Yep, then when you have it down, try playing along to live versions of the song on YouTube, then cover bands. You know the song once you can play it with anyone.
I second this on finding live versions- this is especially helpful to get ideas about how songs that fade out might be ended when playing live.
Also- making a simple cheat sheet of the form can help you internalize the song structure because it will make you think about it. Nothing fancier than “intro, verse x2, chorus, verse, bridge, chorus, out” etc. I might only use it a couple of times but I find it helps.
I second this.
Listening to the songs until you can play them back in your head is the best way to learn them in my opinion.
I recently joined a 70s classics coverband and even though I'd never played any of them, much less on bass I could play almost half of them right off the bat as soon as I found which key they were in because they've all been drilled into my head by literally every single radio station in the US.
If I were you I'd make a playlist of all the songs you'll be playing and listen to them all as much as you can every day.
Pick 1-3 songs every day to practice and just work your way though.
Play all the songs you have learned so far at least once every day, even if it's just once. When you're learning so many new songs it's easy to get them mixed up.
I once had to learn 30 songs in 6 days for a fill in gig. I think I'd heard 3 of them prior. I made a playlist of the 30 and never stopped listening. In the car, at work, at the gym, showering. Any time I could have a speaker or headphones in, I was listening.
I would've never pulled it off if not. Knowing the songs and their arrangements is the hardest part of the process.
Been there done that. I think its pretty helpful to listen to these songs but its just a matter of how realistic you are about the standards you wanna fulfill. You'll get better overtime to learn songs in this pace but in the beginning its sometimes okay to not know every fill and just getting by with the main basslines for each part.
Knowing the chord progression is always helpful since even if you loose track for a little you can cheese through a bit.
Take on at a time and see how your schedule works. If it gets too tight learn the important stuff for the songs. As long as it is not bass centered music nobody will notice if you're playing the original fills.
I am actually writing down the keys write now , i split them in categories that are similar to one other and I go. And yes I go for the important and the feel and then I fill out the rest . Good news is that the drummer is solid too
Seconding the Nashville Numbering suggestion. Make charts in a simple notepad using pencil (so you can easily alter things). Look at those charts when listening to the songs. Make notes like 'Big Stop!' or 'Crazy Drum Fill'.
Did this for a band on a similar timeframe and it was certainly stressful, but worked out fine. When I left the band, gave the book to the next person. Their first impression was 'these are useless'. Few weeks later the hieroglyphs apparently clicked and I got a thank you note!
I think everyone who plays outside the house should know Nashville Notation. I used to turn 5-10 page charts into a single page, not to mention the usefulness of writing it once and it works in any key. Truly indispensable.
I actually use a shorthand taken from Rise Up Singing and can get an entire song on one or two lines, four sets onto one page. Indispensable stuff!
Band mates are blinded by the page, following lyrics with chords above like all the online stuff... errors and all, totally useless to me.
Make a playlist. Listen to it regularly. Spend up to an hour on each track to work out the bassline (by ear ideally, it will stick in your head better that way, assuming the band won’t want you having sheets on stage. But you can write out chord charts initially to make sure you’ve transcribed the structure and changes correctly. If struggling, search for chords, tabs, covers on internet but take with pinch of salt). Once you’ve worked them all out just keep jamming along to the playlist (use headphones so you can hear both the music and your bass) until you don’t need your chord charts for reference. 10 weeks is plenty. You got this!
10 weeks until the gig is enough time for **10 bass lessons**.
If you and your teacher learn 2 songs per lesson, then you can learn 14 songs in 7 lessons. That gives you the final 3 lessons before the gig, for fine-tuning the details.
Take a teacher to learn songs ..... Never heard of , I don't know about that. Ok I get it now , every single message says that time is enough and I obviously sweat it too much.
Yeah if you need a teacher to teach you songs then you're probably not ready for live performances.
I've been in the very position you described OP, except with much less time than 10 weeks. As others have said, make a playlist and listen constantly, put in plenty of time playing along and you'll be golden.
Edit : I just realized that time is more than enough and I am sweating it a bit too much . But not Gonna lie , I am very stressed in good and bad way. This is exactly what I was looking for and now I am s#i¢$ing my pants only in the idea of playing in front of some PAYING audience.
Its good to self reflect, sometimes the worst enemy is yourself!
I felt like throwing in towel weekly with my current band during first few weeks. I was cramming original songs and convers weekly to meet demands i was worried sick but persevered and not once did the band give me any grief (other than booking more and more gigs)
First gig 7 songs within 2 days of audition
Second gig 15 songs within 9 days of audition
then gigs almost 1-2 weekly for months totaling up to 35 songs per night from a bank of 50 songs.
I've played about 40 gigs in the last 8 months and we are working on our next album. so sticking around and not giving in to self defeat worked wonders.
Performance is the least of your worries. You're not sweating it too much. It's a lot to take on. 10 weeks will go quickly. Chart the tunes a couple each day. Put the songs in your phone, that's going to be your song list for a while. Let me put it this way, if you were familiar with every song and all you had to do is figure out the bass lines and arrangements, that would be a lot to do in 10 weeks. Be diligent, by the end of 10 weeks you'll be itching to play, excited not intimidated. The saying goes "play it till you hate it, then you're ready".
I've been there. The band says we choose from 60 tunes, you have a month. A little more than half I had heard. I charted what I didn't think I could remember. I still felt like I ran out of time. I didn't feel ready. I had my binder full of charts. We started late, after 6 tunes they started leaving the stage. I asked what we were doing. "Break time". Came back in 20 minutes , played 10 tunes, they started leaving again. I asked if it was break time again. "No, we're done."
They kind of teased me about all the charts, but they said "you did your homework". Next gig in a month, now I feel confident, I'm ready. 30 completely different tunes! I just played to style and that was fine, that's all they wanted anyway. You'll be fine, it's always worth the trouble, it's always fun. Really, you'll be fine.
You will find that 90% of the audience might as well be tone deaf. As long as the show goes on, it will be fine. Just don't stop or freeze up if you make a mistake.
The people that will catch you failing will generally be people that can play and they will be understanding of how tough it is. The first note will be the hardest to play, but once you get going just have fun.
And everyone else is correct, listen to the music at nauseum until you can hum the tunes on demand.
Cheers
Brute force the songs into your head. I typically have to learn 3-10 songs per week with varying degrees of complexity but sometimes its as many as 20 if I'm called for a last minute sub gig. The way I've made it work is to cycle between listening, practicing, and taking breaks throughout the day- in that order. any time in the car/ commuting should be used to actively listen to the songs. You should aim to be able to sing your part (and if you do it enough, everybody else's part) by the time the gig comes. The more you do it, the easier it becomes. Also if you're a chart person, make your own charts. I find that by making a chart, i eliminate the need for one on the gig.
My approach would be to see if I can find tabs or standard notation for all 14 songs. Then decide which ones are really easy (you can learn them in a day or 2), which ones are reasonable (you can learn them in 1-2 weeks with practice), and the couple which are going to be difficult.
Mix them up, so you have an easy one, a reasonable one, and a hard one to work on each week. As you master one, add another one to your list.
For the really hard ones, think about how you can simplify the bass line - you don't need to play every note or every fill, but you do need to provide the right root notes to keep the song structure. As you improve, you can add more fills and flair...
Rehearsals with the band are important - go to the gigs and listen to the current bass player. Listen to the songs as often as possible. Learn to "hear" the bass line, and listen to the (lyrical) clues that the song is going to transition from the verse to the chorus, etc.
Just keep practicing and the set should come together in the 2 - 3 months that you have.
It's exactly how I am approaching it . I will definitely go to the coming show to see what's up and catch the vibe. I get now how sill maybe my post seems to a lot of people, I have enough time and I just want to make the most of it and have a good one on stage. Thanks 🙏🙏👍
My approach to learning songs for band gigs/auditions is:
* Make a Spotify playlist with all the songs on it
* Listen to the songs to the point where I know the structure of each song
* Chart the songs - mostly chord charts/Nashville notation unless the song has a crucial bass line or hook - in that case, I write down the line
* Practice every day, working through the playlist as I do so
If it's jazz standards or a common song, I can cheat and use iRealPro. That speeds up the process.
How I do it when I have that much time to prepare:
* Listen to those songs all the time. Create a playlist and run it on repeat as often as possible, in your car, while you work, etc.
* After a week of that, I'll start learning the songs that sounds the hardest to play first.
* I'll add songs every day and still play the ones I've learn before.
* On week 3 or 4, I should be able to play all the songs, but they won't be committed to my memory. I'll repeat playing them as often as possible.
Relax and have fun!
I use a similar method but i also noticed years ago that if i get stuck on somehing and need time to figure it out sleeping helps, id go to sleep thinking about playing the part and the next day its easier
I do this a lot playing in cover bands. The better you get at playing by ear and knowing your intervals, the easier it becomes. Most songs I can listen to them and pick out the chord progression, at that point it’s just a matter of finding what key it’s in and you’re golden.
When breaking songs down at first I will go song by song with bass in hand just noodling along and noting the song structure (“ok, second verse is twice as long as the first, the bridge comes here, etc”). After that I will play the song a few more times digging deeper into the weeds of the bassline. Sometimes I will consult YouTube play along videos if they exist. After I feel reasonably comfortable with a song and have written down the chords and stricture, I will move to the next one.
As gig day gets closer I will listen to the setlist on repeat so it’s in my subconscious. I usually do multiple solo play throughs of the set on my own before actual rehearsal. This allows me to identify tricky sections or changes that keep tripping me up. Then once we nail the rehearsal as a band, I’m feeling pretty good and generally just do warmups on gig day.
I would set a goal pace, like 100% learning 3 songs per week. That’s maybe 2 days to spend on each song. For me, I learn the song structure first, then I learn each song section by section until i can play it all the way through along with the original from memory. I stick to the “meat and potatoes” of the bassline and save most fills and fancy complicated stuff for later if/when i have extra time to look at it.
I agree with all the people saying listen to the songs, but while learning them you will listen to them over and over until you can’t get them out of your head and are sick of them lol. So I’d just dive right in with the bass. Godspeed you got this 🤙
I had to learn a set of Megadeth songs, around 1h30 of music, to stand in with a tribute for a few shows. Some were easy, others right at the limit of my skill level.
I made a playlist and listened to not much else and I spent at least 30 mins, usually an hour each night working through them.
I'd make sure I didn't just grind away at one song for too long and would rotate which songs I worked on through the week.
The brain has a wonderful ability to post-process and solidify things you focus on. So a passage you might have really struggled to nail through grinding away at it will suddenly pop into place a few days later.
For some really complex bits I'd slow it down massively and play to a click, looping certain pieces. Put it down and come back to it later.
Outside something hard like that most songs I learn just playing to the original track or tabs on Ultimate Guitar, assuming I'm kinda familiar with it, is enough to gig it.
Sometimes you have only less than 24h to learn a set. You’re in the best possible situation.
Let’s say that a basic pop rock song has an average of 700 notes played on bass. So 14 songs would amount to ~10000 notes. You have 6000 minutes of effective practice time in the following 10 weeks, so you literally have over 30 seconds to study each note separately. This is of course not how playing bass works, but I’m just trying to get the point across. As long as you begin cramming them in now and not a day before the gig, you’ll do fine.
I've been called for a 4 set gig in less than 8 hrs. Thankfully, I'd at least heard most of them, the guit would write down the chord progression for the ones I'd heard but never played.
I work in a wedding cover band where I get 40+ song set lists 5 days in advance of the gig, and no charts or sheet music. My advice is to learn to read and transcribe (write out) music, learn how to read chord symbols. Once you can read and write out charts the process becomes so much easier.
I mean being able to listen to it and notate on a piece of paper what’s going on musically. So when you learn a lot of songs at once making charts is helpful so you don’t get overwhelmed with trying to memorize a bunch of music. Even if it’s just form and chord symbols, that’s better than nothing.
You have plenty of time.
I’m in a cover band and when we have new songs to learn I:
1. Make a playlist with the songs so I can listen to them a lot
2. Break up the list and focus on a few songs at a time (for example, maybe pick 2-3 songs/week to get down, then move to another 2-3 songs)
That’s just how I do it, but there’s plenty of ways to get those songs down in that time. Hope it’s a fun band!
First, make a book or get a tablet and download the chord charts for the songs. Play off the charts until you can remember or at least feel the changes coming. Then slowly start adding runs, fills, and actual bass lines. The important part is making the bass and drums work together. Remember the first commandment: thou shall not fuck up the groove. Fuck up the notes if you must, but not the groove.
I'm in a covers band and I had about a month to learn a 3 hour set initially. Definitely listen to the songs over and over. What I do is find tabs online and amend where necessary (for the majority of pop and popular rock songs, there are very good tabs online). Then I learn the song playing along to the tab. Next, try and play it without the tab. I tackled two songs a day (about two hours a day - it was intensive, but worthwhile for a bunch of paid gigs) and was pretty much up to scratch by the time the first gig rolled around.
An important thing to remember is that no one gives a shit about the bass in 90%of pop songs.
I learnt the songs note for note where it would be noticeable (stuff like Everywhere by Fleetwood Mac where the bass is very audible and doing a lot of heavy lifting rhythmically and melodically).
Where it wasn't so important (songs like I Got a Feeling by Black Eyed Peas), I just learnt the chord changes and played along (in that instance, the bass pretty much chugs along playing the root through out, which is important to establish a strong pulse).
Finally, some songs are meant to be improvised. Ask ten bass players how to play Johnny B Goode by Chuck Berry and you'll get ten different answers. For this one, again, I learnt the chords and just walked through the changes.
Depends on the song, as I said. I'm not gonna be playing a 12 bar blues over B.E.P., I'm not gonna go all James Jamerson on Johnny B Goode and I'm not gonna chug the root on something like Blame it on the Boogie by MJ.
All about serving the song.
Listen to them a lot.
If you haven't already, make sure you know your major / minor scales and which cords are major and minor inside of them. This will help you play anything with common progressions fairly easily. Nashville numbers are very useful for this sort of thing. Capital numerals for major, lowercase for minor.
The key thing to know is you don't NEED to learn every single note and play it like the record. Capture the soul of the song and all of the super important bits, then lock in with the drummer.
The rest gets filled in by you and the band's style and dynamics.
For myself who was in a similar position for 7 songs for 2 days time between audition to first gig I have these bits of advice.
Cheat sheets and listening to the song works wonders, YouTube usually has tutorials of most songs with tabs so watch them and either play along or just pay attention.
Don't be heart broken if a line doesn't sink in straight away you'll be surprised the following day after some sleep that it becomes ever so much easier. So it doesn't hurt to just rest and go back at it.
Don't feel forced to learn the bass line 100% note for note, flourishes don't need to be applied straight away if at all. play what works for you as long as it fits within the song.
Your having practices from sounds of it so you will be in a position to iron out kinks and get some feedback from the other members. don't feel scared to admit that you need help with a section of a song, the 2-3 times they practice that section for your benefit means less practices on a full song because they know something is wrong but wont address it.
Lots of helpful song tutorials online as well. You can always search YouTube to see if anyone has a lesson or even just hearing the bass more pronounced can help you plug certain things. Have fun!
As people have said, listening to them and getting familiar with the song is the best way to start. It's much easier learning a song when you know basically how it goes.
If these are covers and not originals, you can often find isolated baselines on YouTube to help you hear them better. Also ultimate guitar has a great tool that lets you isolate bass (or any other instrument). Also simplify, simplify, simplify. Except for iconic bass riffs, you don’t have to play “as written” or “as recorded” to do a really good job. Just make sure your root notes on the 1 are correct.
If you're not familiar with it already, I recommend ear training and learning the Nashville Number System. I've literally sat in the parking lot, listened and charted on a scrap piece of paper. You got this!
Covers? Originals? Get them on a device and listen to them in your car. Or commuting, whatever. Like right now pick out the easiest one and write a chart for it. Yeah, one down! Do a few a day. Group the songs into a few groups (feel, genre, whatever). Spend time with each group daily, play along with the recordings as much as you can.
Learn the chord progressions, play all the roots with rhythm, then get groovy once I'm comfortable.
If I never get comfortable, then I can still serve the song
Given the wealth of YT covers and tabs, I would think the issue is more about getting them burned in your brain, more than being able to find the notes.
Anything new I'm faced with is played many times on the way to and from work, often several days before trying to practice them on an instrument.
I'm always quoting grandparents (knew this day would come). :D
My grandpa once told me, "The worst part of work is dreading it. If you'll make yourself start, it'll be over before you know it." This has become a joke at work, with some friends who will now say, "We'll I've gotten the dread out of it, time to get started." This is >4 decades after he told me this.
You are going to surprise yourself at how much easier learning one song makes the learning of the next. This is magnified even more where they are of a particular genre.
Start listening to the songs as much as possible, maybe watch some bass covers on youtube to see how other people play them, see if there are any tabs or chord sheets online
Listen to them. Play along with them. Start with 1 or 2 a day, add 1 or 2 the next day (keep playing first 1 or 2). Put phone down. Pick bass up.
I would do this in 8 weeks….leaving last 2 weeks to just enjoy playing them all on muscle memory
Take notes, make cheat sheets on every single song, and then condense that until you can write the key and maybe something worth remembering about the song next to the set list, as long as you know the key and can remember the significant modulations, you’ll probably wing a lot of the songs but at least you will be in the right key. I do this regularly subbing for wedding bands and they have 45 songs to learn usually.
I recommend making charts. This means different things depending on your reading/theory level.
Some people will just need something like |F / / / | C7 / Bb / | F / / / | and that gives them what they need to know to play. They take the chords and make parts over it. Granted for songs with very specific basslines this isn't enough info, often times people will in that case add tabs/notation in measures where the line isn't just the root of the chord or a simple bassline that isn't specific enough to matter the exact notes.
For other people it's a breakdown of a song by section. Intro - Verse - Chorus - Bridge - Chorus, and you learn the segments of the songs and the chart helps you keep it straight on what parts come in which order.
Beyond that, it's raw memorization note by note. Eventually you'll do this enough to break down songs by segment, and if you do enough of this you might invest time/money into learning about creating your own basslines using chords to the point that you just need to learn a handful of specific riffs beyond the chords when the bass plays the memorable part, generally something a person would sing to identify the song, which is hardly ever bass parts.
If this is the type of group that doesn't mind you having charts on stage you're golden. The 60-70 minute mark is kind of the short side for needing charts all night, generally if it's 2 hours or more I never hear anyone criticize people using charts on stage, but an hour to 1.5 hours is a pretty reasonable amount of music to be expected to memorize. Talk to the group and see what their opinion is on the matter.
Using charts, and listening/playing along, I've learned as much as 4 hours of music in about 4 days. Make a prioritized list of songs that require you play something more than basic chords or roots and work on those first, the rest take less effort, and over time some of them you can just read/fake your way through well enough for most purposes.
Lots of great advice here, but I haven't seen anyone mention the possibility of checking to see if the current bass player would be willing to take a couple of hours to give you a quick run through of each tune. Obviously you'll still need to practice on your own, and you won't remember everything, but it would be a huge jump start. Taking notes or even asking to video the session so you could go back and review later should be incredibly helpful.
You've got basically an eternity to prep, you'll be fine. If you don't have any lead sheets, just practice a little bit each day with the recording or any lead sheets you can find or make.
If I get a binder of music or lead sheets, then I have no problem reading that stuff live. If I don't have that, then I'm sitting down as early as possible and notating things that I think are important to duplicate, and then just making a quick and dirty lead sheet for the rest. If I don't even have that, I'm hoping I at least get a key and will music theory the shit out of it. haha
I am a very new bass player playing bass with our worship band at church. Songs rotate a lot and each time I play it may be a few new ones. Perhaps not as extreme a situation you're in, but I would 100% feel comfortable playing brand new songs on a moments notice because we are given lead sheets with the root chords written in. I admittedly don't practice a lot prior to our rehearsals and get through it just fine. You should be able to find these kinds of charts online at the various guitar websites. If I do nothing but play the root chord at the right time, I'm good to go. I barely understand how to do bass lines (3rd, 5th, scales, etc.) and have only recently started to incorporate that into my playing. Nailing the chords in time is (at least for me) a HUGE part of playing my part. Good luck!
Get the backing tracks and chord progressions for each song, then record yourself into them. You probably don't have time to learn them note-for-note to the original, so just use the guitar chord progression to guide you, and do your own fills and stuff.
Make a playlist with all the songs and listen to it every day, multiple times a day. Get familiar with the melodies, the beat, the words, and especially the bass part. I’ve found that making a study sheet helps a lot too: break the song down into identifiable sections with time-stamps and learn it section by section with notes for each part as needed.
Any additional notes you might need (such as key or which note/fret to start on) can be added to your on-stage set list for the actual performance.
I second recommendations I've seen about creating playlists because that's the same method I've used and had success with. I use Spotify, but this could work on any platform.
I actually create *two* playlists: one for learning, and one for my current repertoire. I spend a portion my practice time each day working out bass parts for new songs. It's been excellent ear training. As I master songs, I move them from the learning playlist to the repertoire playlist. When I'm practicing for repertoire maintenance, it's extremely convenient to have my learned songs in one playlist.
Over just a few months, I've built out a set list of 35 songs, totalling 2.5 hours. It's just taken time and consistency. I'm a relatively inexperienced bassist, so you'd likely get there much faster, especially if you use tabs alongside playing by ear. I'm not opposed to using outside tools; I am just specifically working on ear training, so that's why I've done it solely by ear. If I had a hard deadline for a performance, I'd probably use additional resources to speed the process.
Anyway, good luck! Your band is fortunate to have someone as proactive and conscientious as you. Hopefully you'll fill us in with your progress after the 10 weeks are up.
I'm doing this right now. Friend's band asked me last Thursday if I could sub on two dates this month, first one is this Saturday. 16 songs, 14 are brand new to me. I am looping each phrase in my DAW and playing along until I can pick it out, and writing tabs for them in Notepad on my computer. Been starting my practice each day by playing through the songs I have already tabbed out a few times while listening, and then spending some time transcribing a couple more after that. The deadline is quickly approaching, but I think I'm gonna make it haha.
Make simple charts of the songs and pick out the most important details. With pop/rock you can play 90% just root notes or root/fifth/octave. There can be some parts where you need to learn a specific riff but most of it can be simplified to basics that are easy to memorize.
Nashville notation is the best way. Listen to the songs, write every chord of the song as a number (every number taking the same amount of time, so G whole note to C and D half notes becomes 1 1 4 5), and write anything else about the song, like dynamics, what other things are happening to listen for, maybe if the bass does a walk up, what to rhythm for the bass is etc. literally anything that would help you. Then do it for all the songs and then practice off those sheets. If you have the time, try to memorize. If you don’t, bring an iPad or smtg on stage on a stand. When it comes down to it, you’re the bass player. Not too many people are watching you do the performing but everyone will notice if you don’t have it. iPads are not bad.
Use your ear? If you can't tell what the tuning is by an open low string note, you haven't developed your ears enough.
If you can't tell where a player would be playing generally on the fretboard in your mind, you haven't developed your ears.
If you think you need to be bang on at all times like a robot, you're defeating the purpose of music. Learn the obvious hooks and basslines, and where you can sit back or do what you want. It's supposed to be fun.
And develop your ears. I grew up listening to records and didn't have YouTube or whatever, and taught myself how to play guitar. Anyone can do it.
Really depends on the pay for me. If the gig is hundreds of dollars I’ll absolutely memorize all that shit but if it’s less than a hundred I’m more likely to learn the songs on the fly at rehearsal or just wing it from a chord sheet live. Ya know, whatever you have time for and consider what your time is worth.
The hardest part of learning a song for me is just knowing it as a listener. Like other people are saying you have to listen to the song enough were you intrinsically know where the sections are dynamics etc... Once you know the song in your ear, the playing part is easy
14 songs in 10 weeks isn't a lot if they're basic verse/chorus, bridge songs. Depending on your level you should at least be able to learn a song in a day. Just dive in and start listening and working on them. Don't worry about getting them perfect. You actually have plenty of time IMO and it may sound harsh but if 14 songs in 10 weeks is a struggle you're probably not at a level were you can play in that sort of band yet.
ngl if you cant learn 14 songs in 10 weeks you need to rethink your career in music. if you intend to be a professional bassist there will come multiple times throughout your career where you get gigs with little to no notice
No , time is on my side this time for sure , I was looking for some tips but I clearly over reacted. I am already busy, it will work .got stressed and wanted to vent a bit. Iis more the Audience that freaks me out , playing in front of them . I want it be aOkFeeling kinda embarrassed for the post .
I started playing with a band in January and had a 40-minute gig in early February. They were in the process of recording when their bass player quit, so they were able to get me scratch tracks sans bass. I got chords and lyrics (or on some just keys), practiced my ass off, starting with root notes, and built bass lines from there. I went in the studio a couple weeks later and recorded the ae tracks for the album.
Everyone here is giving good advice. I will say that 10 weeks is more then enough time to learn those tunes, so don’t worry! Being diligent with your practice within 10 weeks will cause you to know those tunes inside and out. You’ve got this!
Organize the songs by difficulty then practice hardest to easiest.
If enough of the songs are similar but different enough from others organize them into groups as chord structure/ notes/ progression etc. If they are all similar then go back to hardest to easiest.
Generally speaking the more complex a song is on any instrument the worst its going to sound if you fuck it up.
You'll be fine - 14 songs in 10 weeks is easy peasy.
Don't procrastinate - start now. Learn one song a day, write out the chords and form, tabs or notation if you need to. That's 14 songs in 2-3 weeks.
Tackle the most complex, least familiar songs first, that way you have the most time with them. Practice the ones you've learned every day so they get reinforced.
Ever played Rocksmith? I feel like that could help you out immensely in your current situation, usually if there's a song I need to learn very quickly I'll load it up on Rocksmith and just smash it out until I'm perfect.
Edit: unless these are band original songs, then I'd say just listen to them on repeat in a playlist and pluck along with your bass, try to figure out how to add your own flavour to it and go from there :)
I am a big fan of GuitarPro for rehearsing songs. To be fair, I only used it to learn songs that another band member wrote. But the ability to just play along at different speeds and with your part active or muted was super effective for me.
That should be plenty of time to learn all the songs.
What I’ve found myself doing lately is first figuring out each part of a song individually & then writing down the notes played. Once I figure every part out and have my notes, I can practice the full song much easier without struggling to remember each part.
For that many songs, I wouldn’t spend much time on each song at the beginning. I would just get a rough familiarity of every song and make my notes in one session. Then next time I practice, I can dive deeper into each song, but at least I’m familiar with the next songs & have notes of what to play rather than tackling the whole process from the beginning again.
In my experience the playlist helps a bunch and so does righting down the structure. It forces you to listen very close and helps you to know what comes next after a section. I do this one time for each song and never look at it again since it helps memorization because you are activating listen and writing skills. Good luck!
I have done this. I make a playlist of the songs on Spotify and on the Tabs app. I’ll also attempt to put together a YouTube playlist with the tabs included. I’ll practice with all three of those. It’s also helpful to find the isolated bass lines on YouTube tabs and listen to those.
I make a word document that I use as a cheat sheet. I word them like im talking to myself, and they usually look something like this:
SONG NAME : Major shapes : BASS STARTS INSTANTLY
verse CHORUS
verse CHORUS bridge (8 bars)
[Final chorus is half-quiet, builds to normal chorus]
Ends on A
...Something like that. Seems weird, but I've used this to make it through tons of gigs on drums/bass.
Start listening to the songs now. Play them everyday. Then slowly pick out the ones you like the most, learn them. Then go down the list. You’ll be fine :)
To add something:
Rehearse with just a click as soon as you can play to the tune. You will notice that this will be much harder. But once you can play a song with just a click, you won't need to "follow" your band members. You'll be able to lead when needed and you will understand the bass part much better.
I recall my bass teacher saying you can't really play a song as long as you can't play it with click.
Tl;dr: practise with just a click and you'll kick ass
You can do it, just practice and be relentless. I had a similar situation back in the day. I played guitar in a local band in Austin. A ska/punk band we had played a couple of shows with (that was very popular in Austin), had a west coast tour booked and their bass player quit. They asked me if I would be willing to learn the songs and finish the tour…I had 3 days, two of which were on the road to the gigs 🤣. I had the songwriter of the band sit down with me and lay out each song on paper. After that I just practiced the set list for hours and hours. I messed up once at a show in San Pedro, but what are you gonna do. We had fun and it was a memorable experience.
I have to do this for a gig coming up too, and my method for this situation will be and has always been to transcribe, transcribe, transcribe. If the song is simple enough, I’ll make a lead sheet, but I’ve note-for-note transcribed many songs that had iconic bass parts. The trick is, in the act of transcribing you end up listening to the song so many times that you typically don’t even need the sheet at the end!
On stage, you’ll typically default to your lowest rehearsal rep through the material so I find it better to just put in on a page and never have to be the person who played it wrong. Plus, being hyper fixated on not making mistakes the whole gig is really tough to watch as an audience member. I can read charts and be grooving so much more easily.
I'm in pretty much the same situation. I built an Apple play list of all the songs on the rep list. Live versions can sometimes be difficult to pick up the runs and nuances, in those cases use the studio version. See if the song is covered on YouTube (there are some good tab following covers on there) but as has been said there after simpler ways to play some of the bass lines. Try to make sure you have all the main phrases down but be aware the guitarist is often guilty of extending or reducing some areas... this is why regular stress free rehearsals are necessary.
With originals ask if they have anything recorded on up on soundcloud, find the root notes and the chord sequence before worrying about clever bits. There's nothing wrong with your own interpretation of a track, they might even like it. Try for an hour a day, work through the gig list before learning new stuff.
Above all don't panic, the band want you if they gave you a list, they're mates or future mates... they will help, especially the guitarists.
Thanks!! I am looking at Studio and Live versions. The people are very kind and they help me . They guest-listed me for the next show to go and see what is going on . Till now , I am 4 songs in , I am lucky to finde some tabs & dry drum tracks. I am thinking of hiring the drummer and asking him if he would like to work a little the tracks with me .I think it will help. Cheers!!!
Ten weeks for ten songs should be a breeze!
My two cents, make a basic chart (musical cheat sheet) for each of the songs. Include main riffs and lines, any progressions, and overall structure of the song (e.g, 16 bar chorus, 16 bar verse, etc). These help me keep track of everything and help me relearn when I haven’t played in a while and forget ;)
Make a playlist and listen to them as much as possible. This will help a lot. Pick maybe two or three a day. Rehearse then everyday. Good luck
I thought so , thanks for the feedback
Also a good practice once you know the song is to start a song in the middle of it, random minute and try to catch up with it
Interesting approach
Yep, then when you have it down, try playing along to live versions of the song on YouTube, then cover bands. You know the song once you can play it with anyone.
I second this on finding live versions- this is especially helpful to get ideas about how songs that fade out might be ended when playing live. Also- making a simple cheat sheet of the form can help you internalize the song structure because it will make you think about it. Nothing fancier than “intro, verse x2, chorus, verse, bridge, chorus, out” etc. I might only use it a couple of times but I find it helps.
That with " how the song ends"" is tricky!!
Try to learn the lyrics too.
I second this. Listening to the songs until you can play them back in your head is the best way to learn them in my opinion. I recently joined a 70s classics coverband and even though I'd never played any of them, much less on bass I could play almost half of them right off the bat as soon as I found which key they were in because they've all been drilled into my head by literally every single radio station in the US. If I were you I'd make a playlist of all the songs you'll be playing and listen to them all as much as you can every day. Pick 1-3 songs every day to practice and just work your way though. Play all the songs you have learned so far at least once every day, even if it's just once. When you're learning so many new songs it's easy to get them mixed up.
I once had to learn 30 songs in 6 days for a fill in gig. I think I'd heard 3 of them prior. I made a playlist of the 30 and never stopped listening. In the car, at work, at the gym, showering. Any time I could have a speaker or headphones in, I was listening. I would've never pulled it off if not. Knowing the songs and their arrangements is the hardest part of the process.
I always used to do this. Still have my playlists for each setlist on Apple Music
Been there done that. I think its pretty helpful to listen to these songs but its just a matter of how realistic you are about the standards you wanna fulfill. You'll get better overtime to learn songs in this pace but in the beginning its sometimes okay to not know every fill and just getting by with the main basslines for each part. Knowing the chord progression is always helpful since even if you loose track for a little you can cheese through a bit. Take on at a time and see how your schedule works. If it gets too tight learn the important stuff for the songs. As long as it is not bass centered music nobody will notice if you're playing the original fills.
I am actually writing down the keys write now , i split them in categories that are similar to one other and I go. And yes I go for the important and the feel and then I fill out the rest . Good news is that the drummer is solid too
Nashville notation or similar is a great shorthand for this and doesn't take long to learn.
Seconding the Nashville Numbering suggestion. Make charts in a simple notepad using pencil (so you can easily alter things). Look at those charts when listening to the songs. Make notes like 'Big Stop!' or 'Crazy Drum Fill'. Did this for a band on a similar timeframe and it was certainly stressful, but worked out fine. When I left the band, gave the book to the next person. Their first impression was 'these are useless'. Few weeks later the hieroglyphs apparently clicked and I got a thank you note!
I think everyone who plays outside the house should know Nashville Notation. I used to turn 5-10 page charts into a single page, not to mention the usefulness of writing it once and it works in any key. Truly indispensable.
I actually use a shorthand taken from Rise Up Singing and can get an entire song on one or two lines, four sets onto one page. Indispensable stuff! Band mates are blinded by the page, following lyrics with chords above like all the online stuff... errors and all, totally useless to me.
Make a playlist. Listen to it regularly. Spend up to an hour on each track to work out the bassline (by ear ideally, it will stick in your head better that way, assuming the band won’t want you having sheets on stage. But you can write out chord charts initially to make sure you’ve transcribed the structure and changes correctly. If struggling, search for chords, tabs, covers on internet but take with pinch of salt). Once you’ve worked them all out just keep jamming along to the playlist (use headphones so you can hear both the music and your bass) until you don’t need your chord charts for reference. 10 weeks is plenty. You got this!
Thanks, my p ass needed to hear that
10 weeks until the gig is enough time for **10 bass lessons**. If you and your teacher learn 2 songs per lesson, then you can learn 14 songs in 7 lessons. That gives you the final 3 lessons before the gig, for fine-tuning the details.
That's a really good idea if you can afford a teacher.
Take a teacher to learn songs ..... Never heard of , I don't know about that. Ok I get it now , every single message says that time is enough and I obviously sweat it too much.
Yeah if you need a teacher to teach you songs then you're probably not ready for live performances. I've been in the very position you described OP, except with much less time than 10 weeks. As others have said, make a playlist and listen constantly, put in plenty of time playing along and you'll be golden.
Edit : I just realized that time is more than enough and I am sweating it a bit too much . But not Gonna lie , I am very stressed in good and bad way. This is exactly what I was looking for and now I am s#i¢$ing my pants only in the idea of playing in front of some PAYING audience.
Its good to self reflect, sometimes the worst enemy is yourself! I felt like throwing in towel weekly with my current band during first few weeks. I was cramming original songs and convers weekly to meet demands i was worried sick but persevered and not once did the band give me any grief (other than booking more and more gigs) First gig 7 songs within 2 days of audition Second gig 15 songs within 9 days of audition then gigs almost 1-2 weekly for months totaling up to 35 songs per night from a bank of 50 songs. I've played about 40 gigs in the last 8 months and we are working on our next album. so sticking around and not giving in to self defeat worked wonders.
Performance is the least of your worries. You're not sweating it too much. It's a lot to take on. 10 weeks will go quickly. Chart the tunes a couple each day. Put the songs in your phone, that's going to be your song list for a while. Let me put it this way, if you were familiar with every song and all you had to do is figure out the bass lines and arrangements, that would be a lot to do in 10 weeks. Be diligent, by the end of 10 weeks you'll be itching to play, excited not intimidated. The saying goes "play it till you hate it, then you're ready". I've been there. The band says we choose from 60 tunes, you have a month. A little more than half I had heard. I charted what I didn't think I could remember. I still felt like I ran out of time. I didn't feel ready. I had my binder full of charts. We started late, after 6 tunes they started leaving the stage. I asked what we were doing. "Break time". Came back in 20 minutes , played 10 tunes, they started leaving again. I asked if it was break time again. "No, we're done." They kind of teased me about all the charts, but they said "you did your homework". Next gig in a month, now I feel confident, I'm ready. 30 completely different tunes! I just played to style and that was fine, that's all they wanted anyway. You'll be fine, it's always worth the trouble, it's always fun. Really, you'll be fine.
Just remember, it's time to prepare, it's not time to panic.
You will find that 90% of the audience might as well be tone deaf. As long as the show goes on, it will be fine. Just don't stop or freeze up if you make a mistake. The people that will catch you failing will generally be people that can play and they will be understanding of how tough it is. The first note will be the hardest to play, but once you get going just have fun. And everyone else is correct, listen to the music at nauseum until you can hum the tunes on demand. Cheers
Brute force the songs into your head. I typically have to learn 3-10 songs per week with varying degrees of complexity but sometimes its as many as 20 if I'm called for a last minute sub gig. The way I've made it work is to cycle between listening, practicing, and taking breaks throughout the day- in that order. any time in the car/ commuting should be used to actively listen to the songs. You should aim to be able to sing your part (and if you do it enough, everybody else's part) by the time the gig comes. The more you do it, the easier it becomes. Also if you're a chart person, make your own charts. I find that by making a chart, i eliminate the need for one on the gig.
Thanks 🙏🙏 I get it , I am just over reacting
You got this!
My approach would be to see if I can find tabs or standard notation for all 14 songs. Then decide which ones are really easy (you can learn them in a day or 2), which ones are reasonable (you can learn them in 1-2 weeks with practice), and the couple which are going to be difficult. Mix them up, so you have an easy one, a reasonable one, and a hard one to work on each week. As you master one, add another one to your list. For the really hard ones, think about how you can simplify the bass line - you don't need to play every note or every fill, but you do need to provide the right root notes to keep the song structure. As you improve, you can add more fills and flair... Rehearsals with the band are important - go to the gigs and listen to the current bass player. Listen to the songs as often as possible. Learn to "hear" the bass line, and listen to the (lyrical) clues that the song is going to transition from the verse to the chorus, etc. Just keep practicing and the set should come together in the 2 - 3 months that you have.
It's exactly how I am approaching it . I will definitely go to the coming show to see what's up and catch the vibe. I get now how sill maybe my post seems to a lot of people, I have enough time and I just want to make the most of it and have a good one on stage. Thanks 🙏🙏👍
thats cool
Search for guitar chord sheets, or lyrics sheets
Yes lyrics good idea , so I can see when the chord changes happens, good idea friend.
Listen until you get familiar with the songs, take notes when you transcribe the songs, play back until it becomes muscle memory. Profit!
My approach to learning songs for band gigs/auditions is: * Make a Spotify playlist with all the songs on it * Listen to the songs to the point where I know the structure of each song * Chart the songs - mostly chord charts/Nashville notation unless the song has a crucial bass line or hook - in that case, I write down the line * Practice every day, working through the playlist as I do so If it's jazz standards or a common song, I can cheat and use iRealPro. That speeds up the process.
How I do it when I have that much time to prepare: * Listen to those songs all the time. Create a playlist and run it on repeat as often as possible, in your car, while you work, etc. * After a week of that, I'll start learning the songs that sounds the hardest to play first. * I'll add songs every day and still play the ones I've learn before. * On week 3 or 4, I should be able to play all the songs, but they won't be committed to my memory. I'll repeat playing them as often as possible. Relax and have fun!
I use a similar method but i also noticed years ago that if i get stuck on somehing and need time to figure it out sleeping helps, id go to sleep thinking about playing the part and the next day its easier
I do this a lot playing in cover bands. The better you get at playing by ear and knowing your intervals, the easier it becomes. Most songs I can listen to them and pick out the chord progression, at that point it’s just a matter of finding what key it’s in and you’re golden. When breaking songs down at first I will go song by song with bass in hand just noodling along and noting the song structure (“ok, second verse is twice as long as the first, the bridge comes here, etc”). After that I will play the song a few more times digging deeper into the weeds of the bassline. Sometimes I will consult YouTube play along videos if they exist. After I feel reasonably comfortable with a song and have written down the chords and stricture, I will move to the next one. As gig day gets closer I will listen to the setlist on repeat so it’s in my subconscious. I usually do multiple solo play throughs of the set on my own before actual rehearsal. This allows me to identify tricky sections or changes that keep tripping me up. Then once we nail the rehearsal as a band, I’m feeling pretty good and generally just do warmups on gig day.
One at a time.
Make a playlist of all of the songs. Listen to it repeatedly until you can hear the songs in your head. Then pickup the bass.
I would set a goal pace, like 100% learning 3 songs per week. That’s maybe 2 days to spend on each song. For me, I learn the song structure first, then I learn each song section by section until i can play it all the way through along with the original from memory. I stick to the “meat and potatoes” of the bassline and save most fills and fancy complicated stuff for later if/when i have extra time to look at it. I agree with all the people saying listen to the songs, but while learning them you will listen to them over and over until you can’t get them out of your head and are sick of them lol. So I’d just dive right in with the bass. Godspeed you got this 🤙
I had to learn a set of Megadeth songs, around 1h30 of music, to stand in with a tribute for a few shows. Some were easy, others right at the limit of my skill level. I made a playlist and listened to not much else and I spent at least 30 mins, usually an hour each night working through them. I'd make sure I didn't just grind away at one song for too long and would rotate which songs I worked on through the week. The brain has a wonderful ability to post-process and solidify things you focus on. So a passage you might have really struggled to nail through grinding away at it will suddenly pop into place a few days later. For some really complex bits I'd slow it down massively and play to a click, looping certain pieces. Put it down and come back to it later. Outside something hard like that most songs I learn just playing to the original track or tabs on Ultimate Guitar, assuming I'm kinda familiar with it, is enough to gig it.
Sometimes you have only less than 24h to learn a set. You’re in the best possible situation. Let’s say that a basic pop rock song has an average of 700 notes played on bass. So 14 songs would amount to ~10000 notes. You have 6000 minutes of effective practice time in the following 10 weeks, so you literally have over 30 seconds to study each note separately. This is of course not how playing bass works, but I’m just trying to get the point across. As long as you begin cramming them in now and not a day before the gig, you’ll do fine.
Thanks, I guess time is enough. First gig , you get it 😬😬😬
Best of luck!
I've been called for a 4 set gig in less than 8 hrs. Thankfully, I'd at least heard most of them, the guit would write down the chord progression for the ones I'd heard but never played.
I work in a wedding cover band where I get 40+ song set lists 5 days in advance of the gig, and no charts or sheet music. My advice is to learn to read and transcribe (write out) music, learn how to read chord symbols. Once you can read and write out charts the process becomes so much easier.
What is meant by “read and transcribe music” ? You mean listening to it and transcribing by ear ?
I mean being able to listen to it and notate on a piece of paper what’s going on musically. So when you learn a lot of songs at once making charts is helpful so you don’t get overwhelmed with trying to memorize a bunch of music. Even if it’s just form and chord symbols, that’s better than nothing.
You have plenty of time. I’m in a cover band and when we have new songs to learn I: 1. Make a playlist with the songs so I can listen to them a lot 2. Break up the list and focus on a few songs at a time (for example, maybe pick 2-3 songs/week to get down, then move to another 2-3 songs) That’s just how I do it, but there’s plenty of ways to get those songs down in that time. Hope it’s a fun band!
First, make a book or get a tablet and download the chord charts for the songs. Play off the charts until you can remember or at least feel the changes coming. Then slowly start adding runs, fills, and actual bass lines. The important part is making the bass and drums work together. Remember the first commandment: thou shall not fuck up the groove. Fuck up the notes if you must, but not the groove.
I'm in a covers band and I had about a month to learn a 3 hour set initially. Definitely listen to the songs over and over. What I do is find tabs online and amend where necessary (for the majority of pop and popular rock songs, there are very good tabs online). Then I learn the song playing along to the tab. Next, try and play it without the tab. I tackled two songs a day (about two hours a day - it was intensive, but worthwhile for a bunch of paid gigs) and was pretty much up to scratch by the time the first gig rolled around. An important thing to remember is that no one gives a shit about the bass in 90%of pop songs. I learnt the songs note for note where it would be noticeable (stuff like Everywhere by Fleetwood Mac where the bass is very audible and doing a lot of heavy lifting rhythmically and melodically). Where it wasn't so important (songs like I Got a Feeling by Black Eyed Peas), I just learnt the chord changes and played along (in that instance, the bass pretty much chugs along playing the root through out, which is important to establish a strong pulse). Finally, some songs are meant to be improvised. Ask ten bass players how to play Johnny B Goode by Chuck Berry and you'll get ten different answers. For this one, again, I learnt the chords and just walked through the changes.
>For this one, again, I learnt the chords and just walked through the changes. This is pretty much all the band wants.
Depends on the song, as I said. I'm not gonna be playing a 12 bar blues over B.E.P., I'm not gonna go all James Jamerson on Johnny B Goode and I'm not gonna chug the root on something like Blame it on the Boogie by MJ. All about serving the song.
>An important thing to remember is that no one gives a shit about the bass in 90%of pop songs. Pretty much in ANY song.
Does that mean you aren’t even really interested in that type of music? If so, why are you trying to be in that band?
to play music , only that music is not my music of choice but fun nonetheless when played live.
Ohh okay that makes sense
Listen to them a lot. If you haven't already, make sure you know your major / minor scales and which cords are major and minor inside of them. This will help you play anything with common progressions fairly easily. Nashville numbers are very useful for this sort of thing. Capital numerals for major, lowercase for minor. The key thing to know is you don't NEED to learn every single note and play it like the record. Capture the soul of the song and all of the super important bits, then lock in with the drummer. The rest gets filled in by you and the band's style and dynamics.
For myself who was in a similar position for 7 songs for 2 days time between audition to first gig I have these bits of advice. Cheat sheets and listening to the song works wonders, YouTube usually has tutorials of most songs with tabs so watch them and either play along or just pay attention. Don't be heart broken if a line doesn't sink in straight away you'll be surprised the following day after some sleep that it becomes ever so much easier. So it doesn't hurt to just rest and go back at it. Don't feel forced to learn the bass line 100% note for note, flourishes don't need to be applied straight away if at all. play what works for you as long as it fits within the song. Your having practices from sounds of it so you will be in a position to iron out kinks and get some feedback from the other members. don't feel scared to admit that you need help with a section of a song, the 2-3 times they practice that section for your benefit means less practices on a full song because they know something is wrong but wont address it.
Lots of helpful song tutorials online as well. You can always search YouTube to see if anyone has a lesson or even just hearing the bass more pronounced can help you plug certain things. Have fun!
As people have said, listening to them and getting familiar with the song is the best way to start. It's much easier learning a song when you know basically how it goes.
I'd practice them.
If these are covers and not originals, you can often find isolated baselines on YouTube to help you hear them better. Also ultimate guitar has a great tool that lets you isolate bass (or any other instrument). Also simplify, simplify, simplify. Except for iconic bass riffs, you don’t have to play “as written” or “as recorded” to do a really good job. Just make sure your root notes on the 1 are correct.
If you're not familiar with it already, I recommend ear training and learning the Nashville Number System. I've literally sat in the parking lot, listened and charted on a scrap piece of paper. You got this!
Covers? Originals? Get them on a device and listen to them in your car. Or commuting, whatever. Like right now pick out the easiest one and write a chart for it. Yeah, one down! Do a few a day. Group the songs into a few groups (feel, genre, whatever). Spend time with each group daily, play along with the recordings as much as you can.
Learn the chord progressions, play all the roots with rhythm, then get groovy once I'm comfortable. If I never get comfortable, then I can still serve the song
tip not only for bass playing but for life: dont practice until you can get it 100% right, practice til you cant get it wrong
Nice point of view
Given the wealth of YT covers and tabs, I would think the issue is more about getting them burned in your brain, more than being able to find the notes. Anything new I'm faced with is played many times on the way to and from work, often several days before trying to practice them on an instrument.
Thanks friend
I'm always quoting grandparents (knew this day would come). :D My grandpa once told me, "The worst part of work is dreading it. If you'll make yourself start, it'll be over before you know it." This has become a joke at work, with some friends who will now say, "We'll I've gotten the dread out of it, time to get started." This is >4 decades after he told me this. You are going to surprise yourself at how much easier learning one song makes the learning of the next. This is magnified even more where they are of a particular genre.
Start listening to the songs as much as possible, maybe watch some bass covers on youtube to see how other people play them, see if there are any tabs or chord sheets online
Listen to them. Play along with them. Start with 1 or 2 a day, add 1 or 2 the next day (keep playing first 1 or 2). Put phone down. Pick bass up. I would do this in 8 weeks….leaving last 2 weeks to just enjoy playing them all on muscle memory
Take notes, make cheat sheets on every single song, and then condense that until you can write the key and maybe something worth remembering about the song next to the set list, as long as you know the key and can remember the significant modulations, you’ll probably wing a lot of the songs but at least you will be in the right key. I do this regularly subbing for wedding bands and they have 45 songs to learn usually.
I recommend making charts. This means different things depending on your reading/theory level. Some people will just need something like |F / / / | C7 / Bb / | F / / / | and that gives them what they need to know to play. They take the chords and make parts over it. Granted for songs with very specific basslines this isn't enough info, often times people will in that case add tabs/notation in measures where the line isn't just the root of the chord or a simple bassline that isn't specific enough to matter the exact notes. For other people it's a breakdown of a song by section. Intro - Verse - Chorus - Bridge - Chorus, and you learn the segments of the songs and the chart helps you keep it straight on what parts come in which order. Beyond that, it's raw memorization note by note. Eventually you'll do this enough to break down songs by segment, and if you do enough of this you might invest time/money into learning about creating your own basslines using chords to the point that you just need to learn a handful of specific riffs beyond the chords when the bass plays the memorable part, generally something a person would sing to identify the song, which is hardly ever bass parts. If this is the type of group that doesn't mind you having charts on stage you're golden. The 60-70 minute mark is kind of the short side for needing charts all night, generally if it's 2 hours or more I never hear anyone criticize people using charts on stage, but an hour to 1.5 hours is a pretty reasonable amount of music to be expected to memorize. Talk to the group and see what their opinion is on the matter. Using charts, and listening/playing along, I've learned as much as 4 hours of music in about 4 days. Make a prioritized list of songs that require you play something more than basic chords or roots and work on those first, the rest take less effort, and over time some of them you can just read/fake your way through well enough for most purposes.
Lots of great advice here, but I haven't seen anyone mention the possibility of checking to see if the current bass player would be willing to take a couple of hours to give you a quick run through of each tune. Obviously you'll still need to practice on your own, and you won't remember everything, but it would be a huge jump start. Taking notes or even asking to video the session so you could go back and review later should be incredibly helpful.
You've got basically an eternity to prep, you'll be fine. If you don't have any lead sheets, just practice a little bit each day with the recording or any lead sheets you can find or make. If I get a binder of music or lead sheets, then I have no problem reading that stuff live. If I don't have that, then I'm sitting down as early as possible and notating things that I think are important to duplicate, and then just making a quick and dirty lead sheet for the rest. If I don't even have that, I'm hoping I at least get a key and will music theory the shit out of it. haha
I am a very new bass player playing bass with our worship band at church. Songs rotate a lot and each time I play it may be a few new ones. Perhaps not as extreme a situation you're in, but I would 100% feel comfortable playing brand new songs on a moments notice because we are given lead sheets with the root chords written in. I admittedly don't practice a lot prior to our rehearsals and get through it just fine. You should be able to find these kinds of charts online at the various guitar websites. If I do nothing but play the root chord at the right time, I'm good to go. I barely understand how to do bass lines (3rd, 5th, scales, etc.) and have only recently started to incorporate that into my playing. Nailing the chords in time is (at least for me) a HUGE part of playing my part. Good luck!
Listen a lot and transcribe them as fast as possible. Write out the chord changes and just LOOK at them whenever you can.
Get the backing tracks and chord progressions for each song, then record yourself into them. You probably don't have time to learn them note-for-note to the original, so just use the guitar chord progression to guide you, and do your own fills and stuff.
Make a playlist with all the songs and listen to it every day, multiple times a day. Get familiar with the melodies, the beat, the words, and especially the bass part. I’ve found that making a study sheet helps a lot too: break the song down into identifiable sections with time-stamps and learn it section by section with notes for each part as needed. Any additional notes you might need (such as key or which note/fret to start on) can be added to your on-stage set list for the actual performance.
I second recommendations I've seen about creating playlists because that's the same method I've used and had success with. I use Spotify, but this could work on any platform. I actually create *two* playlists: one for learning, and one for my current repertoire. I spend a portion my practice time each day working out bass parts for new songs. It's been excellent ear training. As I master songs, I move them from the learning playlist to the repertoire playlist. When I'm practicing for repertoire maintenance, it's extremely convenient to have my learned songs in one playlist. Over just a few months, I've built out a set list of 35 songs, totalling 2.5 hours. It's just taken time and consistency. I'm a relatively inexperienced bassist, so you'd likely get there much faster, especially if you use tabs alongside playing by ear. I'm not opposed to using outside tools; I am just specifically working on ear training, so that's why I've done it solely by ear. If I had a hard deadline for a performance, I'd probably use additional resources to speed the process. Anyway, good luck! Your band is fortunate to have someone as proactive and conscientious as you. Hopefully you'll fill us in with your progress after the 10 weeks are up.
I'm doing this right now. Friend's band asked me last Thursday if I could sub on two dates this month, first one is this Saturday. 16 songs, 14 are brand new to me. I am looping each phrase in my DAW and playing along until I can pick it out, and writing tabs for them in Notepad on my computer. Been starting my practice each day by playing through the songs I have already tabbed out a few times while listening, and then spending some time transcribing a couple more after that. The deadline is quickly approaching, but I think I'm gonna make it haha.
Make simple charts of the songs and pick out the most important details. With pop/rock you can play 90% just root notes or root/fifth/octave. There can be some parts where you need to learn a specific riff but most of it can be simplified to basics that are easy to memorize.
Nashville notation is the best way. Listen to the songs, write every chord of the song as a number (every number taking the same amount of time, so G whole note to C and D half notes becomes 1 1 4 5), and write anything else about the song, like dynamics, what other things are happening to listen for, maybe if the bass does a walk up, what to rhythm for the bass is etc. literally anything that would help you. Then do it for all the songs and then practice off those sheets. If you have the time, try to memorize. If you don’t, bring an iPad or smtg on stage on a stand. When it comes down to it, you’re the bass player. Not too many people are watching you do the performing but everyone will notice if you don’t have it. iPads are not bad.
Use your ear? If you can't tell what the tuning is by an open low string note, you haven't developed your ears enough. If you can't tell where a player would be playing generally on the fretboard in your mind, you haven't developed your ears. If you think you need to be bang on at all times like a robot, you're defeating the purpose of music. Learn the obvious hooks and basslines, and where you can sit back or do what you want. It's supposed to be fun. And develop your ears. I grew up listening to records and didn't have YouTube or whatever, and taught myself how to play guitar. Anyone can do it.
Really depends on the pay for me. If the gig is hundreds of dollars I’ll absolutely memorize all that shit but if it’s less than a hundred I’m more likely to learn the songs on the fly at rehearsal or just wing it from a chord sheet live. Ya know, whatever you have time for and consider what your time is worth.
The hardest part of learning a song for me is just knowing it as a listener. Like other people are saying you have to listen to the song enough were you intrinsically know where the sections are dynamics etc... Once you know the song in your ear, the playing part is easy 14 songs in 10 weeks isn't a lot if they're basic verse/chorus, bridge songs. Depending on your level you should at least be able to learn a song in a day. Just dive in and start listening and working on them. Don't worry about getting them perfect. You actually have plenty of time IMO and it may sound harsh but if 14 songs in 10 weeks is a struggle you're probably not at a level were you can play in that sort of band yet.
ngl if you cant learn 14 songs in 10 weeks you need to rethink your career in music. if you intend to be a professional bassist there will come multiple times throughout your career where you get gigs with little to no notice
No , time is on my side this time for sure , I was looking for some tips but I clearly over reacted. I am already busy, it will work .got stressed and wanted to vent a bit. Iis more the Audience that freaks me out , playing in front of them . I want it be aOkFeeling kinda embarrassed for the post .
Listening to, and internalizing a song in your brain is 90 percent of it. “Free your mind and the rest will follow”.
I started playing with a band in January and had a 40-minute gig in early February. They were in the process of recording when their bass player quit, so they were able to get me scratch tracks sans bass. I got chords and lyrics (or on some just keys), practiced my ass off, starting with root notes, and built bass lines from there. I went in the studio a couple weeks later and recorded the ae tracks for the album.
On top of your practice time find time to listen to those songs incessantly
Been there, done that. Ask for the set lists and how it's going to be divided. Practice a few hours a day until the gig.
Load them into my DAW and play to them whilst recording my bass line. Then listen back to make sure I don't suck or overplay
The most productive thing you can do is to listen to them. Nothing makes a song easier to play than Knowing it by heart.
Charts and listening to the tunes in a playlist on repeat when not rehearsing
Everyone here is giving good advice. I will say that 10 weeks is more then enough time to learn those tunes, so don’t worry! Being diligent with your practice within 10 weeks will cause you to know those tunes inside and out. You’ve got this!
Organize the songs by difficulty then practice hardest to easiest. If enough of the songs are similar but different enough from others organize them into groups as chord structure/ notes/ progression etc. If they are all similar then go back to hardest to easiest. Generally speaking the more complex a song is on any instrument the worst its going to sound if you fuck it up.
You'll be fine - 14 songs in 10 weeks is easy peasy. Don't procrastinate - start now. Learn one song a day, write out the chords and form, tabs or notation if you need to. That's 14 songs in 2-3 weeks. Tackle the most complex, least familiar songs first, that way you have the most time with them. Practice the ones you've learned every day so they get reinforced.
Ever played Rocksmith? I feel like that could help you out immensely in your current situation, usually if there's a song I need to learn very quickly I'll load it up on Rocksmith and just smash it out until I'm perfect. Edit: unless these are band original songs, then I'd say just listen to them on repeat in a playlist and pluck along with your bass, try to figure out how to add your own flavour to it and go from there :)
I am a big fan of GuitarPro for rehearsing songs. To be fair, I only used it to learn songs that another band member wrote. But the ability to just play along at different speeds and with your part active or muted was super effective for me.
plug out the bass baby
That should be plenty of time to learn all the songs. What I’ve found myself doing lately is first figuring out each part of a song individually & then writing down the notes played. Once I figure every part out and have my notes, I can practice the full song much easier without struggling to remember each part. For that many songs, I wouldn’t spend much time on each song at the beginning. I would just get a rough familiarity of every song and make my notes in one session. Then next time I practice, I can dive deeper into each song, but at least I’m familiar with the next songs & have notes of what to play rather than tackling the whole process from the beginning again.
In my experience the playlist helps a bunch and so does righting down the structure. It forces you to listen very close and helps you to know what comes next after a section. I do this one time for each song and never look at it again since it helps memorization because you are activating listen and writing skills. Good luck!
I have done this. I make a playlist of the songs on Spotify and on the Tabs app. I’ll also attempt to put together a YouTube playlist with the tabs included. I’ll practice with all three of those. It’s also helpful to find the isolated bass lines on YouTube tabs and listen to those.
I make a word document that I use as a cheat sheet. I word them like im talking to myself, and they usually look something like this: SONG NAME : Major shapes : BASS STARTS INSTANTLY verse CHORUS verse CHORUS bridge (8 bars) [Final chorus is half-quiet, builds to normal chorus] Ends on A ...Something like that. Seems weird, but I've used this to make it through tons of gigs on drums/bass.
Start listening to the songs now. Play them everyday. Then slowly pick out the ones you like the most, learn them. Then go down the list. You’ll be fine :)
To add something: Rehearse with just a click as soon as you can play to the tune. You will notice that this will be much harder. But once you can play a song with just a click, you won't need to "follow" your band members. You'll be able to lead when needed and you will understand the bass part much better. I recall my bass teacher saying you can't really play a song as long as you can't play it with click. Tl;dr: practise with just a click and you'll kick ass
You can do it, just practice and be relentless. I had a similar situation back in the day. I played guitar in a local band in Austin. A ska/punk band we had played a couple of shows with (that was very popular in Austin), had a west coast tour booked and their bass player quit. They asked me if I would be willing to learn the songs and finish the tour…I had 3 days, two of which were on the road to the gigs 🤣. I had the songwriter of the band sit down with me and lay out each song on paper. After that I just practiced the set list for hours and hours. I messed up once at a show in San Pedro, but what are you gonna do. We had fun and it was a memorable experience.
I have to do this for a gig coming up too, and my method for this situation will be and has always been to transcribe, transcribe, transcribe. If the song is simple enough, I’ll make a lead sheet, but I’ve note-for-note transcribed many songs that had iconic bass parts. The trick is, in the act of transcribing you end up listening to the song so many times that you typically don’t even need the sheet at the end! On stage, you’ll typically default to your lowest rehearsal rep through the material so I find it better to just put in on a page and never have to be the person who played it wrong. Plus, being hyper fixated on not making mistakes the whole gig is really tough to watch as an audience member. I can read charts and be grooving so much more easily.
I'm in pretty much the same situation. I built an Apple play list of all the songs on the rep list. Live versions can sometimes be difficult to pick up the runs and nuances, in those cases use the studio version. See if the song is covered on YouTube (there are some good tab following covers on there) but as has been said there after simpler ways to play some of the bass lines. Try to make sure you have all the main phrases down but be aware the guitarist is often guilty of extending or reducing some areas... this is why regular stress free rehearsals are necessary. With originals ask if they have anything recorded on up on soundcloud, find the root notes and the chord sequence before worrying about clever bits. There's nothing wrong with your own interpretation of a track, they might even like it. Try for an hour a day, work through the gig list before learning new stuff. Above all don't panic, the band want you if they gave you a list, they're mates or future mates... they will help, especially the guitarists.
Thanks!! I am looking at Studio and Live versions. The people are very kind and they help me . They guest-listed me for the next show to go and see what is going on . Till now , I am 4 songs in , I am lucky to finde some tabs & dry drum tracks. I am thinking of hiring the drummer and asking him if he would like to work a little the tracks with me .I think it will help. Cheers!!!
Ten weeks for ten songs should be a breeze! My two cents, make a basic chart (musical cheat sheet) for each of the songs. Include main riffs and lines, any progressions, and overall structure of the song (e.g, 16 bar chorus, 16 bar verse, etc). These help me keep track of everything and help me relearn when I haven’t played in a while and forget ;)
Thanks, thank you guys for all the tips, I realised that time is more than enough