The Steel Guitar Forum

I put the song on my iPod and play it in the car, at home, etc.
I chart the song using Nashville notation.
I then think of as many ways as possible to play each chord. Usually 4 to 6. Single notes, 2 notes or 3 will often be enough. ( good grief, I know it takes three notes to make a chord.)

Out of that selection of chords, I can find what I am looking for.

Ron

Like Ron--on a road trip once, my travelling companion would listen (Little Feat, in those days)and call out the changes. Very self-instructional.

Surely I'm not the only one who places importance on learning the lyrics ?
As I said earlier in this post

basilh wrote:Most instrumentals are songs so I start by learning the lyrics. Then I find the key that the average person would sing it in and work it out from there..whilst trying to stay close to the composer's intent with the melody AND chord structure. The psychology of subliminal audience participation is also NOT lost on me, and is much preferred to the option of finding the easiest key and chord changes.

I'm 100% with Michael Johnstone on this subject (I think we talked about it a bit the one time we met). My normal practice routine for a gig is to make a playlist on my iPod (previously, it was a set of CD's or tapes) and listen to them repeatedly.

In some cases I don't even physically practice a song if it's not particularly difficult - somehow repeated listening ingrains enough that mmuscle memory takes over when playing and I can play at least something similar (I almost NEVER copy anything exactly - it's a pet peeve of mine to hear cover bands play exact copies of recorded songs. I'd rather hear players infuse their own style and personality into things, while maintaining at least a skeleton version of well-known hooks).

Perhaps because I don't read music and have a tough time even with tab I've learned to use my ears - and I've become pretty good at mimicking parts or complete songs just by repeated listening. I find that if I try to play a difficult part over and over it simply gets worse and worse - I end up playing "tight", and if I blow something in the middle I am dead. Ear playing allows me to wing it, and a mistake can be manipulated into something "right".

I've seen some extreme examples of concentrated tab (or practice of exactly the same part over and over) study turning into a horribly embarrassing trainwreck, where a player will blow a note, get one or two beats off the track - yet continue to play the EXACT thing they practiced, but on the wrong beats...because they don't know how to get out of it. ALL they know is the exact version they have practiced.

IMO tab, used properly, simply puts you in the right vicinity. Playing it exactly (after one or two run-throughs to get the general idea) is a bad practice.

basilh wrote:The psychology of subliminal audience participation is also NOT lost on me, and is much preferred to the option of finding the easiest key and chord changes.

Does that mean: listeners hearing the words in their head while you're playing the melody close enough to the original to support them hearing those words? And you take no shortcuts in order to make that happen?

As a second point to my original "stacato" post: Like many others have mentioned, I listen to something I'm going to learn on my ipod while I work, over and over again. I'll listen more times than I care to admit, because I don't want to give the impression I'm a slow learner!

Regarding tab, I'm of the thought that if relied on to heavily, it get's in the way of ears>brain>hands and adds another stage in the process that complicates playing. My opinion, of course.

I've been disappointed to find how quick something I've learned is forgotten, if not reviewed daily. MJ's comment about recording is a good one.

If the song has a signature lick/intro, I will commit it to memory, otherwise I listen to the chord progression and learn the song.

Brian McGaughey wrote:

basilh wrote:The psychology of subliminal audience participation is also NOT lost on me, and is much preferred to the option of finding the easiest key and chord changes.

Does that mean: listeners hearing the words in their head while you're playing the melody close enough to the original to support them hearing those words? And you take no shortcuts in order to make that happen?

Nice of you to bring that up Brian.
The quickest way to loose the attention of the listener is to play a note that doesn't correspond to what they expect, or not to play a note they DO expect.
Either way it's down to the fact that "Joe Soap" knows roughly how the words sit in a song and if you change what he's expecting he'll feel uncomfortable and probably "Switch Off"

If you wish to challenge that point of view, of course you're entitled to do so, but in defence of it I'll say that album sales of a few million recorded with that in mind would bear out the hypothesis.
KISS would seem to be the maxim, along with SWOM (Stay With Original Melody) KISS + SWOM = CASH..

Staying with the "Signature Licks" on songs is also quite important as the listener IMMEDIATELY identifies the song, or at least SHOULD do if you're doing your job correctly.

On the other hand CREATING signature licks is the domain of a select few, how that's done is really the subject for another thread.

There is a theory about the first fifteen seconds of a record, ask any music psycologist !!

I learn a song almost exactly like Bo and somewhat like Basilh. I'll usually work the melody out of the chord pattern a little bit at a time.I don't learn the lyrics like Basilh does but I sing (in my mind) the melody of the song to myself as I play. As a matter of fact I sing every song I play to myself everytime I play it. Even improvisions. It doesn't matter if it's a vocal and I'm doing fills and a solo or an instrumental. Weird, but it works for me.

Listen - repeat - listen - repeat - etc.

I was told by a music teacher once that if one could whistle it one could play it..

Ron Wright wrote:I was told by a music teacher once that if one could whistle it one could play it..

If one was sufficiently conversant with one's instrument's vagaries, as one should be !!

If you can whistle it then all you have to do is find the notes

I learned to play country music in a tiny little bar in San Francisco. The singer would turn to me and sing the Sears Roebuck variation intro he wanted me to play. My job was to play it back right away while he thumped bass and rhythm on his Strat.

Then he'd sing - verse verse bridge verse - and toss it to me. I was expected to have memorized the song by then to play a solo - melody plus harmony. This guy knew hundreds of old country standards. It was six months into the job before I started to hear songs repeated.

I played there for 3 or four years. I was drinking pretty heavy and I can't say that I always played good, but it was a great education. I developed a very good ear for memorizing. No special technique - just listen and remember it.

b0b wrote:No special technique - just listen and remember it.

Perhaps the drinking helps if the songs are so... whatever they were.
I did only one gig like that. Drinking didn't help. Not drinking didn't help. I have no idea what songs he played.
Showing up didn't assure getting paid.
That's when the drinking started.
B0b, you're a trooper. Glad things improved so much over the years. Guess in retrospect you don't mind the dues you paid, so many years ago.

Charlie McDonald wrote:B0b, you're a trooper. Glad things improved so much over the years. Guess in retrospect you don't mind the dues you paid, so many years ago.

Actually, I'm forever grateful for that job. It was not only the ear training. It was there that I met my wife - she was the singer's stepdaughter. The job kept us afloat during some tough times. I know there were nights when the bar didn't take in as much as they paid the band. They were really good people.

I'm sorry, what was the question?

Something about drinking or women...
usual C&W stuff.

Mother says I came out singing harmonies.
I do know that ear training in early piano lessons was what made it sink in.

So b0b, did your wife sing too?

Was I supposed to memorize these songs ?? I thought it would all come together, at show time. I listen to new material, play along with the tracks, numerous times, and find all the chord positioning, looking for the best place to hide. But at show time, another type of performer shows up, with a lot more to give, than a few chords, some picking, and a melody. ( But I love it )

Many years ago, in the Physics Lab., I used to play all the pop songs of the day on the Sonometer. It only had one string, but just sliding a bar up and down that string and getting the notes was pretty easy. Our complications come from having more than one string...

(The Physics teacher didn't always approve of my "entertainment"...)