Did you ever learn albums front to back?

[fretlessman71]

I used to learn the songs on my favorite albums - ALL of the songs - so I could put in the cassette tape, rewind it to the beginning, and play the album straight through uninterrupted for 40-45 minutes. Mid-80s was when I learned, so I was doing this with Rush, Black Sabbath, and Iron Maiden albums at the time. Helped build a lot of stamina!

Did you ever do this? What albums did you do this with?

 

[ElectroVibe]

Yes. I used to play along with albums like the Eagles. Things that would be easy to follow. Country and folk rock.

 

[J_Bass]

I did this. I know (or used to know, time goes fast) all the albums from RATM.

 

[buldog5151bass]

First Boston album, Tommy, Paradise by the Dashboard Light, Styx - Paradise Theater and Grand Illusion, Tommy.

 

[staurosjohn]

I learned a few early RUSH albums - thru (as best I could as a 16yo) Played in a RUSH cover band for a short time…
Got a RIC to match

 

[Hot Rats]

Same here, for me it was Maiden, Sabbath, Rush, AC/DC and misc others. Mostly Sabbath and Maiden.

 

[FunkHead]

Oh yeah. Here's some. Zeppelin II, Zeppelin Zoso, ZZ Top Fandango, ZZ Top Eliminator, Rush Caress of Steel, Rush 2112, Rush Fly By night, BOC Agents of Fortune, BOC On your feet or on your knees, Joe Jackson Look Sharp, Aerosmith Toys in the Attic, Aerosmith Rocks, Aerosmith 1st album, Lynyrd Skynyrd Street survivors, Lynyrd Skynyrd Pronounced, Yes Fragile, Police Zenyatta Mondatta, Foghat Fool for the City, Jeff Beck Wired, Bad Company Bad Co., Pink Floyd Wish you were here, Pink Floyd Dark side of the moon, Deep Purple Made in Japan, QueensRyche Operation Mind Crime, Dozens and dozens more + Multiple greatest hits albums. I once learned every single The Who song too.

 

[Gluvhand]

Black Rose and Thunder And Lightning from Thin Lizzy, Corridors of Power and Wild Frontier from Gary Moore, Iron Maiden through Somewhere In Time from Maiden, Heaven And Hell, Mob Rules, and Born Again from Sabbath, Rising and Long Live Rock & Roll from Rainbow, Fireball through Machine Head from Purple, Blizzard and Diary from Ozzy, first two from Michael Schenker, Script and Misplaced Childhood from Marillion, Vienna and Quartet from Ultravox, Fear of A Blank Planet from Porcupine Tree, Edge Of Insanity from Tony MacAlpine, Rage for order from Queensryche, Two Steps From The Move from Hanoi Rocks...

 

[fhm555]

The first (and only), album I ever learned in it's entirety was Cool On It, by The Heartfixers, Here's the title track

 

[12BitSlab]

I used to buy every Chicago album that was released and transcribe and play the trumpet parts note for note.

Later, a band I played in could play the entire Steely Dan Aja album note for note.

Both of those exercises made me a better musician.

 

[Bad Bob]

Beatles. Every album. As soon as the album was released. Trying to play what Paul was playing, but only partly succeeding at that time.
The best academy for being self taught.

 

[Titch]

Onky every Bon Scott era ACDC albums available and Pink Floyd:
The Wall
Meddle
Dark Side
Wish.you were here.
Talking Heads Speaking in Tongues.
The Scientists Blood Red River, Atom Bomb Baby.
Sex Pistols Nevermind the Bollocks
Iggy Pop Raw Power
Lubricated Goat: Plays the Devils Music (just love Jason the Unpopular) and Goats and the men who Ride Them.

 

[Jeff Scott]

I used to all the time 45-51 years ago.

 

[tb4sbp]

When I started learning to play in the 70's there was learning by being taught or on your own by ear. I did not take lessons or had anyone in my area to teach me so it was learning by ear from a record. Going from song to song on the same record. I would swap records with friends just to learn new songs. Also if it was a 'hero' of mine, Paul McCartney, Geddy, Steve Harris, Tom Hamilton and the list goes on, I wanted to learn their styles. So learning albums and deep cuts was the way for me. I have a lot of love for most of the albums already listed. I do see this same learning by ear with some of the younger musicians I know, My youngest son play bass too! If you like a band or type/style of music then learning entire albums I think will never stop.

 

[bobyoung53]

Beatles. Every album. As soon as the album was released. Trying to play what Paul was playing, but only partly succeeding at that time.
The best academy for being self taught.

I can play along with all the Beatles albums but only because I've heard them so often but do play along with them at times, also I have played along with Steely Dan, now that stuff took some practice and I doubt I'll ever get it perfect as Chuck Rainey's style is very different from mine, I have no problem copping Becker's bass style though, he was also very good on bass. I can half-*** read music but have always relied on my ears.

 

[pepj]

Sure, I learnt them...wouldn't say I played them so great but that was my practice regime.

Headhunters, Crusaders etc were probably the last shredders I did.
Now I work completely differently.

 

[pepj]

Conversation we had the other day was along the lines of;
drop the needle and repeat.
Chances are you couldn't quite work out exactly what was played so you did 'close enough'
This ended up with mistakes but also potentially produce individuality.
Nowadays with endless videos, you get perfect but souless robots...??

 

[Joe Nerve]

I never set out to do it, but playing in a Zep Tribute for a few years I just realized I learned all the following in their entirety:

Zep 1
Zep 2
Houses of the Holy
Zep 4

 

[bobyoung53]

Conversation we had the other day was along the lines of;
drop the needle and repeat.
Chances are you couldn't quite work out exactly what was played so you did 'close enough'
This ended up with mistakes but also potentially produce individuality.
Nowadays with endless videos, you get perfect but souless robots...??

The only thing I can ever remember really trying to learn note for note was the bass solo in Jethro Tull- Bouree, I did it when it was new with the needle drop method.
Now with the ease of YouTube I will do it for passages that fly by, being able to slow the song down without dropping the key was a miracle to me when I first realized it could be done. I just did that with Friday on My Mind- Easybeats a few weeks ago with the very fast 4 chord bur right before the chorus, it flew by so fast I couldn't get the first chord which is A followed by F# B E if you're interested . I've never played the tune in a band, just one of those things that always blew by me, the rest of the song was easy to know without practising it.

 

[Bob_Ross]

I have never done that. Sometimes I think maybe I should have...

The closest I've come was once when I was hired as a replacement mid-run for Scala Theater's European tour of Jesus Christ Superstar, and I had three days to get my affairs in order (including my very first passport!), find a replacement for my domestic gig, fly from NYC to Zurich and then train around trying to catch the bus&truck tour on their way to the next venue, and oh yeah, try to learn the material before my first show.

I mean, yeah, I suppose I could've just walked in cold and sight-read the show without ever hearing a note of it, but who needs that kind of pressure?!?! Plus what else was I gonna do on the N-hour flight? So I got the original Broadway cast album of JC Superstar on cassette and popped it into my Walkman and put the thing on infinite repeat for about 18 hours straight.

When I arrived in the pit on my first night and cracked the charts for the first time, I could look at the sheet music and still hear the part in my head from the relentless onslaught that I'd just subjected myself to. Sight-reading that show wound up being a walk in the park.

...so yeah, in hindsight if I'd done ^^^that for a lot of other albums during my formative years I'd definitely be a better bass player than I am now!