How do you learn tunes?

[christianm77]

This is a thread based on sharing processes for learning tunes.

For me, I listen to the melody and learn it. If there's lyrics I check those out too.

Then. usually that's enough to give me a generalised idea of the changes which I can use as a basic framework for soloing and comping.

• I can then get a more detailed idea of changes by listening to recordings.
• I usually check out Real Book changes and compare them to what I think the changes are..
• It's cool to play them in jams with a good pianist too because it's good ear training to check out what pianists are doing. Also pianists are generally much more up on standards and substitutions of the basic harmony than guitarists. If you can't hear what they are playing, in general they are up for a chat about it.

More and more with tunes I memorise exceptions to the general patterns like in East of the Sun - 'watch out for the IVm/bVII7 because it doesn't return to I, but to ii V...' etc

[Nate Miller]

no matter what style...jazz, bluegrass, Irish, whatever...

the first thing I do is I listen to the tune until I have it in my head. Before I even pick up an axe, I like to listen to the tune enough to know what the silly thing sounds like. I actually like to be able to sing through the melody before I start learning the tune proper on my axe

then I dig up a lead sheet for it. I understand that lead sheets are mere suggestions. this is where having the tune in my ears comes in real handy

then I learn a phrase at a time until I have the whole melody. In jazz, this is basically the A section and the bridge, but some fiddle tunes are 4 or 5 parters

then I play through it solo and go exploring

then I make it a point to play the new tune every day for a few days and then I'll have it for a while

the listening part of this might go on for a couple days or more. That actual playing part of it will go down in one sitting, generally over an hour or two.

[goldenwave77]

+1 on what Nate and Christian said.

I try to play it in all places on the fingerboard.

Then, I like to work out a chord melody version.

Then if I have a version on my BIAB disk of songs, I'll play it through in different keys.

Then, if I'm really ambitious, I like to figure it out with Nashville notation ...always a question here whether to use "chord of the moment" or "key center approach", but this helps me to puzzle out a tune.


I find when learning something, that learning it well and completely, ends up working better than learning it halfway. Probably someone who is more musically adept/experienced might not need to do all this, but for now "organization is the friend of the (musically) weak", i.e. me.

[targuit]

For me the process is somewhat dependent on whether I know the song or not. If familiar, I check my Hal Leonard Real Ultimate Little Fake Book from the mid-Eighties. If not, I print up a copy of the lyrics and listen to representative performances. Key, melody, lyrics. I notate over the lyrics the chord progression. Often for my own pleasure I create an arrangement in Sibelius, which I use for rehearsal and recording purposes.

[jasaco]

If it's a standard from the Great American Songbook, I always start out by seeking out a few classic vocal versions (especially Ella and Frank; sometimes Tony, Sarah, Doris, or others...). This is so that I can discern what is the actual melody of the tune (as opposed to an instrumentalist's embellishment of the melody) and also so that I can get the song into my ear and learn at least some of the lyrics (which help me to remember the shape of the melody later on). Then I'll seek out a leadsheet and read through it while listening to my favorite vocal version(s). Only after that might I drum up a few instrumental versions of the tune to see how others have handled the changes, etc.

[Nate Miller]

I always like knowing the words to tunes if there are any, too. I was lucky to work with a few good singers when I was young, and so I got to hear the words to a lot of standards 4 or 5 nights a week.

There's even tunes that I like the words more than I like the tune. You know like I play that tune because I liked the words, not really the tune

"Jeanine" is a tune like that for me, and to some extent so is "Stormy Weather"

[Joe Dalton]

For the most part it's this.
Listen to the song. Learn the changes. Learn the basic melody. Then listen to some artists I'm unfamiliar with to see if I get some new ideas. Load it up in biab or record myself playing the changes in various keys. Keep playing till I'm satisfied. Subsequently consider myself an idiot for thinking that was good enough and practice some more. This final step repeats a few times.

[John A.]

My method used to be:

- A combination of picking up what I could by ear from whatever version I had a recording of and then filling in the gaps from the Real Book

or

- When learning tunes I didn't have recording of in working or rehearsal groups, reading out of the Real Book.

There was a time when (I guess just by happenstance), everybody I knew had the Real Book and used it as their main source for tunes, so this worked fine. If the RB was wrong, we were all using, so at least we were together. But over the years I've found myself playing with more people who didn't grow up with the it and picked up tunes more through the oral tradition that preceded it. With so many versions of tunes available online it has also become clear to me how off some of the charts in the Real Book are (and/ore the extent to which they are re-harms). On top of all this, I've also been using iRealPro a lot, and this has a whole other collection of mistakes/re-harms in the versions that are downloadable from the iRealPro forum. So now I learn tunes mainly by checking out the Real Book, iRealPro, several versions of leadsheets on line, and listening closely at jams. Then I get totally confused, and just split the difference between whatever Sinatra and Miles did.

John

[Hep To The Jive]

I use listening to a few versions of a tune, then deciding which one i like the best and sticking to it, all the while have a Real book ready. Sometimes they match, sometimes don't, but I go with what I hear, not what I see.

I have a trouble memorizing tunes with not a standard form. Lately Stardust have been driving me nuts. It's a beatiful tune, but I just can't seem to feel its form. It's a struggle. But I used to struggle with Body And Soul(??) before too, and now it seems like why did I ever? Lol

[Nate Miller]

Man, Hep, I'm glad to hear you say that. For years I just could not remember all of the bridge to Body and Soul to save my life

And its one of my favorite tunes! I thought I had brain damage or something. But measure 6 of the bridge was like the the Bermuda Triangle or something

lotta good choruses were lost there never to be heard from again

[targuit]

I think that one of the keys to playing is knowing the song very well. Pretty banal comment, but what helps in that endeavor is knowing and singing the lyrics. In simple terms if I can hear the song in my head, I can generally play it without "thinking about" it. I guess my point is that I strive for a unity of my physical voice and the 'voice in my head' to guide me. They have to be in sync.

[christianm77]

I use listening to a few versions of a tune, then deciding which one i like the best and sticking to it, all the while have a Real book ready. Sometimes they match, sometimes don't, but I go with what I hear, not what I see.

I have a trouble memorizing tunes with not a standard form. Lately Stardust have been driving me nuts. It's a beatiful tune, but I just can't seem to feel its form. It's a struggle. But I used to struggle with Body And Soul(??) before too, and now it seems like why did I ever? Lol

Yeah Stardust is an oddly difficult one. I think one has to know the melody inside out with those Hoagy tunes, and the melodies are pretty crazy in his stuff.

[eddy b.]

If I don't learn if by ear off a recording, it takes me years too memorise. If I learn it by ear I won't forget it or will be able to recall it a lot easier. So I learn tunes by ear from the recordings. And if it's a tune with words I learn to "sing" the song.Of course it took me about 20 years to gain this insight, sooooo much inefficient use of time by yours truly.

[christianm77]

If I don't learn if by ear off a recording, it takes me years too memorise. If I learn it by ear I won't forget it or will be able to recall it a lot easier. So I learn tunes by ear from the recordings. And if it's a tune with words I learn to "sing" the song.Of course it took me about 20 years to gain this insight, sooooo much inefficient use of time by yours truly.

If I have to memorise an original, I actually find it easier to learn it by ear from a recording of myself playing it from a chart.

I guess I could cut out the middle stage by working on pre-hearing music from the page, but it might be too late for me to get really good at this...

[Jonah]

I do the some things as other - I will jsut stress a few point...

1) I usually play by ear from the record I like and later check realbook versions...
- and I do not try to find conventional records like Sintra's or Ella's... If I feel like Billie's version for example I play from it... or Monk's instrumental version it's ok for me to start

If it's a song I want to know the lyrics.... these songs often use melodic cliches... the lyrics often put different little accents... so when you try to 'sing the words' mutely it will effect your phrasing...

(By the way! This does not mean that vocal versions have - singers also do it mechanically sometimes - so I shoudl kind of sing it myself thoughtfully)

The best example I had was Randy Newman's 'I think it's going to rain today'

He sings: Human kindness is overflowing... but I think It's going... to rain today
His accents makes this very simple pharse sound more special, more articulated, more grave..

Norah Jones sings: Human kindness is overflowing ... and I think it'gonna rain ... today
Sounds like very common soul pop pharasing (with all my admiration for Norah)

'Where can I go without you'
The tune is mostly so simple - sequnces following very simple harmonic changes. So if you just play instrumentally from memory you can slide into this reapeating...
But if you hear carefully to Peggy Lee phrasing... you can hear how lyrics and accents make it sound special...
English words are often mono-syllabic it gives a possiblity to put accents in differnt places...
Like: Where can I go without you or Where can go without you
Try to apply both versions to the melody you'll how differntly theu sound

And I do especially at the most common turnarounds - like closing cadences and all - because you may have tendencey to 'swallow' it...

Like - oh I see - the trunaourn is just closing ii-v-i , the melody is just common phrase going to tonic and you forget about it...

And then I listen and hear: why does this 'I'll be looking at the moon and I'll be seeing you' sounds so special in Billie's version? I have to try it.. Because actually it had some little nuances that made it special even in original...

2) Fingering... with more complex tunes and chromatic lines - I sometimes have to give it thought or two...
Basically my priciple is the same - either it's simple or not.. I want it to be
a) related to harmonic references I have - whatever they are...
b) I want that phrasing would be great thanks to fingering, not despite of it)))

[dcharles]

Good question. It depends on the situation, but mostly these days it's like this:
-learn the chord progression/structure preferably from a recording. Get my basic rhythm chords together where they fall best.
-if I'm doing the melody on guitar I learn it and begin working out a chord melody for the head. Otherwise I learn the vocal melody and sing it.
-continue expanding rhythm chord choices if desired. I do a more swing based style so it's all about rhythm in the chord department!
-once the melody is sounding smooth within the chord melody framework, I move to the improvisation.
- now I'll begin work on chordal improv ala george van eps. Usually on a basic level I'm just playing around with fragments of full chord voicings. Other times I do a banjo style strings 1-4 up and down the neck thing. Sometimes both.
-beyond that it's all about refining and expanding the chords, melody, vocal, and improv. The last two tunes i posted ("two new videos" on the chord melody forum) I got together in about a month from scratch. It just gets easier and easier the more you do. A big thing too is repertoire maintenence.