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Post by Onechordtrick on Aug 5, 2017 7:08:33 GMT
At the moment I'm focussing on getting the notes in the right order and then coming back to work on the rhythm/timing. My wife commented that at times I "lose the tune" which is a fair comment.
Is this the "best" approach or should I focus on getting each section right?
I know the answer is probably "whatever works for you" but I'd be interested to hear other people's approach.
Just for background: I'm totally self taught - I was deemed "unmusical" at school and effectively banned from music, so I'm trying to take it up 40 years later!
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Akquarius
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Post by Akquarius on Aug 5, 2017 10:22:54 GMT
for me the best way to learn a song is to learn it slow and in segments.
Slow down to turtle-speed (and maybe use a metronome for help), devide the song into segments and learn each segment by playing slow.
then combine the segments and play the whole song slow.
and finally start to speed up step by step until you the song sounds like you want it to sound.
Might not work with everybody, but works fine for me :-)
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Post by Onechordtrick on Aug 5, 2017 10:28:26 GMT
Thanks! I'll give it a try
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ocarolan
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Post by ocarolan on Aug 5, 2017 13:43:06 GMT
Onechordtrick - are we talking about songs (ie something sung with a guitar backing), choons (ie melody lines as is diddley-dee music) or instrumental fingerstyle arrangements? Keith
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Post by Onechordtrick on Aug 5, 2017 14:47:31 GMT
Keith it's choons that I'm working at the moment.
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ocarolan
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Post by ocarolan on Aug 5, 2017 15:53:16 GMT
Keith it's choons that I'm working at the moment. I guessed from your profile pic that might be the case. For me, I find it's crucial to get the rhythm/timing spot on from the outset otherwise the piece will never flow and it gets hard to unhear the incorrect version that just getting the notes in the right order can produce, making it harder to correct the errors and impose the correct note timings and rhythm. I tend to start by lots of listening to a recorded version by someone, or even better, various people, to get the thing into my head. The I concentrate on listen to one particular version until I can hum/whistle/la-lal-la it. That internalises the timing etc so that when I begin to try the notes end experiment with different fingerings i know what I'm aiming for. From then on my approach is pretty much as outlined by Bernd ( Akquarius)already. For trad tunes in the usual AABB format I'll get the A part pretty much underway before I try the B part. My notation reading is v slow, which forces me to learn things slowly and in sections if using the dots, but if I've already internalised the melody I can "read" much faster to start with. I don't know if Amazing Slowdowner is still available as a free download as this is great for slowing down short sections whilst keeping the same pitch. And Youtube vids can be speeded up/slowed down too, which can help with working away at things slowly to begin with. Once getting near to a decent version i have always found it a help to try to play along with someone else who really knows the tune and thus be forced into keeping up! Yes, I "fall off" here and there at first, but then I get to practise climbing back on asap as the friend continues without me. Works for me, anyway. Hope there might be something there that helps, but as you say, we're all different! Keith
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Post by lavaman on Aug 5, 2017 16:32:25 GMT
The approach that suits me is: I listen to the tune / song over and over again before I pick the instrument to get the tune in my head. Then i try to sing it while keeping time with my foot or clapping my hands. Then I'll work out the chords while I'm singing and then I'll pick the tune while playing the chords. As Akquarius says, start by playing really really slowly. I hate 'deciphering' notation or tab. Iain PS forgot to add - Riffstation software is cheap and can be used to slow down songs while you play along
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Post by Onechordtrick on Aug 6, 2017 6:44:16 GMT
Thanks again. I'm using the "Scottish Mandolin Tutor" to learn from at the moment which helpfully comes with a cd of the same arrangement. Think I'll immerse myself in that for a while and revise my approach 😁
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Phil Taylor
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Post by Phil Taylor on Aug 6, 2017 8:51:42 GMT
When I am learning a new piece it will almost always be from tab and I listen to and watch if possible the exact piece a lot. But first I always walk through the tab to see where the very difficult bits are to see if I am actually going to be able to play it.
Once I have decided it is worth trying to learn it I then just slowly work through the piece bar by bar to figure out the best fingering. After that its just learning and remembering each section and then putting them all together to form a complete piece and getting all the timing correct. To get the timing and duration of notes correct I use the notation - basically I use both the tab and notation together.
I usually video what I have learned and post on here. From start to finish it can very often take a couple of months or so such as 'Miotsukushi' which I have just posted in the plucky which may sound simple but the nuances are difficult to get right.
Hope this helps.
Phil
ps suffice to say there is no easy solution other than working hard at it and I find quite often that by the time I have a video done I am a bit fed up with it and don't play it very often again.
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Post by andyhowell on Aug 9, 2017 8:59:48 GMT
ps suffice to say there is no easy solution other than working hard at it and I find quite often that by the time I have a video done I am a bit fed up with it and don't play it very often again. Ah, I'm glad it's not just me :-) SaveSave
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