I haven't played for a couple of years since the last band split, but now we're having another go at it and I'm finding it really hard to learn the new numbers for some reason - probably just out of practice at...er.. practising ! How do you approach learning new covers ? Do you get the chords / tab off the internet, or work it out for yourself ? More importantly, how much time do you spend on each number ?
I'm just getting bogged down and find it's taking me forever. I don't remember it being this painful before.
Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.
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Chips are "Plant-based" no matter how you cook them
Donald Trump needs kicking out of a helicopter
I'm personally responsible for all global warming
I genuinely can't think of a song we play that has been tricky to learn that I'm sick off. I probably spent the most time learning "Sultans of Swing" a few years back and I still love the song. Same with the Thin Lizzy version of "Whiskey on the Jar" and that Eric Bell solo. Those are the rare songs in our set that I learnt note for note, most others I get the general structure and feel down then then see if I can noodle over it.
2) "Map" the parts of the song. I generally add a measure marker on every bar and a section marker on every section, e.g. intro/ verse/ pre-chorus/ chorus/ bridge/ breakdown/ solo/ outro -- those are the ones which come up over and over again.
3) Check on YouTube for vids: add the words "guitar tutorial" to a search of the song
4) Practice. Because in Transcribe you can slow it down and speed it up, and loop the tricky bars over and over till you get them right. Top tip: save the looped sections in the second Transcribe window "Audio Effects" and then you can come back to them whenever you want.
And it takes as long as it takes. Some songs can be done if 5 minutes and don't need all that faffing about. Others need to be worked through and practised more methodically with the method above.
Then sit down and play along - I enjoy the process of finding parts by ear, but I spend hours - if I get stuck I'll do a quick google.
A couple of bands I play with have a bad habit of not doing songs on the list, so I often learn enough to get by any key parts then when it's a definite go after rehearsal I'll play it enough times not to rely on notes.
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Fisrt thing I do is load it into Amazing Slow Downer and divide it into sections Intro, Verse 1, Chorus, Bridge Outro etc and save the loops. Anything special like a guitar solo gets its own loop saved. Any choruses or verses that a have variantions are noted.
Then I'll hunt down a lyrics sheet for it and check it agains the actual song (so many are wrong)
Then i'll try and find a chord sheet in the internet, only as a starting point (again so many are just plain wrong)
Then i create a song sheet in Word with chords above the lyrics, checking the timing and chords. That serves to help memorise the structure and make it plain for the band.
After that its just playing it many times, especially any solos, often slowed down and tabbed out if I need to memorise it. The song sheet goes out to the rest of the band so they will all work to the same sheet. Invariably the sheet gets adapted after we've played it, usually the outro.
First few times at rehrearsal will be with the song sheet, then I try and leave it alone otherwise it becomes a prop which is difficult to lose.
Then I'll sit down with a guitar and work out chords, changes and anything that's not obvious how to play after those couple of days.
Then I'll go through and write down structures a couple of times while listening to the record (intro - verse x2 - chorus - verse x1 - chorus, mid8, chorus, etc).
Agree with this 100%. Like Johnny B Goode, it's actually quite piano-heavy and the guitar parts aren't just bashing at chords.
Must confess, I'm lazy, and we don't gig (or even practice) regularly enough to learn stuff - I use cheat sheets, and am migrating to iPad IGigBook
And another +1 for Transcribe - though it isn't a silver bullet - it still takes time and patience.
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I've posted this before but here's a really nice example of Transcribe! in action with the fiddly bit from GnR's "SCOM". It's not just the "slow down" facility of Transcribe! which makes it the best, for me, it's the practice options: e.g. looping a lick, slowing it, and having it play x number of times before increasing the speed y percent.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/25971574/transcribe_demo_gnr.mp3