How Do You Learn Cover Tunes

[dragan]

By ear same old way as ever repeat a phrase , pick it out over and over, start with the basic chord changes or bass line failing that, then fill in individual licks. I usually chart the song arrangement so I don't have to spend much time memorizing it

[tommy p]

I play along with the CD almost all of the time. I think that doing it this way helps develop a good ear.

If I don't own the CD I will use an mp3 or Spotify to listen to the song, or tabs if I can find them in magazines I already have.

I rarely use YouTube lessons for many reasons:

1. They so often lack all the parts

2. They rarely catch the subtleties that make the song sound "right"

3. They use effects entirely inappropriately

4. Their tone is way off from the song they're trying to play (I know it can't be exact, but the ultra-gain-super-distorto channel is not necessary for a Cars song)

5. I hate weeding through 20 hack versions of something to find a good version, only to find...

6. ...the person giving the "lesson" can't explain what he's doing worth a damn

I don't use online tabs for reasons 1, 2, and 5 again.

[LucSulla]

1. Learn by trial and error?

3. Tablature?

4. Learn from videos (e.g.YouTube)?

6. Are so awesome you can play anything you hear?

Those, but I wouldn't say I'm awesome. I've always SUCKED at tab, but I haven't had to read proper notation since I was 13... those skills long atrophied, something I should be ashamed of.

I really like YouTube vids, but part of me feels like it is cheating and thinks, "What happened to the kid that used to just spend hours working it out alone." Which is, admittedly, pretty silly.

[FGJ]

I often wonder how awesome some of us would be had we had the internet 30 years ago to help us learn. Kids today have no idea just how good they have it... Then again, I was able to bounce around in the back of a pickup truck on the freeway, while kids today are strapped down in a car seat, so I had my fun, too.

[LucSulla]

It might very well be easier to learn the bells and whistles of guitar as there is something available, probably for free or very little money, to every learning preference to anyone with an Internet connection. However, I think songwriting, not virtuosity, is really what made and still makes popular musicians in any genre. And writing a great song is as hard as it ever was.

[veatch]

I often wonder how awesome some of us would be had we had the internet 30 years ago to help us learn. Kids today have no idea just how good they have it... Then again, I got to bounce around in the back of a pickup truck on the freeway, while kids today are strapped down in a car seat, so I had my fun, too.

I think it is a long term disadvantage. See below.

It might very well be easier to learn the bells and whistles of guitar as there is something available, probably for free or very little money, to every learning preference to anyone with an Internet connection. However, I think songwriting, not virtuosity, is really what made and still makes popular musicians in any genre. That's writing a great song is as hard as it ever was.

...which, IMFO, is why learning by ear is vital...

Without the ability to play by ear, it is vey challenging to play what you "hear in your head". Without that, how do you compose anything aside from applying mathematical formula? The act of critically *listening* and disecting a composition into individul instruments and parts, and then figuring ot those parts is lost...

[Darksoul24]

You can slow a song down on Youtube. Check the lower right hand corner. So, no need to search for crummy 'lessons'. Slow the original down.

[Steve Haynie]

I slow down a 33 rpm record down to 16 rpm. It makes the music drop an octave, but it works.

[Darksoul24]

I slow down a 33 rpm record down to 16 rpm. It makes the music drop an octave, but it works.

Of topic: you still have record player that can do 16rpm? We got rid or ours at least 30 years ago. 16 RPM never caught on as it was intended for speech only.