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pickinBob
Feb-18-2004, 11:59pm
I dont know if this is the right place for this question but here goes anyway.

How does everyone learn new pieces of music? What are your different processes? Do you visualize the music or just repeat playing it until it is memorized? What little tricks do you use to learn a new piece? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

Pete Martin
Feb-19-2004, 3:59am
Listen to it enough times to be able to sing the notes aloud, then let my fingers find it.

250sc
Feb-19-2004, 7:42am
I play a new song every day at the fastest speed that is comfortable (for me it is very slow) to teach my hands what to do. (muscle memory) Normally within a week it starts sounding like music and is commited to memory.

spud
Feb-19-2004, 6:22pm
So it's about learning new stuff?....
sometime's it doesn't seem very easy to do!..been trying to work on reading music again,and getting some speed with it...sometimes I want to just put the music away and just wail on something I know..
(ain't sayin much)..

I do like the idea of listening to the tune enough to have the song in my head,or to be able to hum the tune enough to get the basics anyway!...and work on embelishing,and speeding it up as I work on it more..

If you find a shotcut..beside's playing over something a bunch..and getting frustrated..dang i'd like to hear it!

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Boyd

maroon
Feb-19-2004, 10:06pm
I play a new song every day at the fastest speed that is comfortable (for me it is very slow) to teach my hands what to do. (muscle memory) Normally within a week it starts sounding like music and is commited to memory.
Wow a new song every day and a semblance of a new completed tune every day, too! #I'm envious. #I received Jay Buckey's 6 volume book set for Christmas and initially had illusions of learning a couple of songs a month. #Here it is February and I have only a couple of songs down somewhat (Banjo in the Hollow and Rolling in my Sweet Baby's Arms).

Generally, though, I've got to have a song in my head first, then I "see" it as patterns on tablature and then on the fretboard. #I know I'm really starting to learn it when I begin to grasp (pun intended) the tune with my fingers just sort of feeling where they belong.

Regards,

Brent

250sc
Feb-20-2004, 12:25pm
Maroon,

I wasn't too clear in my reply. I don't learn a new song every day but when I learn a new song I play it "everyday at the fastest......

The important part is teaching your hands to do what you hear in your head. After playing for a while your hands supprise you by automatically playing what you think. (only sometimes in my case)

maroon
Feb-20-2004, 11:59pm
Ah, I see. #I thought you were either some kind of genius or, if not, that I was really, really slow. #I'm sure by "fastest speed" you mean fastest speed without mistakes. #I'm learning how important it is to slow down and make each note ring like a bell.

It is cool, isn't it--those times when our fingers take over and you find yourself just sort of staring at them when you begin to get a new tune down into your hands.

-Brent

250sc
Feb-21-2004, 9:05am
Yep, I meant without mistakes. The idea of my suggestion was play the new song or arrangement everyday at a comfortable speed to teach your hands the new patterns. This developes muscle memory. When soloing you don't have too much time to think about what is coming up next and what you are going to play. This is where your hands just start to take over. (Normally at these times I become aware that what I'm playing is working and flub up.)

pickinBob
Feb-21-2004, 11:20am
I had this happen to me the other day at a lesson. We were jamming along really nicely and I started to depart from the arrangement slightly but still in tune. I was watching my fingers when I realized, "What the hoot am I doing?!". It all came to a screeching halt!

Pete Martin
Mar-10-2004, 10:23am
In improvising, the best way in my opinion is to hear what you want in your mind, then let your fingers find it. To do this, you have to practice this way consistently. Play VERY slow, letting your fingers follow what you hear in your head.

A great excercise is (without an instrument in your hands) to sing VERY SLOWLY a tune. Just follow the notes in your mind. When you have done that a few times, pick up your mando and do the same thing, this time letting your fingers play what you sing, as you sing it.

Eventually you can do this at faster speeds until one day you can improvise.

This is only one way of learning improvisation. There are many others. Explore them all.

Mike Buesseler
Mar-10-2004, 11:29am
I posted this before somewhere else but, Peter, I hope you don't mind me repeating it here (I wanted to make sure you read it, anyway.)

I lived near Seattle for awhile, and before I left, I had the pleasure of taking ONE mandolin lesson from Peter Martin. #Absolutely THE most informative and useful hour of my time spent on ANY kind of music instruction, EVER.

Peter examined and diagnosed my posture, pick position, timing, tone....man, it was INTENSE! #All in one lesson. #I wish I could have continued with him, but alas, I had to move on. #Any of you folks living in that area are missing something if you haven't at least considered taking lessons from Peter Martin. #He is a wonderfully gifted instructor as well as musician. #That he lends his many talents to us here free of charge is just another amazing gift. #One more thing to like about this website.

So, as of today, I will be singing any new tunes VERY SLOWLY until l can play what is in my head.

Thanks for the advice, Pete!

Mike Buesseler

stevenmando
Apr-15-2004, 10:38am
Hi I taught myself to read music but the biggest lesson I learned was when you get a new piece of music start by learning it in sections or if there is words to the tune try by sounding out the lyrics its like a sentence it has a begging and a end, its like Mary hade a little lamb, her sleet was white as snow.
If you are good at learning a piece by just listing to it thats another good learnig tool . your mandolin is like driving a car get to know the sound of every string and every frett and then you can get a piece of music and play around with it.steven http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

John Flynn
Apr-15-2004, 1:55pm
I am a "multi-media tune learner." I start with whatever I have available, including possibly the tune in my head, a recording, tab, sheet music, a lesson with my teacher, a tune being played at a jam or some combination of those. Then I work on it until it sounds like it needs to sound. Most good tunes have thier own "flow" to them. Even if you don't know the flow to start, when you play it correctly, it just sounds right. At that point the tune is just "there" for me. Sometimes it happens after just a couple of run-throughs. Sometimes it takes weeks. It depends on the tune.

So that feeling of the tune being "there" is always the same, but the path I get to it is different with each tune, depending on what resources I started with. I much prefer the path of learning from an instructor, while recording the session and then using the recording as a reference later. But I only get to do that for about half the tunes I learn.

craigtoo
Apr-20-2004, 9:22am
If I want to learn a tune, I need a recording. #I've found that if I learn a tune just from the dots, that I'll forget it shortly thereafter.

Today I'm listening on Repeat to Marylin Mair recording of a Beethoven Sonatina. #I'll sit down with the notes after work, and in a few days I should have the whole thing.

However, if I switch genres and try to learn a Turkish melody/dance tune. #It takes me weeks to get it right. #It seems I'm good at hearing some scales and not others.

craig

jc2
Apr-26-2004, 9:29am
I found that if I write down a piece from listening to the recording mando in hand, that by the time I have the whole thing figured out and written down, I can play it from memory. Easy tunes go faster and hard tunes take longer for both operations.