Learning Songs - FOCUS

[omegadot]

I am just wondering if anyone else has a lot of trouble focusing when learning songs. I'll spend a lot of time when it comes to writing songs (not the odd things I post here ;-)) but when it comes to learning songs, even songs I really enjoy, I just can't focus. I'll learning the parts that stick out then sort of fluff off the rest. I'm not sure what I hope to get out of any answers, possibly a sense of guilt to help me.:socool

[Pickngrin]

Omegadot - I can relate 100%. I actually made a post similar to yours quite awhile back, and got some helpful feedback from fellow Fretters. I am pleased to say that since the time I posted that, I disciplined myself to sit and learn songs from start to finish, and it has paid off. The first tune I did that with was SRV's instrumental Lenny, and I stuck with it (to my wife's chagrin, as she heard the phrases over and over and...). I've since been playing in a basement/garage band and being accountable for learning songs has helped also. I spent too many years just learning parts here and there, and when it comes down to playing with other people, that can be a barrier. I think it's helpful to designate the time to work on the song (not the riff, the song) and then positively reinforce yourself by allowing yourself to noodle or whatever afterwards.

[Spudman]

I admit that often it takes more discipline than I'm will to administer at the moment. In those cases I'll just work on small pieces of the song and then quit for a while and come back to it later. Often I'm under the gun to learn new material and in those instances I just buckle down and get er done. If you don't have a sufficient vocabulary of guitar knowledge it can make it much harder to stick with the process, but on the upside, if you do stick with it you'll be adding new material and licks to your arsenal. That's the cool part for me.

[Tig]

I've never learned a complete song, either. For me, there is no need or desire to. That might change later.
I have Guitar Pro 6 and a Zip file with 55,000 tabs, but I'm currently only interested in certain riffs.

You should check out this weeks video guitar blog by Mark Wein to help put things in a useful perspective.
http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php/18361-The-Learning-Curve

[Eric]

I dunno. I've probably never learned a song 100% if you include every note-for-note nuance, but I'm not sure if that's so important. I mean, maybe it is if you're in a tribute band, but otherwise not so much.

But to your point, yes I can relate. I focus mainly on one little blurb at a time.

However, if it's a song I either really like or want/need to learn, I will go through it until I get stuck, and then isolate that one part. I'll then make sure I understand what notes I'm supposed to play (using a variety of methods -- ear transcription, guitar pro, tab, videos, etc.) and then just mindlessly practice it whenever I grab a guitar. I've actually made some decent progress that way.

Reading some of the earlier posts just now, I will also reinforce one thing that was already mentioned: when I started playing with other people, it placed a real priority on learning all parts of a song. If a song was too difficult, I'd find some easy workaround until I could play it the right way, but the accountability of playing with people was probably the best way to bring my playing into focus.

[sunvalleylaw]

I find all sorts of songs I want to learn, and learn a little bit of them, then get distracted and don't finish it up most of the time. Sometimes I actually get it done all the way. It is better if I do. Then I typically add to my abilities. Having learned the set list for my last little band project really helped me gain some confidence, and improve what I could do. I did not learn every song note for note, but at least I learned the structure and key licks, and was then able to play the songs start to finish, while making them my own a bit.

Now that that project is done for now, my guitar time has again fallen a bit back into fits and starts on songs that interest me, other than keeping up on the set list for when I hope the band picks it up again in the fall. I think to focus, I need upcoming performances, or at least regular jams with others, where I need to be prepared. Just like athletics, it helps if I have at least a citizen level race or event to prepare for. Otherwise, focus is hard to come by.

EDIT: Yeah, like Eric said in his last paragraph in the post above this. Fully agree.

[omegadot]

I think I just forget sometimes how long it takes to learn most songs, even fairly simple tunes. I learned a lot of Against Me! tunes first, which takes almost no time and at all so when I ran into the songs I'm learning now I got discouraged. After a few hours I'm seeing a lot of progress on Santeria (Sublime) and Beer (Reel Big Fish - cheated and just learned the solos though). It helps that the new patch for my 300HD made it sound significantly better for the tones I want ;-).

Thanks for the support.