How to learn a song

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Playing By Ear

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We got a lot of great players already in this group and a lot of them play by ear so if ya want to learn this is the place

532 Members, Created 1/26/2011 -

Administrators: rickshunter1 (owner)

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From millennium3 on 4/23/2012 10:52:08 AM

Ok, let me kick off something here. Perhaps it will be fun and informative. Say I’d like to learn a song by ear – how about “My Little Georgia Rose” by Bill Monroe? I really like the version on Ricky Skaggs “Big Mon: The Songs of Bill Monroe” but maybe that doesn’t matter. OK, I’m thinking first thing I need to do is learn the words (?). Then perhaps learn the chord structure (G/C/D or A/D/). So, that’s step 1 and 2. Now…what are some of the next steps you would do? Crutch

7 Comments
	From Greylock to Bean Blossom says: 4/25/2012 7:17:28 PM After the steps you described, I would learn where the melody notes are on the banjo. then I would think where the best embellishments were. Then I would try to work them in with a continuous roll leaving spaces where it sounded best. Keep in mind as I say this that I am a poor player. I offer this as conversation and not as fact. ken
	rfrizzle2 says: 4/26/2012 11:03:47 AM Ehere do you find the Cords and Lyrics to this song
	millennium3 says: 4/26/2012 11:21:02 AM I found them here countrytabs.com/tablature/Rick...rd_27018/
	From Greylock to Bean Blossom says: 4/26/2012 4:21:21 PM You might want to think of finding the chords by ear. Find what fret on the 3rd string corresponds to the last note of a verse or chorus. That is where you would put the capo and that position would play like your open G chord or your 1 chord in the Nashville numbering system. Then strum along and see when that open chord does not sound right and try either the fingering for a C chord (4 chord in the Nashville numbering system) or the fingering for the D chord (5 chord in the Nashville numbering system. This way you can learn the song totally by ear. Doing it this way rather than finding them online helps you develop your ear and hear chord changes. Dave Magram on the hangout has done some great post explaining the Nashville Numbering System.
	rfrizzle2 says: 4/27/2012 8:53:47 AM Any one know of a another link or site where i can get tab for banjo other than BHO I need to blow the sheet music or tab up because I have poor eyesight. I useually just copy the tab to notepad than change the font. Any suggestions would be great. Thank you Rich Freeze
	From Greylock to Bean Blossom says: 4/27/2012 5:37:33 PM Jack Hatfield sells great tabs.
	Tatersoup says: 9/21/2012 7:40:10 AM Aren't tabs the antithesis of this thread?
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