How many songs do you know?

[Acoop]

It's not knowing songs, it's knowing song forms. ... All songs come from the folk tradition of 1, 4, 5. ... All songs resolve, or go the the 5 of the key before returning to the 1. ... All songs have a set number of bars that repeat. ... What they do between the 1 and the 5 is controlled by the melody. ... Listening to and following the melody makes you a good player. What you play to enhance the melody makes you a great player. ...
Start by understanding the simple melodies you already know. ...
Happy Birthday for example, is 8 bars long, before it repeats and the first four bars are 1 and 5. The second four bars are 1, 4 and 5. ... The melody is square so, it lands on either the 1, the 3 or the 5 of the cord. ...
Start by understanding that, then go on to better than 70% of the players that just trying to memorize chords of songs they probably won't be playing in 3-years.

 

[Basslice]

For me knowing a song means the ability to play it. I have a great ear and have paid attention to the structure of songs and melodies since I could listen to AM radio in the kitchen with my mom. I can pretty much recall a song and figure it out rudimentary in minutes. To nail it requires a little more study and practice.

I am a rhythmic bass player and don't do a lot of guitar-like soloing. In those genres I don't "know" many songs, but in my play book here, I have several hundred songs I can knock off. It is not like I am a genius or anything, but after a while, you realize there are only so many notes and chords....

 

[AB Nate]

Some of you guys crack me right up!

it’s hilarious to me that I’ve asked a very basic question.
Do you know 5 songs or 500? Or somewhere in between or beyond?

and instead of just checking a box that broadly suites you, some of you feel the need to dissect the question or alter the meaning of the thread.
If you feel the need to state,” there are no songs, only chord progressions” then go somewhere else and tell that to the songwriters who have given a chord progression there personal touch.

Straight up. If I name a song..... song “X”, Do you know it or not?
Yes

or

No.

Simple right?

Apply that to every song.

Stating it’s just a chord progression doesn’t mean squat.
Maybe you can learn it quicker then most, but again, not the point of the thread or poll.

If you know, countless songs as, “they are all fundamentally the same” that’s rad, but please don’t spout you know a song if you’ve never heard it.
That’s like saying, “ I know math, so I know how much money you have in the bank...”


Please remember this poll isn’t directed to the few who have been playing for 100 yrs and can learn EVERYSONG because it’s 1-4-5.
It’s directed to all.... some folks have never taken a lesson or prefer to get tablature off youtube or.....

some songs are far more complex then to require a simple root/five over a 1-4-5. You may not listen to it but it still exists.

so please, again, piss off with your condescending rules of music and just answer the dang question.

I know a lot of players that fit into many different places on the poll. Some are far more talented then myself that know less songs or far less nimble then myself that know 4 times as many songs.

And, if you can’t just accept the poll for what it is, is it not to hard to just move along?

 

[AB Nate]

It's not knowing songs, it's knowing song forms. ... All songs come from the folk tradition of 1, 4, 5. ... All songs resolve, or go the the 5 of the key before returning to the 1. ... All songs have a set number of bars that repeat. ... What they do between the 1 and the 5 is controlled by the melody. ... Listening to and following the melody makes you a good player. What you play to enhance the melody makes you a great player. ...
Start by understanding the simple melodies you already know. ...
Happy Birthday for example, is 8 bars long, before it repeats and the first four bars are 1 and 5. The second four bars are 1, 4 and 5. ... The melody is square so, it lands on either the 1, the 3 or the 5 of the cord. ...
Start by understanding that, then go on to better than 70% of the players that just trying to memorize chords of songs they probably won't be playing in 3-years.

1-4-5 aaaaaaand Go!
Do you know it yet? Lol.

 

[joelns]

I'm curious as to why ask this question to begin with? Why does it matter? It's a pretty meaningless metric. I've got over 1000 songs in my repertoire that I can play on demand at any time, but none of them verbatim as they would have been played on the original track (so for the OP's poll, maybe my answer would have to be 0). But so what? Playing them verbatim from the original track is not going to help me in many of the situations I find myself in, especially when subbing. I either have them in the wrong key for the band, or the arrangement the band plays is somewhat different to accommodate the singer. Then I need to make changes to whatever chart I have so that I can play it. Your situation may be very different from mine.

Often enough I need to play a song I don't know. Last time it was an Alan Jackson cover. Keyboard player said it's a I-vi-IV-V in E. Follow/listen for the changes. About 1/2 way through the song, I was set. The audience seemed to really dig it.

It boils down to what your particular musical goals are. Do you want to be able to drop into a situation and be able to come up with a line on the fly that fits in the mix and supports the band? Or do you want to play a bunch of songs verbatim (which would be super helpful in something like a tribute band scenario)? My goals are in the former rather than the latter. Perhaps the OP's goals are the latter.

Enjoy what you do and have fun. That's the point.

 

[AB Nate]

I'm curious as to why ask this question to begin with? Why does it matter? It's a pretty meaningless metric. I've got over 1000 songs in my book that I can play on demand at any time, but none of them verbatim as they would have been played on the original track (so for the OP's poll, maybe my answer would have to be 0). But so what? Playing them verbatim from the original track is not going to help me in many of the situations I find myself in, especially when subbing. I either have them in the wrong key for the band, or the arrangement the band plays is somewhat different to accommodate the singer. Then I need to make changes to whatever chart I have so that I can play it. Your situation may be very different from mine.

Often enough I need to play a song I don't know. Last time it was an Alan Jackson cover. Keyboard player said it's a I-vi-IV-V in E. Follow/listen for the changes. About 1/2 way through the song, I was set.

It boils down to what your particular musical goals are. Do you want to be able to drop into a situation and be able to come up with a line on the fly that fits in the mix and supports the band? Or do you want to play a bunch of songs verbatim (which would be super helpful in something like a tribute band scenario)? My goals are in the former rather than the latter. Perhaps the OP's goals are the latter.

Enjoy what you do and have fun. That's the point.

wait? So I have a curiosity and ask a simple question and your answer is it’s meaningless? That’s for coming out bud.

if it’s meaningless to you why didn’t you just move along?
Your input was super helpful. Thanks a bunch dood....

to answer your question, I was curious about what kind of a mix bass players we have mostly on this forum? New players looking to expand? Gear hoarding hobbyists? Academy of wizards hoping to enlighten the new up and comers with helpful wisdom? Condescending blowhards who feel the need to belittle others to validate their own self worth due to the fact they’ve been there and done that?

anywho. I think the we can start to see what the demographic really looks like.

 

[AB Nate]

Mods feel free to delete this thread at your leisure

 

[Acoop]

1-4-5 aaaaaaand Go!
Do you know it yet? Lol.

So, you think some guy tapping 20 notes per second is a song? ...

 

[AB Nate]

So, you think some guy tapping 20 notes per second is a song? ...

I don’t think it’s a song.... it IS a song. One you cannot grasp perhaps but musicians wrote it to be a song and that alone makes it a song.

I guess you don’t like classical or jazz either? Doesn’t mean it’s not music just cause it doesn’t work for you but hey, you just keep being closed minded and stick to your guns... what ever works for you in your little world.

 

[VolverseLoco]

I don’t think it’s a song.... it IS a song. One you cannot grasp perhaps but musicians wrote it to be a song and that alone makes it a song.

I guess you don’t like classical or jazz either? Doesn’t mean it’s not music just cause it doesn’t work for you but hey, you just keep being closed minded and stick to your guns... what ever works for you in your little world.

LOL!! Nothing but static weaved in your thread here I see...I'm loving my RockSmith more and more..

 

[P. Aaron]

My recall for songs is very good but, it’s rare in a typical bar/pub/wedding gig to go over 30-40 songs in a night. I learn songs I’ll never play live just to stay good at learning songs and/or because I think something is catchy. I call this recreational playing.

I’ll always get specific with a set list when certain songs are going to be played. I got no Laurels to rest on. I want be the best I can be.

 

[cdef]

As a producer, I learned that sometimes the song = the arrangement. If you start picking it apart and changing things around, the whole thing disintegrates. This happens especially with prog-style rock. On the other end, the established blues format is pretty much predictable, and you can "know" hundreds of classics just by grokking the pattern. Generally, the more contexts you play, the more changes you will be able to anticipate. That's not to say there aren't songs that rely on specific bass lines to work as intended.

 

[P. Aaron]

Few bands ever play Sweet Home Alabama well or as its nuanced. Most just rake out the changes, missing all the little characteristics and cool quirks.

 

[kevin wells]

I've learned so many that I compare it to that episode of Married With Children when Kelly was on the sports trivia show. For every new fact she learned, she would forget one she already knew.

 

[oakley86]

They call me the "bluegrass encyclopedia" for all the bluegrass and classic country songs I know.
I'm 88 years old and still playing and singing

 

[dasherf17]

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.

As I am overcomplicated (I'm the kind of guy that when asked or told to play something I size up the person according to their musical taste and go from there or so many songs come to mind I can never narrow it down), yend to learn whatever I like, like albums over singles, although when I buy singles I usually play the B side so I learn that too, well, it's complicated...quite a few, running out of fingers and toes...

 

[dasherf17]

I've learned so many that I compare it to that episode of Married With Children when Kelly was on the sports trivia show. For every new fact she learned, she would forget one she already knew.

This is true...the old adage " I forgot more than I learned"...