How Long Does it Take to Learn a New Song
So, how long does it take for you to learn a new song note-for-note? I talk about this a lot with my private lesson students and almost everyone always underestimates how long it takes to learn a song note-for-note and get it polished to a performance ready level. I find that many guitarists think that it will take a matter of weeks to get a song to that level when it will realistically take a matter of months.
I had this confirmed when I was watching an interview with one of my favorite guitar players named Jon Finn. He is a professor at Berklee, so he really knows what he's talking about. The link to the video interview is below. He talks about "what is most misunderstood by Berklee students".
So the next time you are feeling discouraged about how long it is taking you to get a piece of music down, just remember that it takes a long time to get things full-performance ready.
I've been working on something for the past two months and I estimate that it will be another two months before it is ready for the public.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTaH81MggMQ&t=3110s
I’ve thought about it and i think most covers I do take 1-2 months to learn & memorize. I’ve tried playing them Live with mixed success; more often than not it doesn’t go as well as I’d like. So I had to put it on the back burner for a couple months or so while I practice it a few hundred more times. Then usually when I try again it is acceptable.
After a year or so of playing it Live i start to own it and it can become one of my go to anytime (especially when I’m not feeling real confident). My opening songs are these.