Advice for getting back to live playing after over a decade

atyourlasthourrr

atyourlasthourrr

Inspired
I recently responded to a wanted ad for a lead guitarist position in a cover band.

They initially requested that I send them a video of me playing a song that they cover, sent it over, and apparently that was good enough to get my foot in the door.

As the title suggests, it's been over a decade since I played out regularly and my prior experience was with original music. Now I'm tasked with learning a 3-hour setlist by late-October/early-November

My plan for now is to just focus heavily on learning the music to the best of my ability. What advice if any do you have for me at this point on how to move forward?

Thanks in advanced.
 
Sounds like fun! Everyone learns differently, so I don't think there's really a right or a wrong way to learn 3 hours worth of material. I was in a band with another guitarist for a while and we tackled learning songs from completely different angles, as he would learn things note for note from front to back, and 'build' the song over time. Me, I would learn it loosely as quick as I could so i could get through it, and then 'fine tune' it over time to make it better.

Best advice I could give, have fun with it!
 
Bill-RTP said:
I would learn it loosely as quick as I could so i could get through it, and then 'fine tune' it over time to make it better.
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My method as well. I get the basic structure down and then work on leads, fills, etc. This way, we can all jam the song together and work on vocal stuff, while I work on the "extras" in my personal practice time.
I also will improv lead solos from time to time just to have the filler in there when we rehearse the songs together. Sometimes I work out the actual lead solo for songs, other times I get it in "the spirit of" and take some artistic liberties. It depends on how notable/recognizable the lead stuff is.
YMMV. Good luck with your project!
 
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Bill-RTP said:
Sounds like fun! Everyone learns differently, so I don't think there's really a right or a wrong way to learn 3 hours worth of material. I was in a band with another guitarist for a while and we tackled learning songs from completely different angles, as he would learn things note for note from front to back, and 'build' the song over time. Me, I would learn it loosely as quick as I could so i could get through it, and then 'fine tune' it over time to make it better.

Best advice I could give, have fun with it!
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Your style sounds exactly like mine
 
As mentioned, listen to the songs over and over, whenever possible. I learn by going over the song a few times, and move onto another one. Come back the next day and I seem to know it more than I did the first day. Probably has something to do with short term memory and sleep. Notes will also help.
 
atyourlasthourrr said:
My plan for now is to just focus heavily on learning the music to the best of my ability. What advice if any do you have for me at this point on how to move forward?
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That's the best plan.
geetarplayer said:
As the deadline approaches, I would concentrate on the "recognizable" riffs/leads - those things that everyone knows and listens for. Make sure you know them cold.
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That's the 2nd best plan.
 
I am not as quick as I used to be picking up material and technique that I have long forgotten. I have to drill it in my noggin for hours.

I would approach a new situation with big ears, and focus on the vibe. If the set list and the people are something you can spend hours and perhaps years playing .. the stuff in between the notes is where it's at.
 
YouTube has a lot of lesson videos for the popular songs. Some of them are not exactly correct but if there are multiple videos for the same song you can figure out the best way to play a song and save time. I had to learn a bunch of songs not long ago. For the leads I’ll nail the memorable parts and ad lib in between until I get it all down. As mentioned you need to hear the song enough to get it recorded in your head.
 
yek said:
Don’t rely on memory. Dot down notes, preferably in an app such as Bandhelper. Also helps when they change the pitch of a song.
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I treat people who can play music using eyes rather than ears/memory as some sort of superhumans. To me, reading is such a radically different activity from playing there’s no way I can combine the two in realtime.

I have a similar problem with counting the rhythm. Could never understand neither the how nor the why of it - I mean why not simply listen to the thing and repeat, isn’t it way simpler, like doing just one thing instead of two? :)

Just to reiterate the point above that individual ways of learning things are very different.
 
For more difficult songs I'll chart the song structure; i.e. intro, verse, chorus, verse, bridge, etc. and include the progression for each part. I can then recall the song much better once I've completed this. I also have a page for lyrics, including where the back-up vocals are and what the harmonies are. Over the years, I compiled over 200 songs this way and can share the list with any others using Set List Maker / Bandhelper.
 
yek said:
Don’t rely on memory. Dot down notes, preferably in an app such as Bandhelper. Also helps when they change the pitch of a song.
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This! Write it down using whatever form of DIY notation will make sense to you. It may seem like you could never forget that new riff while you're drilling it in the first time, but given time (and dealing with the other 30+ songs), it will vanish!
 
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