May I ask what is your method you always use when you’re trying to cover a songs?
I bought the course Ear Training from Talking Bass and I’m currently working on the 1-14: Test #1 Basic Scalar Lines Sections. I always doing that method sing and visualize those notes however there’s having frustration behind of my practice. I can’t recognize those notes although I can sing them properly and yet I’m not able to learn or cover many songs that I really want to play. I just had finished B2B and applying those techniques about Chord Progression to cover a songs but still no luck.
Understood. Playing 50 songs on the list from the Course Extras. All of them with the full songs is the best way to learn especially for the poor ear player? I’m trying to use my Ear instead of doing Tabs.
Look up the song on YouTube with bass tab. You can often get versions with standard tuning, sometimes an actual lesson, isolated bass versions, song with no bass to play along etc. Transcribe the tab. Play along (with option for 75% speed). Listen to song on repeat in the car travelling to work to get the structure. Finally play it live at my weekly jam.
It’s the best way to learn the song and train your ears at the same time and like @MikeC said, it takes time to acquire this skills. The first song I play was Owner of a lonely heart. It took about a month and probably 2 cassette tapes and a few years to finally got it right until a few decades later I discovered that I still got it not quite 100%.
I was trying to post a link to my cover of this song I somehow couldn’t find it. Maybe I’ve never made one. Ah ha! A cover is coming.
I always use Moises. Upload the song to the Moises app on my computer. Separate the instruments on the track. Push the bass up to 100 and drop everything else to 30. Makes it a lot easier to hear the bass. You can also loop sections of the song and change the playback speed. It’s my favorite tool for learning a new song.
That’s awesome, just be very patient with yourself! It takes a while to get good at this, longer than it takes to get decent at playing bass…but worth it IMO. The key is picking a song or two that is repetitive and easy to start building your chops, even if its not the exact songs you want to now. As for process, I do exactly what @Paul_9207 does. Moises is great!
Actually this will improve your ear training too, since you’ll see a lot of repeated patterns that will show up in the songs you learn by ear, like octaves, fifths, etc. So keep it at and good luck, you’ll get there!
My Dad (step father but he’s the guy that raised me) got 6 yr old me into them when he and my Mom were dating and Pornography was the new hip album that all the kids were listening to. I remember listening to the record in my room on my beige Fisher Price record player. They left an impression.
Edit: I just found my old external HD with all of the burned MP3’s of my entire Cure collection that I lost in my divorce. So, so much good stuff in there. If there are any songs that aren’t on streaming and available otherwise, just hit me up @Paul_9207
I’m a fairly prolific coverer of songs - I post two a week. I’m not precious about learning songs only by ear, I could go down that route, but it’s inefficient (from my perspective) when so many people have created tabs or YouTube videos I can look at.
My basic method it to:
find songs that appeal to me - if I don’t ‘feel’ it, I won’t play it
upload an MP3 into Moises, so I can isolate the bass line
listen to the bass line - I also crank up the volume on the bass, while reducing everything else
get a sense of the structure of the song - the chord progression, the A, B and C pop parts
try and bash my way through, and make a hash of it
look up a tab - static or a video in YouTube
try and bash my way through, and make a hash of it
get xxxxed off and go and play something I know
come back to the song I’m working on
repeat 6 to 9 until I either get bored, or get the song under my fingers
I probably have 10 or so songs I’m currently working on, some are easy, others are hard (for me). I also have another 10 or so, of the 80’ish songs that I’ve covered, that I go back to again and again.
Edit: I use the paid version of Moises as the free version has a limit on the number of songs you can separate a month.
Premium is all you need. You don’t need pro unless you are going to do some recording on your DAW.
That said if pro is a few bucks more I’d have gone with it but it’s heck of a lot more so not now. May be when they drop to half price then I’ll give it a try.
Thanks @Al1885, I should need to finish my Ear Training by Talking Bass so I will use your suggestion. Hopefully, these pieces of information from all of you. it can help me learn many songs that I want to play.
and a few years to finally got it right until a few decades later I discovered that I still got it not quite 100%.
