How does everyone learn new songs?

H&K Fan

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Evening everyone! Hope you are all doing well.
Just wondering what is everyone's favorite or most foolproof way of learning new songs.
Sheet music; tab; computer; hunt and peck LOL! other musicians?
I do okay with all these ways, but just curious if there are better ways to go about it, or even if anyone has some shortcuts that they may use.
Thanks all for any replies!
 
When I started there was no internet, tabs, books or computer tools. Just by ear, listening to a vinyl record or a tape.

I've played in a cover band for dancing gigs in Spain (weddings, "verbenas"...), and I didn't even have the opportunity to listen many of the songs (Pasadoble, Tango, Salsa, Samba, Rumba, ChaChaCha, R'n'R... and all that deep shit). They just gave me a paper with some chords, and I followed it... or not.

Later there were some transcription books available.

I get the chords easily by ear. For fast solos now I mostly use Guitar Pro or a MIDI file.

If there is no Guitar Pro or MIDI file available, or it is of bad quality, I open the audio file at the DAW so I can easily mark and replay the challenging sections, or slow it down.

I've also purchased instructional videos from Lick Library. They have some that are specific for learning certain songs
 
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I listen to the song on repeat and do my best to figure it out. I'm also one of those people that doesn't learn the solo (unless it's an easy one - Weezer "beverly hills" was by ear haha). I generally forget that technology allows us to slow songs down without changing pitch, which is a very useful tool.
 
When I was a little kid, songbooks with chord diagrams and lyrics were about the only way to go for popular music. I went through several Glenn Campbell books back then. As a high school kid, I just about wore holes in my Jeff Beck Blow by Blow album back when it first came out. Back in the '80s our band were friends with all the DJs at the local rock station. We'd go there late at night (usually armed with a joint or two as payment) and use the station's production room and album collection to record cassette tapes of the new songs we wanted to learn. These days, learning relatively easy cover songs, I rely on YouTube and my ear. Sometimes I'll search for an instructional video as a shortcut, but pretty much never write anything down.
 
wavelab , repeat it , slow it down . or youtube slow down also .or load down the video and play it in vlc player.
 
I try to learn by ear as much as possible and had heard about the Amazing Slow Downer from @Mark Day several years ago.

Most DAW's allow you to do this, but the ASD has some cool tools to slow it down, repeat a section as many times as you want and then gradually speed it up incrementally. I usually have it set to play the section I'm learning 3 times and then automatically speed up by 5% and keep doing this until I'm up to speed. Sometimes I even practice parts at a faster tempo than it is originally played. After doing that most things seem much simpler and easier to play.
 
I use a combination of a lot of things. First, I listen to the song A LOT. I make a playlist with the songs I'm about to learn, and play them on repeat whenever I can.

Then, I use tablature software, live clips of the artist playing the song, and my ears and slow down software like Transcribe! and Amazing Slow Downer. The first has a better UI, the later sounds better when slowing down and has stereo karaoke cancellation.

I use tabs as a shortcut if they're really good and I'm short on time, or if I'm not sure about something, and want to check if other people came to the same conclusion as me.
 
I started learning off records, slowing down the turn table. Then moved on to mini tape recorders, using the half speed function. Today still learn by ear unless it's something I cant hear, I'll hit youtube. Currently using a program called Best Practice (free), allows me to slow stuff down and loop it, and also micro pitch shift for stuff that is not exactly tuned. Also allows to change the pitch so I don't have to retune the guitar as much.
 
Cool question. I'm a jazz guy so my answer might be different than a lot of folks. Generally I'm familiar with the song, perhaps a jazz standard or something. Unless it's an original by me or someone else, I try to do a similar approach. First I memorize the melody, unless I don't play it. But I familiarize myself with it if I'm not. Get the fingerings together. I play the melody three times in a row WITHOUT a hiccup or hesitation. Then I do the same with the chords. I play the chord changes until I really know them. THEN I improvise on the tune based on my memorization of the tune. No backing tracks. I gotta play the tune so you can hear the changes. Repetition until I got it. Same for me with pop music. Where improv is my thing I can't really improvise with confidence unless I've fully ingested the melody, chords, and rhythmic structures. The good news is songs are similar, so it's easier going forward.
 
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I use a combination of a lot of things. First, I listen to the song A LOT. I make a playlist with the songs I'm about to learn, and play them on repeat whenever I can.

Then, I use tablature software, live clips of the artist playing the song, and my ears and slow down software like Transcribe! and Amazing Slow Downer. The first has a better UI, the later sounds better when slowing down and has stereo karaoke cancellation.

I use tabs as a shortcut if they're really good and I'm short on time, or if I'm not sure about something, and want to check if other people came to the same conclusion as me.

Same here. I have a few cd players that I scored in a used store that have an a/b function so I can loop tricky parts. I have to have the cd then though. How can you put songs that you do not own through a slow down programme? Spotify tracks can’t, youtube can’t.
 
To me it depends on the situation. I look at songs from artist i like (Jack Gardiner, Plink, Guthrie, etc) as a way to practice. Those songs I'll learn by ear so i can try my best to analyze them.

Cover songs for the band I'm in, most likely will listen to them on repeat, try my best to learn them, look up a video of yt as a last resort. Don't want to spend too much time on learning them as much as i spend remembering them.
 
I use Ultimate Guitar app. Still jealous of all those that can hear a song and just play it like nothing.
 
I drop the track into iTunes and import the resulting iTunes library file with Reaper and save it from there as a project and just play along with it until it sticks. I've used software (Audacity) to change tempo of solos the odd time ... and on really hard or not clear to hear stuff I'll really cheat and use YouTube to see if someone has a demo up.

If I still can't do it competently after that I'll suggest that the guitar solo will bore punters and we should consider making the song part of a medley .... and if the keyboardist says he'll do it instead I'll take him aside and threaten to kill him :)

In the old days .... I transferred the track from cassette to an Akai reel to reel 2 track as it was gentler on the tape as I played it over and over and over.
 
Same here. I have a few cd players that I scored in a used store that have an a/b function so I can loop tricky parts. I have to have the cd then though. How can you put songs that you do not own through a slow down programme? Spotify tracks can’t, youtube can’t.
It's the internet. You can rip them from YouTube.
 
I use Trancribe for ear training snd slowing down songs. I like Guitar Tricks for the songs they demonstrate. I find most tabs are poor quality on the net so i don’t bother with them. Lick Library has a great selection but not all songs are 100% accurate according to my old ears. I feel using my ears works best for me.
 
I use Songsterr.com as a starting point. I'll slow down a YouTube vid or use BP Minus, and play along so that I can easily hear any wrong notes, which I'll then figure out by ear. I have a blank tab book in which I'll write out the corrected parts, and refer to songsterr for the rest. I've had BP Minus for a while, so not sure if it's still available, but it was free, allows slowing down while retaining the pitch, and can be set to do loops. And as others have said, since you need the file to import it into BP Minus, just rip it from YT if you don't have it. There's several apps out there.

Plus, for solos, there's lots of lessons on YT. But if you're like me, and want accuracy, you need to learn who out there does that well. Pete Thorn does great VH, and so does Ben Eller, who also does lessons on lots of other stuff too. He's quite particular.
 
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