OK, I'm coming from the standpoint of creating an 'arrangement' of a song I want to learn to
sing and play.
So I select a song; experiment with keys (locating the higher [pitches] and lower sections of the
melody line; then select a key.
I then 'push through' until I have the general chord structure/progression from beginning to end.
I try to notice and remember those sections that will need more work to support the melodic
changes with more subtle chording [that is, besides Major chords, looking for minor 7ths, diminished,
agumented, etc].
So now I have a general structure for the song - very rough perhaps, but something a song circle
might choose to use to get through a song as a group. Then I work through the song again, slowly
to make sure I like the chords/chord progressions I've selected. I make changes, add more chords,
etc to further support he melody as I hear and remember it in my head. I'm not pitch perfect, and
I'm mostly just interested in strumming background chording to support my singing.
if I come across a particularly challenging section, I work on that until I have a progression I feel
is good enough to get me through the song. Then I put everything together and see what it sounds
like. [Now, I have been working on paper - mostly a lyric sheet with space for writing chord names,
crossing them out to add or change chords, etc]
my goal is to end up with a usable chorded lyric sheet I can use to play/perform the song for myself
and others, and possibly to share with others or our full group [that is, add it to the next volume of
our Songbook].
I may not be finished yet, but for all intents and purposes, any changes will now be fewer and farther
between... unless someone locates an error or has a better suggested chord progression.
So how does this relate to 'Practice'? As mentioned in the beginning, i'm coming from creating a song
sheet versus learning from a song sheet. However, I think some of the processes might overlap a bit.
I try to get a general OVERVIEW to begin with, then work on Specific Sections that I feel need more
work - either because I haven't yet figured out the 'best' progression, or I need to master the chord
changes for that section.
I hope this is helpful
keep uke'in',