What is your fastest technique to learning a fingerstyle tune?

[TBman]

Do you sit and go over the whole notation and learn to play it as a whole, or do you take a section of measures, beat it into submission, then go on to the next section?

I do a mix of the two, but I think I might get better results if I took a section at a time and move it up to a decent performance level.

It is just really hard to have the discipline to do that and then go onto the next section which is essentially back to square one of sorts and start all over again.

That's why I prefer to do a mix of the two methods. I prefer getting the whole thing to a certain level, then start from scratch and beat the heck out of it, then the next. At least doing this I can just relax and play the whole thing through slowly and have it sound like music, just not at the level of the original artist.

[drplayer]

Practice...

[JohnnyD123]

Some parts come more easy than others. I like to play through most of the song in some way, so I get the feel for it, but you must hammer out the detail. Some take the easy way out, like "this is my arrangement" (skipping some important detail).

Just as long as you put in the time - yeah practice! I often improve the arrangements of the songs I learn, but that's when I know the song well and every detail hammered out of the arrangement I'm learning first! Best wishes.

[jaymarsch]

The technique that I learned from one of my guitar teachers is to start with the last measure and learn it. Then begin with the second to last measure, learn it and play through the last measure. Then start with the third to the last measure, learn it and play through the last measure. Keep doing this until you are beginning at the beginning. The reasoning behind this method is that the brain is going from the unknown to the known and doesn't get as stressed as it can if you start at the first measure and are going from the known to the unknown.

I find that the method does help me learn a piece more quickly. I still will pull out sections that are giving me problems and practice those separately. And after I learn the whole tune, I work on the flow and the rhythm which sometimes takes a bit to nail down.

Best,
Jayne

[StephenHD35]

When I'm working on a new and, for me, challenging piece, I go section by section. I learn it by playing slowly (frequently with a metronome) and working out any difficulties before moving on to the next section. On bits that I find mechanically more difficult, there is a lot of slow repetition until I can manage the required fingering. I also write notes all over the score to help keep me on track.

[Silly Moustache]

1. Listen to it repeatedly.
2. Work out the chord progression and explore any strange inversions.
3. Work out the melody line(s) within the chords.
4. Practice to make your own version.
5. Play it.

[lt20dbl]

That Korean kid on youtube. Sungha.

[Pitar]

Sort out the progression and then add dynamics by ear. That's it.

[random works]

If I have access to a Youtube video and the tab, I watch the video for fingering as I go over the tab.

Sometimes tab leaves out the chord shapes used and just has the linear notes, so I write the chords above the notes for reference.

I go through sections as I am comfortable and have no schedule.

[TBman]

Originally Posted by jaymarsch

The technique that I learned from one of my guitar teachers is to start with the last measure and learn it. Then begin with the second to last measure, learn it and play through the last measure. Then start with the third to the last measure, learn it and play through the last measure. Keep doing this until you are beginning at the beginning. The reasoning behind this method is that the brain is going from the unknown to the known and doesn't get as stressed as it can if you start at the first measure and are going from the known to the unknown.

I find that the method does help me learn a piece more quickly. I still will pull out sections that are giving me problems and practice those separately. And after I learn the whole tune, I work on the flow and the rhythm which sometimes takes a bit to nail down.

Best,
Jayne

I've read that before here, initially I see problems with that, but I guess as long as you're mindful of positioning measure to measure it might work. I guess you could do a section then work backwards section by section instead of measure to measure.
Hmm.

[mercy]

As long as something works thats ok but logically the brain works by linking things together. You dont play a song backward. If you practice it forward the brain links the sections together so instead of playing 24 sections you really are just playinng 1 section. I cannot start in the middle of a song or end. Its got to be from the beginning. So basic run through to see if I like the arrangement or its doable then section by section with added work on difficult parts.

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by TBman

"What is your fastest technique to learning a fingerstyle tune?"

Uninstall my favorite video games.

[Hasbro]

I for the first time just started trying to learn three or four pieces at once so that I could go back and forth a lot between them. I feel like that is actually helping me and by the time it's all done I've learned more music in less time sometimes the most important thing is just running through a passage a few times here and there throughout the day or right before you go to bed

[Hasbro]

It's also really nice to learn something extremely difficult such as a classical piece on a steel string, then when you go to something else it might seem very easy. But then I'm finding that where perhaps fingerings become easy the Rhythm becomes more difficult, because if unique phrasing that varies between each section. An example that is less vague would be the tallstrom arrangement of Forever Young where he barely altering the phrasing of every verse and chorus slightly to keep it from becoming monotonous or repetitive
.

[sdelsolray]

I play fingerstyle, so these procedures may not apply to some situations.

1) I learn new tunes usually from reading the piece, either standard notation or tab (or both). Getting the tune (more or less) under my fingers while reading (often with several stops and starts) is a first step.

2) Early on I identify the more difficult areas/passages and practice them separately. Sometimes I break them down even further by isolating just the RH fingering and string changes (practicing that alone) and same with the left hand fingerings, position shifts, hammer-ons and pull-offs, etc.

3) Memorization comes from repetitive reading/playing. As time passes, I rely on the written source less and less as the tune gets naturally placed into my cognitive and muscle memories. There no compelling reason to force this process. It happens quite naturally and given enough time and practice memorization occurs.

4) Tunes usually have common music composition elements, such as phrases, melodies, cadences, sections, etc. Learning and identifying the structural elements of a tune are important.

5) Adding appropriate articulation within the structural elements helps with musical expression.