How do you learn a new song?

[MrLenny1]

I turn the mids & treble up to hear the notes better.
Tone really doesn't matter until showtime.

 

[tb-player]

I listen to the song for a few days to internalize the changes. Once it's in my head, I work it out with a bass.

Tone has nothing to do with it til I know the parts

 

[bigdaddybass12]

Over and over and over. Practice perfect tone every time.

 

[Pings Bass]

Maybe this is a rock thing, but I don't understand how "tone" enters the discussion when learning a song. If I'm learning melodies and changes, that's what I'm focused on. Tone is something I consider when integrating with a combo in rehearsal, or for a producer or sound guy to deal with at recording or performance time.

Unless you're talking about articulation? In that case, I'll still focus on the notes and changes first.

 

[logdrum]

I usually learn songs and arrangements on a piano or guitar. Good suggestion on a trebly tone to hear your mistakes - I think this was also recommended when I was learning bass and that's what the upright teacher recommend I do with bass guitar. I don't do it now. If I have to nail down the bass parts, I just set the tone as needed, specially when I am learning or rehearsing it with a band. If the it is a reggae or dub song, I won't set my jazz bass Jaco style, bridge pickup only tone.

I am/was also a jazz musician and have played songs just reading cold from a chart. Not hard with bass but as a horn player (which I also play), it means just strong nerves and the ability to correct on the fly.

I prefer learning the songs before hand though,

 

[Groove Doctor]

Slow it down and play it note perfect. This REALLY helps if you sing and play bass (as I do).

I use Amazing Slow Downer app. Some songs I start at 25% of original speed. I aim for perfect execution and being completely comfortable/ relaxed before speeding it up.

I could sit on 60-85% tempo for a month before I can increase it to normal speed for really hard songs. Coordinating the vocal and bass parts while standing & dancing while looking relaxed and on autopilot takes time but it totally worth it.

 

[JRA]

How do you learn a new song?
when i don't have a chart:
- listen --- maybe a lot!
- find the key.
- imitate the part until i can
- duplicate the part.
- write it down (i use notation software) so that i always have a reference.

What do you say I should do? Should I learn a song using the tone that I will play it or keep using my old method?

if the tone you're using helps you to learn basslines/parts = don't stop! for me, it doesn't make any difference: tone, per se, is not a part of my learning process (for bass parts)...but that's just me. you do you!

as long as your method helps you learn the parts/lines = it's all good!

 

[mambo4]

There is value in setting gear to expose as many flaws in technique as possible
but I do not think about tone when learning a song, until the end
when I no longer worry about the foundation of chords/notes/rhythm
then I worry about tone

 

[dkelley]

To learn a song, the tone is irrelevant to me. I don't care what technique I'm using to play (slap or pick or finger style or complex stuff) unless the hard part IS the right hand technique. I dont' care if there are frets or not when learning a song. All of that stuff I will adapt later. However I DO care about playing accuracy, and misfrettting etc are mistakes that I do try to avoid when practicing, so by that terminology I do care about tone - in the execution of my playing itself, I guess.

I don't even plug in, often. In fact, Im' typically listening to a youtube of the song (assuming it's a cover), or file from the songwriter if it's original, and jotting down some song notes to myself on paper (or in notepad type app) as it goes, and song structure notes (note notes like ABC, notes like "after 8 bars of verse it goes to bridge").

to play it, I play along with the recording, if available. If a recording isn't available, and someone wrote it, the I'll read from a chart. If someone wrote it and there isn't a bassline yet, I'll work one out after I make my notes, above.

If it's challenging technically, then I find the hardest part and put the audio into a daw so I can easily loop a section of the song, and start playback over the looped part. I play along. If I can't, then I have by now figured out more or less how it should work, and I slowly practice it mysefl until I get it. I can slow music down to play to if needed.

repeated practice, correctly played every time, is proper practice. practicing with mistakes every time just teaches your hands to play the mistakes. better to play it slowly, over and over, perfectly every time, then fast and wrong or sloppy, until you get it up to speed.

 

[C Stone]

I get the tone “close” listen to the song to find the key, then I noodle once or twice through to get the gist then listen again without a bass in hand then I match the tone, once the tone matches and the others players bass “disappears” under mine then I put it in my pocket

 

[MrClassicMetal]

If I am reading correctly, you are saying you set your tone to be as "unforgiving" as possible so that any imperfections of your playing come through, and then dial in your sound afterward.

That makes logical sense. It's not what I do, but I don't soak my bass in effects either, I just try to simulate my live tone.

Anyway, then I load the song up in Garageband and set the key correctly and have some listens, make notes of any obvious changes, and break it down into parts.

Scott Whitley uses that method and recommends it.

 

[Biggbass]

I chart it out first. Then do a run through, then another, then another, and another. And when it's time to either record it or play it live, I adjust my guitar and amp settings to what works for the song and/or room.

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

I like nickel rounds, and a tone that has a wide frequency range so I have my tone wide open when I'm practicing in general.

When I'm practicing a tune, I make sure my tone matches the tune.

Learning a song and having good technique are two different things that I focus on separately, the latter of which should be incorporated to everything I play independent from my tone.

 

[MVE]

I never think about the “tone” of a song until I’m actually playing it with a band, and then I just adjust my pickups, tone and plucking hand location until I think it sounds best with the other instruments.
You have to be ready to adjust your sound to sound best with everyone else.
Coming into a group performance thinking in your head exactly how “the bass” is “supposed to sound” is a recipe for disaster.

 

[KidAmnesia]

I guess it depends on what ypur goals are. Do you want to learn how to play the song so it sounds good or are you using that song to practice and develop your skills?

 

[bassdude51]

Don't know what "open tone" means but I learn the bass lines to songs using an eq on my amp that I like.

Playing bass with a band, my big concern is not tone but playing accurately.

 

[Jazzdogg]

An interesting aspect of this thread is that there have been about as many different ways of learning a song as there have been responses.

Although there might well be different things that could improve the quality and speed of learning for each of us, we are all so different that there is no one size fits all answer.

Yep! And yet, I seem to hear people talking every day as though there is a one size fits all answer to most of life's challenges; simple solutions for the simple-minded, I guess. Most of these folks also seem to be susceptible to the charms of false dichotomies...

 

[chris_b]

I don't care what the original guy sounded like, I have my sound and I'll use that every time.

I can hear all the notes without having to take the bass out of my sound.

First I listen to the song, note the patterns and feel, then play it over until I know it.

 

[Cave Puppy]

If it’s a song I’ve never heard - I’ll first chart out by arrangement, no bass in hand - intro / verse / pre-chorus / chorus, etc. then start playing it. All by ear. If I’m stuck or pressed for time I’ll dig up a video or tab. Did you notice I didn’t mention tone at all?