Help me rationalise this experience please

[Depth_Charge]

Not sure if this is General Instruction or Miscellaneous but I'll start here.

I've played some guitar here and there between learning bass, never took it as seriously as bass and always felt the time investment too high to get any good as such (Matt Belamy good lol).

One of the things I struggle with as a bassist is learning to remember lines. I'm tying this together, I promise...

Last week while dropping my daughter off at class I overhear a year 7 playing the melodic bridge guitar part to Master of Puppets on acoustic, so I walk up and listen, then when he pauses, tell him what it is and make his day someone actually knew it. I was perplexed why a year 7 is learning such a song, but thats an aside to this...

Yesterday I was feeling a little inspired and out of character I drag my guitar out, tune it (never do, floyd rose bridge, too much effort lol), crank the Marshall, hit the distortion and start playing Master of Puppets, a song I have not played in years on guitar.

And I pretty much hit everything I used to up to the part I learned...only cleaner, without really thinking about it or anything. My daughter comes in listening and saying "but you don't play guitar dad" and here I am, picking, palm muting and crunching my way through, trying to convince her I don't.

TLR
Can anyone help me rationalise why I can walk up to a guitar and play a line I didn't even care to remember years ago, but I can't remember half the bass covers I'm paid to cover week in and out? I even thought about my process for learning them and concluded they were the same between bass and guitar. Stumped and shocked pretty much describe my reaction...

[JimmyM]

Because you secretly like "Master Of Puppets" so it's burned into your long term memory.

[Depth_Charge]

Thanks JimmyM. Food for thought. Its no secret I like the song it's one of my top faves, which raises more questions. I'm sure I know where thats headed (D_C, you secretly like guitar)...so I'm gonna stop asking guitar related q's, grab my bass, and continue down the path of denial

[gmahoog]

I've had similar issues but it involves chords instead of melody. I learned guitar first and I have a pretty good knowledge of jazz chords and progressions in general. But for some reason, I really struggle remembering chord progressions on the bass. My remedy is to learn the song on guitar too. Once I learn the chord progression on the guitar, it seems to be burned in.

[turbo chicken]

Complete opposite of your issue is guess... okay not really ... but Jimmy mentioned it's cause you like the song... well i dislike the one mentioned below

i cannot for the life of me play all the way thru "Dixieland Delight" without screwing it up somewhere ... it's such a simple song i play it all root 5th and i still jack it up every time...

actually it's most country ... it's not my favorite genere to listen to... every country song that's new to me or modern i mess up... that being said... i like playing country it's super challenging to me. You jack up in a country song... somebody gonna notice

I can play old Country and Western all day.. but I love that older stuff. Heck Give me some Cash, Marty Robbins etc... i got it... Give me Cross Canadian Ragweed "cry lonely"... another song I jack up everytime on the root 5th chorus..

maybe i should just woodshed on some country root 5th patterns???

[teleharmonium]

What you noticed is the difference between having your critical self off vs having it on. If you don't have expectations and real time self critique of what you're doing, your natural skills come through. That ease is just as possible on bass as well - the instrument makes little difference - but it is being blocked by the way you think.

It's exactly the same thing as when you're doing something well, and then someone tells you you're doing it well, and then you can't do it any more. You've become self conscious of it. It's also the same basic thing as "beginners' luck" and why things we aren't supposed to be doing according to our definition of self are often easier than things we are supposed to be doing.

[Stumbo]

I've had similar memory issues, not just in music, but life in general.

What's helped my overall memory is to make sure my Vitamin D and B levels are in the top of the range as far as lab testing goes. The D levels were critical for me to solve a lot of ongoing musical issues, memory being one of them.

I'm somewhat better now but with a wife who is a "human juke box" who can learn/memorize melodies/lyrics for any song she listens to a few times. This is my reference point for "musical memory". My creativity has increased several fold over the past couple of years as has my ability to "hear" individual notes of a chord.

However, if you want a random fact about some topic, as long as I've previously read about it or heard about it, I'll be able to regurgitate something relevant. Oh, the irony.

[makkE]

I just finished reading "The Inner Game of Music", and what teleharmonium said pretty much sums up the book - it's pretty magic what happens when you can get your insecurity, critique and self doubt out of the way.

You simply nailed it because "[...] I wasn't thinking at all [..]" - but you were inspired enough to just want to do it - and you did.

I can only recommend this book, and as I heard, Vootens "Music Lesson" and that other book called "Effortless Mastery" are dealing with pretty much the same subject matter.

[seanm]

I have to admit I find it a lot harder to learn songs I don't like. I think it is because with a song you like, you take the time to really learn it. With a song you don't like, you spend the minimal amount of time and take as many shortcuts as possible

[Carrot5tringer]

i believe it was hearing the youngster playing a song you once learned(all be it couldn't remember), but the point is it was in your mental songbook somewhere and it may have been seein that kid play it that reminded you of when you first learned to play puppets and is why you effortlessly stormed through the song

[Rockmusician]

Everybody is different. Some people can play bass and some can't. I have a friend who has been playing guitar and bass for over 30 years. He is much better on guitar. He said he has trouble remembering bass lines and walking. He also finds it difficult to sing and play bass at the same time. I am the exact opposite. I can do a decent job on guitar but I am much better at bass.

[Depth_Charge]

Originally Posted by makkE

I just finished reading "The Inner Game of Music", and what teleharmonium said pretty much sums up the book - it's pretty magic what happens when you can get your insecurity, critique and self doubt out of the way.

Considering all the replies I think this one applies the most to my situation and I should get me a copy of that book. I tested it with a few covers I didn't play well at a recent fill in gig. I pretty much relaxed, just played for fun, and was hitting the notes I couldn't find at the gig without even thinking about them. Quite a liberating feeling to just let go of all my playing 'neurosis'

[seanm]

Originally Posted by Depth_Charge

Considering all the replies I think this one applies the most to my situation and I should get me a copy of that book. I tested it with a few covers I didn't play well at a recent fill in gig. I pretty much relaxed, just played for fun, and was hitting the notes I couldn't find at the gig without even thinking about them. Quite a liberating feeling to just let go of all my playing 'neurosis'

I had one song I struggled with, "The Authority Song". Don't get me wrong, the song isn't hard, but it is very repetitive. As long as I didn't think about it I had no problem. The second I did, I messed up. I now have no problem, but it took me much longer than it should have to get it right every time.

[teleharmonium]

Originally Posted by Depth_Charge

Considering all the replies I think this one applies the most to my situation and I should get me a copy of that book.

It really is great (although I think I like the original "The Inner Game of Tennis" even better, despite having no interest in tennis).