How I learn songs by ear and write out charts for function gigs

[@chrisrothwell1827]

Not sure most will get the insane level of ear required to just bash this out like Beebs does here. Well jell, mad skills brother!

[@DavidBeebee]

Thanks my dude! But I ain't insane level lol got long long way to go with my ear training still 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@1man1guitarletsgo]

That's an interesting approach. When I work songs out, I usually head to KZbin to find the clearest version, then Ultimate Guitar for the chords and lyrics uploaded by someone else, which I copy & paste into Word. Then I listen, slow the video, and correct anything that doesn't seem right. Both the chords and lyrics are often wrong, so a good ear is handy. The whole song must fit on one sheet of A4 paper, so that when I'm at the gig I can have the songs in a folder, in setlist order. I've depped with bands on and off for years, and initially it was very easy because I tended to play a lot of Country and 60s, and could wing it. More recent dep gigs have been challenging, because of the styles of music, and song complexity. For anyone considering depping, it is completely non-cost-effective, but it's good fun and it keeps the brain active!

[@josuastangl7140]

Really interesting how other players go through this process. Mines pretty similar, I also like to do charts even tho I know half the time (depending on the song) I know I’m not gonna end up looking at it. I create mine in Adobe Illustrator, but that’s probably overkill. I’m looking to simplify this, but so far haven’t found anything else that basically let’s me do what I want and at the end spits out a small PDF file.

[@DavidBeebee]

Yea iReal is definitely under-kill, especially if you want a top line nudge or riff reminder. But there does seem to be all or nothing, full on scoring software or this.

[@josuastangl7140]

@@DavidBeebee Yes, that's what I observed as well. If I don't play a song often and want to write down an exact riff, lick, fingering or rhythm, I use GuitarPro --> export PDF --> import that into Illustrator and copy individual elements from that into my sheet. ...but paying €35/month just for that doesn't seem right and I constantly think there must be a better/simpler way. Apps like MS Paint or Photoshop aren't vector based, so exported PDFs are 5x the file size and slow to work with on the iPad. And Google Docs/Word/Pages seem too restrictive and want to spit out a DIN A4 page instead of a PDF with the exact size of my iPad's screen... They're probably fine for basic stuff, but I like to for example have a light blue background for verses and light red for choruses so I immediately know where I am and what comes next with just a quick glance. I recently heard about Vectr and Gravit Designer, I need to try those sometime and I might also check out Affinity Designer/Publisher.

[@89ji76]

Thanks for showing your process! I learn songs without my instrument as well, but not so much by choice but because I’m trying to make best use of my time on the subway everyday (or the ‘chewb’ as y’all call it). Then I’ll check with my instrument next chance I get. Find I retain things much better that way than if I played through the song with my instrument from the start.

[@DavidBeebee]

thanks for watching! Yea the time saving factor is another reason to do this. As soon as I'm aware there's a new song or set I get listening in the car or whilst out and about, letting it soak in. That's a great way to expedite the process!

[@jamespitman3357]

U r way smarter and skilled than me.

[@rodrigo.faria_music]

Awesome video! I am in the process myself to learn a new setlist for a gig in a couple weeks as well and found this super useful! Thanks a million! So, once you narrow down the song chord charts and guitar parts, what is your approach to memorise it for the long run? Do you practice the whole song every now and then? Or do you take your time to memorise each section before jumping in to the next? (My biggest challenge is to memorise to the point of not looking at charts at all, it takes me a while 😅) Cheers!

[@DavidBeebee]

Thanks Rodrigo, glad you found it useful. Long term muscle memory just kinda happens the more it's in the set or crops up in other sets. Atrophy is just inevitable though if it's not regularly being played. That's another benefit of going through this type of ear training and chart writing process. It's much quicker to get back if you lose it after a while. Generally I try to chunk the song itto broader sections, and remember it as chord function numbers not root letters. That also helps for changing keys last minute with different singers!

[@rodrigo.faria_music]

@DavidBeebee Awesome! Will integrate that into my learning process!! Thanks again!!

[@1jennifer]

certainly very interesting, also a nice add to after watching John's!

[@JakeLoosemore]

Great vid, great t-shirt

[@DavidBeebee]

Cheers dude. You going to see him November again?

[@JakeLoosemore]

@@DavidBeebee Definitely mate!!

[@brianmiller3287]

​@@JakeLoosemore Who would win a fight between you, David and John Cordy?

[@JakeLoosemore]

@@brianmiller3287Definitely Beebee

[@DavidBeebee]

lol the first rule of legato club is...

[@johnplaystheguitar123]

Hi David. This is impressive. However I noticed you have logic. Were you not tempted to drop the track into logic and use the new AI to get the isolated guitar track or do you think there is benefit in being able to pick out the parts and learn from the full track alone. Sometimes it's hard if things are buried in the mix.

[@johnplaystheguitar123]

Lol. Clearly I wrote this before reaching the 16minute mark. Oops!!

[@josuastangl7140]

Logic 11 is really good for this. In the past I used more complicated methods of isolating the sides or the left/right/center channel.

[@johnplaystheguitar123]

@@josuastangl7140 cool. I haven't tried it yet but can't wait in terms of learning guitar parts

[@Wadey1960CS]

Hey there’s another fellow on KZbin that might be interested in this. I believe he’s goes by @John Nathan Cordy.

[@DavidBeebee]

hah yea, we've been going back n forth if it's worth doing this type of video. It's a bit niche I guess, but hopefully some folks will find it helpful!

[@Wadey1960CS]

@@DavidBeebeeit’s a really great video, told John it was as well. Great job