I don't suppose anyone has any tips for learning the format of songs? Obviously simple structures are not a problem; I'm thinking about songs don't seem too have much repetition or deviate from more standard progressions.
My current attack is write them down in a note pad, and just keep practicing until I've got them down.
The other thing I do is listen to the song I'm learning in the car or on my headphones when out walking etc.
Time is tight these days for quality practice periods so just wondered what others do?
Cheers
Previously known as stevebrum
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Like you I don't have instant recall but usually pick up a previously learnt song fairly quickly even if it's been a few years.
I play a lot of covers, and I'm split between two bands. There are songs that have been put into the set lists at short notice so I used crib notes, what I find then is that certain songs just don't ever sink in, so I end up being tied to the crib notes, even though I've now played them loads of times!
I always seem to have a lot of cover songs to learn, and some aren't familiar to me. I tend to use my "travelling into work time" to listen to the songs and write down the song structure on a pad - after so many years, I have my own wording to help me identify things - or I print off the lyrics and fill in the breaks, verses etc. Then, when I have the structure and song going around my head, I actually sit down at home with the guitar and fill in the musical blanks (chords/notes).
People have even be known to use iPads live as their crib sheets!
E.g. Here's a screen shot of "It's my Life" which I learned recently:
Generally the more you understand the inner workings of the song the more it helps, I think. So, working out the structure, maybe the lyrics, working out parts,etc, rather than a 2 minute learn from tab (not that I never do that...). Just having a song playing in the car or on my ipod on the train doesn't seem to do much for me, doing something so that I am hearing it in a more focused way is much more helpful.
But, if you asked me to play a 3 chord song I did in a band 10 years ago I probably couldn't, although I could pick it up again quite quickly ( and when I have done this often realised I never played the bloody thing right in the first place).
Could you briefly outline its function for the layman without any marketing spin!
The screen shot shows a couple of things,
(1) I've got Transcribe to adjust the pitch of the original +1 semitone so I can play along in standard tuning for convenience (fractions of semitones are do-able too for, you know, Jimi *cough*
(2) The labels I've added to map the song. This is really simple to do. You play the song, tap along (Transcribe adds numbers so if you're tapping in time they're obviously bar numbers, then I go back to the sections and click the bar number and call it "3rd solo" and all the bar numbers in that section automatically re-number themselves telling me the 3rd solo is 17 bars long.
(3) I've highlighted the rapid lick. This will loop indefinitely if I want it too. Also, really neat, I might want to start playing the loop at 50% speed and each loop the speed will increase by 1% until it's playing at 100%. It will do this automatically and all figures (the start speed, the number of repetitions of each loop, the finish speed) are adjustable.
Back to SCOM, here's what it sounds like. I've just stitched this mp3 together now. You hear whereabouts in SCOM I'm talking about, then
3 reps at full speed -- catch the lick? It's a bit quick so...
1 rep at 70%
1 rep at 50%
1 rep at 35%
1 rep at 25%
all speeds are adjustable etc.
Hope that helps.
I'm going to download it and give it a try. Thanks again for taking the time to explain it.
I try to keep crib notes to a minimum and if it's not a song I'm learning one off for dep gig then I'll try to ditch the notes asap or I find I rely on them. As wrong as it sounds it's the moments when I make a mistake that help me learn something so a dodgy run through with no notes in rehearsal can help get a song locked in.
You learn music by using your ears not your eyes.