The other day I was trying to figure out a bass riff on a record by a rather obscure finnish band from the eighties (Bluesounds). The problem was that it was rather quick and only lasted for a few bars, and it drove me mad for a while because each time I was ready to try something new, it was already over. I figured out the first note and then …. nothing. I wasn’t quick enough. But after a few tries I remembered a tip I usually give to my students in such a situation: Begin at the end and figure it out backwards!

If you start with the last note, you are always ready for it when it comes. Once you got it, carry on with the second to last one, and so on. This way you always have time to get ready to play with the recording and check your notes/chords. Also you don’t keep repeating the stuff you already know over and over again and then fail at the first new note. If you learn in reverse order, the part you are learning gets easier the further you get through it. The hardest bit will always be the beginning of the piece and not the end. That makes it easier to relax once you played the first note and helps to store the piece in your memory.

This technique is not only great for figuring out a part by listening to a recording, it is also fantastic if you try to learn a difficult passage from scores or tabs. If you start at the beginning, you repeat the easy bit over and over again, but the hard bit (the one you WANT to practise) always throws you out and after a while turns into a real barrier in your mind: you start to fear this bloody note and therefore failure is a given (especially if you try it on stage)! But if you start at the end of the passage, you have time to prepare for the hard note and then afterwards it’s all downhill. Once you got it, the hard note joins the easy ones and the one before it becomes the new hard note. I hope that makes sense… Give it a try anyway!