12 Strategies for Learning a Complete Guitar Song

October 04, 2023

Today, we’re going to talk about 12 intentional strategies that lead to playing complete songs, which leads to a complete experience for you and your listeners and the expansion of your repertoire.

 

I came across a Dave Matthews Band guitar songbook a while ago in my local Guitar Center called “Just the Riffs.”  It contained literally the most notable guitar riffs from some of their best songs. 

 

Around that same time, I heard a guy jamming in the showroom on some of those same riffs, but here’s what I found interesting.  He was only able to start the songs.  He hadn’t taken the time to learn any of the songs he was jamming on in their entirety.

 

On the flipside, I found another book with complete transcriptions of Dave’s songs, and I took the time to learn a few of those songs, note for note.  It took more time and more focus, but the rewards were much greater.

 

Lots of music stores are haunted by guitar players who can play part of a song…like the intro or the signature riff. 

 

Maybe that’s why the movie Wayne’s World had that scene with the sign on the wall that said “No ‘Stairway to Heaven.’”

 

Our guitar playing can be replete with small segments of songs.

 

But what about learning a complete song?  That’s sometimes easier said than done, especially if it’s a more technical piece.  But I believe it can be done, with the right strategies.

 

Here are 12 strategies for helping you learn a complete song.

 

1. Invite the Lord into your process.

Let’s remember that the Lord is the Giver of our gifts.  He has endowed us with the ability to see, hear, and play music, and He is the One in whose strength we can walk best.

 

To try to embark on any endeavor without the Lord is considered foolish. 

 

Psalm 127:1 reminds us that “Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain.” 

 

I love the idea of asking the Lord to guide me in the selection of my next song, and then to empower me with self-discipline and dedication to see it through.

 

2. Start with a song that’s within your ability.

In my experience, it’s much more motivating to tackle an easier song and move on to a more challenging song, than to go in reverse.  Hitting a ceiling and realizing we can’t quite get there yet can be discouraging.

 

I’ve mentioned this before, but several years ago I had a student come to my guitar studio for his first lesson with me (and his first lesson on the guitar) and he stated that the first song he wanted to be able to play on the guitar was Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix. 

 

Again, he had never played the guitar before, so after I gently cautioned him to learn some beginning and intermediate skills so as to build up to such a challenging song, he left…and I never saw him again.

I can only hope that he took a strategic approach to building his skill set before embarking on Purple Haze.

 

It’s about a balance – we want to play music that thrills us and sounds good, but we have to be realistic about what we’re expecting of ourselves in this season of playing. 

We can be overambitious, but that can lead to frustration.  This makes me think of the quote from the first Top Gun movie where Captain Tom “Stinger” Jordan says, “Your ego is writing checks your body can’t cash.”

Let’s do what’s within reach, and stay humble in the process, keeping our egos in check.

Side note: humility is much more becoming to us as followers of Christ than arrogance.  Paul reminds us in Philippians 2:3, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.  Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.”

This mindset will allow us to embark on songs that are within our reach.

 

3. Choose just one song, and focus on it.

In my experience, it can be easy to add half a dozen songs to the mix and not really make much progress on any of them.  The effort is more “wide” than “deep.” 

 

The songs end up competing with each other for quality time on your instrument.

 

If you have a hard time deciding, list the songs in order of preference or interest, and start with just one, knowing that once you’ve tackled it, you can move on to the next one.

4. Set a deadline for when you want to be able to play it.

Being “able to play it” is a flexible phrase.  Do you mean play it “all the way through?”  Hopefully that’s implied by today’s discussion.  What about “at tempo?”  That’s another level. 

 

I recommend being able to play it all the way through, at tempo.  At that point, I’d say you’ve become familiar with the song enough to say that you’ve learned it.

 

Perhaps we’ll dedicate a future episode of Guitar Serious Fun to the process of memorizing and internalizing songs for our repertoire.  Stay tuned…

 

But setting a deadline acts as a catalyst.  Writing it down on the calendar (like Dawn Jones talked about in Guitar Serious Fun Episode 69 – “How to Read it on the Run with Guitar and More”) gives us much more momentum and increases the likelihood of getting it done by 60%.

Contrast this to the all-too-easy mental thought process of “I’m working on it; we’ll see when I can make time to get it done.”  Yeah, that’s less definitive than setting a deadline.

 

Want a real catalyst?  Commit to having the song ready for a worship set, or for a concert.  There’s nothing like an upcoming endeavor in front of people to get you practicing and working on a song. 

 

5. Ask for gentle accountability.

Asking for accountability is like ordering a healthy meal at a restaurant.  You know it’s going to be good for you, and once you’ve placed the order, you know it’s going to be coming, even if you don’t love the taste of it as much as the “less healthy” food.

 

Having someone in your world who can check in with you in a friendly way, similar to a workout buddy, can act as another catalyst to spur you on towards completing the learning process on the song.

 

If you set a desired completion date, you can ask them to check in with you at specific intervals with a quick text message or verbal conversation to see how it’s going.

 

Each time they check in, they provide a gentle reminder of what you’re hoping to get done.

 

6. Set digital reminders.

Perhaps you’re not quite ready to open a conversation with a real person.  That’s fine.

 

You can leverage your phone, e-mail, calendar, or even futureme.com (where you write a digital letter now to your future self, to be opened sometime in the future.)

 

These digital reminders can be less intense than an actual person checking in on you, but they can also be less effective, because it’s much easier to hit “snooze” or “delete” than to “ghost” a friend’s communication when they reach out to you, especially if they care about you and remain lovingly persistent.

 

7. Listen to a recording of the finished song…often.

My daughter and I were reflecting recently on how much music stays in our minds after we’ve heard it. 

 

In the 1994 picture “The Shawshank Redemption,” inmate Andy Dufresne played an LP in the warden’s office of the short duet “Sull’aria” from The Marriage of Figaro. 

For broadcasting it across the whole prison and turning up the volume when the warden asked him to stop, Andy was punished with two weeks in “the hole,” a dark place of solitary confinement.

 

When he returned to the general population of the prison and sat down to lunch with his fellow inmates, he said that his time in “the hole” was “the easiest time” he ever did.  They couldn’t believe it.

 

He said, “I had Mr. Mozart to keep me company,” to which his friend Floyd said, “So they let you tote that record player down there?”

“No,” Andy said, motioning first to his head, “It was in here.”  Then he motioned to his heart, “and in here.  That’s the power of music.  They can’t get that from you.”

Music is so powerful.  Listen to it.  If there’s a recording of the song you want to be able to play, listen to it.  A lot. 

 

Just listening to it will allow you to experience the subtleties and nuances of it, including the artistry and dynamics, as well as the mechanics of tempo, chord changes, and melodies or other elements.

 

8. Practice the song with a metronome.

Try playing the song at varying speeds with a metronome.  See how well you can keep up.

 

The metronome keeps us honest, because it won’t slow down for us if we’re dragging, and it won’t speed up with us if we’re rushing. 

A metronome (or a metronome app) can be a huge blessing in helping us recover our tempo awareness on a song.  I tend to push the tempo, especially when I get excited or nervous (and yes, I still get nervous from time to time after over 25 years of playing the guitar in front of people.)

 

9. Practice the song with the recording.

This is a step I’ve rarely seen people take, especially when it comes to worship music.  They just want to show up and jam the song with the worship band, which is fine.

 

But what about playing along with some really solid recorded musicians who really don’t care how many times you want to go over the song? 

Honestly, this approach is even better than playing with a metronome, because it helps facilitate a level of memory work that can lead to more visual independence from the page.  I highly recommend it.

 

10. Practice with the song recording in your desired key and position. 

I rarely play worship songs in their original keys due to the vocal ranges of some of today’s worship vocalists.  But by leveraging a tool like NCH Software’s WavePad, I’m able to take the purchased audio track and transpose it (down, usually) to a key that’s more suitable for my voice.

 

On a side note, WavePad has the capacity to change tempo and pitch independently.  So, if I need to decrease the tempo of the recording to 75%, this can make the song even more attainable in the early practicing stages without lowering the pitch. 

 

I will say that playing short segments at tempo is better than playing the whole song slowly, because playing at tempo engages the muscle memory much more effectively.

But there are all kinds of digital tools that we can use to bring songs closer to us.  The key is to make sure we don’t rely too heavily on the tools, but instead lean into actually practicing and learning.

 

11. Play the song for a “safe” audience.

Music is best when shared.  Before you “go public,” I encourage you to connect with a family member or a friend who’s willing to listen to you play the song.

 

You can invite them to give you their undivided attention and to offer their feedback based on their experience, or you can encourage them to listen with “divided” attention while they’re doing something else (like cooking or folding laundry.) 

 

Just knowing that they’re listening to you play can compel you to complete the song, much more so than if you were playing it alone in your practice space.

 

A “safe” audience provides a “soft” opening before you step out into the real world and present the song on a stage or platform.

 

Remember, the sound of the song is only a part of it.  Your body language and facial expressions, as well as your visual independence from your printed charts and even your guitar, are important additional elements.

 

12. Keep the song fresh.

Once you’ve got the song under your fingers (and if applicable, in your voice), ideally, it’s good to play it frequently enough that your fingers (and voice) can make it happen almost on command.  This is the art of practicing and maintaining a repertoire.

I read an article in a music magazine from the 1980s that reinforced this.  The author, whose name I cannot recall, said, “Don’t forget to practice your repertoire.  Practice the songs you know.  Make sure these songs are ready at a moment’s notice to be shared with your audience.”

As worship leaders, our audience is the Lord, but you get it – sharing a song publicly is very different from practicing it alone in our rehearsal space. 

 

Re-cap

So to review, I encourage you to take these 12 steps to be able to play through an entire guitar song:

 

1. Invite the Lord into your process.

2. Start with a song that’s within your ability.

3. Choose just one song, and focus on it.

4. Set a deadline for when you want to be able to play it.

5. Ask for gentle accountability.

6. Set digital reminders.

7. Listen to a recording of the finished song…often.

8. Practice the song with a metronome

9. Practice the song with the recording.

10. Practice with the song recording in your desired key and position. 

11. Play the song for a “safe” audience.

12. Keep the song fresh.

 

If you can think of more strategies for how to learn a complete guitar song, please leave a comment!  If this has been helpful to you, please leave us a 5-star review on your listening platform.

 

And if you want to take your guitar playing to the next level where you have a safe community with good, gentle accountability, you just might want to check out GuitarSuccess4U.com. 

 

I eagerly await the opportunity to serve you there and to watch in delight as you learn to play the songs you want to learn to play…in their entirety.

 

Thanks for experiencing what I’ve prepared for you today.  I’ll see you next time.