Memorising songs

Fassa Albrecht · #1 02-19-2008, 04:25 PM

I don't have to be able to do this for the type of bands I play in (we have sheet music infront of us) but I feel it is something I should do for some of the more common songs.

How do I go about memorisation of a song? Should I learn the lyrics too?

fettbass · #2 02-19-2008, 04:31 PM

If it's a complex song, I learn in chunks, maybe 1 or 2 bars at a time. It seems slow, but it actually lets you memorize much more quickly.

Puarija · #3 02-19-2008, 04:35 PM

I used to use cues from other band members as a helpful guide (for example, when the singer stops the first verse, there is one more measure or something like that) but then I played a familiar song with a different band and my cues were no longer there because the guitar player did something differently, or the drummer didn't play the same fill, or whatever.

What I'm trying to say is, however you memorize it is up to you, but using cues from the band members as a guide can bite you in the rear end, so I recommend NOT doing it that way.

Learning the lyrics is always a good thing. If nothing else, it will make you understand what the meaning of the song is and maybe give you some perspective that you can apply to your playing style or dynamics. For instance, if the lyric is talking about a dead relative, maybe you shouldn't be slapping/popping with a big goofy smile on your face.

That's just a couple little things I try to keep in mind. May or may not be something that helps you.

98dvl · #4 02-19-2008, 04:36 PM

Everyone will have a different way of doing things...

Myself, I learn the parts for the "intro", "verse", "chorus", "bridge", "outro" or however the song is made up.

Usually, each part is maybe 4-8 bars worth of memorizing, again depending on the song...

Once you get each part memorized (it's usually fairly easy for bass as most everything is repeated, again, depending on the song), then you just have to memorize how it's all put together.

For example,

"Intro", "Verse", "Chorus", "Verse", "Chorus", "Bridge", "Chorus", "Outro" might be how your song is built.

Focus on memorizing parts, not the entire song... If that makes sense. Just find the parts that repeat, and memorize those, and then memorize how to put them together...

Occasionally, when there's a lot of repeating, there will be fills mixed in... Let those come later, and try to figure out ways to improvise the fills. Keep them in your back pocket and mix them in once in a while.

Fassa Albrecht · #5 02-19-2008, 04:40 PM

I will add that it's songs that I use tab for that I seem to whizz through yet all the worship stuff I play (yay!) seems to evaporate like water from my brain.

jschwalls · #6 02-20-2008, 05:26 AM

I make a chart of the song.... very detailed. Then I listen to the song with no instrument to play.. I use just my ears, I will listen to it 3-4 times. Then I put a metronome to the right tempo, and follow my chart, having no background music at all.. just me, my bass, the chart, and the metronome..
I have no idea how many songs I have memorized over the years, but this has always been my technique..

Also, when I can I try to do the same thing with only my drummer...band rehersals are usually a total waste of time, because 9 out of 10 times, the guitarists usually eat up all available time trying to "nail" that one lick that he will ultimately screw up live anyway. LOL

I chart everything I will ever play... I have songs charted that I have never played and probably never will... back in 2001, I was asked to join a regional touring country band. Dumb me said yes before I realized that I had no clue how to play even 1 country song.... So I ended having to learn 120+ songs in 9 days.... impossible. So I charted every song and played out of the book for a while...eventually I learned them and all was well...
It seems I am better known as the guy who can learn songs, more than anything else.. which is fine, it keeps me gigging.

larryl · #7 02-20-2008, 12:05 PM

You want to learn a chart fast start with the last measure, then last two and so on - by the time you get to the top you'll have it memorized. Works for me every time

tZer · #8 02-20-2008, 12:08 PM

Record it/get a recording of it - listen to it - a lot!

"If you can't say it, you can't play it" is what my former band director used to tell us.

Jeb · #9 02-20-2008, 07:56 PM

I agree with tZer, listen to the song and get it in your head how it goes. Then play it. The more proficient you are with the bass and the better your ear, the easier it is to do that.

There are working players who need to pull from their mental list of literally hundreds of songs if they play out alot. They don't memorize all those songs on the bass, they hear the song in their head and play it on the bass. At least thats how I do it.

Thats whats cool about "standard" songs in most genres (especially blues and pop but even jazz). Even if you don't "know" the song, you can usually feel the changes and the progression becomes somewhat predictable. Not always, thats the challenge! And then you just play.

Hahaha, I came to this thread thinking I was going to get some "mesmerizing" songs to check out!

OtterOnBass · #10 02-20-2008, 09:51 PM

I've been getting CD's to practice with lately. I learn the verse/chorus/bridge parts and then play along without looking. Some of these worship songs have the same line throughout the whole thing! Anyhow, I ramp up dynamics, drop out for a capella verses, and generally add fills more by feeling than counting time or some other trick. The vocal dynamics are a big clue.

krazyduck · #11 02-21-2008, 07:19 AM

Quote:

You want to learn a chart fast start with the last measure, then last two and so on - by the time you get to the top you'll have it memorized. Works for me every time

n00b question here; why would you do it backwards? does that make it easier?

loend68 · #12 02-21-2008, 07:22 AM

Not to hijack the thread, but what do you guys do when you have to learn a bunch of songs quickly? I have 25 new songs to have ready for a gig on saturday. Nothing tough, but there is a lot to remember

basslyon · #13 02-21-2008, 07:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loend68

Not to hijack the thread, but what do you guys do when you have to learn a bunch of songs quickly? I have 25 new songs to have ready for a gig on saturday. Nothing tough, but there is a lot to remember

Chord sheets aree you're friend. Just co you have to stuff 25 songs down you're throat and something is bound to come out and not stick

BillySid · #14 02-21-2008, 07:35 AM

I have always learned by ear and memorize in parts. The couple of times I tried to learn something by tabs or sheets, just didn't retain well. In my opinion, in the long run it is much better to learn by ear than looking at tabs. My 2 cents.

nsmar4211 · #15 02-21-2008, 11:25 AM

First gig with my group was like 2 weeks after I joined......knew I wasn't gonna remember 20 songs. So.......

Most bass parts are pattern based in the rock music we're doing. Box patterns (no hand shifts) to boot. I learned on blues so I knew patterns

. 95% of songs have three parts: Verse, Chorus, Bridge. (bridges get me often...

). They didn't want me to have a book on stage......and I don't blame em. But, I'm a visual learner and need visual cues

....So, what I did was I took our setlist and printed it on two pages, double spaced, lots of white on the right side (abbreviated song names). Next to each song that I thought I'd forget, I drew out a chunk of fretboard, 4-5 frets long. I used colored markers and put dots on the notes we played, after assigning the color to a beat. I did the colors in their rainbow order. So, say a song used C E G A as the notes in the pattern. I put a red dot on C, orange on E, Green on G, and blue on A. Underneath the diagram I wrote the starting note (C in this example), and if the pattern didn't start with either the first or second finger I wrote which finger started it. Viola! Chart! I wrote out the bridge / chorus or whatever was gonna trip me the same way. I read music, so I also wrote out the rhythm if the song was gonna get me. I also have pet names for common patterns, so sometimes I'd write "Penatonic pattern 1 on A". I knew what it meant

. Even now, a year later, I can still see those colored dot patterns in my head!

Patterns are our friends

So cheat sheets don't have to be a three ring binder on a music stand

. My current set list still has notations on it, although I've not had to do the color coded dot thing for a while now

. The act of making out the set list actually imprinted most of the stuff on my brain too. Now my set list says stuff like "thump thump" for a song I start... "half down!" for a song I memorized in one key and we dropped the tuning... etc.

One other thing I found works for me is to associate the song name with the starting note. For instance, we play "B**ch" . I never can remember what key it's in cause I want to start it in B. It's actually Bb... also known as A # (sharp). So I turned it into a phrase, it's "A# B**ch". A sharp b**ch. Much easier to remember . The song "Weak" starts out on E......on the A string. Hey... look....... if you write it wEAk, it tells you E on the A

. The song "One of us" is in G.... so on setlist it's "what if God was one of us"....and the G is really bold

. Little cues on the setlist reinforce....and save dissonate first notes!

I'd go through and find all the songs that use a similar pattern and group those together on a set list......make notes of key changes or weird stuff next to it.....and hang on for a ride! Good luck with this...

bassbully · #16 02-21-2008, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loend68

Not to hijack the thread, but what do you guys do when you have to learn a bunch of songs quickly? I have 25 new songs to have ready for a gig on saturday. Nothing tough, but there is a lot to remember

LOL i have had 3 practices and 45 songs to have down by Saturdays gig...GULP! did it before will do it again. But it suks. A tascam bass trainer is my friend here. Im good with current tunes but this country band does some oldies and they are not in standard tuning and hard to find music for so i charted them out and will fake the rest.