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How Do You Learn Cover Tunes


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This is the same method that I employ...and will occasionally refer to youtube to make sure I'm not missing anything important :)

1,6,7, and 9.

I learn the basic progression and the 'must have' hooks, and from there it's a free-for-all. If you keep out the cringer notes, the bar crowd is good to go.

That's pretty much our MO. Ear, YouTube or (gasp) charts, whatever works, but then, being a predominantly folk 'n' roll acoustic-oriented trio, we often have to pretty much deconstruct the song, then rebuild it without destroying its essence.

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I mostly use Audacity to slow down, change pitch, loop, save modified files etc. I think the Amazing Slow Downer sounds better if you go for an extreme tempo change, but within reason I see no real advantage aside from real-time adjustments.

Audacity does a lot of useful stuff, and it's free.

Agreed, though Audacity sounds best with full wav/aiff files. Additionally, I found its UI to be a bit cluttered and my version kept crashing with Yosemite. Maybe I should check out the latest version?

However, I've found Transcribe! to be the best audio utility for learning complicated music. Files sound very clear slowed down, even lower bitrate mp3s. NOT free, but free updates

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In a bit of synergy with the "batter-powered portable practice rig" thread, the THR-10 includes this for helping you learn songs:

The THR Session App

THR Session is an iOS app which is optimized for THR. Now you can learn to play your favorite songs anywhere! You can slow down songs without losing audio quality, change the pitch or repeat any segment of a song to learn even the trickiest guitar part. The Session App even allows you to cancel out the original guitar sound; it’s like playing a session with your dream band! This app is the perfect audio toolbox for today’s guitarist and with a Yamaha THR amp, gives you a practice experience like no other.As long as you've got an iOS device and a THR amp, you can dial in your guitar chops -- no matter where you are!

After work, I'm going to see if one can purchase the app separately and how much it is. The notion of canceling out the original sound of one part has been done before (with varying degrees of success) by a variety of methods, but I hadn't seen/heard of it recently, and I'd like to try it out and see how successful Yamaha's effort is.

Now that would come in handy. That might be worth getting that little amp.

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I'm old-school and learn by ear. A tool that I do use is Amazing Slow Downer. It lets you slow down and loop a part to learn it, still by ear, but helps me a lot on nailing solos.

http://www.ronimusic.com/amsldox.htm

Thanks for turning us on to that. I'm going to look into that as well, as I've always wondered how to slow down a song.

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I didn't know Audacity and Garage Band would slow down songs. Audacity does have a cluttered UI as has been noted. Anyway, it's good to know all the options.

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To the original question, I can't learn anything by ear, and I envy all of you who can. I can have the written score in front of me while listening to the slowed down recording, and I still won't be able to put them together. I think I must have horrible pitch recognition.

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FGJ, it's really simple in Audacity...the options are in the 'Effect' menu. You can change the speed (which also alters the pitch), the pitch alone, or the tempo alone.

To loop something, just select the area you want, then press shift+play and it will loop continuously. Of course you can also cut/paste/extract any bits you want, and record along with playback, etc.

I also like Reaper, but I probably spend 90%+ of my time in Audacity. It's not bad once you use it a little. I really like the price too.

aud1_zpscc9gah4b.jpg

aud2_zpsmecrelaj.jpg

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We don't really do cover songs. But at rehersals it happens that we jam on stuff. If it comes to the fact that I have to learn something I usually,

go by:

10) Don't learn it anway

9) Fake it with my best guitar face.

If the gusy really press me on it I:

1) use my hearing and try to make out what I hear,... ... or:

4) cheat by trying to find it on Youtube, only I have found that like 80% of the home made Youtube instructional videos are all wrong anyway,

So then it's back to number 9) making great guitar faces and faking it.

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To the original question, I can't learn anything by ear, and I envy all of you who can. I can have the written score in front of me while listening to the slowed down recording, and I still won't be able to put them together. I think I must have horrible pitch recognition.

---

FGJ, it's really simple in Audacity...the options are in the 'Effect' menu. You can change the speed (which also alters the pitch), the pitch alone, or the tempo alone.

To loop something, just select the area you want, then press shift+play and it will loop continuously. Of course you can also cut/paste/extract any bits you want, and record along with playback, etc.

I also like Reaper, but I probably spend 90%+ of my time in Audacity. It's not bad once you use it a little. I really like the price too.

aud1_zpscc9gah4b.jpg

aud2_zpsmecrelaj.jpg

Auto Duck? I have to get this and find out what that is...

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I've recently discovered HookTheory and it's helped put some things together for me in my head as far as music theory goes. I already knew the things that it teaches but now I can see how things really relate and fit together. You can use the Hooktheory database for free to learn some songs and see how they go together but I suggest buying the $14.99 book (either on the net or a phone version) to get the most out of it. You can also try their free music creation software online as well. There are several components to the entire package.

http://www.hooktheory.com/theorytab/top

Hopefully this can help people's understanding of music. You can learn some songs from it but it's the basic chords not all the riffs and other "guitar" parts. It is great for seeing how a song comes together and I can already see many similarities even between various genres.

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I said before; You load a YouTube video in CHORDIFY and as it plays the song, it puts up a guitar tab. There's an indicator that moves relative to where the song is as it plays. It's simple genius and everything the OP is looking for. It's online, it's free and it really could not be simpler...

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Back in the day when I could play I would listen to the song and get the tab and play along with the song.

Cheers!

caddie

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Watch live videos on youtube to see where they play the song, look at tab sites for chords, listen and play along, and try to find youtube tutorial videos that play the song in a similar position as the original artist does, then try to find a backing track to play along with.

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Chordify.net = load a youtube video and it brings up tabs in time to the music :)

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Chordify sounds pretty awesome. I'm going to check that out. Thanks!

I've learnt songs I've never even considered playing on the first run with Chordify... it's simply marvellous! :D

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