How do YOU learn a new song?

If you are talking strumming chords only then I sing and play together IF i am familiar with the song and can hear it in my head.
I start with just downstrokes the first time through to get a feel for it and then start working out what pattern will fit best but I always sing along to make sure it fits.
Now if I am playing more of a lead type or fingerstyle arrangement part I learn the guitar part first then add the vocals. (Such as "Fields of Gold" I am working on the vocals now, I have the guitar part down solid)("Seasons in the Sun" a song I strum, I sang and played together at the same time)

Please see this thread.

Thanks to both of you. Vink - I comnpletely missed that thread.

I was referring to songs one is familiar with. I guess my initial trouble is getting the right tempo and number of measures for each chord. Do you count the measures or use the vocals as your guide to changing chords?
It seems like my strumming & singing tempos and timing are out of sync (yes, I know practice! :D )

I guess my initial trouble is getting the right tempo and number of measures for each chord. Do you count the measures or use the vocals as your guide to changing chords?

I've been trying to figure out the right method for me, working with my teacher. It looks like the right approach for me is to count out the measures. This will also be helpful for instrumental leads, since in that case you cannot associate the words with the chords. ( Mind you, I don't sing. )

I never sang before either. I'd like to give it a try though. I was in a couple of recent situations where I had an "audience" and I wanted to either be able to sing and play or have a bunch of songs recognizable w/o singing.
I think the singing/strumming thing is ideal to entertain a few friends at a small gathering or around the campfire, etc. This was one of the promptings for me to start this thread.
I'll keep at it but hope to hear some thoughts from others as well.

When you are playing from memory with nothing but chords above lyrics there really is nothing to count. Ie.. without the music I don't know if that chord is 2 bars or 2 1/2 bars. But once you get a strumming pattern worked out and can sing along with it. Chord changes are instinctive and you will get a feel for it.
Now if you are playing from sheet music or equivalant then you can rely on counting.

I think the singing/strumming thing is ideal to entertain a few friends at a small gathering or around the campfire, etc..

Indeed it is .. one of my difficulties now is, if someone says "play something for me", what do I do? I know how to play accompaniement to a few songs, but I can't sing them. And I am not a good lead player, so I cannot put on a backing track and start showing them my (non-existant) improv skills. I am so underconfident about my singing abilities (and my family concurs with my assessment of my abilities :-(), I am stuck until I get better at my soloing abilities.

So good luck, keep at it, and I hope you can be much better than I am at singing and playing. In fact, if I could sing even a little better, I would approach learning guitar differently too, probably much more along the lines of being a singer/strummer!

Joe Cocker, Bod Dylan and others are proof you don't need a good singing voice to sing songs.
Find songs that suit your voice and let loose.
I am loving the new addition to "the easy song database" forum.
"Oh Lord it's hard to be humble" easy to play and you can wail your way through it and the worse you sound the better :D

Do you count the measures or use the vocals as your guide to changing chords?

Depends on the song. Most stuff is in simple 4/4 or 12/8 time, and I just feel for where the changes are - after you've been playing a while, you'll feel the downbeats without counting.

If something's complicated - I just transcribed a song that's got shifting meters (4/4 to 7/8 to 4/4 to 5/8 etc) - you betcha I count. Then I write it out, then I count it again while reading what I've written and listening to the CD. But to perform it, I'll feel the changes against the lyrics. Why? Because not everybody counts, and people who do count sometimes lose their place. Unless you're playing with all top-notch people, it's likely the singer will come in wrong at some point. Better to play it wrong and sound good as a band than to sound like crap and be yelling at the band mates later about how you were the only one on the beat :)

Better to play it wrong and sound good as a band than to sound like crap and be yelling at the band mates later about how you were the only one on the beat :)

Good thing you never played anything with me, otherwise you would have to keeping adjusting all the time or yell at me after each gig :-) :-)

Way way back, in college days, I used to play base with a group which did Indian popular music. There were better guitar players, so I got to play base, and I was not very good at that either. My timing was bad; but one thing I definitely learned was to pause a beat and then catch up with the drummer, who was usually on the beat. And even if he was not, he was the beat!

(One of the things I am doing now when I picked up Guitar again, is using the metronome or the drum machine whenever I practice .. have to improve my timing!)

Find songs that suit your voice and let loose.
I am loving the new addition to "the easy song database" forum.
"Oh Lord it's hard to be humble" easy to play and you can wail your way through it and the worse you sound the better :D

I've got to go check that one out. Unfortunately, my family threatens to leave if I start singing :roll:

Good advice here - Thanks! :D

I started this thread thinking of "simple" songs that I hoped I could strum and sing along to. Songs in 4/4 or 3/4 time that are well known (example: Stand By Me).

I would look at the chords/lyrics and think to myself - I can play these chords and switch between them easily - this song should be snap! Well, I quickly find that trying to sing and play along to the song I hear in my head isn't quite so easy. I find my strumming doesn't seem to sync up with singing.

I do realize that I need more practice and that I shouldn't get frustrated too quickly. I think playing along to a recording should help but I don't always have the recording.

I'll review the discussion here and the singing forum (great idea by the way!). The good news is that I have had some success: "Who'll Stop the Rain" by CCR is fairly doable by me with a little practice. I guess some songs will be harder than others regardless of whether "I think" they look simple.
Cheers!