I'm super curious about where everyone is at with this.

I have my timeframes pretty much down to a science now, a sort of routine where I can have a very basic representation of a tune down in an hour or two. I know what I have to do to efficiently learn a tune, and pretty much exactly how long it will take. Of course, there is a period of refinement after the tune is learned (Digestion), but still, I am curious how everyone's tune timeframes are; Looking forward to your replies... And I'd love to hear what you do to learn new material...

hello ,Jayesskerr,for me it's a veeery long time...from a week to several months. (maybe because i play few hours a week?)

If your arrangement includes an "Improv" solo section, you're probably going to be adding quite a bit of time to the process. For me, each song's solo is a different process because the bass line is going to be different for each song to some degree and the 2 hand "independence" development gets stretched a little more with each tune.

It usually doesn't take me too long to sort out the basics of a song, but it takes me a really long time to put it all together in a presentable way.

I honestly couldn't say. It depends on so many things... If I'm accompanying on someone else's gig, it could be in a relatively short time, but if I'm working on a solo piece it can take months - but then, each new song is selected based not only on how mush do I want to play it but also on how much can I learn from it.


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I'm going to guess a loooong time. But that might because I only know wher see two "C"s are, can only play a scale reliably if I start with my index finger, and still have to work out my chord shapes all over again every time I start to practice....

I really wish I had two things:
A) 8 hours a day to practice
B) your level of commitment & dedication to use them if I had them

You make it look easy my friend. I know now how hard you worked you rear end off getting where you are at...

This is a very personal question which will vary greatly from person to person.

In my opinion you should Be very careful when comparing your accomplishments to others.
We all have different aptitudes, strengths and learning styles.

Some like myself have severe learning disabilities. So I guarantee however long it takes you to learn a song it much much much faster than I.

Brett

Of course everyone's experience and skills are completely different, and the song you're trying to learn makes a big difference--Smoke on the Water is gonna go pretty quickly, but that Steve Vai tune is gonna take a bit longer (for examples.) I don't think that Scott meant to compare himself to another--only get a sense for how long it takes people to learn new songs.

I don't learn covers at all, so it takes me either no time at all, or else years. But Scott doesn't have much to learn from my non-example, so I was gonna stay away from this topic. I don't think he meant to compare his own prowess competitively with anyone else's. It's not a competition and Scott wasn't being competitive at all.

I'd suspect that jazz tunes would be harder to learn, unless you have the score or the chord changes. But that raises the larger question: are you trying to figure out the songs AND learn to play them, do you have a score and just need to get it all memorized, or are you adapting a song you already play well on the harmonica to Stick (for another example)? Are you following one of Greg's videos or a song in his songbook? All those questions and factors come into play.

When I was gigging, learning new songs took me usually about a week. Then I'd get to practice and the guitar player (they always have the best ears) would show me what REALLY was going on chromatically and harmonically. Then someone would show the bass player, who really had the easiest job of all in figuring out songs, at least, rock songs. Then the drummer would show me that my timing was all fucked up, and how to REALLY play the song.

Then we would re-write the entire thing anyway because the singer couldn't sing that high and....you get the point.

Learning songs by ear has always been my very, very weakest skill. I read music very slowly as well, so covers are not that easy for me! But once I learn a song, it usually stays with me for decades, and I wake in a cold sweat still trying to master those Hammond arpeggios from Boston's Foreplay/Longtime, or that stupid solo from Van Halen's Jump!

Sorry I don't have much to add. Keep rocking it out, Scott, and keep building a better Stickist!

Good replies guys; Thanks!
Not really making comparisons, as I am on my own path. But it is absolutely fascinating to read what it is people go through to learn a piece, and how long roughly it takes them to assimilate a piece of music... There aren't a lot of Stick players in my parts, so I find it useful to compare notes... Having a good ear, it's so critical in my opinion...

I haven't learned any songs. I simply explore the sounds that I can get from the Stick.
Sometimes, I can't put this instrument down for several hours. I'm having a lot of fun.
I use the Chapman Stick to help me relax and unwind.

I collect songs from YouTube and save them to my hard drive.
Greg has some that I would really like to learn.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeNhSOeHCM4[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EtrE9Bf2OM[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJGzqYH6rJw[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clixd7PhCD8[/youtube]

and Japhlet has a killer tune, that I can't get out of my head.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew6dNlz4fXY[/youtube]