Remembering Names of Tunes

[Sam Sherry]

I'm just terrible at matching names with melodies. Like, "I think I know that but hum a few bars to make sure for me."

Knowing the lyrics is a big help but I still have giant memory gaps (and I forget why).

What has worked for you?

[Ed Fuqua]

It's called Jazzheimer's and it's a terrible malady. I used to have it, occasionally the malady still lingers on.



Sorry. Couldn't help myself.

I occasionally confuse myself, calling Just Friends when I really wanted I Remember You or something like that. Or playing another tune for a couple of bars, I usually end up playing the correct change (cause I'm using my ears) but getting befuddled because what I'm playing doesn't match the intellectual construct of what I thought I was playing. Knowing the words helps more than anything else.

[tzadik]

Oh man, I am the same way.. I think the better I get at memorising the actual tunes, the more I forget the titles... If I think of anything helpful I'll let you know....

I am alseo Blues-dyslexic. If it's a blues in Bb or F, I can NEVER remember which tunes are in which key! Freddie, Alice, Billy's Bounce, etc... I know it' s F or Bb but never know which.

Maybe we need a support group...

[Freddels]

OMG! I thought I was the only one. Generally, only the tunes that I know some of the words to are the ones I remember the names.

[Chrix]

"There Will Never Be Another You" and "There Is No Greater Love." I can't count the number of times I've been on a gig where I or someone else will call one of these and play the other.

[Mike Goodbar]

I play with a piano guy who's been at it for about 50 years and knows just about every tune ever written in any key (but he doesn't read a note). He still carries around a worn-out, creased, taped-up list of song titles because of the Jazzheimer's affliction.

[Paul Warburton]

I'm always glad I know the lyrics, when somebody calls, as Chrix mentions, There Will Never Be Another You or You're A Weaver of Dreams!

[Uncletoad]

Originally Posted by Freddels

OMG! I thought I was the only one.

Nope. My brain is toast. I've played 3 tunes in a single song trying to figure out what the hell I'm doing.

[tzadik]

Originally Posted by Chrix

"There Will Never Be Another You" and "There Is No Greater Love." I can't count the number of times I've been on a gig where I or someone else will call one of these and play the other.

meeee tooooo

[billyfalconer]

If I'm actually playing a gig or rehearsing, this problem is much worse than if I'm not playing music. One time I thought I could feel the blood sloshing from one part of my brain to another, when I started practicing after doing something non-musical.

[Chris Fitzgerald]

"Out of Nowhere" and "It Could Happen To You" are like playing Russian roulette when I'm on the gig.

[Ed Fuqua]

Originally Posted by Chris Fitzgerald

"Out of Nowhere" and "It Could Happen To You" are like playing Russian roulette when I'm on the gig.

That's just weird.

I've got kind of the other problem, if I'm playing either SLOW BOAT TO CHINA or EVERYTHING I LOVE, I have to be REALLY careful that they don't turn into IT COULD HAPPEN. Cuase there's so much similar movement and chord quality...

[Aaron Cohn]

It happened again today to me--I forgot what "Like Someone in Love" is called. Fortunately I wasn't playing, and I remembered after a few agonizing minutes. For some reason I always have trouble with that one. I know it, and if someone else calls it it's no problem. But if I'm thinking of that tune I always have trouble remembering what it's called.

[Aaron Cohn]

Also at the jam session the other night--I walked in to hear some guys playing Alone Together. I was told, though, that they had called Yesterdays but somehow wound up not playing it. Whoops. All good players too.

[Freddels]

Sometimes I have the opposite problem . . . I can call out many names of tunes and not know the melody or chord progression.