3 Ways to learn & Remembering tunes

basskababble · #1 06-17-2010, 06:39 AM

Learners come in three styles: tactile, visual, and auditory. Every person can be two of these three things. Guess which one I'm not

So long story short, when I'm jamming, or when my band decides to cover 19 tunes to make some money, I can't seem to picture (see how i say "picture" instead of "hear") the next part, or the melody, or even the tonic, dominant relationship. The few songs that have stuck with me I remember not by the melody, but by the way my hand feels playing it, and how the positioning looks on the neck of the guitar or bass...

I can't seem to play anything back in my head. The few times a tune does penetrate my mental block, I can almost pick up any instrument and play it. You who have the exact pitch and melody in your heads are very fortunate.

Does anyone else share this musical handicap? How do you curve it?

**Rune Bivrin** · #2 06-17-2010, 07:18 AM

You're probably more suited to be a luthier than a musician...

Seriously, though: I suppose the only way is to practice, although I must admit I can't even begin to imagine not remembering music.

basskababble · #3 06-17-2010, 08:55 AM

I guess it comes naturally to some. I have "Last Caress" in my head, but it's not pitch perfect (mentally) and I have more of a mental image of the song's positioning on the fretboard, than I do the way it sounds and the feel from one part to another.

I wonder if it's the way I learned in the first place, with tabs and what not. I wish I'd known this about my learning skills earlier... I may have been able to do better to curve it.

Is there anyone else out there that seems to be the same way? What have you done to make it better?

@Rune Bivrin: My hands are shaky sometimes, and I'm a bit impatient. I'd probably have been a better drummer if I could've gotten my 15 year old hands on some cash and some space to make noise that wouldn't have irritated my mother who had super sensitive hearing.

Cross303 · #4 06-17-2010, 09:33 AM

I bet transcribing songs would really help in the hear, remember, translate to instrument chain of skills. Always using tabs won't really get you there as fast. You need to hear and find the sounds, not be told the fret number.

I play in an original band and write my own parts based on recordings all the time. It helped my ear, but I'm still a visual person so I remember songs based on the fret number (dots). Also, I have trouble going outside the prewritten parts.

I know some music theory, but get really bored with it fast and have little desire to get to into it. I will avoid that as long as I can! I've come to the conclusion I need to learn the fretboard (ie play and say the notes out loud a million times). Really get the sounds burned in and get away from the visual, mathematical approach.

Not sure if this is the answer for either of us, but couldn't hurt right?

basskababble · #5 06-17-2010, 09:51 AM

I'm failling a music theory class right now actually. I am finding that trying to find the 3rd of a C#minor scale is pretty automatic by using my fingers to play the scale starting from C#, (It's E right?) is helping me instantly recall the note I'm playing. i.e. The C & E on the A string, A on the D string, G on the E string all come automatically.

Also, knowing the major and minor scales by heart really really helps. I could never remember them by just the shape. Instead I need to remember the intervals. WHWWHWW - minor WWHWWWH - Major (They're the same it's just that the minor starts on the 6th interval of the major (C's relative minor being Aminor). That way when i sit down to read I'm not going "every good boy does F! it's F!"... instead I'm going "Every Good B!... ok. I'm playing in A Major? Place my fingers on the scale's shape and start... up two, down three, back to B, down to A, up three..." get it?

I have tons of trouble with going off the beaten path. When jamming to write new music I'm always forced into rhythm guitar basslines because no one ever has the patience to let me feel around for a melody that sounds good. I asked out lead guitar player "do you think "I'm going to play a minor scale" or you just hear it? He just hears it. ***.

klokker · #6 06-17-2010, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cross303

Always using tabs won't really get you there as fast. You need to hear and find the sounds, not be told the fret number.

I completely agree with this. Get away from tabs and learn your parts by ear if you're having trouble with "hearing" it. I wrote out the first few I did note by note, now I don't do that either.

Take the songs you are learning, listen to it on something where you can crank the bass a little bit and learn the part that way.......some parts are hard to get at first. Seriously, play the dang thing 30 times over the same three seconds until you get it. It will be hard at first, but you'll be amazed I think, after the initial difficulty, at how you will advance fairly quickly.

Good luck, you may not be as "handicapped" as you think.

klokker · #7 06-17-2010, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by basskababble

When jamming to write new music I'm always forced into rhythm guitar basslines because no one ever has the patience to let me feel around for a melody that sounds good. I asked out lead guitar player "do you think "I'm going to play a minor scale" or you just hear it? He just hears it. ***.

Again, I'm no expert, but coming up with a good bass line is completely different for a bass player than a lead player IMO. That is a HARD skill at least at the beginning. I've worked for hours on some of our original songs coming up with a bassline that "feels" good. You come up with one, then you forget it the next day etc.

You've got the vision. Just keep at it. It takes a while.

chrism2sych · #8 06-17-2010, 11:19 AM

That is how I tend to lean also, but expanding your musical vocabulary will surely help keep up with the intervals that seemed to help me the most and then learn how to build chords from the intervals and you should be part way there because when your remembering a chord shape w/ r-3-7 or what ever it happens to be is at least to how i process information is the difference between saying..... it's a blue car and saying it's a 2002 blue for taurus SHO Even if you don't actually play chords it make one more conncection in your mind 2 ways to remember instead of one........ what a rambling way to say learn your "theory" maybe I should organize my thoughts instead of just firing away.

Stumbo · #9 06-18-2010, 12:07 AM

Maybe practice on your vocals. Learning to sing melodies from memory might help you remember the tunes.

Maybe take some simple bass lines and play them from memory. Then add one song per day to the list. Keep repeating and singing long with the bass lines.

If you're taking music theory classes, learning the keyboards is a must. Especially for harmony.

Here are some links you may want to check out:
4.COLLEGE MUSIC
So you want to be a music major?
Virginia Tech Music Theory Dictionary
Auditioning for jazz band
Audition dilemma

Muaguana · #10 06-18-2010, 12:19 AM

I'm more of a visual learner, myself. One thing that's helped me is, like Stumbo said, singing. Start with sight singing, which will still give you some visual elements, then just listen along to songs and try to match the pitches of the melodies. Doing that for hours and hours each day helped me get my internal voice tuned up, so I'm much better at hearing phrases in my head. I'm still too dependent on fingerboard shape, but I'm weaning myself off of that by playing the same songs in different tunings and different fretboard positions, to make the notes themselves more important than what visual pattern they lie in.

Taking a jazz improvisation class helped with that a lot, too. But boy... was that tough. Especially for someone who's never played jazz before.