how do YOU learn music?

**a7xschecter6661** · 12-31-2011

Just curious as to how you guys learn songs and music?
Do you start at the beginning and learn it completely?
Do you learn the main riff? Or just the solo?
Do you do it by ear (I'm way too lazy), use a tab site or use tab books and how to videos?

Me, I have always been more of an intro and solo guy.

I mean like comfortably numb solo 1, time solo, gunslinger solo, I won't see you tonight part 1 intro, nightmare solo. You know, basically anything that just sounds awesome I go and learn and leave it at that.

So I here a good song with a nice little intro riff or solo so I learn it then move on.

Nightmare was the first complete song I learned besides some easy stuff like taste of ink by the used which is all repetitive.

For nightmare I was all "this shit is sick, lets learn that solo"
Learned the solo and eventually I decided to learn the rest and used a mixture of the tab book and ultimate guitar to find the best finding tabs for each part of the song.

Reason I am asking all of this is I still have trouble dedicating my time to guitar and learning new stuff. Everytime I pick it up I basically goof around with some dive bombs in practice for nightmare. Play through nightmare and throw the guitar back on the wall.

I wanna start learning more, its just difficult with the little time I have because basically when I get home I can't play.

So lets see how you guys stay on task, how you learn a song (in what order), what you use to learn it and all that good stuff.

I am looking to start another WHOLE avenged song but I can't decide. My main problem is if the solo is easy, the main song is hard (example betrayed) and if the main parts of the song are easy, the solo ends up being crazy hard (example bat country).

So I am trying to listen to lots of songs and find something that's a good medium like nightmare. That didn't take long to get it at all.

**nlapoint9** · 12-31-2011

To learn songs I use tab books or ultimate-guitar. Depends on the song really for me to determine full song or just the solo. I start at the beginning and go through it, if there's a part I'm having trouble with I skip it and go back to that part after. Right now I'm trying to learn afterlife, I've learned most of the song, except the solo.

**jcshayden** · 12-31-2011

All of the above? Sometimes I learn the entire song, sometimes I don't. Sometimes I use tabs, Sometimes I do it by ear. I try to do it by ear whenever I can, but I don't always have the time or patience to do that.

If you want to get better, you need discipline. You need to practice, and you need to practice things that will make you better and not just goof off. It's difficult, trust me I know, I love to just fuck around all day, but you have to put in the work to get better. For somebody like you, who doesn't have a ton of time, you need to work on things will improve multiple aspects of your playing at one time. Also, don't play songs you know you can play easily. Always challenge yourself, even if you don't think you can do it. Don't give up if something doesn't work out right away. I've spent weeks, even months getting some songs down 100%. You just have to work at it, and gradually you will get better. Practice, and you will surprise yourself with what you can do.

I can't really tell you what songs to do, you have to decide on your own. But once I could handle most avenged sevenfold (no scream solo or afterlife solo) I moved into slipknot, because while it isn't particularly difficult, it is much faster than a7x, and forces me to work on my fretting speed, picking speed, articulation, hammer ons/pull offs, and harmonics, both artificial and natural. Slipknot is a great workout, an will really help you out if you want to give them a try. Some songs I recommend (remember you don't have to tune down to B, you can play them all in drop D)

*Before I forget - The easiest one. Helps you prepare for whats to come. I just like it because its fun
*Duality - second easiest, but helps you work on picking speed and keeping harmonics accurate
*Sulfur - More difficult, and pretty fast. Good for working on speed for both picking and fretting hands
*Gematria - Getting difficult, this one is a really good workout all around. Picking, harmonics, hammer on/pull off, works it all.
*All hope is gone - If you want to get really good at hammer ons, this is the song to do it. Also, its very fast. Gooooodd workout.

I usually chain all those together, no breaks inbetween. It's quite the workout, my forearms feel like they're gonna explode towards the end

**Marc Forrester** · 12-31-2011

It depends on the song, really.

Like, Beatles tunes: I learn the whole thing. Every guitar part to the songs.
But Zeppelin tunes, sometimes just the main riffs and make up my own solos. I don't like learning solos very often, but occasionally I will. More often I'll just take the primary elements or flourishes that distinguish the solo and use that. I learned Eminence Front by the Who all by ear, and learned Eric Clapton's solo for Yer Blues by ear too. I never tried doing that until I'd been playing for 8 years, and I found I was pretty good at it, but probably because I know my scales and all that.
I guess it also depends on the application. Are you gonna play this song in a band, or make a video of you playing it on youtube? If you're not, then you probably don't need to learn the whole thing. Just enough to impress your friends. I know a little bit of lotsa songs in lotsa genres. That way, whenever I jam with someone I have a good basis of music, even if I don't usually play their kind of music.

**Justin Mabe** · 12-31-2011

I use my ear, tab and Songsterr. I like to learn the entire song and learn the solo last. I feel I need to have a solid foundation of the song before I go after the solo. It is the same way when I write my music. The solo always comes last.

**Spider287** · 12-31-2011

I usually use a combination of tab books, ultimate-guitar, and youtube videos. The Afterlife solo took me FOREVER to figure out how to accurately play it, and there are still some parts I know aren't right. Other than a couple parts, I'd say the way I play it (sort of) is pretty damn accurate.

For learning a new song, I like starting with the solo. For the most part, if I can play the solo, the rest of the song is easier. I usually start learning a song with the intent of finishing it, so starting with the solo is a good way to decide if I can do it or not. If I look at the solo and I'm like O_O, I'll probably just learn the tabs, play it slowly, and practice it a whole bunch while I'm learning something else.

Other times, I'll be like "I know I can't play this solo, but that riff is badass." For Crossroads by A7X, I didn't really want to learn the whole song, but the riff at 2:05 is epic, so I had to learn it.

To sharpen my skills, I'll actually pick something that's too hard to play and try to play it (ex. Afterlife solo). That has fast sweeps, fast alt picking, etc. These are all things I need to work on with soloing, so playing it 100 million times will gradually sharpen those up, and when I'm finally good at it, I'll already be able to play the Afterlife solo XD

If I hear a cool riff that has lots of alt picking or string skipping, I'll try to learn it so that I have a good exercise that's fun to play but also helps me improve at playing. I hate boring exercises and scales. I want to have fun 100% of the time while I'm playing.

That's mainly what forces me to keep playing. Being able to play something is the most fun part of guitar for me, and I can't do that unless I practice. No practice = no fun.

**a7xschecter6661** · 12-31-2011

Thanks guys I am just seeing what you guys do.
I am self taught and have been playing 7 years. But my 7 years of playing probably equals out to as much practice as someone like Mako does in 6 months.
I never learned things correctly and would like to take lessons and learn everything the right way.

It would actually be fun to start over and break the bad habits and learn everything right and see the outcome in the end of how much better I could play something I thought I could play good now.

But limited time and patience is my main thing. There are a ton of songs I want to learn and I get bored VERY quick if I can't learn something right away.
Bad attitude I know, but if it doesn't come right to me its not worth my time lol

With that in mind though something that comes right to you is either too easy or nothing special to begin with.

My main problem is I want to start over and learn everything right, but I wanna learn all these a7x songs, and these songs by story of the year, and these old classic songs and songs by pink floyd and this new song that just came out but I have to focus on what I really want to do.

I have tried taking out my "how to play guitar" book that goes through everything from chords, to harmonics, hammer ons and pull offs and have tried to read about music theory but it just gets wayyyyy to boring lol

**makot0t0** · 01-01-2012

I'm a big fan of riffs so most of the time I start with riffs. Solo comes last. Unless I'm only learning the solo.

Before learning a song I listen to it extensively, so I have a general idea of how the song goes. Then I check for good tabs and base off of that. I then go into picking out all the little things to make it even better. I learn in sections at a slower speed, and once I got everything I try to increase the speed
Thats's about it