So I’ve been following along with some of Justin’s songs, as well as songs from other channels. But I’ve ran into an issue where some songs just have riff tutorials.
I’m currently working on Wish you were here, and Justin’s video just has the riff and chords. I’ve found the first solo from marty music, but it seems WYWH has a 2nd solo, and finding a video for that is tricky, and tab can be hit or miss.
I’ve only been playing for 8 months at most, so I’m a ways off of learning by ear. And stitching together videos and tab is tricky.
So I’m wondering how, as a beginner, I should work on complete songs, when video tutorials are only part of the song?
I won’t start learning a song if I don’t have a full song to work on. It may be that I combine lessons from a number of channels but I won’t start if I don’t think I can get to having a full song to play - what good is 3 quarters of a song to anyone? Sometimes even when a lesson is complete there’ll be a section that’s beyond my current ability so I’ll maybe refer to a different lesson for part of the song.
That said, 8 months in and I definitely wasn’t learning solos - maybe you’re more advanced than me, but all I really need is a rhythm sequence that I can play alongside a solo for now (I’ve been playing a little over 2 years at this stage).
I use the app called Moises (as do a number of people on these forums) to help me play over original recordings. It makes chord suggestions (sometimes more accurate than others) that you can choose to use or not and also helps with learning the overall song structure by breaking it down into bars
Ye I’m trying to work on a list of easier songs that I want to learn. And I’m trying to make sure I have a guide for the full song. I agree, no one wants to hear someone who can only play the basic riff of 20 different songs.
As for solo’s, I wouldn’t say more advanced, just differently skilled, I find picking and fingering easier than I do chords. I can memorise and roughly play riffs and solos fairly well. But once chords get involved I struggle.
I’ll check out that app though, it sounds pretty useful.
I would guess that to play complete songs, you will have to play some chords, usually. You are gonna have to be proficient at playing chords if you really want to be a guitar player, imo.
I build up a new song in layers as @LievenDV would recommend.
If I’m learning a new song I start with the basic chord outline - intro, verses, chorus, bridge etc. If I can strum through and sing that, then I’ve got the song - I could play it at a party that way and it’s all good. It may be missing parts but it’s a whole song.
After that I’ll start adding embellishments - perhaps working on a tricky intro, a riff or a solo, but all the time I’m adding it to the whole song I can already play. Sometimes I’ll just lift some well known phrases from a solo and improvise the rest - sometimes I’ll come back and learn it all but if I don’t it doesn’t matter - I can still play the song.
If you are performing a song, very few people will complain if the solo is missing or a little different from the original.
But there will be lots of befuddled expressions if there is no progression, which the heart of the song and which all the frilly bits are built around. Simples.
Justin places the Wish You Were Here riff in the early stages of the beginner course because it teaches good technique and is stage appropriate. He does have a four part song-lesson video series of the full song too. But that specific part is serving a purpose in the structure of his teaching methodoligy.
