Learning songs by ear, any tips/tricks??

[Darkstrike]

Just as the title says, when learning songs by ear, is there any way of making it easier, espically in metal, where the bass is coverd by distorted guitar.

Can I boost and cut frequencys with an equalizer to make it clearer, perhaps play it through my amp?

[MarkTAW]

You can play an octave higher, which should help you pick out the notes a bit easier.

Play the music in a player that lets you quickly rewind a few seconds easily.

Run the music through a distortion pedal backwards - it'll remove the distortion! *

Practice, practice, practice!



* no, not really.

[JTE]

||: LISTEN closely to the part you're trying to get. SING it. Serioiusly, sing the part to fix it in your head. Then find the first note of the part. Now, to find the second note, there's only three places it could be. Is it higher than the first one, lower, or the same? Then try a note and listen. Is it right or too flat or too sharp? :||

Note the repeat signs in there... ( ||: :||).

[Darkstrike]

Originally Posted by MarkTAW

Run the music through a distortion pedal backwards - it'll remove the distortion!

I lol'd!

[Darkstrike]

Originally Posted by JTE

||: LISTEN closely to the part you're trying to get. SING it. Serioiusly, sing the part to fix it in your head. Then find the first note of the part. Now, to find the second note, there's only three places it could be. Is it higher than the first one, lower, or the same? Then try a note and listen. Is it right or too flat or too sharp? :||

Note the repeat signs in there... ( ||: :||).

I have even more trouble singing to a pitch.

Hell, as you said ||: :||

[namraj]

Originally Posted by Darkstrike

I have even more trouble singing to a pitch|

doesnt matter, u will hear it in ur head, take out all the low bass frequencies in the mix will give a bit more clarity the the bass.

[Slowgypsy]

I use the Tascam Bass Trainer a lot... lets you slow the song down (good for some tunes), can boost the bass line (sometimes helpful). For me, I run everything to headphones rather than speakers... for some reason everything seems a bit more clear to my ears... easier to pick out certain lines.

[Ric5]

sometimes tabs or sheet music is a good way to jumpstart the song learning process ...

The worst to learn by ear is the old Van Halen stuff ... they would sometimes mix the bass in so low that you couldn't hear it.

[Darkstrike]

Originally Posted by Slowgypsy

I use the Tascam Bass Trainer a lot... lets you slow the song down (good for some tunes), can boost the bass line (sometimes helpful). For me, I run everything to headphones rather than speakers... for some reason everything seems a bit more clear to my ears... easier to pick out certain lines.

Might pick one of these up, been thinking about it a while.

[Darkstrike]

Originally Posted by Ric5

The worst to learn by ear is the old Van Halen stuff ... they would sometimes mix the bass in so low that you couldn't hear it.

Funny you should mention that, one of the songs I'm working on is a Sammy Hagar song, seems he kept that trait after he left.........

[Just J]

http://www.seventhstring.com/

great program. Works with MS's DRM which comes in handy since I have a rhapsody account.

[capnsandwich]

I like to listen to the song over and over again in my car. I'll visualize my hand position and listen to the notes by how many steps the next note is from the previous. It doesn't matter if the song is in the right key or not, it's still the same amount of steps and the same pattern in any key. After I listen to it then I'll sit down and try to follow along as I listen. I've learned some pretty complicated songs pretty fast this way. The key is repetition. After a while the song will get stuck in your head to the point of you not needing to hear it at all.

[MakiSupaStar]

Originally Posted by JTE

||: LISTEN closely to the part you're trying to get. SING it. Serioiusly, sing the part to fix it in your head. Then find the first note of the part. Now, to find the second note, there's only three places it could be. Is it higher than the first one, lower, or the same? Then try a note and listen. Is it right or too flat or too sharp? :||

Note the repeat signs in there... ( ||: :||).

+1. I would add that just focus on the root progression too. Don't worry about all the filler notes and stuff at first. Just get the progression right, then you can figure out where the runs are between.

[Darkstrike]

Cool, more great tip's thanks dude's.

About the root progression's, I've read somwhere, that a popular technique is to just learn that much, then add in your own fills, and licks, is this something I should be practicing too?

[capnsandwich]

Originally Posted by Darkstrike

Cool, more great tip's thanks dude's.

About the root progression's, I've read somwhere, that a popular technique is to just learn that much, then add in your own fills, and licks, is this something I should be practicing too?

Certainly, there's nothing wrong about being creative along the way but it really depends on how important the bass line is to the song. If the bass line is a signature bass line, like Another One Bites the Dust or Smoke On the Water, then stick to the written line, but if you're just learning a line to support the song then feel free to be creative, but just don't overplay.

[LifeIsBass]

Originally Posted by Darkstrike

About the root progression's, I've read somwhere, that a popular technique is to just learn that much, then add in your own fills, and licks, is this something I should be practicing too?

I'd say that I end up doing this most of the time. I think it's really important to learn how to create your own lines and this is a great way to do it. However,it's important also to at least know what the original player is doing and you should be able to play it too. The ultimate goal is to learn the styles of several other bassists and then incorporate parts of their style into your own. Your style should be a collage of all your influences. Looking back, when I was a beginner, sometimes I'd create my own lines because I found the original part too challenging. Big mistake. Don't use your own lines to hide from difficult parts. See it as an opportunity to become better. Another thing worth noting is that if you only create your own lines and don't pay attention to the lines of others you'll eventually find yourself in a creative rut.

[Martin Bormann]

How I do it, is I listen for the progression first. I notate the chords and the bass position on the staff paper first. Next I go back and put the bass line in the staff paper, and I continue it for every instrument. Melodic and harmonic dictation take practice though. Get MacGamut if you need to train your ear better. It's my favourite software. But mostly you'll get good at learning songs by ear from practicing.

[rustinstrings]

Recently I like to approach new songs by listening to the song in headphones while "playing" the bass unplugged. That way I force myself to listen to the song structure and various licks and feel involved in the song rather than generating distracting notes. I don't normally play in key or even use the right pattern at first - the most important thing for me is to pick up the phrasing/groove, so right hand execution on the wrong string still helps getting the feel of the baseline (I even sometimes play chromatic scales with my left hand while listening, hoping to improve my technique while I'm at it, but I'm not sure if it's a good thing to do).
Afterwards, I'll figure out the suitable scale for the song (hopefully only one scale) and improvise on it for a little bit while trying to figure out the melody. But I should really incorporate more singing into this practice at that stage.