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For some songs, I've found that I just HAVE to play the riff/phrase as recorded, to make the cover sound something close to right.

Note, this is NOT normal for me - I prefer to just play what I feel on the day and never the same thing twice - especially on bass - just give me the chords and let me fill in MY lines on the fly.

However, for lead riffs, I normally have to sit down and run the recording over quite a few times before I'm satisfied that I have it nailed. I've worked with people who can hear it once or twice and blam - it's nailed.

Now, these bastards should be forced to listen to rap (it doesn't matter who - its all the same) for 24 hours solidly - then shot - then forced to listen to Kylie being so lucky for another 24 hours - then shot again. No one likes a smartarse!

How long does it take you to nail a phrase?

as long as it isn't too complicated, I can nail a riff pretty much on a couple of listens. When I learned to play we weren't spoiled by tab so we were forced to pick the parts out of the record, and its a skill that stays with you the rest of your life. Of course some of the subtle nuances are lost - i.e. sometimes I'll find I play a slide instead of a bend and vice versa.....

Are you saying its time to get Kylie out????

Sorry Dr Rog, but I only really need a couple of swings at something to grasp it...unless it's totally wacko...bring on the rap and guns

no need mate, I can already play it.... Stock, Aiken and Waterman are my heroes, I especially like that repetetive 'one step forward, two steps backward' drum beat they used on every single record they produced....


Can you sense the sarcasm in the above?

I'm totally useless at it. Most songs I've played with a band the guitarist had to spell it out for me or I just made it up as I went along while hoping I was in key!

The guitarist in question is a definite contender for kylie and shooting though. He can nail things he has heard weeks before, but not tried to play before and he can dredge up things he hasn't played for many years. Said fellow was asked to learn Sultans of Swing for his new band. He bought the CD on Saturday, had it down on Sunday...

> Said fellow was asked to learn Sultans of Swing for his new band. He bought the CD on Saturday, had it down on Sunday...

Bastard!!

as above... shoot him.

Yeah I can work things out in part....

But sultans of swing?

Shoot 'im a few times. Bastid.

the whole cd...damn bastard...I WANNA DO THAT, AND I WILL!!!

I'm getting better, but it still takes me a while - or it would if I had the discipline to keep at it, rather than just going off and doing my own thing after a few minutes

One of these days I'm going to sit down and work out all of "Cry for You" by Andy Timmons, and then we'll see how far my ear has come