Man... please someone help...

[Scottie]

I know i Posted this in the tab section, but maybe wrong spot...


I gotta learn this tune called "Thorn In My Pride" by the Black Crowes by the weekend for gig...

problem???

i cant figure it out...

i got so much going on with work, doctors appts, therapy, travel for work, that i dont have the time.... i tried several times and im just not hearing it and nothing i play sounds right, although i did figure most of the song is in B...

i know SOMEONE out there knows the song... PLEASE... help!!!!

[RicPlaya]

Listen to it every chance you get, in the car, before bed. Chart out the root notes, then just find the passing notes and fills. Stop being lazy. It's the Black Crowes, how hard can it be?

[Scottie]

I dont know, but ive figured out Dream Theate songs easier than this...

You call me lazy?

Sorry, but i work and travel.... and on top of that im trying to get a flight to my surgery out of town next month.... so my mind is a bit...

preoccupied?

[RicPlaya]

Yeah man a little bit

Seriously, not trying to be prickish here. I own my own business and work 24/7. I get phone calls all hours of the night and work 10-14 hours during the day. I play in a band so I know how you feel. But you have to mazimize your time. While you are in the car driving to all these places and running these errands you should be spinning this tune over and over and over again. Eq the highs out and boost the mids and lows so you can hear the bassline. Stop your whining and get to work J/K

[Sundogue]

Originally Posted by RicPlaya

Yeah man a little bit

Seriously, not trying to be prickish here. I own my own business and work 24/7. I get phone calls all hours of the night and work 10-14 hours during the day. I play in a band so I know how you feel. But you have to mazimize your time. While you are in the car driving to all these places and running these errands you should be spinning this tune over and over and over again. Eq the highs out and boost the mids and lows so you can hear the bassline. Stop your whining and get to work J/K

+1.

Seriously, you need to just stop, take a deep breath and then do nothing but listen to that song, over and over again (without even picking up the bass). Just listen to it, one section at a time and pay close attention to where the bass is going.

I NEVER learn a song while playing my bass. I always do kind of a meditation while listening to it. Let the song come to you.

Half your problem is your stressing out over it. Just "listen" to it. You're hearing it, but you are not "listening". Let the music speak to you, and it WILL tell you everything you need to know.

Then strap on your bass and work on it, one section at a time. Then when you are done, just listen to it again without playing along to it and more will come to you.

It's just music...not nuclear physics. Enjoy the process.

[MJ5150]

Originally Posted by Sundogue

I NEVER learn a song while playing my bass. I always do kind of a meditation while listening to it. Let the song come to you.

Great point!!

I do the same. It wasn't until I stopped trying to learn a song note for note that I started learning how to play covers. Become one with the song. You'll learn it that way. You may not play the exact same notes the original bass player did, but you'll learn the music, which is more important than memorizing a handful of tabs.

-Mike

[Sundogue]

Originally Posted by MJ5150

Great point!!

I do the same. It wasn't until I stopped trying to learn a song note for note that I started learning how to play covers. Become one with the song. You'll learn it that way. You may not play the exact same notes the original bass player did, but you'll learn the music, which is more important than memorizing a handful of tabs.

-Mike

Become one with the song.

It sounds silly to some people. But my wife and I are into yoga and meditation and for the past couple of years, I've found that if I meditate first and then meditate while listening to a song I'm going to learn, my sub-concious mind takes over and the bass "pattern" becomes so obvious.

It doesn't always translate into smooth learning...you still have to have your chops up if it's a complex song. But really, once you are accomplished on the bass enough (physically), learning songs is ALL mental (well of course spiritual too).

By the time I even pick up my bass to play a song, I pretty much have it figured out in my head already. I find it invaluable to listen to other songs by the same band/bass player to get a good feel for his/her style because no matter how good a bass player is, there is a certain way a bass player phrases things with regularity, especially on the same CD.

Yes, be one with the song. Let it get inside you and move you. If you can't grasp the song's feel and how it moves you, learning the notes is rather pointless. It's music, it's an art form. Let it speak to your soul and be less concerned with the actual notes. Then it will become very clear.

That's when you put it to your instrument.

[RicPlaya]

Originally Posted by Sundogue

Become one with the song..

People do not do this enough. I got one guy in my band, plays drums and keys, hacks on both because he NEVER LISTENS TO the MATERIAL. I have to tell him ALL his drum beats because all he listens to is that AWFUL techno crap.
I listen to a tune at least 30-50 times before I even attempt to play it. Sure I could manage with 3-5 times, and have on cramming in tunes for short notice gigs. But there have been times where we pick a tune back up after not playing it for a few years..after one or two times through I didn't miss a beat..because it's ingrained in my soul.

[MJ5150]

Originally Posted by Sundogue

It sounds silly to some people.

It sure does. But as you accurately pointed out, it works! I was given some solid advice from a fellow TB'er back in 2001 when I first started playing bass......feel the music, play what you feel.

What I play may not be note for note what the record sounds like, but only a critical musician will notice. Plus, I guarantee you what I am playing is grooving with the music, which is what matters.

-Mike

[Sundogue]

I know of way too many musicians who are so consumed with learning the notes, that they've failed to grasp the song.

A "Can't see the forest for the trees" approach. Being in a cover band myself, I see a lot of cover bands that are doing just that...covering a song, as if they are putting nothing of themselves into it.

I'll play any song, of any style, and find worth in it. I may not like a "cover" song much at first, but I just let it play out in my head and allow it to say what it has to say. Granted, some songs don't say much, but whatever is there will become a part of me. It's only after allowing a song to become "ingrained in your soul" that you can play it in any meaningful way.

[RicPlaya]

Originally Posted by Sundogue

It's only after allowing a song to become "ingrained in your soul" that you can play it in any meaningful way.

It is magic when you allow a great bassline and tune to be ingrained in your soul.

[Sundogue]

Originally Posted by RicPlaya

It is magic when you allow a great bassline and tune to be ingrained in your soul.

Have you ever noticed that the more you do that, the more you find yourself playing almost unconcious?

I've been finding that the more I approach my learning and playing from a spiritual perspective, and less from a physical one, I have been having more moments, more songs, more gigs where I'm playing without thinking at all. Just pure music flowing through me.

The whole band is getting more into this mode of playing and we are sounding so much better and having so much more fun.

Yes...magic!!!

[RicPlaya]

Originally Posted by Sundogue

Have you ever noticed that the more you do that, the more you find yourself playing almost unconcious?

I've been finding that the more I approach my learning and playing from a spiritual perspective, and less from a physical one, I have been having more moments, more songs, more gigs where I'm playing without thinking at all. Just pure music flowing through me.

The whole band is getting more into this mode of playing and we are sounding so much better and having so much more fun.

Yes...magic!!!

That's great that your band is adopting this approach. I still have one guy I play with that don't get it. Music is much more enjoyable this way, or spiritual as you say.

[Sundogue]

Originally Posted by RicPlaya

That's great that your band is adopting this approach. I still have one guy I play with that don't get it. Music is much more enjoyable this way, or spiritual as you say.

My drummer never lets anything get to him...at all. He's always saying, "Oh well...it is what it is." Essentially, he doesn't let anything distract him from having fun playing music.

My guitarist always takes the attitude that nothing is difficult. And sometimes when the situation is less than ideal (i.e - sound problems, etc.) he will just say, "Get lost in the music." When he is onstage, he takes on a different persona and is quite the performer. He just takes on the personality of the music.

We've all been digging deeper into the meaning behind the music we play. Yes, it's all covers we do, but there is still something meaningful to say with it.

Your approach to music has everything to do with it's outcome. Which relates to the original poster's request for help.

Scottie, instead of putting up a wall that's preventing you from learning this song...just let it be what it is. To quote LZ, "the song remains the same". No matter how you approach it, it will remain what it is. Go with the flow and get lost in the song. The notes will come.

[MJ5150]

Originally Posted by Sundogue

Have you ever noticed that the more you do that, the more you find yourself playing almost unconcious?

Totally. Then you can start looking into the crowd, smiling, walking around the stage, and having a generally good time instead of staring intently at your fretboard all night afraid you'll miss one of the notes you tried to memorize.

-Mike

[Scottie]

Well... Ill admit... I did listen to the song QUITE a bit today...

I guess my biggest problem is playing in an all originals band... this is a special gig, so to speak, playing alot of covers like this....

All the covers we play are so mangled and changed up its almost LIKE an original...

But I did listen to the song.... and listen... and I do know the roots and I have a "feel" for it now...

I did some reading on the Crowes music, and some guy wrote something about how the band never plays their jams the same way twice in concert..... just as well...

I took the song and made it my own, without getting off track.