Sometimes they come easy for me and sometimes it takes me months to figure out a phrase or lick from a particular song. The incremental run at the end of LSJ Casbah has been kickin my hiney for months. Many times I figure out a lot of the licks when I'm away from the guitar ......eating lunch, driving, fishing, whatever. The more you use your ear and figure this stuff out the easier it gets.

2012-2013: FILTHY POLAROIDS

Woodsurfer
Just curious about the range of experiences. As a fairly un-talented guitar player with about 10 years under my belt, I find it can take me a hundred repetitions over several weeks to get to the point where I'm confident enough to play a song with other musicians. Some come easily and some may elude me for years -- though I have noticed that the songs I've learned recently resolve a little more quickly. What's your mileage?

-- Woody

i'm in the same boat with you.......about 10 years playing, maybe three or four devoted to mostly surf instrumentals. i've been working on paul johnsons lead on 'baja' from the duo-tones cd for several years. i know all the notes but the phrasing on part of it is still kicking my butt. sometimes i get it and sometimes i don't.
carol

www.surfintheeye.com

badash
We're all different. For me depends completely on how "novel" it is... One of the first surf songs I learned was the surfaris "surfs up". Chuck Berry is part of my DNA so that song was just too easy. You know Pipeline? You can probably learn Banzai Washout pretty easily. Not the same, but enough similarities as far as the way my brain works for me to retain it easily.

I agree with this, it depends on how close a song is to your own style of playing. I've spent most of my playing career doing a mixture of Classic Rock, Rock n' Roll, Surf, Rockabilly, Funk, Punk and Alt Rock so most stuff that falls easily into one one of those categories will probably be 'nailed' fairly quickly - but if I was called on to learn a Jazz, Fingerstyle Country/Bluegrass, classical, fusion or widdly metal number it would take me ages and I'd quite possibly just not be able to get it.

I know that the question was probably aimed largely at songs within the Surf genre, but even then there a variety of styles (There's a lot of difference between Dick Dale and Dave Wronski for example) and the closer you are to your natural habitat the easier it is.

http://www.myspace.com/thepashuns

Youth and enthusiasm are no match for age and treachery.

That depends, I play completely by ear and if I can "hear" the melody line in my head. I can pick it up pretty quick listening for the intervals between notes.

However I've found that band wise, a lot of songs have a learning curve.

First you work really hard to master it and to be able to perform it with expression and conviction.

Then you get to the apex of the curve where no matter what you do, you can't improve on your performance.

Then the song begins to "sour" and no amount of working on it is going to make any difference. I just seems to get less inspiring everytime you play it. and down the tubes it goes.

Now down the tubes is cool for surfin', but it sucks for surf music.

Eddie, the realist

Traditional........speak softly and play through a big blonde amp. Did I mention that I still like big blonde amps?

15 minutes for most songs, 2 years for Slacktone songs. It's worth it.

Rob_J
Carol touched on phrasing when she said:

"i've been working on paul johnsons lead on 'baja' from the duo-tones cd for several years. i know all the notes but the phrasing on part of it is still kicking my butt. sometimes i get it and sometimes i don't."

To me phrasing is especially is one of those "feel" things. You can find a way to write it down on paper, but you have to feel it in your head to make it work.

Yes. Feel. We all also have different terminology and goals. Some people have been talking about learning songs to the point of "perfection" or "mastery". I learn songs to the point of "freedom" and "joy". getting to where i'm not ever stepping out of the rythmic and melodic flow. Playing the song. Not working the song. Performance ready, but not "Wow! It's like Paul Johnson's in the room" exactitude. Yes you have to learn signature and most difficult licks and phrases, but don't stiffen up the two bars before hand. I'm always impressed by someone who can sound exactly like the target. Even if you don't like the music how can you not be impressed when someone nails SRV, Brian May, Django, Chet, whoever. But I play to "pleasure" myself... Pun intended. Working too hard to get it exact seems too much like being a pornstar. Might look good up on the screen, but ya gotta figure making it look good takes all the fun out of it

Great stuff folks -- thanks!

Something I found is that those songs I learned early on that have 'problem spots' in them continue to plague me until I sit down and re-think the fingering from scratch. Otherwise, I'll get to that spot in the song and whether I will it on no, I'll choke because I always choke right there. Fo' zample: When decided that I really needed to get the bridge section of "Jack The Ripper" right -- and I mean play it with authority -- I started as if I were learning it from the beginning, trying out different fingerings, then playing it so slowly that it was like a 78 played on 33 (for those of you who remember vinyl and shellac). That seems to've done the trick.

And Slacktone, ah Slacktone. I've learned portions of some songs but Wronski is so far out of my league that I get lost after a short while. Have you seen him live? Or on YouTube? Dude has a most serious case of guitar face

-- Woody

It takes a lot of mussel memory to avoid clams.

I've found that sometimes I can have a hell of a time with certain spots in songs and just can't get it for the life of me. So to relieve the frustration (it's supposed to be fun, right?) I'll move on to something else for a while and not do anything with it for days. Later I'll go back to the first song and I breeze through the privously difficult spots and wonder what I was having trouble with. It's not always that way, but often enough to stick in my mind.

It's hard to nail many songs for me, but I can sound pretty TACK-y after a half hour or so....

TommyD
I've found that sometimes I can have a hell of a time with certain spots in songs... I'll move on to something else for a while and not do anything with it for days. Later I'll go back to the first song and I breeze through the privously difficult spots....

While I wouldn't go so far as to say I "breeze through" anything, I've certainly found this principle to be true in general. Walking away from a song, starting a new one, then coming back again does seem to work. Partly, I suppose, due to the effect of 'sleeping on it' for a while, and partly because of what gets learned or practiced during the other songs. When I decided to learn _Surf Rider _because it seemed so easy, things went fine until that 'last bit' (excuse the pedantry) that comes just before returning to the main riff. In the meantime, I figured out three other songs -- yet that one part of SR is still driving me nuts. Try as we might to make the learning process linear, it just doesn't work that way.