Resources for learning Rush songs?

[matthewpartrick]

Noob here. Any resources for learning Rush songs, particularly time signatures or gear setup? I can get tons of tabs off the web, but you guys may know how those are somewhat lacking especially with the more complicated songs. Thx in advance.

[Geddy's Soul Patch]

The Rush Tablature Project sometimes has decent tabs, and Rush Wiki has pretty good info on equipment

[LittleRushmonkey]

Rush vault

 

rush vault | video, lyrics, tabs, and commentary for each and every Rush recording

[EagleMoon]

I guess I'm going to be THAT person, but here it is. Put it on and listen to it to learn it. That's how everyone always had to do it, and it's how you develop your ear. I've always hated the tab thing. Most of them are poorly done and they encourage poor habits. People who only learn by tabs have trouble improvising or playing anyway other than the way they originally learned something. I hope you're taking the time to learn theory and understand how music is put together. The basics will take you a long way.

[Lucas]

Hi Matt, and welcome ...

 

I will echo what Eagle has said, and add the following :

 

- Don't feel overwhelmed with RUSH - IMHO and experience, you will never learn or understand what is going on by simply following tabs - but, if you have the patience and take the time yourself - rolling your sleeves up - and learn by your ear, you will quickly begin to see tendencies and patterns that carry over from song to song

 

- Start with the basics - no matter what song it is, the foundation is basic ... For example, the beautiful, atmospheric chord that sets the mood in the first minutes of La Villa Strangiato is a simple open G chord position that is moved up to the 8th fret - At first listen, it's like "Wow, what's that weird chord ?" but it is actually the most basic chord, but moved up to the 8th fret - so it is 8th fret first string, 8th fret second string, open 3rd string, open 4th string, 7th fret fifth string and 8th fret sixth string ...

 

- And I have found that using a tool like Tascam's Guitar Trainer is very helpful .. If you're not familiar, it is basically a CD player where you can adjust the tempo without changing the key or tuning ... You can slow the songs down - from a little to a lot - and that helps because when you first begin learning the stuff, it all goes by so fast ...

 

I highly recommend the Guitar Trainer - you can get a used one on eBay for about 30 dollars - I have the reddish orange one, I think it is Guitar Trainer GT1 MKII by Tascam

Edited April 5, 2015 by Lucas

[Lucas]

Matt, here it is ... it is really a simple idea, but it helps a lot ... in addition to slowing the songs down, you can loop certain sections ( any section you choose ) over and over

 

What songs are you thinking about ?? .. Early Alex, or more modern stuff ??

 

Alex was really into Jimmy Page early on ... so listening to some Led Zep will help too

 

Edited April 5, 2015 by Lucas

[Jaminbenb]

Listen, listen listen.... As a drummer, there are a few things out there that are sort of helpful....but nothing that's the "end all". I've used written stuff to attempt to see something that puzzles me...and in most cases it's wrong when you sit and watch while listening...but a few are accurate.

[matthewpartrick]

Thanks all for the advice. My ear training is pretty good after 35 yrs of violin and 25 of guitar, so listening absolutely helps me. Alex's unorthodox chord structure is made easier by tabs for sure, though, and I also use AnyTune to slow down tracks and make them easier (Lucas, this is an iPhone app that does the same thing the Tascam does)

 

What isn't so intuitive is some of the more complex time signatures. The transition from 4/4 to 6/8 in "The Trees" was not to hard to figure out, but trying to figure out what The time sig is on the YYZ intro seems a lot harder.

 

Also, the signal path for an electric is almost impossible to figure out by ear alone.

 

My current overly ambitious project is transcribing Tom Sawyer for solo contemporary fingerstyle guitar, attempting to hit as many components of Alex, Geddy and NEP as I can. If I'm ever successful I'll post a vid here.

 

Some of the aforementioned suggestions are exactly what I was looking for. Two kids in the house under the age of two means efficiency in practicing is key! :)

Edited April 5, 2015 by matthewpartrick

[Xanadu]

I guess I'm going to be THAT person, but here it is. Put it on and listen to it to learn it. That's how everyone always had to do it, and it's how you develop your ear. I've always hated the tab thing. Most of them are poorly done and they encourage poor habits. People who only learn by tabs have trouble improvising or playing anyway other than the way they originally learned something. I hope you're taking the time to learn theory and understand how music is put together. The basics will take you a long way.

 

I typically only resort to tab when I am totally stumped on something, but I agree that many are not very good. Sometimes I think they must be using an out-of-tune guitar or something. But on the other hand, I have found some where you can tell the person who wrote it out definitely knew what they were doing.

[EagleMoon]

I guess I'm going to be THAT person, but here it is. Put it on and listen to it to learn it. That's how everyone always had to do it, and it's how you develop your ear. I've always hated the tab thing. Most of them are poorly done and they encourage poor habits. People who only learn by tabs have trouble improvising or playing anyway other than the way they originally learned something. I hope you're taking the time to learn theory and understand how music is put together. The basics will take you a long way.

 

I typically only resort to tab when I am totally stumped on something, but I agree that many are not very good. Sometimes I think they must be using an out-of-tune guitar or something. But on the other hand, I have found some where you can tell the person who wrote it out definitely knew what they were doing.

 

One thing I've noticed is with a lot of tabs they write something up and down one string or oddball places on the neck. Not the most obvious place, but apparently the only place the person who wrote it knew the notes were on the neck.

[Xanadu]

I guess I'm going to be THAT person, but here it is. Put it on and listen to it to learn it. That's how everyone always had to do it, and it's how you develop your ear. I've always hated the tab thing. Most of them are poorly done and they encourage poor habits. People who only learn by tabs have trouble improvising or playing anyway other than the way they originally learned something. I hope you're taking the time to learn theory and understand how music is put together. The basics will take you a long way.

 

I typically only resort to tab when I am totally stumped on something, but I agree that many are not very good. Sometimes I think they must be using an out-of-tune guitar or something. But on the other hand, I have found some where you can tell the person who wrote it out definitely knew what they were doing.

 

One thing I've noticed is with a lot of tabs they write something up and down one string or oddball places on the neck. Not the most obvious place, but apparently the only place the person who wrote it knew the notes were on the neck.

 

Yes, but there are just these weird situations where they will say that a particular chord is an A Minor when I can plainly hear that it's an E Minor, so I am stumped as to where they are even getting that from.

[EagleMoon]

I guess I'm going to be THAT person, but here it is. Put it on and listen to it to learn it. That's how everyone always had to do it, and it's how you develop your ear. I've always hated the tab thing. Most of them are poorly done and they encourage poor habits. People who only learn by tabs have trouble improvising or playing anyway other than the way they originally learned something. I hope you're taking the time to learn theory and understand how music is put together. The basics will take you a long way.

 

I typically only resort to tab when I am totally stumped on something, but I agree that many are not very good. Sometimes I think they must be using an out-of-tune guitar or something. But on the other hand, I have found some where you can tell the person who wrote it out definitely knew what they were doing.

 

One thing I've noticed is with a lot of tabs they write something up and down one string or oddball places on the neck. Not the most obvious place, but apparently the only place the person who wrote it knew the notes were on the neck.

 

Yes, but there are just these weird situations where they will say that a particular chord is an A Minor when I can plainly hear that it's an E Minor, so I am stumped as to where they are even getting that from.

 

Because they probably learned by playing tabs and haven't developed their ear. :)

[Supersyl]

I've been drumming to Rush songs for 30+ years and never once have I counted a time signature.... FEEL the music... It will take you where you need to be....