How many songs do you know?

[AB Nate]

Just out of curiosity.

Type of song doesn’t matter: original, cover, jingle, whatever.

I’ve been playing a long time and I really never put much to any effort into learning covers until recently.
I regret it.

I played all originals in one band for years and we never really had that many songs.

just looking for poll stats, we could break this down further, originals vs covers in another poll thread.

EDIT:
To clarify this.... it seems the question is being over complicated.

we all have a different definition of knowing, we all have different backgrounds, genres, goals, etc.

Can you get through a song to the end?

with a chart, basic progression, memory, tab, anything.

if it needs a bit of brushing up but it was there I’d speculate you know the song.
Just a simple ball park.

for those that know hundreds of songs, I don’t expect you to know how to play through an archspire album and for those than can, I imagine you don’t know “millions” more songs due to the effort/time required to learn something of that caliber.
Let’s just keep it simple here folks with ballpark numbers. No need to disassemble the question.

 

[PJ Muzikmansky]

probably a thousand or so....

 

[JKos]

What is your definition of "know a song"? Is it the ability to play the entire song from memory with no external cues? Is it playing from a chart? Big difference.

 

[btmpancake]

After playing for more than 50yrs I'm sure I've forgotten many more songs than I know.

 

[mongo2]

I'm a bass player so I know all the songs. At least I can fake 'em.

 

[bucephylus]

Fewer than the number I’ve forgotten.

 

[two fingers]

I've played for over 35 years. I've done jazz bands, rock bands, pop bands, pqrty/corporate bands, blues bands, open mic night host bassist, country bands, church worship teams, and countless fill-in gigs. There's just no telling how nany songs I know....in multiple keys.

 

[jd56hawk]

I'm sure I know thousands upon thousands of songs.
I know quite a few classical pieces, too, though I wouldn't call them songs.
I also know many commercial jingles.
Here are three of my favorites.

 

[OptimalOptimus]

Dunno ... I have sheet music in standard notation or chords only etc to refresh my memory if I haven’t played it for a while.

 

[kmon]

For me knowing means I can play it in a show today, and this is in the context of rock covers that aren’t necessarily note for note reproductions, but are pretty darn close to the originals. To meet those criteria I need to play them with some regularity or they’ll start to fade.

At any one time I typically know what my band is playing, maybe 50 songs. I’m not in a band at the moment but I’m gunning for 100 this year, a lot of which will be stuff that pushes my limits somewhat.

 

[foolforthecity]

I know Mustang Sally pretty well, followed by Brown Eyed Girl. Also a half-dozen or so less complicated tunes.

 

[lizardking837]

I picked 75 - 100, purely guesstimating. I'm at a level where I don't need to "know" some songs and can fake my way through them What I mean by that is my guitar player can say "it's a I-VI-V in E, with a vi in the bridge" and I can play along.

I don't consider that "knowing" a song, but I'd still count it as one I can play if that makes sense.

 

[buldog5151bass]

I've learned thousands, but couldn't play them all note for note without some brush up.

I got called to sub for a band I had played with a few years ago. Took me a weekend to relearn all the parts on a 45 song setlist.

 

[bassdude51]

If in the 1-4-5 chord pattern............from here to eternity.

 

[chris_b]

When you play in bands that predominantly use 12 bar formats, you know millions of songs.

I also played in cover bands, top 40 bands etc and as a result know thousands of songs. Most I would need to run through once to get back the shapes, but they are all in there (taps head) somewhere.

 

[g-dude]

The entire AC/DC catalog.

So basically one song.

Just kidding, I don’t know any AC/DC.

 

[Element Zero]

Well let's think about this. When I first started playing in high school I learned a couple albums and a number of songs. RATM first album, 311 Music, a few Rush tunes, some Metallica, some Megadeth, a few Pantera... I still play though most of them to this day. Then the 200 or so worship songs I've played in church for the last 15 years, the Classic Rock cover band I spent a SOLID 5 years gigging with is easily another 100, the country band I did some fill in gigs with that's another 60, the one off POP cover band gig that's another 31, and then just random songs from my iTunes library is easily another 200... I'd say close to 700.

 

[Ostie]

I voted for 76-100, because one of the bands I’m in has a set list of about 80 songs. But the actual number is much higher, because once you know a common chord progression and it’s used in a lot of songs, you’re covered. Like a blues progression. I could theoretically play almost any blues song.

If you’re asking how many songs I know the lyrics to, that’s different, because I forget snippets of lyrics all the time. I don’t need cheat sheets for chords, but lyrics are a challenge sometimes. One device I use to remember is, a song is basically a story, and if I can remember the story, it’s easier to remember the lyrics. I just tell the story, lyrically.

 

[lfmn16]

I think some people are mistaking "how many songs do you know" for "how many songs can you get through."

 

[brianrost]

After playing for more than 50yrs I'm sure I've forgotten many more songs than I know.

+1,000,000