Booli, thanks for explaining your very intentional process for learning a song. I know it depends on the song, but in general, how many hours or days are you in this development? The point is to get it laid down permanently, so spending this time is definitely worth it.
You're welcome. I'm glad to be able to share. Like you said it depends on the song.
If I am already familiar with the song, and subjectively/relatively how well I 'know' the song as a listener it usually takes less time to get inside the music.
The more I am familiar, the easier it is to recognize the chord changes and intervals in the melody. The more foreign the song is to me, the longer it takes. Learning chords that are new to me can significantly slow the process, but I see this as absolutely necessary for my becoming a better musician.
I don’t know if I've ever actually measured the time invested either way. It is really more a factor of my current attention span, combined with the contiguous moments of free time before I am 'distracted' by something else that requires my immediate attention. If I get frustrated, I stop and come back later, and try again. Try again
until I have something I'm happy with. I get distressed from things that are left incomplete, so I do not often stop before completing the process.
Another factor is if the song is just for my own pleasure or for something that has a deadline, like a performance date or a fixed time-frame (i.e., the 7 days for the Seasons).
Many times I started to search for music for different Seasons, but either could not find a song I liked and could relate to, or if I did find a song, did not have enough time to learn it well enough, even roughly, to hack my way through making a video, and while I might keep working on it, the effort might take more than 7 days.
I make a concerted effort to practice and play every day for at least 30 mins, and am most satisfied with an hour, but over the past year this has been hard for me to maintain because my 'real life' is very busy and full of distractions, and I dont often get even that 30 mins of time, so I might get 5 min chunks, which are really too small for me to feel like I've accomplished anything other than as a momentary catharsis for stress.
If memory serves (this may not be exact), if I had no distractions at all, and can actually spend a few hours without interruption, I can usually imprint a song (somewhat permanently) with 3-4 sessions that are 3-4 hrs each. Then I leave it for a day or two (usually not by choice) and when I pick up the instrument again and try, I usually do not have much trouble after the first or second attempt, and then the song just flows. At that point I will sit and play the same song repeatedly over and over, with slight variations in the timing, chord inversions, strumming or picking pattern and try to find a way that the song and the instrument sounds very special to my ear.
This last part, of re-invention has no defined end point and is ongoing, as I'm always testing new variations, especially as my mechanical technique improves, yet a few songs have been 'locked in' to a favored way of playing and those are imprinted very well.
It seems that you are primarily an audial learner. I'm a visual learner, with kinesthetic second, and my audial operating system a distant third—with my music application attached via an external processor (it's not embedded).
I like the way you phrased that, very computer-ish. Great context there. Audial, yes very much so. I try to get away from visual reference as quickly as possible, and let the music live in my internal processor (brain), sometimes for fear of not having the paper, iPad or computer to look at, and wanting to play unshackled so-to-speak as often as possible.
My lofty goal is to have a good repertoire
in memory that allows me to play spontaneously in a variety of styles, and thus allowing me to jam with others in practically any setting.
After working on new music, when I go to bed at night, I will often visualize with my eyes closed, what and where my hands were doing for the song, and do a sort of muscle-memory run-through, all without the instrument, such that hopefully next time or shortly I'll be able to play without looking, and just by feel and muscle-memory. I conceptualize this as burning the neural pathways into my brain, in the abstract. It seems to be working so far.
Since a lot of the songs Craig and/or I do are older, there are many recordings to listen to as the first step.
Yes, that's a great thing. We live in a wonderful time, not just with printed music, but with the internet, practically anything is at your fingertips.
I love all that old music, which I credit to my Grandfather who used to play ragtime, foxtrot, stride and tin-pan-alley songs on the piano my whole life. He was and still is a great inspiration to me. My first ukulele was a hand-me-down from him, that sadly I did not handle or learn to play until a few years after his passing in 2009. I never saw him play it, and it's providence is still a mystery. It is an all-solid mahogany baritone made by Harmony. The bridge is lifting, so it is in a very nice case, unstrung, waiting for me to remove and re-seat the bridge.
Also, as far as 'old' music goes - when I first joined UU, I watched literally
ALL of the videos that Jon Duncan had on Youtube, from start to finish MANY times.
He has gone by many aliases (Eugene Ukulele, Hippie Dribble, etc) now (mountain goat), but his recordings will always serve as a touchstone for me for
both music in general, and music on the ukulele. Jon is always an ongoing source of inspiration to me. I am grateful to be able to witness and share such music in my lifetime. Jon is also one of the kindest, compassionate and most generous people I have met online via UU. I truly consider him a brother.
-Booli :music: