How Do You Remember Songs

[michaelkoss]

Sometimes, I have a hard time remembering how to play songs. Some songs (e.g. Day Tripper, I Want You To Want Me) are easy for me even if I don't know them from previous listening. Other songs (e.g. Wanted Dead or Alive) are hard. I just can't remember the order of the bars. Do I just need to listen to them a thousand times? How do you remember how to play songs?

[KrisWarrington]

Originally Posted by michaelkoss

Sometimes, I have a hard time remembering how to play songs. Some songs (e.g. Day Tripper, I Want You To Want Me) are easy for me even if I don't know them from previous listening. Other songs (e.g. Wanted Dead or Alive) are hard. I just can't remember the order of the bars. Do I just need to listen to them a thousand times? How do you remember how to play songs?

I just try to play a long with a song I haven't played in awhile until getting the roots down. After that it's muscle memory of the scales and ect. Then again I learn everything by ear and it only takes me a few listens to learn a new song all the way through.

[MalcolmAmos]

Use the music stand. I see no reason to not carry a music stand on stage if needed. Course when you start getting paid you gotta leave the stand at home.

Other than that, yes, you have to have played the song many times before it belongs to you.

Have fun.

[dalkowski]

Practice and repetition. Repeat as necessary.

[BobaFret]

Originally Posted by dalkowski

Practice and repetition. Repeat as necessary.

practice and repetition

[Muttleybass]

Yep. Repetition. Sometimes it helps to break down each part of a song separately.

[Art Araya]

1) practice them lots
2) listen to them without your instrument in your hand
3) write out a chart of the arrangement (doesn't have to be a pro chart - just something for yourself)
4) use the chart for a little while but then lose it or it will become a crutch for you
5) still having problems? work on sections over and over. i use computer software that allows me to loop any part of a song over and over and slow it down if needed.

[bobbybass85]

I'm mostly in the same boat as Kris. For me the first thing is to listen to the song enough to have the structure down in my head so that I can hum most of it all the way through.

Then I associate certain chord patterns or basslines with each section of the song. Then pound out until muscle memory takes over.

I don't feel I REALLY have a grasp on a song until I can have a conversation with my wife while playing it, and not make many mistakes.

[Flabass]

Originally Posted by Art Araya

1) practice them lots
2) listen to them without your instrument in your hand
3) write out a chart of the arrangement (doesn't have to be a pro chart - just something for yourself)
4) use the chart for a little while but then lose it or it will become a crutch for you
5) still having problems? work on sections over and over. i use computer software that allows me to loop any part of a song over and over and slow it down if needed.

+1

[jmattbassplaya]

It's just something that comes in time. I went through a 3-4 year period where I'd come home from school each day and learn a few songs before dinner. When I was first starting out I could only do one or two easy ones, but eventually I was able to do 3-5 easy ones. Then I got even better and was able to learn 1-2 intermediate level ones, and then so on and so forth. You just have to practice learning songs, and eventually your ability to learn songs (as well as retain them) will catch on.

[baileyboy]

Originally Posted by michaelkoss

Sometimes, I have a hard time remembering how to play songs. Some songs (e.g. Day Tripper, I Want You To Want Me) are easy for me even if I don't know them from previous listening. Other songs (e.g. Wanted Dead or Alive) are hard. I just can't remember the order of the bars. Do I just need to listen to them a thousand times? How do you remember how to play songs?

I learn songs by first getting down the roots of the key signature we are playing the song in. I then work out the bass lines, occasionally modifying them to make them my own. Then it's lots of daily practice, at least 15 minutes, and up to an hour at a time.

One problem I run into is the band I play with often does not play the song in its original form, so I have to be on my toes and keep my eyes on the vocalist. I remedy this by practicing quick transitioning from verse to chorus to bridge and so forth, so I don't get lost.

[bherman]

I'm an old fart so I get special dispensation. I use a music stand but keep it off to the side - when a song comes up on the set list, sometimes a quick glance is all I need to remember it...

[HolmeBass]

Getting the part down requires study and repetition, but I find that remembering the structure (e.g. is the bridge after the second chorus or the third?) requires repeated listening without the instrument. Often learning the words really helps to remember the structure- again, repeated listening.

And I find I need to tune up a song if I haven't played it in more than a month or so; I need to listen to it a few times and run through it on bass at least once to refresh those neural pathways.

[DiabolusInMusic]

I remember songs by... get this..... LEARNING THEM!!!

It's a fairly new technique, I haven't quite perfected it yet, still very experimental and dangerous.

Keep watching the forums I'll have a post about it this month under technique....

[Biggbass]

Originally Posted by dalkowski

Practice and repetition. Repeat as necessary.

+1 !!

[So Low Bass]

I assume that you're talking about gigs...

I find blues bands to be the hardest to keep straight. To my ear, there is a certain sameness that is featureless. What I did was make a title list with little notations like "bridge 2 beat", "long I". "John plays harp"- whatever will jog my memory. I keep the list on my amp, OUT OF SIGHT, and by looking at the set list, keep one tune ahead in my mind.

(String quartets and bad singers use music stands on stage.)

[woodsideh]

A couple of years back I saw a post on TB that has always stuck in my mind.

"Don't practice until you get it right, practice until you don't get it wrong"

Once I feel that I have done that I usually burn a cd or load up the mp3 player with the most recent 10 or so songs that I have been working on, whether they be covers or originals, and then I listen to it all that I can.

Then when I go to a gig I always make sure that at least my copy of the setlist includes the key of each song.

Anyway, it works for me.

[Staccato]

Originally Posted by Art Araya

1) practice them lots
2) listen to them without your instrument in your hand
3) write out a chart of the arrangement (doesn't have to be a pro chart - just something for yourself)
4) use the chart for a little while but then lose it or it will become a crutch for you
5) still having problems? work on sections over and over. i use computer software that allows me to loop any part of a song over and over and slow it down if needed.

Nailed it!

[rtslinger]

I learn them, then go over them all one day a week even if I know them cold I still include them in my 3 hour practice usually if I am playing Friday I will practice Thursday when I get home from the office. If playing Sat night I will run through all of the set lists just before leaving for the show. Either way keeps me sharp most of the time lol.

[Ironderby]

Playing along to the tabs/sheet music, then to the backing track. Then after 4-10 plays depending on the difficulty, i get it unless its a tricky rush song etc where it takes me a few days