How long does it take you to learn a song?

It also depends on how well I want to know the song. In the beginning, I took lessons and I would learn a song, or so I thought, but as soon as we were off that song I would learn something else and forget the first. Now, my instructor has me memorize the song which has helped alot but increased the amount of time it takes to really learn. Currently, I am doing Celtic Fingerstyle and it takes me about two weeks if I work really hard to know the song. But I have learned a couple inbetween lessons (one of which I am recording at this moment) that didnt take more than a few days.

Still I have to keep playing them or else they are long gone.

Great question PRNDL!!!

Geoo

If it's a song that is composed of recognizable chunks of song forms I already know, it's usually a pretty quick process.

It's only really when songs don't chunk up nicely into common forms that it takes very long.

Which is still much longer than my mentor. He can hear a song once and then sit down weeks later and play it.

While it makes him a great teacher (since he can recreate something I played at a previous lesson to make a point) it makes him extremely irritating as a fellow musician. It just shouldn't be that easy for anyone :)

Great Question and thoughts to consider.

I've been playing acoustic rhythm off and on for just over a decade. Learning rhythm seems to come fairly easy to me, say several hours to a day per song. However, this last year I've dedicated (become obsessed with) scales and theory. Now I'm learning leads and melodies. Since I'm on a 4 month sabbatical (Yes! It is VERY nice, thank you for asking :wink: ), I've practiced on average 2.5 hrs a day 7 days a week. Between using Guitar Scales Method (Absolutely sold on this software program), and Guitar Pro 5 (yet another good program), Its taken about 2 weeks to learn the lead to 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'~ The Beatles; a week to learn the leads to 'You Shook Me All Night Long'~AC/DC; and about three weeks to learn the leads to 'Brothers In Arms'~Dire Straits. Of course there not perfected yet, but I have pretty much committed them to memory and can play them without embarrassing myself too much :lol: . I find the majority of my time is spent 'perfecting' each peace. Unfortunately I am unable to improvise yet, which slows my abilities tremendously! I believe knowing and using scale theory will greatly improve anybody's improv. or copying abilities.

There does seem to be an exception. I have logged over 50 hrs of practicing scales; from memorizing the five fragments to associating the Parent to Mode and all the steps between. It has been frustrating to see just how slow my progress is in memorizing scales and scale theory. I guess I'm expecting to memorize these things as easily as I can memorize the rhythm and chords of a particular song; and this has become very frustrating to me :? My benefiting factor is that I'm stubborn and won't quit until I've 'Got It'.

Thanks for the intriguing question.

That's a tough one but good on how you laid out the variables. If it's a rhythm song with a 1-4-5 progression it takes very little time. If it's a more involved rhythm pattern and a plethora of chords, well, it may take some time.

Learning lead to songs? Takes me weeks because I don't play scales. I think the lead guitar players have it hard learning note-for-note movements in songs.

I take a while to learn songs, and ages to learn them to a point where they stay learned after I haven't played them for a couple of weeks or so. I couldn't give you an exact timescale though as I've always got about 5 or so on the go at once.

Doing that works well though (for me at least), as I learn 5 or so songs in the time it would take to learn a couple if they did them one at a time, and it stops me getting sick of any one song :) I cycle through them quite quickly (2 or 3 times through each and then on to the next), that just seems to drum them in a lot better. Plus it gives me a chance to think about how I can string songs together into a setlist, you get a feeling of what goes well together.

Another good tip is to have them on your MP3 player when you're out (or stereo when you're working/driving etc.) and really concentrate on what's happening when. Give yourself a running commentry of what's going on - "end of the second chorus coming up, this is where it goes into the funky bit" kind of thing. This one's good for learning lyrics too, especially if you're thinking the line before it's sung rather than just singing/thinking along.

it depends on how well you want to know the song. i once asked the questoin here, how do you know when you know a song? the best answer i got was from dave h. who said that songs are like people. you know them to various degrees; some you know a little and some you really know well.

i found that i thought i knew a lot of songs but i didn't really know them because i usually couldn't remember them. this year my goal is to have ten or so songs that i can play and sing to at the drop of a hat. so i've been learning mostly the same songs that i started out with a few years ago but now i want to "really" know them. they're mostly simple, easy songs but it's taking me a long time to get each one just the way i want it and to be able to sing to them.

songs i'm working on right now: blackbird, after the gold rush, heart shaped box, redemption song, tequila sunrise, a face in the crowd, stairway to heaven, just a song before i go, eleanor rigby, thinking about you, freight train. i want to add in one or two nirvana songs and one or two white stripes. if i can "really" know all of these, play and sing up to a pretty good standard then i'll be happy with my progress for the year.

To learn the rythym, chord changes and lyric about two hours. Lead or melody work is another story, that could take as much as a week or more.

haha, like you said it depends on a lot of things.

i'm a beginner, but it REALLY depends on the song. i picked up Black Sabbath and Fly By Night (by Rush) in all of 15 minutes each, but other songs (*cough*anything with barres) i can barely get through a verse.

when i play bass (my true love) on the other hand, it can sometimes take me weeks before i can figure out everything that's going on, and months before i am able to play something perfectly. that's what i get for my love of songs with melodic, non-repetitive basslines... *sigh*

but no really, Black Sabbath is like the easiest song in the world to play. and you get to palm mute!

I came across a tab for Layla - acoustic - last week. All it gave was bare chords...took me about 1/2 an hour to get the changes properly, and about 10-12 further goes to get through it without a single mistake, spread over about 2-3 days....

Two years ago, when I joined GN, it would have taken ages.....as well as becoming a better guitarist, I'm also learning to THINK.....

:D :D :D

Vic

how long it takes to learn a song.

I'll get back to you if I ever manage it. :?

It takes me 4 minutes and 33 seconds.

how long it takes to learn a song.

I'll get back to you if I ever manage it. :?
me too :cry:

3 days
1 day for instrumentals, another for lyrics and putting them together, and another to half arse practice it while watching tv :-)

It depends on the song. Learning the chords usually takes me about 10 to 15 minutes. Learning the lead can take me about half an hour or more, depending on the complexity of it. If it's too complex, I learn what I can and improvize the rest of it! I normally play country and truthfully, a lot of it isn't really that hard.