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Songs you learned that resulted in big improvement

S

schmig

Nov 30, 2008
318
31
#1
I'm sure this has been asked before, if so, please let me know and close this thread..

What song have you spent time on, resulting on a serious improvement in your playing?

For me it's the Lemon Song by Zeppelin. Been at it a few weeks. Have been playing bass/blues for a couple of years, am very "walky" but not very "licky" at all..learning the lemon song for the last few weeks has improved me more than anything else I've studied:

- Lightened and relaxed my fretting/plucking hands a lot in order to play the various little figures smoothly
- Made me concentrate on percussive dead notes for the first time
- Have realised that many licks can be comprised of many dead notes, where my ears had also superimposed notes
- Bolstered my arsenal of little turnaround licks on every 4th bar etc.

I'm still only 3 minutes into the tune after several weeks, but am getting it down pat, playing over and over again. The bass feels like a different instrument in my hands since I started.

Can anyone else give similar examples?
 
#5
To mention a song that was not mentioned earlier to avoid redundancy, I'd have to say Smoke on the Water--it has a walking bassline in the middle section, a repetitive eighth pattern which has awesome tone and perfect amount of muting/dampening, a good model to follow since it doesn't double up the guitar part, AND it's fun to play with other beginning guitarists because they love playing the guitar riff. :) whew, kinda makes me wanna play it again.

SMILEYSIXX said:
Freewill by Rush. Taught me how to cop Geddy's right hand technique. Still use it on most everything. Loosened my left hand and got me doing more fills in other songs.
Click to expand...

That's actually one of my most memorable songs that helped me with my right hand chops. (especially that guitar solo section)

schmig said:
I'm sure this has been asked before, if so, please let me know and close this thread..

What song have you spent time on, resulting on a serious improvement in your playing?

For me it's the Lemon Song by Zeppelin. Been at it a few weeks. Have been playing bass/blues for a couple of years, am very "walky" but not very "licky" at all..learning the lemon song for the last few weeks has improved me more than anything else I've studied:

- Lightened and relaxed my fretting/plucking hands a lot in order to play the various little figures smoothly
- Made me concentrate on percussive dead notes for the first time
- Have realised that many licks can be comprised of many dead notes, where my ears had also superimposed notes
- Bolstered my arsenal of little turnaround licks on every 4th bar etc.

I'm still only 3 minutes into the tune after several weeks, but am getting it down pat, playing over and over again. The bass feels like a different instrument in my hands since I started.

Can anyone else give similar examples?
Click to expand...

The Lemon Song is (IMO) the best blues-rock bassline for learning from. JPJ is a genius.
 
#9
Clutch "The Yeti" It got me playing faster and improved my right hand so much. It took me about a month to get it seamless but well worth the effort. "faster" is realitive so dont roast me on that one.
"Trouble no more" Allman brothers got me thinking about groove too.
 
#11
The trooper by iron maiden really helped to get my speed up to par and 99 ways to die by megadeth and cowboys from hell by pantera helped me to learn to quickly move up and down the fretboard while playing at near trooper speed. Around the World by red hot chili peppers didn't hurt me either though. Reflecting on it though, learning any song just about is gonna help you in some way...
 
#13
"The Trooper" by Iron Maiden (as posted by 6bassist9) got me used to using my index, middle, and ring finger for fast blasts. "Give It Away" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers was like lighting a fire in my brain. Nice groove, but it gave me a kick to improvise like a mad-man (and decently enough to fit into the song). "What's Going On?" by Marvin Gaye inspired me to learn & play the song with only 1 finger like Jamerson. Am I at his level? No. I expect I will never come close. Can I manage throughout the song with 1 finger? Damn straight. Granted, a bassist that can play runs with 1 finger doesn't account for much, unless that person just happens to only have 1 finger on his playing hand.
 
#14
There are quite a few that have done this for me. First, speaking of Rush, was many years ago when I learned that bass riff in "Tom Sawyer" in the guitar solo section. I used that to build several fills off of that I still use.

Another was "What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye. That one I learned at a time when I was trying to lighten up my touch (getting older, you know). That line taught me more about finesse than any amount of formal training ever could. Jamerson was the man............

"Glamour Profession" by Steely Dan helped me to realize that there are ways to groove without actually having to play a standard groove.
 
#15
"Through Eyes Of Glass" by Forbidden taught me left hand/right hand coordination with speed. "Neon Moon" by Brooks and Dunn taught me how to walk without running, and "Sweet Child O' Mine" was the first song I learned on bass and played with a band, so I had to learn something from it....

I'm sure other songs had a greater impact on me than those I just named, but I can't think of them atm.
 
#16
You know, I don't think there was any one specific song for me...just the act of working on playing music was enough for me to start improving. Learning "La Villa Strangiato" by Rush was kind of a milestone when I was a kid, but as long as I was working on music that was challenging for me, I improved. And by working on music, I also mean things like working on reading and chord theory, which is what REALLY made the improvements in my playing.
 
#17
The couple of Rush songs I know have always challenged me; the trooper helped me get speed and more importantly endurance. Jimmy, I'm guessing you can play the amazingly fast Geddy fill in the middle of la villa strangiato; that song is really a piece of work.
 
#18
SVE said:
The couple of Rush songs I know have always challenged me; the trooper helped me get speed and more importantly endurance. Jimmy, I'm guessing you can play the amazingly fast Geddy fill in the middle of la villa strangiato; that song is really a piece of work.
Click to expand...
I can but I'd probably have to sit down with it for a few minutes again to be able to pull it off since it's been years. I remember the notes, but my hands could use practice at it.

But even more than playing the little fiddly bits in the middle, I learned a lot more than that with that song...learned how to count and feel odd time signatures without losing the groove, and how to be solid playing whole notes (this is a lot harder than people think...very easy to rush and make it sound bad, and even gets harder when you're doing it in an odd time sig like 7/8).

And you know what's funny? The skill I learned from that song that I use most often is laying down the whole notes! It's totally unappreciated by a lot of bassists who just want to be Mr. Flash, yet it's one of the most used and required skills out there. Can't do that, can't call yourself a bass player.
 
#19
JimmyM said:
You know, I don't think there was any one specific song for me...just the act of working on playing music was enough for me to start improving. Learning "La Villa Strangiato" by Rush was kind of a milestone when I was a kid, but as long as I was working on music that was challenging for me, I improved. And by working on music, I also mean things like working on reading and chord theory, which is what REALLY made the improvements in my playing.
Click to expand...

right on as usual dude. i have very rarely tried to learn a song note for note. it's techniques and the thought process behind the parts that interests me. that being said, i do play along with duck dunn on the blues brothers soundtrack pretty regularly, and with reasonable attention to accuracy. been doing that for years just because its fun, but i'm sure there's been numerous benefits.
 
#20
The Roots "I Remain Calm", playing about 20 notes along the A and D strings from the ninth fret all the way down to the second fret in under five seconds while trying to keep the B, E and G strings on my Ibanez SR305 muted was quite a workout!
 

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