What's the hardest song you learned by ear?

[mandodebbie]

Well, I decided that I didn't need to download "Turkey In The Straw". I could just pick it out on my mando "by ear". This was a real learning experience. I learned that I forgot how it went. But I perservered and rendered something recognizable to that great country tune. (Apparently, there are actually lyrics for it out there.)And I'll probably stubbornly try to re-figure it out again tonight. What are everyone else's tales of struggles with "simple little tunes"? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[Darren Kern]

OK well it's not super hard, but the 45 second fiddle intro to King Wilkie's version of "In the Pines" took a whole lot of rewinding and tabbing (too many notes for me to memorize right off the bat). Awesome version if y'all haven't heard it, really does justice to the original.

[ShaneJ]

Andy Leftwich's "Queen Anne's Lace" for me. I finally got it, but I still can't play it clean up to the speed he does on the CD. I can play at at 90% on the Win. Media Player "slow downer" and get it fairly clean. It's faster than it sounds, if that makes sense. He makes it sound easy, and his version is smooth - but it's pretty dang fast.

[otterly2k]

hmmm...20 years ago, I spent most of a summer learning Smeceno Horo by ear... the time signature just wigged me completely at the time. This year (picking up mandolin again after a very very long hiatus) I tackled Suleman's Kopanitsa. I think it was easier for me now b/c I understand Balkan rhythms better than I did when I was 20. But it's a harder piece to play and I also learned the harmonies. Toss up, I'd say. Both pieces can be heard on the Mozaik CD...and good fun for anyone who likes a rhythmic challenge.

[JimRichter]

For me, it's probably been Sam Bush's "Sapporo" And w/ Sam so much of the picking isn't the notes, but that constant shuffle/lilt that he has to his playing. Very fiddle like.

Jim

[mandopete]

Last time I did one just "by ear" (no computer slow down) was Scrapin' The Barrel by Rob Ickes from The Great Dobro Sessions. #Ronnie's mando break fo' shizzle!

[Ray Neuman]

I have been working on a few of Chris Thile's tunes from "Not all who wander are lost". I have had a BALL working on them, and I think my wife can almost play them now that she has heard them enough. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif (and she doesnt play mandolin)

professir

[banjomanva]

possum up a gum stump sounded easy until i tried playing it by ear

[walshb]

Whiskey Before Breakfast, I saved chipbooth's version that he posted a few weeks ago. I can play it, but I don't know if I have the fingering correct yet.
It sure doesn't sound as smooth as chipbooth made it sound!

[Yonkle]

"Thick as a Brick" Both Sides!

[mythicfish]

Well ... I learn all my tunes by ear. Tho' I initially learned by way of tablature (It was written on papyrus back in the day)
I learned to trust my ear and eventually developed a style that took me beyond BG and OT music. Truth? Got a lot of dirty looks!
Hardest tune: Giant Steps.

[Michael H Geimer]

I'm another who learns 'by ear' all the time. For me, that mostly means vocal songs that I've heard many times before, and that probably only have three or four chords to 'em, that I dig out from memory and work up from scratch (FWIW: I do look up the lyrics).

Yesterday it was 'Luckenbach Texas ... because Moose made some comment around here about 'firm feeling women'. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

Hardest thing I ever learned from record was an old Steve Hackett (Genesis) piece that I learned phrase by phrase off a an LP (ruining the neddle in the process). Took me two weeks, but I sure learned a lot about how to listen very carefully, and how to isolate just one note at time and find that note on my fretboard ... slowly I put it all together. Now I do still play the piece, so it was worth the effort I guess.

The ability to 'sound out' a song from my imagination and make it real give me more pleasure than any other musical skill ... even if all I do is work out some Outlaw Country tune over a cup of coffee on a Saturday morning.

- Benig

[John Flynn]

The hardest tune I learned by ear was likely the first one I learned by ear! I can't even remember what it was, but it seems that learning by ear gets easier the more I do it. I just learned "Tippin' Back the Corn" by ear today. It sounds simple, but it's a challenging little tune, with some of unexpected patterns. I got most of it in 10 minutes, but there were one or two notes that took me another half hour to get right!

[mando_pete]

I've been trying to learn Frank Wakefield's playing of "Mister Mando" from the Kitchen Tapes for about 9 months now. I've got 3/4th's of it , but the first run after the first chord melody is killing me and the end is keeping me up nights.

As soon as I figure out the rest I'll post it to mandozine.

It is such a great solo tune !!

--pete

[Michael H Geimer]

" ... , but there were one or two notes that took me another half hour to get right!"
- MJ

Ahhh! To me, that's when I most feel like a musician; when I'm lost in the search for those last essential notes, trying to sing 'em if I can, trying to find the right fret if I can ... anything to help me *grok* the tune.

It's often the small passing tones that are hardest for me to really grap. So I try to find just the First and Last notes of a phrase, before I go back to 'fill in the blanks', so to speak. ( Hey! The 'blanks' are still tough! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif )

[Wadefox]

I'm not sure which tune that I've learned by ear was the hardest to learn, but I have noticed one thing about learning by ear. Those tunes are the ones I never forget. They get wired into the brain a lot better than ones I learn from notation or tablature. It's probably the number of repetitions necessary to learn the tune in the frst place.

[JD Cowles]

i'd have to say whiskey, but it was one of the first tunes i learned as well. i love learning by ear. if there's a tune i want to learn, i will listen to it ad-naseum (sorry honey) until i can hum it note for note. then to the mando for the real work. tab is great if you get stuck tho.

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/coffee.gif

[ronlane3]

I have been working on Ricky Scagg's Road to Spencer intro and breaks by ear. I have most of the intro, but getting it up to speed is trying on me.

[jim_n_virginia]

Hey Debbie "Turkey in the Straw" is one of the songs me and the trio I am part of plays. We were inspired by Dan Crary's versian of it but can't play it quite as fast but fast enough.

The fiddle player can smoke on this song. We all tried to think of 3 variations of this song which is MUCH harder than I thought!

I learn alot of songs by ear but I cheat a little and use SlowBlast program and slow the song down a little.

Probably the hardest song I ever learned by ear was listening to Ricky Skaags version of Boston Boy on the Mandolin Extravaganza CD which I practically WORE OUT!

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[Peter Hackman]

The hardest tunes were probably the first many-note
fiddle tunes that I transcribed in the early 60's
from Howdy Forrester's
Fancy Fiddlin' Country Style: Brilliancy, Rutland's
Reel, and High Level Hornpipe. After that, Fiddler's
Waltz, another gem, was a cinch.

Or maybe the Monk tunes I learned later, like
Ruby My Dear, and Monk's Mood. I don't remember
these songs longer but they taught me a lasting lesson
on the possibilities of II-V-(I), and some uses
of the flatted fifth.

[keymandoguy]

not a hard tune stardust 2 places i cant keep from adding a note that doesnt go there !! I do it 2 or 3 times out of 4 when i play it http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[mancmando]

probably typsy gypsy by grisman.., although it would have been a lot easier with one of those gadgets that slows things down but preserves the pitch...

[Karen Kay]

ANY tune for me is hard to learn by ear! #I understand it's like everything else in life, it just takes practice. #I think I need something visual, but I'm not going to give up trying.
Karen

[AlanN]

The first part of Sapporo by Bush

[tree]

For me it was Raw Hide - Skaggs plays it so fast I can barely hear the notes. #Had to lift it off the original (Monroe) version.

Some songs are really hard for me to hear because of the harmonies - sometimes notes are implied that aren't really there, and those really seem to trip me up. #I'm STILL trying to figure out some of the chords (the guitar part) for Acadian Driftwood (The Band).

Clark B.