Your methods for learning new songs (covers)

[discreet]

[quote name='leschirons' timestamp='1342183131' post='1731005']
6) Hope all the other buggers have done the same when we get to the gig.[/quote]

This of course, is the bit you don't have any control over! Grr!

[51m0n]

Get hold of the track in digital form on the 'puter (rip from a cd, record 'live' from youtube, buy the mp3, whatever).

Import it into Reaper, which allows me to:-[list]
[*]mark sections out, and put notes in the sections, which can include lyrics to a certain extent - also allows section looping to become trivial!
[*]apply very surgical eq and noise reduction algorithms to lift the bass out (ReaFir an FFT eq/dynamics processor is excellent for this kind of shenanigans)
[*]slow it down, no really this can help
[*]pitch shif tthe song up or down a few cents to get it in tune
[*]pitch shift it up an octave, can sometimes help pull out the bass line a lot!
[/list]
Once I've worked it out, and written out the structure and any notes (if I'm feeling brave or deluded I mean even write some of the dots out to particular fills, but this is only asking for trouble as my reading skills are so poor), then it is merely a case of repetition, and reading the crib sheets.

Interestingly I have found that reading the crib sheets and mentally playing the song is every bit as helpful in terms of gross structure memorising as strapping on the bass and playing it for real. Just dont do this whilst driving!

Edited July 13, 2012 by 51m0n

[51m0n]

[quote name='groovebuster' timestamp='1342186041' post='1731114']
wen i wer a lad y sat down got the key and went from there. now unless ur a jazzer and its just a popular tune UTUBE fool. some1s probly bin there. still using ur ear is never a bad fing. get root notes, get chords, get fiddly bits. wana take it further get melody and play chords. find relavent scales, learn over 2 octives then solo y ass off.
[/quote]

Errr, pardon?

[musophilr]

Identify intro, verses, choruses, middle etc, time sig, tempo ... do a chord chart. This maps it all out and makes it easier to learn. I have my own private notation for stops etc. Put the song on a cassette so can use it for playing along practice, and also put it in the car. Then I learn the bass part. Internet "tabs" are pretty damn useless anyway so I rarely bother with them. I can't do stuff without a chord chart!

[Dave Vader]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1342178476' post='1730871']
Always by ear. I start by listening to the target track at low volume.......who are tragic geeks.
[/quote]

Your approach is the one I always intend to go with mark, however, more often than not I am doing this.

[quote name='pobrien_ie' timestamp='1342180364' post='1730936']
Interesting thread.... I'm standing in for a band next week and have to learn about 30 new songs (70's and 80's rock). This will be a turn up on the nigh and play type gig, no rehearsal beforehand. I was only asked to do the gig this Tuesday, so learning all these songs on top of work and family life is a challenge to say the least. To make things worse, a lot of the songs I've never really listed to properly before and most aren't really my cup of tea at all.
[/quote]

Which means my usual way to work out a new song, is to stare at the guitarist/bassists (depending on the gig) left hand feverishly and hope nobody notices i am busking it

[groovebuster]

learn it in y head note 4 note then u dont have to keep listening to it to figure it out.

[KevB]

Listen to the original and maybe a live version if available, try to get as much info as I can out of it then usually go to GuitarPro if there is a file avialable and 95% of the time find out bits that I'd completely missed by listening alone or was clearly playing incorrectly. GP speeds up my ability to learn stuff from scratch about 3 fold I reckon.

[thunderbird13]

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1342194174' post='1731395']
Listen to the original and maybe a live version if available, try to get as much info as I can out of it then usually go to GuitarPro if there is a file avialable and 95% of the time find out bits that I'd completely missed by listening alone or was clearly playing incorrectly. GP speeds up my ability to learn stuff from scratch about 3 fold I reckon.
[/quote]

I was too scared to mention Guitar Pro so I'm glad someone else did - I'm rubbish at working out recordings by ear

[seashell]

Much prefer dots or tabs if I can get them. For me its quicker and likely to be more accurate.
I struggle with doing it by ear - probably due to lack of experience. But I have worked out a couple of things by ear.
Notably 20th Century Boy by T Rex which I managed to get in an afternoon because I had to play it for the band 'audition' the next day. :-)

[rogerstodge]

Ive had to use a program called audacity for some rush tunes, it slows the song down and doesn't alter the pitch, its a free download, or at least it was

[JTUK]

I'll write our a chart and note any difficult little bits if necc.

I am not so fussed about note for note unless all the others get that too...so a chart is often enough and then we do a band groove and let the song go there.

[Silvia Bluejay]

Forgot to add that, besides obviously noticing the song's structure, repetition etc. and finding the correct key, it's important to listen for key changes and hear if they jump by a fourth or a fifth or just a semitone or two. Key changes aren't always the hackneyed repeated chorus at the end - there are lots of key changes in the middle of songs, or during guitar solos, or sometimes between one verse and another. I love it when I spot a key change, it's an added challenge

[stingrayPete1977]

Ears first, fly sh*t if they are out there second or if it's worth getting it bang on.

[xilddx]

I recently had to learn a tricky 5min composition on guitar for a gig. I had about ten days to do it and had a lot of other commitments at the time. I was panicking a bit I'll admit because I had to get it perfect and play it live on BBC radio, although I had to play something very different in the end. There were two guitar tracks mixed quite quietly, some little lead lines, arpeggios, bass-side harmony lines, etc. and all seemingly quite random. I had to weld the two together to make it like the recording and learn it on a classical nylon string for the radio show, and on a Strat for the gig. No charts or anything for this. It was played by someone else who used a steel string acoustic in a tuning they developed themselves which made things more tricky, I used a capo on G and played it standard tuning.

I don't really read or write music, and hate music stands on stage, so this is how I did it.

First thing I did was sling it on the iPOD and listen to it a lot while doing other things, it seems to help get it into my subconscious better when I'm not fully concentrating.

After a couple of days, I started learning each section. First thing I did was listen on headphones and write down the discreet sections with my own immediate instinctive adjectives for the parts, like 'Soft Arps', 'Quiet Twiddles', 'High Harmony Sunflowers' etc. It helps cement the parts in my head and creates a little story to follow. Getting the structure down on paper took a few goes to get it so I could follow it without confusion.

Then I split the piece into three natural sections and worked out and learned every part in each section over a few days. Then I put the sections together and played the whole piece through about ten or so times. After a about 5 or 6 hours work in total, it was pretty much note perfect. I have pictures in my head of how it goes, and a week later I can still remember it and could probably pick up a guitar right now and play it almost perfectly solo. It also did me the world of good in terms of seeing my progress evolve rapidly in a short time,given me some confidence.

Of course Bilbo would simply transcribe it, learn it, and probably have it down in a few hours

[KevB]

[quote name='thunderbird13' timestamp='1342195225' post='1731430']
I was too scared to mention Guitar Pro so I'm glad someone else did - I'm rubbish at working out recordings by ear
[/quote]
Absolutely f***ing fearless me y'know Still don't know why people give it a bad rap, I have hundreds of the files and on the whole of the ones I've used to learn stuff for bands in the past I've found them mostly to be pretty accurate, especially those that have gone through a few iterations. For those that insist on proper notation that is there too as well as the tabs. Plenty of other software around that does the same job but I still have a soft spot for GP.

[SpaceChick]

Very timely as I've taken a half day from work today to plot some basslines for my new band!

The last few days, I have been listening to the tracks at every opportunity.

I tried to find tab first, give me a basic structure, then I'd realise the flaws in the tab and then make my amendments by ear. I then jot my tab down and play the track over and over again with the single as the backing track.

[wateroftyne]

I'll find out what key we're doing it in - it's probably not the recorded key - then listen to it a few times until I know the song and the line.

I'll then sit down with my bass, and hopefully be able to play most of it off the bat. I'll spend a bit of time working the tricky bits out.

It works for me, but then it's the only way I know.

[SpaceChick]

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1342209027' post='1731872']
I'll find out what key we're doing it in - it's probably not the recorded key - then listen to it a few times until I know the song and the line.

[/quote]

Yep, I forgot this bit.... Check the key, change key on track using audacity, realise it sounds like pinky and perky.... Email singer to say "are you sure you sing this in g when the original is in c".... Find out the actual key, then follow my steps above

[BigRedX]

IME note for note isn't really worth it unless your covers band line-up is the same as the band for the song you are covering and all the other band members are also going to play their parts note for note. Anything different and you are going to have to adjust your bass line to compensate for missing instruments etc. I never learn anything more than the chords, and any basslines that are an essential part of the song before hearing what the rest of my covers band are going to be paying.