What's the longest time you've spent learning a song and getting it right?

Pretty much all my life 🤣 ever hear a song you used to play and decided to learn it again because you haven’t played in years . To name a few songs that took me the longest was ,satch boogie and alway with me ,always with you. To get every nuance correct and timing . Juiced from Vai was tough too🤘🏻🎸😎
 
Where to start?! Not just songs but even the smallest phrases/licks. One that comes to mind is Drop Dead Legs VH. In the first part of the Verse right after the first A chord is that little bend/tremolo bit which is so simple yet so tricky to get the feel and bend in/out of pitch if you know the part I'm talking about. In fact, for so long I always thought it was just dipping the trem bar until I started seeing other players using bends. A classic Eddie feel type thing in his bends. The small details are the most important in capturing the 'sound' and 'feel' of the song.
 
oh ya I know what you mean , I still haven’t got the last part of crazy train lead , I can fake it pretty good 🤣, just started learn the rover from Led Zeppelin, play that main lick 50 times and look a your middle and third finger , I think it sounds the best when you bend the g string second fret ,middle finger and right into the bend on the d string third finger ,I use light strings and it’s still tough😎
 
I can’t play any song perfectly. Due to serious lack of talent I will never reach that point.
When I was younger I got to a point where my playing was quite decent just by putting in a lot of effort but I just don’t have the time anymore to spend that much time playing.

The good thing is that I still enjoy playing even when I am very much aware that I am butchering some music…

My problem is that I may set my standards too high, I am now tryin to learn the 2nd solo of Comfortable Numb. My goal is to complete this year😁
 
I might be in it for the long haul trying to play the intro/beginning to Dio's We Rock. Alternate picking/pedaling and chords starts to break down as I near 90% of the song speed. I don't want sloppy playing. I must have it tight and accurate – maybe that's a fault(perfectionism). Then again, sometimes I just play it to hell with the clams. I keep at it!

If I can get the beginning. I'll move on to more of the song.

 
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I'm still working on several that are in the >10 year range. If I knuckled down and just tried to learn one song at a time (and didn't take up several other instruments and creative pursuits), I'd probably have mastered them by now. It's cliche, but it's the process (journey) that has as much value for me. I'm inching ever closer and will get there eventually. And then I'll find something else that will take me years to learn. Lather, rinse, repeat.
 
Practice one thing in a song, then you're practicing everything. That specific technique will follow to every song that uses it. So, practice must be done well.
 
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The Solo in Get the Funk Out - Extreme is the bane of my guitar existence.
I gave up trying to play those arpeggios right. He does them in a particular unorthodox way. I get close enough and literally no one cares.


As for my answer, probably Dream Theater's Learning To Live or Take The Time. Took me maybe a week each. For LIE, I had to become a better player as I was learning it. It was fun but I'd never learn stuff like this for a band again unless I was IN the original band. Its just too much work for music people in bars don't want to hear.

Took me over a month to read through The Wedding Singer for a pit gig. My reading chops were quite rusty. That was a lot of fun and would love to do that again.
 
I may be in the minority, but I have never really learned a song. Can play plenty with chord charts. I have always concentrated writing my own originals since the 90's. I know it would do me some good, I guess I am just stubborn and I have never wanted to learn other people's music. :)
 
The Solo in Get the Funk Out - Extreme is the bane of my guitar existence.

I gave up trying to play those arpeggios right. He does them in a particular unorthodox way. I get close enough and literally no one cares.


As for my answer, probably Dream Theater's Learning To Live or Take The Time. Took me maybe a week each. For LIE, I had to become a better player as I was learning it. It was fun but I'd never learn stuff like this for a band again unless I was IN the original band. Its just too much work for music people in bars don't want to hear.

Took me over a month to read through The Wedding Singer for a pit gig. My reading chops were quite rusty. That was a lot of fun and would love to do that again.

I never bothered with Nuno's solos. I don't have that staccato style pick attack down - but it's something I want to learn when I'm not bogged down learning other stuff for other projects. And as Bruce said - literally no one cares, so its a self indulgent pursuit to get this stuff perfect, haha. Though it does advance your playing techniques when you do.

I'm always striving to 'get it right', but generally if you take liberties to simplify parts that are beyond your ability, generally no one notices...

For instance, I end up 2 hand tapping a lot of stuff because I can't pick fast (read consistently) enough to rely on it in a live setting.. I use 2 hand tapping as a cheat, and I know it's holding me back, but due to time constraints limiting my practice time I do it anyway.... on the other hand (pun intended), I've got pretty good switching back and forth between picking and 2 hand tapping.
 
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