Hello as a beginner I'm wondering which are the suggested steps to learn to play a song. I think that a common mistake is to try to learn chord changhes and rhythm at the same time (which at elast for me quite difficult), so maybe it should be divided in severalseparate steps.
a) learn to play the chords in their original progression. So this means that we should know how long every chord is to be played (one measure, two beats, two measures....) and then start to pratice the progression playing a downstrum for each beat. i.e. if the song is made of a full measure C and G progression, I would play four times C and four times G;
b) when the chord progression is mastered it is the time to choose a strummin pattern Given the fact that it is at least for me quite difficult to understand the original one, I'm wondering if it is possible to play a similar one: of course this means that we should at least be able to understand if the original pattern is a straightforward or a syncopated one. i.e. if the original would be
D ddu D ddu, maybe we could simplify it like D du D du (playing two straight eight notes instead of one eight and two sixteen ones)
or if it would be syncopated maybe we should play the most common syncopated patterns like D Du UD or D DU UDU
Do you think this could be a good approach? Any suggestion would be appreciated
Thanks in advance
Matteo
I sit down with the score or the songbook and just read the song for a few days. If I have the CD so much the better. Once I've got a handle on how it all goes, then I start fingering the chord shapes and trying to get a handle on the strumming pattern.
Once I've got all that together, then I actually start trying to play the song for real; slowly at first, and then working towards performance speed. Then add the vocals if necessary.
Ditto for my Classical work
Best,
A :-)
"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk
Yes, I think there are steps to learning a new song.
From sheet music:
1. Look over the whole tune - do you know all the chords? (If not, stop and learn the new ones)
2. Look at the time signature - do you have strum patterns in your trick bag that will fit? 3/4, 4/4, maybe 6/8 are easy - what if it's in 9/16 like that new tune of Robert Plant? Does it change times anywhere, and if so, how will you handle it?
3. Look at the key signature, and make sense of what the chords are... where are the I chords, the Vs and IVs. Does the progression look like something you've seen before and can relate it to?
4. Look for repeat signs, double bar section-end signs, and other clues to the structure. Try to figure out the general layout - verse, chorus, intro, bridge, coda.
5. Pick a section to start with. That might be the one that looks most familiar (I-IV-V), the one that repeats most often (you'll get the bulk of the tune right away), or the part that's got the song's 'hook' (usually the chorus).
6. Repeat the process, learning the other sections.
7. Pull it all together.
From tab:
1. You'll need to hear the tune, because the time element on most tabs is missing.
2. Listen to the tune, and identify the beat. Figure out the likely time signature.
3. Scan the piece for chords. Write down what they are, and make sure you can play them.
4. I'll often write out at least the rhythm of the riffs in standard notation above the tab - helps a lot when you're working on several tunes at once.
5. Figure out where the sections are - the same step as #4 with sheet music. Write in your own repeats and double bars for sections.
6. Learn it as in #5-7 above.
By ear:
1. Play the recording a few times to 'feel' the song.
2. Listen for tension and release. Try to figure out the chord AFTER the tension - it's often the I chord of the tune.
3. Play the I chord over the tune and make sure it makes sense. If it's an awkward thing like Eb, grab your capo and make it comfortable.
4. Print (or make) a lyric sheet if it's got words. If it doesn't, count bars - it's tedious, but having something in front of you on paper helps a lot!
5. Listen again, and mark on your lyric/bar sheet the quality of the chords you hear. Just mark M, m, or 7 - don't worry yet about what they are exactly, just whether you hear major, minor, or seventh. You might also make notes of anything that you understand right off - like a chromatic step down (or up) to the next chord.
6. Now look at those marks and see what makes sense. If 7s are followed consistently by ms, you're probably in a minor key - if 7s are followed by Is, you're in major. Make note of what those chords are likely to be (for major keys, I-IV-V are major, ii-iii-vi are minor, so if it's in the key of D write down D-C-G-Em-F#m-Am)
7. Listen again, and see if you can fit letter names to the M, m, and 7 notes you made. Repeat until you've got the basic triads/sevenths down - you might end up changing some Ms to ms as you work, and vice/versa.
8. Now play through the tune with the recording. Note where the chords are close, but not quite right. See if you can relate the differences to stuff you already know - are you hearing sus chords instead of Ms? Open strings included in a voicing? Try to get a bit closer each time. You might try playing single notes over the recording to see what 'fits', and checking the chord you wrote down to see what's in it - If A works over a chord, and you'd written down C for the chord, maybe it's a C6... so try that one!
9. When you have everything figured out, you're almost there for learning the song, because it's either a) really simple, a basic progression... or b) you've listened to it dozens of times by now. When I learn by ear, I don't tend to use the verse/chorus/bridge breakdown like I do from sheet music, but you might want to do that if there are rough spots or memory problems in some areas.
I've been thinking a LOT lately about how I learn songs (like you can't tell by now!) I usually learn 3-5 tunes a week, but I've just taken a gig starting around Labor Day that requires me to learn at triple that rate, and first rehearsal is Monday. I've only got the band's performance recordings and demo CDs to work from - no sheet music or chord charts - and the notes they gave me on what keys they do them in don't match the recordings on about 20% of the songs. Yesterday I set a personal record: figured out 11 tunes, and got 3 of them performance ready!
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
Extremely nice post NoteBoat!
Cut'n'paste'save in my documents :D
"Trying is the first step towards failure." 
i had a teacher who taught like the way you're thinking. she would give you a cd with the song on it, and the a paper with the lyrics written out with the chord above the words. so you went home, put on the cd and just strummed up and down to the song in order to learn the chords and the chord changes. i stopped taking lessons from her.
my feeling is that it's a big waste of time to learn it like that. learn the entire song---chords, chord changes and rhythmn at the same time. if you can't do it to the songs you've chosen to play, it may be that the songs are too hard. find easier songs that are maybe a bit slower so you can learn the rhythmn and chords and changes all at once. start with two chord songs and move on to three chord songs if you have to.
song suggestions. i'm taking these from the song book she gave me.
cross my heart - bruce springsteen
jersey girl - tom waits
eleanor rigby - the beatles
evil ways - santana
maragritaville - jimmy buffet
brown eyed girl - van morrison
after the gold rush - neil young
mr tambourine man - the byrds
el condor pasa - paul simon
Hi,
There's a little piece of software called BestPractice that can be handy for beginners like me. My ear isn't good enough yet to pick out everything that's happening at playing speed if I'm trying to learn from a CD (actuallyI have two ears, but neither is much good...). It changes a song speed.
It allows you to slow a song off a CD right down while you're learning it and getting the feel of how it's all put together.
Normally slowing something down stuffs up the pitch and generally ruins it, but this compensates (at least well enough to be bearable to listen to!).
You can break it up into small sections and loop them too.
I've found it useful even if I have some written guides too, such as Tabs. In fact it's useful for filling in the details that tabs don't show.
