How long...

[Peloquin]

I know this is a "piece of string" question but if you hear a song you fancy learning, how long does it take you to get it sorted? 

For Eg.... I listened to "Haunt Me" by Wednesday 13, found some tabs (in new and have to cheat) online and had it sorted in 10 mins.. On the other scale, my mate challenged us both to learn "Seek and Destroy" by Metallica and I've been on it 4 weeks and still only almost halfway through but nowhere near up to speed t with it. 

[Bilbo]

I almost never learn anything. I read dots and chord charts so can play most stuff cold. The trouble with learning stuff is that you have a very narrow available body of work at any given time. I learned lots of tunes in the past but cannot remember them. If I have the dots, I don't need to remember the tune, I just play it off the paper. If you have to learn something (because the band leader doesn't like music stands on stage), learning stuff off the paper is the best way and saves you a lot of time finding out what is happening. I read through this last night relatively cold (not the solo, just the 'bass' line). Listen from 5:44 onwards. I could never have done it by rote.

 

 

 

Edited May 4, 2022 by Bilbo

[neepheid]

Far too many pieces of string of variable lengths to quantify.  I'm same as you, sometimes I get it down in minutes, but I'll admit that there's some I give up and simplify a bit as they're beyond me.  For me, the most satisfying one I do (mostly correct to the recording) is Hallowed Be Thy Name by Iron Maiden - love nailing that one and playing it well.

 

I've got a bunch of songs to learn tonight and tomorrow - an original for the 'Spoons which the trombone player has written with an interesting bass line (aren't all bass lines written by non bassists "interesting"?), and a bunch of rock songs for the covers band.  I'll let you know how I get on.

 

Whisky helps, right?

[Peloquin]

18 minutes ago, neepheid said:

Far too many pieces of string of variable lengths to quantify.  I'm same as you, sometimes I get it down in minutes, but I'll admit that there's some I give up and simplify a bit as they're beyond me.  For me, the most satisfying one I do (mostly correct to the recording) is Hallowed Be Thy Name by Iron Maiden - love nailing that one and playing it well.

 

I've got a bunch of songs to learn tonight and tomorrow - an original for the 'Spoons which the trombone player has written with an interesting bass line (aren't all bass lines written by non bassists "interesting"?), and a bunch of rock songs for the covers band.  I'll let you know how I get on.

 

Whisky helps, right?

Whisky helps EVERYTHING. 

[Doctor J]

I learned by ear, initially. I had been playing for over 15 years before I even bought my first tuner pedal. Tablature was only something I'd used once when I was given a book of AJFA tab as a present. How they knew is anyone's guess, too 😂

 

As a result, I'm handy at picking up songs by ear and even working out songs I have heard a few times, even if I have not tried to work them out to play. While subbing for a mate's cover band, we played The Cowboy Song by Thin Lizzy and on stage was my first ever go at playing it 😂 It was grand. My oul one was a Lizzy fan so I knew the song well and could accurately guess where to go once I knew what key they were going to play it in. Same for Don't Believe A Word. Learning a song as a piece of music works for me, it's a fairly quick process. Learning what fret to hit followed by which fret when sounds like a torture, to be honest, and a much harder way of going about things.

[Peloquin]

11 minutes ago, Doctor J said:

I learned by ear, initially. I had been playing for over 15 years before I even bought my first tuner pedal. Tablature was only something I'd used once when I was given a book of AJFA tab as a present. How they knew is anyone's guess, too 😂

 

As a result, I'm handy at picking up songs by ear and even working out songs I have heard a few times, even if I have not tried to work them out to play. While subbing for a mate's cover band, we played The Cowboy Song by Thin Lizzy and on stage was my first ever go at playing it 😂 It was grand. My oul one was a Lizzy fan so I knew the song well and could accurately guess where to go once I knew what key they were going to play it in. Same for Don't Believe A Word. Learning a song as a piece of music works for me, it's a fairly quick process. Learning what fret to hit followed by which fret when sounds like a torture, to be honest, and a much harder way of going about things.

Id love to be able to do it like that but I suspect a good few years before I can even think about it. 

 

Although I did work one out that most on here would do within seconds. It took me 15 mins.... 

 

 

Not exactly  hard but I was chuffed to do it. 

[Bilbo]

I do remember a brilliant story about a gig I did with a guitar player who knows me well and a drummer and singer who didn't. Before we started playing the gig, we sat down to talk through the set list. This amounted to the singer asking me ' do you know this one'? and me replying 'no'. As we were called to the stage, I was listening to the first tune on my phone just to get a sense of the groove. It turned out later that drums and vocals were freaking out because we were about to play and I didn't know any of the tunes. 

 

We played a blinder. 

 

With vague notions of the tunes, good eye contact, watching the Guitarist's hands, 30 years of experience and big ears, I was able to keep the whole thing together without any difficulties whatsoeve. If I had said we can't play anything I don't 'know' , it would have been 2x45 minute versions of Johnny B Goode. Most of my best gigs ever have been playing things I have never learned. 

Edited May 4, 2022 by Bilbo

[ambient]

There’s a few things I learned years ago that I still remember: the opening bars from Teen Town for example. Other than that I don’t know any songs or bass parts.
 

Memorising parts just seems a bit pointless and time consuming, for me at least anyway. 
 

If I’m ever asked to play something specific I’ll just transcribe it and play it from a chart.