So simple, but o-so effective!
So, for those who have been following me on my ‘Bass guitar’ learning journey, the last time we spoke, I was using my sister’s old Electric guitar like a ‘Treble bass’. And have been getting plenty of use out of it, due to its ease to play, racking up more hours towards my 10,000 hours of practice, before I could truly say that I’d mastered a skill.
And today’s post is to let you know how Spotify has been playing a huge part in my learning.
It’s a funny thing, when I tell people that I’ve been teaching myself the Bass guitar, the most common question I’ve been asked has been “So do you learn using an app or something?” And I quickly shake my head in the negative and let them know that I’ve just been using Spotify. And I’m sure if I could see, they probably be giving me a quizzical look. Like as if they had just learned that Spotify has introduced a series of musical tutorials. Or if it had never dawned on them that you could just listen to a song and learn it by ear, or the idea of playing an instrument along to a song on the radio could be a means to learn it for yourself.
But that’s what I’ve been doing! No, Spotify hasn’t introduced a series of tutorials teaching people musical instruments, however I’ve just been requesting songs from Spotify, picking up my guitar and plucking away at it until I eventually feel out all the bass notes for songs. Yes, it has been an arduous process at times (especially if my wife has been at home to hear it all), as sometimes it’ll take me a whole entire week to master a song (or I could cheat and just ask my wife to teach me from the sheet music), but we do eventually get there.
But what had been annoying me with this process had been this. I’d be requesting songs just by asking my Google home to play them on Spotify. And I’d learn whatever version of the song Spotify happens to bring up at the time. But as you know, Spotify has many versions of the same songs, either completely different songs by the same name, or the same song but different versions performed by the same or different bands/artists. And as you also know, Google (or it could be Spotify), they don’t always bring up the same song each time- although you might be using the exact same requesting phrase.
So, I’d be super annoyed when I’d learn a song in a particular key or a particular arrangement which I liked, and then low and behold I’d be unable to bring up again the same exact song by requesting for it through my Google home. Grrr!
And I must add, I’ve never used the Spotify Smart phone app much in the past, I just found it to be too busy- and why did I need it, when my Google Home did all the work already- being my voice activated music jukebox!?
But here is how I’ve been using the Spotify ‘Like’ button and ‘Like Playlist’ to great effect. These days, when I had located a song and the version which I liked on the Spotify app, I simply ‘Liked’ the song (flick up for more options and select ‘Like’). And hence forth it would be added to my ‘Like Playlist’. And it’ll remain there for ever and a day, until I decide to ‘Unlike’ it (if I ever wanted to conduct a clean-up of songs I rarely listened to), or until I stopped using the Spotify platform, but I can’t see that happening anytime soon.
So, these days when it comes time to practice or learn a new song, I’d simply ask Google to play Spotify on the Home, and it will pick up playing whatever I was last listening to. I’d set up my guitar and amp, and when I was ready to go, I’d pick up my phone, bring up the Spotify app, navigate to my Library tab (the Like Playlist is the very first item), tap on that, and there is my long list of songs I’ve learnt or intend to learn! And just tapping on the song that I wanted right then and now, and there you go! The song would be playing, and I’d be waiting for my cue to come in with the boom! And if you have your songs in a particular order in your playlist, then you don’t even have to stop after songs, but you can allow the playlist to play on and you just need to keep playing your guitar along to the next and next song until you’ve completed your set- or until you can no longer feel your feet from standing too long; or until your fingertips are sore from plucking; or until your shoulder is screaming out in pain from the guitar strap digging into your flesh. Ah! Golden!
So, if you haven’t ever tried jamming with a virtual band via Spotify!? Give it a go, all you need is the app and a liberal usage of the ‘Like’ button. Rock-on-dude!!!!