What is your goal when learning a song by ear?

[Sean150]

This kinda hangs me up every time I try to learn a song by ear so I thought I’d see what different opinions are. I find trying to learn a note for note bass line, even from notation, and especially from TAB, tedious and un-fun. Even when I do succeed I generally end up mentally changing the line when I am practicing to my own natural feeling of the song and then I feel like I wasted the time learning note for note and have to go back and do it again. As I said no fun.

So, now that I am a better player and understand theory a bit better I wanted to start learning songs by ear but, when I think about learning it note for note like I did as a beginner I find it very unappealing and go back to my rut.

I much prefer to improvise when I am playing but part of me feels that its cheating because I am not “learning vocabulary” or some other excuse I come up with. Also, if I am improvising I’m sure it will eventually conflict with the bass line on the original track I am playing against.

So what do you all do?

 

[FatStringer52]

I would say it really depends on your ultimate application for the music you learn.

If you're playing live, you can probably get away with a little improvisation as long as you get the signature riffs fairly accurate. Unless you're playing in a tribute band; then you would have to pretty much learn the song note-for-note.

The exception to the above would be if you are playing jazz. Jazz is all about improvisation and as long as you follow the correct form and keep the chord progression intact you can pretty much do what you feel at the moment.

Now, if you are just sitting around and jamming to prerecorded tracks you can do whatever you want. Me personally, I prefer the note-for-note approach. Otherwise, every time I play a note that clashes with the original recording I end up thinking too much about those notes that clash and it really takes away from the joy I get from playing the song. And on occasion it does break my train of thought which can lead to more screw ups on my part. Not to mention it just sounds bad!

When I improvise on my own (practice), I usually do so without prerecorded music tracks. There are a number of ways to work thru chord progressions outside of a band setting - loopers, drum tracks, metronome, etc. Even just you, with bass in hand, without any accompaniment, rhythm or time constraints can prove to be beneficial to the creative process.

You should never feel like you're "cheating" because you're not learning [someone else's] vocabulary. Although, there is a lot to be gained by seeing how someone else has constructed their basslines. But, when you improvise you are creating your own vocabulary. And it is that process that brings your own individuality into your playing style and is what sets you apart from bassists . . .

 

[SteveCS]

As noted by @FatStringer52 above, I think it depends on your objectives. I actually pug a vote for all three poll options, since they all look like reasonable choices.

When playing live I like to have significant latitude for improvisation, or winging it. But for that to happen I need to know and understand the music from a compositional perspective - the melody and harmony, any cadences or modulations, time/tempo and rhythm changes, etc. For me, the quickest and most effective way to make that happen is to transcribe (by ear) the bass part note for note, alongside the harmony and the tune. I find that writing things out in standard notation gets the initial learning over more quickly than just reading or working purely by ear. Once that is done I can start working on my own 'flavouring'. Here, I also find that writing out my parts as I develop them helps with retention/recall, as well as deepening my understanding of the music from a compositional or theoretical perspective. At the end of the process I have a chord sheet, a note-for-note transcription, annotated 'variations' and concepts for improvisation, all of which I will already know fairly well just through the act of writing it out for myself. In doing so, it is likely I will also have improved my ear a little, picked up a bit more general knowledge, and/or found a new technical (bass-related) challenge to overcome, thus improving (or at least expanding) my musicianship.

I have to say that I don't really find any part of the process especially tedious, but I can see how just trying to learn and remember fingering patterns from TAB might become a chore...

YMMV

 

[Chad Michael]

Capture the taste, tone, time, feel...

 

[WrapRough]

I remember once I was trying to learn For Once In My Life note for note, and I realised that there is probably no way, if asked, Jamerson would even know what he played, and would likely never play the same thing again if he wanted to. Same with Lemon Song and JPJ, which I learnt note for note before having this epiphany . So I kinda thought, if the bassline was improvised by the bassist, then I should try and understand the composition, and then also improvise my own bassline for it, making sure it still sounds "right". But if the line is very structured, or critical to the make-up of the song, then I learn it note for note. I also have challenge pieces that I always learn note for note regardless, as I am using them really as exercises to improve technique or speed.

Also, to your point about it sounding weird if you improvise over a song, yeah it can do. Sometimes I either try and find a backing track with no bass, or I roll off the bass frequencies in EQ which can help a bit.

Now you've made me want to revisit For Once In My Life, one of my fave ever lines

 

[Malcolm1935]

I came over from rhythm guitar. I'd call up some fake chord sheet music and follow the chords to the beat of the song. I still do this except now I play notes of the chords. Depending on the song this could be R-3-5-b7 or root on the first beat and a five on the third beat. R-5-8-5 is a generic bass line that fits with most of what I do (did).

I'm shooting for a groove with the drummer and leaving treble note for note for the others.

 

[mambo4]

Getting the rhythm + roots right is probably the most crucial thing in most cases
I once heard a bassist mess up Brick House by placing the final note on the 1 instead of the 4&

 

[Sean150]

Thanks everyone for the responses. It’s nice to know that I am somewhat on the right track. Especially since I am more interested in jazz and original music. The odds of me playing in a cover band a pretty low and I mainly learn these songs for technique practice and fun.

 

[AFRO]

This kinda hangs me up every time I try to learn a song by ear so I thought I’d see what different opinions are. I find trying to learn a note for note bass line, even from notation, and especially from TAB, tedious and un-fun. Even when I do succeed I generally end up mentally changing the line when I am practicing to my own natural feeling of the song and then I feel like I wasted the time learning note for note and have to go back and do it again. As I said no fun.

So, now that I am a better player and understand theory a bit better I wanted to start learning songs by ear but, when I think about learning it note for note like I did as a beginner I find it very unappealing and go back to my rut.

I much prefer to improvise when I am playing but part of me feels that its cheating because I am not “learning vocabulary” or some other excuse I come up with. Also, if I am improvising I’m sure it will eventually conflict with the bass line on the original track I am playing against.

So what do you all do?

I used to labor through and try to learn it painfully note by note. Then I matured a smidge and got a better sense of Harmony, Melody and such. this 'maturity' let me focus on the beat/pulse/feel for the song. if there are some signature licks or bars in the song try to tighten those up.

Overall: the fun factor is the most important part, because IMO/IME that will produce the best output sound wise. also there is no shame in pounding out roots in quarter to 16th notes if it grooves with everything, and the booties are shaking (and the biddys are bouncing ) then its working well IMO/IME.

also, the more I 'matured' the more I realized it does not need to be a carbon copy of a verbatim song, it can be close and still sound good in the context of the situation.
Save all the complex thinking and analytics for practice time when you can afford to be picky and persnickety about things.. hopefully that translates to being prepared to have some fun in a live situation and keep time and groove for and with the band.

 

[LBS-bass]

I remember once I was trying to learn For Once In My Life note for note, and I realised that there is probably no way, if asked, Jamerson would even know what he played, and would likely never play the same thing again if he wanted to. Same with Lemon Song and JPJ, which I learnt note for note before having this epiphany . So I kinda thought, if the bassline was improvised by the bassist, then I should try and understand the composition, and then also improvise my own bassline for it, making sure it still sounds "right". But if the line is very structured, or critical to the make-up of the song, then I learn it note for note. I also have challenge pieces that I always learn note for note regardless, as I am using them really as exercises to improve technique or speed.

Also, to your point about it sounding weird if you improvise over a song, yeah it can do. Sometimes I either try and find a backing track with no bass, or I roll off the bass frequencies in EQ which can help a bit.

Now you've made me want to revisit For Once In My Life, one of my fave ever lines

I agree, there are many songs I've learned where the bassist on the studio version alternates between various phrases without apparent rhyme or reason and you know that it was just being played off the cuff without more than a chord chart. With songs like that, I might learn one or two of those key phrases and then improvise the others based on that. If there are signature bits, I learn them verbatim. But a lot of the groove parts don't need to be note for note as long as the feel and vibe of the piece is captured.

In a tribute band, I would want to get as close as possible.

That's assuming we're doing a cover, if we're reinterpreting a song, anything goes.

 

[DWBass]

Learn the damn song. In R&B/Funk, there is no room for 'winging it'!! Period! In my day, your skills were judged by how well you could learn and play all the important licks and notes in the song.

 

[Bassman Spiff]

Close faithful representation of the songs is my goal. But my bands are cover bands, not tributes (where I would argue note-for-note would be the goal).

Some songs are more faithful than others - depending on the desired sound and abilities. There are also some songs that I somewhat reinterpret and my band likes the result better - so we use that.

As others have noted... iconic riffs and melodies deserve more attention and should be pretty darned close to the original (IMO).

 

[jallenbass]

If it's a drag to do then don't. I, on the other hand, find it fascinating to understand, for instance, how John Entwistle crafted and played his bass lines. The more detail the better.

 

[lfmn16]

Intros, changes, ending, chords, signature licks, feel are all must-haves for me. I usually get a song between 80-90% accurate, unless something needs to be changed to accommodate the fact that the band almost never has the same instrumentation as the original recording. That will put you in the top 10% (at least) for accurately capturing a tune. Since I've been on TB, I've suggested that the people who claim to play 100% accurately post a set of their playing so we can swoon at the awesome feat, but haven't had a taker yet. I don't believe that ANYONE plays all their tunes with 100% accuracy, it's just not realistic.

 

[rtslinger]

I learn the songs note for note first if it is something we are going to add to the set list. That usually ends up being changed somewhere along the way live. Usually due to some improvising happening. Be it the drummer and myself coming up with something or a lead guitar line that has been changed enough that the original bass line as recorded isn't going to play nice with what is being played. Live it doesn't hurt to be creative as long as you have the tools to pull it off and don't make the song unrecognizable to the paying audience

 

[40Hz]

For the average cover? Capture the beat and vibe plus any signature riffs and changes, plus (maybe) the intros and outros. Beyond that, make it yours AFAIC.

If you want me to play note for note, give me the score in standard notation and I'll read it.

FWIW I have don't bother learning entire bass lines note for note for any reason other than to learn something from them. When it comes to performance I can't recall ever once playing an entire bass line I learned note for not off a recording with no changes. But I've never played in a real tribute band (is the phrase "real tribute" and oxymoron?) so I've never had to. And with tribute bands, most I've known had their full arrangements scored out. So your job is to mostly play that score with authenticity and the proper feel. Do that over and over enough nights and you will eventually memorize it. But I think that's a different scenario than what you're asking about.

 

[ObsessiveArcher]

Hitting the right notes is only part of it. There's the feel, overall timing, accents, muting and other dynamics to consider. When I learn to play a song, I'm striving for these as well. I also typically end up learning a new or honing an existing techniqe. For example; if a song is mostly playing the same 1/8th notes, foucs on your right hand. How can you make the tone more even and consistent? Does using one, two or three fingers sound better? What if you used a pick? How do you control the lengh of each note? Now the left hand questions; how's the itonation? Are the other strings ringing out? etc.
If you are not to that point yet, or have already mastered those things, then no worreis either way!

 

[LBS-bass]

If it's a drag to do then don't. I, on the other hand, find it fascinating to understand, for instance, how John Entwistle crafted and played his bass lines. The more detail the better.

There are different reasons for wanting to learn a song. If I want to learn how one of my admired players does something, I have to deconstruct everything they did, note-for-note. There is no other way, and I might spend many hours trying to master a specific song. But if it's to play an easy song with a hobby band in the local bar, I'm probably not going to spend that kind of time on it. Instead I'm going to find a way to make the song work for everyone with a more appropriate amount of effort. That doesn't mean I didn't learn the damn song. It means I know how the song goes and I know how to play it but I'm not rubber-stamping a clone version of it for the purposes of playing it once a month.

 

[CallMeAl]

I’m somewhere in between option 2 and 3, I think. I try to capture the recorded bass line as best I can. But sometimes I just can’t land a riff, or other times I have an idea I just like better.

best analogy I can think of is it’s like I’m doing a tracing of someone else’s drawing. I gloss over some details, and make it my own in other spots; but in the end I capture the essence of the original and you can see where my version came from. Unless I’m playing jazz

FWIW I’m a weekend warrior hobbyist. I don’t make a ton of money doing this and don’t really do it for the money. I’m open from the beginning with band mates this is my style and it’s worked for everyone I’ve been playing with.

 

[Bunk McNulty]

I learn songs note for note.
1. Hit records are hits for a reason. Figuring out how the bassist did it, I learn new ways of playing.
2. The cover band I play in likes everything to be tight and clean; it's kind of a selling point.
3. I like to have a plan to deviate from.