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

BigMonka

octatonic said:

Ok, I've done it- just uploading to youtube now.
Because I'm a dope, you can't always see my fingerings due to the camera being a bit higher up but it isn't that important as actually it is the thought process behind how I'm doing it that matters.
Edit: Actually something happened in youtube conversion and you seem to be able to see more of the neck now.

There are loads of flubs and mistakes in there, but that got with the territory, I guess.

I can do another one with better a camera angle if what I'm doing isn't clear.
Hope this helps.

https://youtu.be/aA5IGAmfdeg

@octatonic ;I found watching your process was really helpful, thanks for going to the effort of recording it!
Ive been playing for over 20 years and I still struggle to pick up songs by ear - and that includes the really formulaic ones we do at church! So have you got any top tips of how to learn the sounds of the different chord changes/intervals/standard patterns please?

octatonic

BigMonka said:

@octatonic ;I found watching your process was really helpful, thanks for going to the effort of recording it!
Ive been playing for over 20 years and I still struggle to pick up songs by ear - and that includes the really formulaic ones we do at church! So have you got any top tips of how to learn the sounds of the different chord changes/intervals/standard patterns please?

Hi mate, 

It depends on where you are at now as to what I'd recommend doing to develop your ear.

Some questions:

Have you done any ear training?
Can you hear, for example, the difference between a plagal cadence (IV to I) and a perfect cadence (V to I)?
I find singing intervals really helps- but you can also use the various web based or app based ear training programs.

fretmeister

30 tunes done.

u2 and Ac/dc bass parts.

What's next?

octatonic

edit: not going to announce the *other part* to the challenge yet.
If you saw a preview earlier then please keep it to yourself.

Rocker

Started learning or finishing half learned songs and the three I expect to know by the end of October are: Wildwood Flower [in the keys of G and C], Tequila Sunrise [I half knew this but worked out the solo by ear], Wild World [Justin on the internet showed how to play this, almost got it down]. It really helps to have a target to focus on, in my case three songs per month. Not the vocals but the guitar parts.

octatonic

I'm back from Greece on Sunday and will start the challenge Monday.

Kebabkid

In which case @octatonic, here's your first challenge

DLM

thomasross20 said:

Nuno, not mini

thomasross20 said:

Damn phone spellcheck!

I think your phone just knows what a shortarse he is, Tiggs.

octatonic

Day One.

So... it begins.
Am I going to be doing this alone, or is anyone else going to join me?
Will you be learning the songs I'm learning, or your own?

Here is what I am doing.
There is a local functions band that I've been asked to occasionally dep for.
I won't be a permanent member- but they sometimes need someone to fill in.

The material is typical functions band stuff- up tempo pop/rock type stuff.
Nothing too complicated but you need to know the stops and the structure.
Hopefully this will fill in a piece of the puzzle for those guys who don't gig- the 'secret' (not that it is one, really) about learning songs is you learn them enough to gig, you rarely learn them note for note unless you are doing a tribute show that requires note for note versions.

They have a set of about 40-45 songs, about 10 of which I already know.
So I'm learning the rest of their set over the next 30 days- at least one a day.
If I get busy and miss a day then I'll catch up the next.
Some songs are pretty simple so I'll knock a couple over in one day.

Oh and I'm learning the set on guitar, bass and drums.

I'll post up videos as I make them, but I've encountered some copyright issues with my Youtube account because of the two others I've done- they are now no longer accessible from mobile devices because of copyright claims by the record labels.

You probably won't see me actually transcribe the pieces- at least not playing the copyrighted track, which is where I have had trouble.

I'll pop up screen grabs or photo's of my transcriptions- at least the guitar stuff, as most people here are guitarists, so at least you can get an idea of the harmony and the structure- the stuff I make sure I'm aware of, what I need to commit to memory and what stuff I can kinda wing.

So, the first song is 'Let Me Entertain You" by Robbie Williams.



Have some chores to get on with now, I'm going to tackle it on guitar first, which should take about 20 mins as it seems mostly like it is a 3 chord vamp (sounds like F, Ab, Bb).

DLM

octatonic said:

Oh and I'm learning the set on guitar, bass and drums.

ZOMG!

Just wanted to say, this thread is awesome sauce, James. I really enjoyed watching your two vids so far, shame about the copyright claims. I had fun bashing the riffs out afterwards, but I'll not be joining you in the 30 day challenge, unfortunately, as I need all my limited playtime for my band's new original material.

stratman3142

'Let Me Entertain You" by Robbie Williams.  Excellent I already know that one (on guitar) and I've played it live many times.

Sorry, I'm being a bit flippant. It's good what you're doing here and your videos are excellent

I try to keep up, but expect I'll fall behind at some point.

octatonic

Ok, I've had a run through of it on guitar and drums.
Drums is pretty easy- it is a modified Amen break pretty much the whole way through with some fills and some stops.
This sort of song there aren't many prescribed fills- I can get away with winging most of them- the first one I'll learn exactly and then launder it through the track. Fill laundering/recycling is where you take one fill and change it slightly on the repeats. I tend to go for ABAC.

Guitar is also pretty straight forward.
It is in the key of F major.
It probably makes sense to play this with a capo as you can use the open chord shapes for E G A D rather than barre chords.
I probably wouldn't though as capo's are a pain in the ass.
I am going through it a couple of times in E major (using the open chord shapes) and I would expect to be told to play a tune like this out of key depending on the range of the vocalist (this pretty much goes for any of the songs Im learning in the next month.

Below its how I chart out the structure for the first couple of run-throughs.
I basically want to capture the overall content, with stops or changes as they progress- given the song is in 4 bar blocks it makes sense to think in repetitions of 4 bar blocks.
I could put it in as 8 bars, 12 bars, 16 bars- or I could think in 8 bar blocks as most of the sections are repetitions of 2x 4 bar blocks.
The reason I don't here is because there is one place where they play the chorus riff 4 bar block 3 times (so 12 bars). Writing "Chorus x 1.5" seems messy, so I just break the song down into repetitions of whole numbers.
It doesn't matter really but I find the main thing is to find a system and then stick to it as much as you can.

I usually would't score out the little fills or figures- such as the wah figure in the modified verse.
The goal is to get it into my head as fast as possible and be a reference should I need to come back to it down the line- I won't have the chart when I'm gigging of course.

I pretty much always link verses in with the first line of the vocal.
It helps you orient yourself if things go awry.

The outro has a trading 8's solo thing that the band play which could go on indefinitely.
As the track fades out I'll need to know how they end it- this is usually decided in rehearsal but as I'm a dep I won't know this.
There are usually only a couple of ways to do it that get used.
I keep a separate list of 'questions to ask the band' that I either email over before the gig or ask on the night.
Often it is a case of 'if in doubt, follow the band leader' and you just wing it.

I have a few more things to get done and then will pick up the bass.

guitargeek62

I started the year with a resolution of learning one song a week; I did pretty badly at that over the past 6 months due to some stuff going on at home, but things are looking better again so I've been picking up my guitars more. I've also been broadening my listening a lot more away from the same old stuff, so I'm finding new songs that I want to strum along to.

My approach is far less analytical than @octatonic, but probably just because I don't know anything about music theory! I tend to use ear for the most part, and just get close to the feel of the track, but I'm leaning more and more on tab as I get into more complex acoustic stuff lately.

Anyway, long story short, I'm in.  I'll try for one a week, at least on average anyways. If I can hit 10 new tracks this side of xmas I'll be happy.

1st round: Mykonos - Fleet Foxes.

octatonic

Welcome @guitargeek62 ;;

Ok, I've had a look at the bass track.
In this sort of tune, with chunky guitars, big drums, horns, keys and everything the job here is to keep it simple and keep it solid.

So, mostly root notes with some octave/chromatic (4 b5 5 climb) playing to keep it moving, especially in the choruses
The exact line is clearer on a live video, so I've used that to transcribe.
The main thing is to lock in with the kick drum and the guitars as much as possible.
I don't need to chart this out for bass- the guitar chart is more than sufficient.

The only question I feel I need to satisfy myself with is 'pick or fingers'?
I checked a couple of live videos of Robbie's band playing it and the bassist is using fingers so that is what I'm doing.
Live videos are great for working out songs- because modern record production compresses everything down so that it can be difficult to separate one instrument from another.
Live recordings often have better separation- for instance in this track I can hear the bass motif's more clearly:


I can also see the drummer keeping the hats going when he goes to the ride in the chorus.
You don't necessarily get that from a commercial recording and because so much stuff is overdubbed you might think a part is more complex than it actual is.

So I'm going to keep cycling this song about today on bass, drums and guitar.
Tomorrow it will be the first thing I play , then I go and work on the second song.
On the 3rd day I'll work on the first two before working on the 3rd, and so on.

Easy song to begin with- haven't decided on which song I'll do tomorrow- perhaps 'Play that Funky Music' by Wild Cherry, or maybe 'Lonely Boy' by the Black Keys.

bingefeller

Octa why don't you get chords or tabs from Ultimate-Guitar or something?  

octatonic

bingefeller said:

Octa why don't you get chords or tabs from Ultimate-Guitar or something?  

Short answer - because it makes you a lazy musician.

Long answer- part of why I transcribe is to keep my ear training up to scratch.
I'm not blessed with perfect pitch, like @Viz, so it is good to keep my hand (ear?) in.

This material is pretty simple stuff- we aren't talking Steely Dan here- so I don't really need to use it.
Plus, the process of deconstructing a track means you learn it in a more complete way.
Playing the song the 50 or so times I've done it today across the three instruments means I am unlikely to forget part of it when I'm gigging.
The most important thing in learning songs is learning and remembering the structure.
You have to get the stops right- nothing looks worse than fucking them up.
Missing a few notes here or there is relatively inconsequential- but missing a stop makes you look like an amateur.
This is particularly important with drumming- you can simplify parts right down to kick on the 1 & 3, snare on the 2 & 4 most of the time and most people won't notice.
Miss a stop and everyone will know it.

And playing the three parts means I know what the other two guys are doing when I'm doing one of the jobs so this should help me lock in.
This was actually why I started playing bass and drums in the first place- to make me a better guitarist, which I reckon it has.
And because when I've looked in the past (it was some time ago) the transcriptions they put up are sometimes incomplete or incorrect.
And then what if the song isn't up there what do you do then?

bingefeller

Alright man, fair enough.  

bingefeller

I have thousands of quality tabs Octa, if you're stuck give me a shout.  

viz

^

octatonic

bingefeller said:

I have thousands of quality tabs Octa, if you're stuck give me a shout.  

You scamp.