Best way to learn a new song?

Hello! I am learning "Back in Black" and am curious what mwthod is best. Is it better to learn the entire song at a slow tempo, then increase the speed? Or, would it be better to learn a part and be able to play it up to soeed before moving to the next section? Any help is appreciated!

I don't think there's a "right" answer to your question. Different players will have different methods.

I tend to learn the rhythm guitar first, or at least what chords are used where. Then the lead guitar parts. Solos are usually the hardest to get up to speed.

You'll probably find some parts are easier than others.

Really, it's all down to what works best for you, but I'd recommend learning the rhythm guitar parts first for all sections. Then lead guitar for all but save solos until last.

I never worry about getting up to speed until I've memorized everything, but then find I have to spend some time just working on the trickier parts repeatedly instead of playing the whole song.

Thats a great song.

What works for me is to practice a section at a slow pace (50% speed) then play along with the single guitar performance (again normally at 50%) once I have the sections down. When I'm happy with how the pieces are coming together I bump the tempo up and move into the jam along playback.

Slash once said if you can hum it you can play it. learn and remember the parts

Short answer IMV&E, depends upon a song's complextity, & relative difficulty to the individual learning it.

Learning BIB with Mike in this series of lessons, until I am sufficiently advanced in my skillset I can just watch them sequentially then play all the parts as demonstrated and taught instinctively off the cuff, i.e. verse, chorus, solo, and other supporting parts, I'd approach it as the lessons are planned. Although I have learned and can play songs of similar complexity of this to a competent performance standard, I can't do that yet, so here's how I do it.

I break the song down into parts or sections at the pace personally required. For me initially, other than the chord parts, that's copycat slow. Once I've learned the base fingering and my motor skill coordination is of a standard I can play the part consistently competently, I speed it up to tempo, if necessary in BPM increments. BIB at 92BPM isn't at a challenging tempo, so for me would probably be learn the riff & or lick, then go straight to practising it at tempo. Then I'd practice that and develop any nuance a song might require. e.g. the low E bend to tone & the vibrato on the C in Led Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker" riff which might not be apparent when initially getting it together until I can perform it all consistently at tempo without fumbling or making a mistake 90% of the time.

[br]Once I have a section/lesson segment/ part up to that standard, I move on to the next, and subsequently the next. Doesn't have to be "mastered" as in virtuoso perfect, but just [u]consistent[/u] and sufficiently [u]comfortable[/u] with the part with mistakes or fumbles becoming less frequent. As I learn each part, I revise the former and the exposure and confidence developing over time in conjunction with this process takes care of that. Along the way I'll stitch the segments together playing as far as I've learned. Once have all the parts accomplished using this method, I put the song together and practise the entire song using the same methodology. [u]Pretty much the lesson verbatim as taught here really[/u].

It's definitely the solos where I spend the most and disproportionate amount of time, and in "Back In Black" too that's where the majority of my time would be spent.

By way of comparison, easy version songs like Caren's rhythm version of "Proud Mary" without an actual solo I might learn in an hour and be able to play it through fluently in that time. Others like "Paranoid" where I was circa two and a bit years in when I tackled it? It didn't take long putting together the intro riff, verse & chorus. Tackling Tony Iommi's solo back then was inarguably a challenge for me. I broke it down into sections, learning each until fluid with it first. This developed confidence along with my motor skills as well as learning the part. Nevertheless back then it took me a week maybe ten days learning the solo putting in the time (I'm retired) and persistent effort every day, and longer practicing and polishing my motor skills to get it consistent & rote in muscle memory so I could transition to the initial bend quickly enough and bend to tone accurately to play the solo at tempo before putting the lot together as a song beginning to end.[br][br]Polishing phase for me is then is to play a song entire consistently at tempo. Final phase is do the same, but to a bass and drums backing track, with vocals if available. Continuation is regular revision in my song repertoire/set list.

[br]Four years in this Christmas. How I do it. Hope something in the above resonates with you. Cheers. [br][br]

I always tend to take a bar by bar approach to a song. I'll get one bar down and add on to it from there. I'll spend time trying to figure the timing and rythmn. I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist so i spend a lot of time on a new song--probably more than I should.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to answer. That's some really good input everyone provided.

A number of great suggestions here.

When my son was learning trumpet many years ago, his teacher at first had him play - at tempo and on the first beat of every measure - the root note of the chord. She then had him go in and actually play the proper first note (only) on the first beat.

After that, she'd have him find a note in the measure that he could identify, reach and play and add that to the first note. All of this was up to tempo.

It served him well during live performances - especially at first because he never fell behind the rest of the band; trying to catch up to notes he'd missed.

He was just a pup then, but it helped his confidence a lot because it meant he never hit a bad note.

I'm a fingerpicker trying to learn to play lead and I'm finding myself using that very method. Up to tempo. I actually finish the song instead of getting halfway in, quitting, starting again, etc.

Apologies for the long winded answer.