techniques for learning new songs

[rory]

Evening, I've recently joined a new band and am trying to learn a load of new songs. I know all of the songs (to listen to) but am wondering what techniques, aside from simple repetition, that I can use to learn/remember them. Any ideas? what works for you lot? 

[Franticsmurf]

Fortunately, it's rare that I have to learn new songs quickly - I'm rubbish at it. Repetition and crib notes work for me in those situations. The crib notes are mostly the chord/root notes of anything I'm not too sure about (an instrumental break, solo or key change for example) that doesn't follow the 'normal' structure of the song in question. I find listening to the originals when driving, walking etc helps familiarise myself with the song itself - even if I know the song I'll listen to it with my bass player ears. And watch your fellow musicians to spot the changes and chords (I've done this a lot with a guitarist I used to work with). 

 

Be up front with the band and tell them of any songs you're having problems with. And good luck. 😄

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

I use OnSong on an iPad with a bluetooth foot-switch page turner. It’s attached to a guitar stand for dep gigs and is invisible for the most part.

I dep with so many different bands that there are 100’s of songs on it. No way can I remember them all.

I use it mainly for song structure rather than dots.

Edited August 5, 2023 by hiram.k.hackenbacker

[SubsonicSimpleton]

Write them out with pencil/paper - the more detail the better.

 

If you want to remember something, the more cognitive connections and associations the better - deconstructing a song by counting out the bars, writing out the structure etc uses different bits of the brain to just listening passively, or playing along with a recording.

 

Once you have the structures down you can fill in the details and sort out the tricky bits - a band can still sound good with simplified parts as long as the structures are all solid, so you can develope the detail over time.

 

 

[KingPrawn]

I generally break a song down into its parts. The key signature, intro, chorus, Middle 8, and Any tricky parts. I then look for the repetitive parts and nail them. Every song has a pattern which, I learn and listen out for triggers from vocals or other instruments. So basically I end up with a series of parts. if it's a song that involves speed I use a metronome set a few beats below to learn the song then increase the speed until I hit the correct tempo. googling the lead sheets can be really useful or looking at someone else's attempts on youtube can cut corners. 

 

I then go to rehearsal and fook it all up!

[SuperSeagull]

54 minutes ago, KingPrawn said:

I generally break a song down into its parts. The key signature, intro, chorus, Middle 8, and Any tricky parts. I then look for the repetitive parts and nail them. Every song has a pattern which, I learn and listen out for triggers from vocals or other instruments. So basically I end up with a series of parts. if it's a song that involves speed I use a metronome set a few beats below to learn the song then increase the speed until I hit the correct tempo. googling the lead sheets can be really useful or looking at someone else's attempts on youtube can cut corners. 

 

I then go to rehearsal and fook it all up!

Precisely what I do!

[deepbass5]

Yep all of the above, apart from IPad.  For Rock n roll type stuff, my notes may be just Eb, or the 3 main chords depending on the pattern, for more complex numbers I'll start with an A4 sheet and bass on my lap, find the key, then try and get down the notes of the bass line in rough bar form with repeats and usual Verse /Chorus etc. Once i think i have the song down ill try and simplify and tidy my crib sheet further.  Then practice it until its one that I can remember, I may still take my list of prompts to the gig, but hope by then i look at it and think - oh ya its that one. I am terrible at remembering song titles and blank easily on stage, when the singer turns and shouts out a number. I may just need the drummer to start or that guitar intro and Im away, but of course if you are all in on the one, that's no help. I have often played 4 or 8 bars in auto pilot thinking what the hell is this song hoping it will come to me before the chorus.  Hence the crib sheet to avoid total humiliation.    

[Cliff Edge]

On 05/08/2023 at 20:06, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

I use OnSong on an iPad with a bluetooth foot-switch page turner. It’s attached to a guitar stand for dep gigs and is invisible for the most part.

I dep with so many different bands that there are 100’s of songs on it. No way can I remember them all.

I use it mainly for song structure rather than dots.

This is what I do. Mostly it’s a prompt for the key and the intro chords after which the hope is the rest falls into place. I also use it as a crutch for lyrics of songs I take lead vocal on. 

[Franticsmurf]

3 hours ago, deepbass5 said:

Yep all of the above, apart from IPad.  For Rock n roll type stuff, my notes may be just Eb, or the 3 main chords depending on the pattern, for more complex numbers I'll start with an A4 sheet and bass on my lap, find the key, then try and get down the notes of the bass line in rough bar form with repeats and usual Verse /Chorus etc. Once i think i have the song down ill try and simplify and tidy my crib sheet further.  Then practice it until its one that I can remember, I may still take my list of prompts to the gig, but hope by then i look at it and think - oh ya its that one. I am terrible at remembering song titles and blank easily on stage, when the singer turns and shouts out a number. I may just need the drummer to start or that guitar intro and Im away, but of course if you are all in on the one, that's no help. I have often played 4 or 8 bars in auto pilot thinking what the hell is this song hoping it will come to me before the chorus.  Hence the crib sheet to avoid total humiliation.    

Glad it's not just me. 😀

[Lozz196]

Simple repetition, both listening to and playing along to are the only things that work for me. I will also write notes on a spreadsheet about key and structure if there are a lot of different parts or am learning a whole batch of songs for an audition.

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

2 hours ago, Cliff Edge said:

This is what I do. Mostly it’s a prompt for the key and the intro chords after which the hope is the rest falls into place. I also use it as a crutch for lyrics of songs I take lead vocal on. 

I don't blame you. If I had to sing/remember lyrics as well, I think my brain would melt 🤣.

There's a few bands I have not taken this approach with, one being the Bowie band where being tied to any form of notation would not have served the show very well at all.

I did have one A4 sheet for a couple of shows when we first put Wild Is The Wind in the set. I think I tried too hard to learn/remember it and it just wouldn't stick for some reason. Bit odd really as it's not the hardest song in the world 🤷‍♂️.

The other one is the Queen tribute. No dots for the same reason.

The 80's show I've done so many times now there wouldn't be much hope for me if I couldn't remember it after all this time.

The rest = iPad/OnSong all the way.

[Dan Dare]

When I have to learn new stuff, I make charts - chords and structure, plus notation for any essential lines/parts. Then I have it playing in the house and car on repeat until I'm sick of it. Works for me.

[JapanAxe]

I’m probably an outlier here but I usually start by transcribing the song in musical notation. That gives me two routes for getting the music into my head - ears and eyes! Then I start by learning the end and work backwards, section by section, to the beginning. I keep track of how I’m getting on with the set by setting up a page on Trello.com.

 

I’m currently working through this process for a dep gig in early October, where I’ll be playing a mix of pop, soul, reggae, electro-funk, and Afro beat!

[Dad3353]

9 minutes ago, JapanAxe said:

I’m probably an outlier here but I usually start by transcribing the song in musical notation. That gives me two routes for getting the music into my head - ears and eyes! Then I start by learning the end and work backwards, section by section, to the beginning. I keep track of how I’m getting on with the set by setting up a page on Trello.com.

 

I’m currently working through this process for a dep gig in early October, where I’ll be playing a mix of pop, soul, reggae, electro-funk, and Afro beat!

 

I play drums, but this ^^^^ is exactly how I've always done it. With five-hour variety shows, with drums in every number and several segue sessions, it worked for me. After a few decades, it all starts to make sense, and one can 'feel' the way through new stuff, but only after having put in the hours, I found. Retired, mostly, now, but I still write out stuff that I want to study. 

[BrightonianBass]

On 06/08/2023 at 21:08, KingPrawn said:

I generally break a song down into its parts. The key signature, intro, chorus, Middle 8, and Any tricky parts. I then look for the repetitive parts and nail them. Every song has a pattern which, I learn and listen out for triggers from vocals or other instruments. So basically I end up with a series of parts. if it's a song that involves speed I use a metronome set a few beats below to learn the song then increase the speed until I hit the correct tempo. googling the lead sheets can be really useful or looking at someone else's attempts on youtube can cut corners. 

 

I then go to rehearsal and fook it all up!

You and me both!

[ossyrocks]

Looks like I’m in a minority here, but I have found that it’s best to never write anything down or have any notes for learning a new band set.

I had never believed this would work until I went for a lesson with an internationally renowned jazz guitarist and tutor.

We sat down, I got out my instrument, and then a pad and pen, and was told immediately to put the pad away. If I wrote things down then “the paper would become the knowledge”. He said that if I came away with only 10% of what we went through lodged in my head then that would be the best result.

Since then, I have just relied on my brain, exclusively, when learning new material. I recently joined a nine piece band being formed from scratch. On our first meeting, we had ten tunes to go over which we’d be given in advance. I was the only one in the room with no notes, but it went fine and I’m still there.

 

Jazz jams are a different thing entirely mind you, if everyone has a lead sheet then at least you all know what’s supposed to be happening.

 

Rob

[uk_lefty]

For me when joining a band a few years back I made loads of notes of the chords for the song (after checking which off the list were original key) and got my chords off ultimate guitar or something similar. One A4 sheet per song. For my band there's two song types, riff based ones where I learn a riff by muscle memory and use some chord notes as prompts in case I get lost and need to get back on track, and "chord songs" where I need to just follow the chord changes and keep the rhythm. It really helps with song structure too. 

 

Over time I've learned most and the notes become a distraction on stage, something you look at just because it's there (I have an iPad on my mic stand). But with a set list of nearly 100 songs and changing it up regularly it's impossible to remember it all perfectly including song structure.

 

In my previous band only the singer had notes on stage and the drummer and guitarist used to say that was unprofessional. Needless to say it took us a lot longer to get songs gig ready with everyone having to learn their parts and we had more mishaps at gigs with song structures being a bit trickier to get everyone going in the same direction.

Edited August 11, 2023 by uk_lefty

[PaulWarning]

I too am rubbish at learning songs and have a terrible 'ear' if I had to figure them out from just playing the track I'd never work it out. Our guitarist can, makes me sick.

I load the song into Audacity slow it down move it up an octave to make the bass stand out then Google it to find the most accurate tab, thankfully there's usually one that's in the ball park, after that it's repartition, I sometimes miss out the twiddle bits until I've nailed the chord structure

 

 

Edited August 11, 2023 by PaulWarning

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

16 minutes ago, uk_lefty said:

In my previous band only the singer had notes on stage and the drummer and guitarist used to say that was unprofessional

A little naive of them really. If that’s unprofessional, then there are a lot of major recording artists on tour at this moment that are unprofessional as well.

There are a lot of big stages that are littered with prompt machines that look like monitors. The singer in my Bowie band used to have one. Good pieces of kit, but not cheap.

[BigRedX]

In the days when I played in a covers band, after initially starting out learning the bass parts exactly as they were on the record, I discovered that for a lot of songs this was a complete waste of time, as the recorded bass part was a combination of bass guitar, extra rhythm guitar, and keyboard left hand, and often the bass guitar part on its own was insufficient to drive the song along and fill out the bottom end of the arrangement at the same time. Once I'd realised that, I'd just learn the riffs/tunes and the chord structure , and work out what I needed to play based on what was already there in our arrangement, and what was obviously missing. You do need to be in a covers band that practices between gigs to do this, as I know many don't see the need to do this.

[solo4652]

This process pretty much works for me to learn a new song for a covers band. Most points already covered in this topic thread.

 

 - Firstly, agree with the band which version of the song is being played. This saves a whole load of frustration, irritation and wasted time later on.

 - Use Audacity to strip the MP3 file off the Youtube video. 

  -Do some ironing and play the song in the background so it starts to work its way into your memory banks. Doesn't have to be ironing. Could be gardening, driving, whatever.

 - When you've got an overall appreciation of the song tempo, structure, vibe, find a good cover of it on YouTube. Usually plenty to choose from.

 - Look up tabs on Ultimate guitar, or something similar. Be wary - some tabs are OK, some aren't. Be midful of tabs written for capo use, or non-standard tuning - not always obvious.

 - I then write my own tab. This is a key part of the learning process for me because it makes me really listen to the song. Also I have my own way of writing tabs.

 - Play, repeat, tweak tabs.

 - Go to rehearsal and listen to everybody's excuses to explain why they're not as prepared as I am. 

[BigRedX]

7 minutes ago, solo4652 said:

 - Use Audacity to strip the MP3 file off the Youtube video. 

 

Personally, I think that if I am going to be earning money by playing other people's songs, then the least I can do is to buy the record or CD the song comes from. You never know there may be some other song on there that you enjoy listening to.

[JapanAxe]

12 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 

Personally, I think that if I am going to be earning money by playing other people's songs, then the least I can do is to buy the record or CD the song comes from. You never know there may be some other song on there that you enjoy listening to.

I have occasionally bought the CD or the mp3, but it’s not sustainable for me to do that for everything, considering the number of bands I dep with. I regard learning from a track that I got from YouTube as educational use and therefore fair use.

 

On the other hand when I’ve played in Bowie or Stones tributes I’ve worked from the CDs that I already own as a fan.

[chris_b]

If I have time, repetition. 

 

If I don't I write out charts.

[Waddo Soqable]

11 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

Simple repetition, both listening to and playing along to are the only things that work for me. I will also write notes on a spreadsheet about key and structure if there are a lot of different parts or am learning a whole batch of songs for an audition.

Pretty much like this, jot the basic chords down on a bit of paper and play along until sussed..