currently working on. Alice Cooper -poison , cutting crew -died in your arms tonight and white wedding -billy idol

hollywoodrox

octatonic said:

stratman3142 said:

So you're done. That definitely deserves a Wow and a Wisdom, but I don't seem able to award both.
It's been interesting following this thread and it's something I'll come back to.

Not quite- I still have 11 days to go until the 30 days are up.
I don't consider that I have all the songs down- they are just charted, I'm familiar with the structure and I've played them a few times on bass drums and guitar.

Next stages are refining, recording myself playing them, observing mistakes, correcting them.

Here is a small video of me playing the last 30 seconds or so of Uptown Funk.
It is difficult to do a 'this is how I work out drum parts' lesson due to the logistics of the studio- I can't record and monitor at volume otherwise it is feedback city.

Man , you have worked on a lot of skill’s to do all this  well done .

octatonic

Thank you, although I should point out that that was about 3 years ago.
I can see that back then I was a bit early on the 1- I don't do that so much anymore.

I'm not sure why this thread got bumped after being dormant for so long.
I'm pleased people are still getting something from it though.

hollywoodrox

It’s quite inspiring I suppose and stirs us from procrastination to see your achievements and the process

DLM

James: You made reference to this thread in one on transcribing, where I then posted the link. Mr. @hollywoodrox must have clicked on that. I don't see a problem with quality stuff getting necrobumped. 

octatonic

Oh it is not an issue. I was just surprised.
pleased people find it useful.

adamm82

I started doing this lately before seing this thread. This week I have learned Sweet Emotion and drop dead legs.
I always get annoyed afterwards as I think I should have learned all these long time ago.

I also get amazed everytime that I struggle with one part before I go to bed. When I wake up the next day I can play it properly.

PolarityMan

Was worth a re-read as I had forgotten about this thread. One day I'll try something like this on drums but committing the time required right now is tough. 

Modellista

I’m waiting for the inaugural I-signed-up-for-a-jam-six-months-ago-and-now-I-have-to-learn-ten-songs-in-two-hours challenge.