How Do You Learn To Play Songs?

[Mushroo]

I am shocked that nobody has said the magic words "I purchase the CD or mp3 download." If a song is worth your time to learn, do you not think it is worth $0.99 to compensate the artist & label?

Ok enough for my rant.

My procedure for learning a new song:

1. Listen to the song over and over again in the car. Sing along with the vocals and bass line until I have them both memorized.
2. Sit down at the piano, play the vocal melody from memory, figure out the chord progression.
3. Re-listen to the recording to double check the work I did in step 2 was accurate. I don't have "perfect pitch" so probably I learned it in the wrong key, now's the time to fix that and transpose to the correct key.
4. Pick up the bass and work out a good fingering for the bass line.
5. Double check step 4 against the recording.

If you are a beginner to ear training then this might seem intimidating (or even impossible). The best way I know to improve this skill (because yes, it is a skill you can improve with practice and hard work!) is to start with very simple melodies you know by heart: Happy Birthday, your country's national anthem, Christmas carols, Three Blind Mice, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Learn these melodies on your instrument without listening to a recording as a crutch. If you can sing a melody then you know that melody, it's just a question of improving the skill to translate the music in your head onto the bass.

The absolute worst way to learn a song is a mistake I used to make all the time: Play 5 seconds of the recording, hit pause, figure out the notes on the bass, rewind 5 seconds, double-check my work, listen to the next 5 seconds, etc. That method simply doesn't work as well as developing the ability to memorize the sound of a melody, bass line, or chord progression, and then recreate that sound on your instrument from memory.

 

[roden]

Try to figure it out by ear (error and trials) but knowing basic-intermediet theory helps a LOT imho
If i do get stuck i looks up chords. ( Most tabs sucks).
I found it annoying that people mix # and bb notes

 

[craig.p]

No matter how simple the song, I listen through headphones as I make a bass chart using the Nashville Number system. There are obviously lots of stops+starts in the process, if for no other reason than I just can't write as fast as some songs go. It generally takes 5-15 minutes to complete a chart, depending on the song.

Then, with the song playing on the stereo, I play the chart. If the chart's right, I nail it the first time. Then it's just a matter of repetition.

For decades I learned by ear, i.e. listening to the original and trying to find the notes on the neck at the same time. I'd never go back to that method.

Roden: It's common -- at least in the Number System -- for sharps to be used when you're headed up-scale, and flats to be used when you're headed down-scale.

1   #1   2   b2   1

 

[BJMtz]

I think tabs are the worst thing on earth to use to learn music. Just listen to the song and learn it by ear and/or get the actual sheet music...always trust your ear not some random web posting of tabs- tabs that are likely wrong anyway.

By using this line of thinking almost everything posted on the internet is likely wrong. How do I know you're more knowledgeable about any given subject over some person posting a tab. Most tab sites have a rating system that you can use to filter out potential wrong tabs. IME the tabs I have looked at have been ~90% right on average. Sure they may not be correct note for note but they at least get you in the ballpark.

 

[Mushroo]

By using this line of thinking almost everything posted on the internet is likely wrong.

Exactly. The only 100% accurate way to learn a song is from the original recording. If you are using the internet instead of your ears, you will repeat other people's mistakes and you will not develop this vital musical skill. For example if you don't have the ears to learn a song's chord progression, then what happens on stage when the guitarist deviates from the original? Train wreck!

 

[MalcolmAmos]

By using this line of thinking almost everything posted on the internet is likely wrong. How do I know you're more knowledgeable about any given subject over some person posting a tab. Most tab sites have a rating system that you can use to filter out potential wrong tabs. IME the tabs I have looked at have been ~90% right on average. Sure they may not be correct note for note but they at least get you in the ballpark.

One thing I think we are overlooking; be it tab or fake chord. Playing covers with other people involved, i.e. like in a band, if the fake chord handed out has a "bad chord" ---- if everyone follows what is written on the fake chord and stays together no great big disaster.

In other words, if something goes "out" and then comes back "in" if everyone goes out together and then everyone comes back in together, i.e. follows the same sheet music, it's going to work OK. May not be correct, but, it's going to work, i.e. sound OK. Not the best, but, OK.

If it's really bad someone will catch it and we all change our sheet music. That happens all the time.

Accept it as the nature of the beast and then correct the errors you find.

 

[Synthax]

I've had a lot of success with a mix of things. Ill use a chord sheet to get the jist of things, tab sheet to help with some ideas at tricky parts. I know they aren't 100% correct but they can give you good ideas for tricky parts or ideas for fills etc. i generally play along with the song. I use spotify, its 10 a month, i can listen to it on the go and it works flawlessly.

 

[Mushroo]

MalcolmAmos raises an excellent real-world concern: It's important everyone in the band is learning the same versions of the songs! As your musicianship and ear training improve, and you outgrow using TABs, you might realize the guitarist's limitations and find yourself looking for a new band.

 

[phox]

It's a list process for me:

If the song is riff-heavy,
1. Listen to song
2. Look on Songsterr for tabs
3. Search Youtube for a bass cover of the song
4. Search on Google for any tabs of the song (Guitar or Bass)
5. Play along with the amp off, notice any irregularities

If the song is chord progressions,
Do 1-3 from above, then make up your own scale-based lines over the chords.

This has worked for basically everything I've learned.

 

[DanBass]

After the early stages of reading music when I was in school, I gravitated to learning everything by ear. I find tabs to be incredibly confusing (but I am sure that is just me).. I would rather listen to the song over and over and learn it that way. That's served me quite well for a long time.

Or, you can play originals and play whatever you want. That's what I do.

 

[LPStephens]

I just play it by ear. If it's really tough or I can't figure out exactly how it's done, I'll see if someone did a cover on youtube.

 

[Schmorgy]

After the early stages of reading music when I was in school, I gravitated to learning everything by ear. I find tabs to be incredibly confusing (but I am sure that is just me).. I would rather listen to the song over and over and learn it that way. That's served me quite well for a long time.

Or, you can play originals and play whatever you want. That's what I do.

Tabs do not lend themselves to teaching the rhythm in a song which can make things that much harder.

My pitch is relative, so I generally turn to learning by ear last as it's a lot slower for me. I prefer chord charts to steer me in the proper direction. If nothing else, learning the more intricate bassline of a song can be much easier when you start off playing along with it while only hitting the root notes (or bass notes of slash chords) of the chart.

 

[Clef_de_fa]

I use my ear with the original music and if it is avalaible I use the standart notation sheet music ( for classical music but I also have some Metallica's official transcription and some RHCP, Korn bass collection and Primus ).

 

[Staredge]

I'll pop the song into Audacity and boost the bass. Try to learn it by ear. If I have problems with it, I'll go to youtube and see if someone has done a bass cover or isolated the bass. Sometimes I go to tab just to see where to start, then do the rest by ear (if I can find a decent tab).

 

[pedro]

95% by ear and if something is really tricky I seek other help. I usually don't for note by note exact replication of what was played but I try and capture signature lines as well as the general feel. I usually work on what are the changes, then try to hear what the bass is actually playing to the changes. Arrangements, generally get memorized thru the process of learning the piece.

 

[Shakin-Slim]

Depends on the song. Some I can do by ear. Often I'll use youtube playalong vids.

 

[Clef_de_fa]

By using this line of thinking almost everything posted on the internet is likely wrong. How do I know you're more knowledgeable about any given subject over some person posting a tab. Most tab sites have a rating system that you can use to filter out potential wrong tabs. IME the tabs I have looked at have been ~90% right on average. Sure they may not be correct note for note but they at least get you in the ballpark.

you don't have any idea of the rythm, the note nor the chords ... in fact you don't learn anything than parroting.

also a lot of people use their ears to tab but they have a lot of mistakes and when looking at youtube covers ... many don't play the same thing over the same song. At one point you could ask yourself ... does he put his own creativity in it or he just couldn't replicate the original and played whatever in the right key ?

 

[pedro]

youtube is a great help even if you don't use the tutorial videos just getting to hear something live often helps me 'hear' what the bass is doing better.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

By using this line of thinking almost everything posted on the internet is likely wrong. How do I know you're more knowledgeable about any given subject over some person posting a tab. Most tab sites have a rating system that you can use to filter out potential wrong tabs. IME the tabs I have looked at have been ~90% right on average. Sure they may not be correct note for note but they at least get you in the ballpark.

I still think "tabs" are the worst thing a person can use to become a better musician.

 

[bassfran]

95% by ear and if something is really tricky I seek other help. I usually don't for note by note exact replication of what was played but I try and capture signature lines as well as the general feel. I usually work on what are the changes, then try to hear what the bass is actually playing to the changes. Arrangements, generally get memorized thru the process of learning the piece.

^^This.

I'll make a cheat sheet occasionally if there's a lot of material to learn in a short time that I'm unfamiliar with. Otherwise it's by rote.
Drill baby, drill.