I’ve been looking at different ways I could rehearse and what has worked in the past and what method took the longest. In summary, I have found that following youtube videos that do step by step / follow along tutorials are the hardest for me to follow and it would take me a while to read through a score. The second best option is learning by ear if I don’t have a tab sheet available, but either tabs on a video, either just tabs or with someone playing, or on a site like songsterr would be the quickest and most effective way of me learning a song. As such, I will be learning using videos that include tabs with someone playing accurately along to those tabs, as well as just a tab page, and I’ll double check that both are correct or which one is closest if there are any differences by learning by ear.
https://www.songsterr.com/a/wsa/smashing-pumpkins-1979-tab-s91981
18/3/24
In this I was learning along to the tab video above, which means I can learn at speed initially and then go over it in detail at my own pace while knowing I can get up to speed, which is why I paused and played without the backing track. I found this to be helpful as I can build up muscle memory and structure memory in practice so that eventually I can play confidently without a backing track and instead to a metronome or drum beat.
I was showing some understanding of different parts in the song, as I started playing the chorus after the verse. Though the movement between verse and chorus wasn’t smooth ,due to it being a different chord shape, and I didn’t add the transition chords, it’s good that in my first rehearsal I had picked up both parts.
There were some empty feeling parts in the riff where I think there should be open / muted notes on E, so I may want to look at getting that riff smoother and going into it smoother. The bends that I do are sounding good but generally I am not accurate with bending notes to other notes so I should practice this to ensure that I am comfortable with how far I’m bending the string every time.
There is one part where I strum another string accidentally, so I need to watch out and pay more attention to my right hand since I don’t use plectrums very often since most of the songs I learn now have complex melodies or solos that are carried across multiple strings that need to be individually picked or that have weird durations, whereas this is mostly just chords and strumming one / two strings together at the same time with durations that are similar.
In future I should look at learning the actual structure and practicing the transition from the verse to chorus and back to a verse to make sure that I am confident in playing the song as close to the original song as possible.
I was experimenting with different strumming patterns in this video, which is not a bad thing, but in reflection it does sound better with primarily down strums and it’s better to play what feels natural when going from Eb5, D to Bb (I think), in-between the riff repeats.
The development from last time isn’t huge but I have a better understanding of the different parts as I had not practiced the part that I spent most of this video on in the previous video. I’m playing slowly to try remember and fluently play that chord sequence, which is fine for the moment as I am allowed to have time to learn before I dive into playing it properly.
The transition between the verse and the chorus was smoother, but more practice would be beneficial so that I am confident with it in future. The same is true with the chorus. By the end of this, I understand the chorus and have found a comfortable strumming pattern to go with the rhythm but I would like to practice more so that I can play consistently.
I still hadn’t learnt the riff properly so it still sounds a bit empty, but I’ll work on that next rehearsal. The main points that I need to work on are still structure, general practice for confidence and filling out the spaces in the riff. Next time I aim to be able to play the full song in the correct order, but not necessarily up to speed.
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From here, I would consider my practice recordings on the recording page for guitar further rehearsal. I have evaluated each take on there.