I've been playing for almost two years and have yet to learn a full song...

[cGoEcYk]

I've been playing bass for like 18 years and never bothered to learn any songs in their entirety. I've pretty much always been focused on writing my own stuff and playing in original bands/recording albums.

I don't know 12-bar blues either. I find it to be cheese. Why would I want to fart around on that.

 

[texshred777]

Learning other people's songs in their entirety is great for growth and development. Especially if you take the time to analyze the song beyond fret number/string, hold for x amount of time. It will teach you about song structure, as well as forcing you to learn techniques, phrasing, etc.

My comment about not playing other people's music note for note was more my attitude about covering songs for performance.

I've never performed a song note-for-note outside of classical music. It's not to say I've never learned one verbatim. Just that I've never performed them as such. Were I to be in a cover band or tribute band, that'd be different. The difference there is in a tribute band I'd feel pressured to obsess over minor nuances no one would hear but me.

 

[vilk]

I like learning songs because then I can crank up the stereo and jam along. It's like one of my favorite things to do. /foreveralone.jpg

 

[TheWarAgainstTime]

I like learning songs because then I can crank up the stereo and jam along. It's like one of my favorite things to do. /foreveralone.jpg

This is the majority of my free time

 

[Konfyouzd]

I've been playing for 18 years and I have never learned somoene else's song all the way through... Operative phrase: "...someone else's song..."

I learn the parts of the song where I'm like... "How the eff did they do that?!"

So then I learn it so I know how the eff they did that.

 

[Nmaster]

I've been playing bass for around 9 years and I only know a small handful of songs all the way through that aren't my own or my band's/previous band's. I did as you did for the most part, just learning small parts of songs mainly for the sake of developing a technique or for practice, band I don't think that's a wrong way to go about learning as long as you aren't limiting yourself.