How many songs do you know?

[Slevage]

Not currently in a steady working band, but in those days, we rotated about 50 times, learning 2 or 3 new tunes per month. Our gig schedule was heavy.

How many have I played? Certainly thousands, since I’ve done reading gigs where some songs were played 1x.

 

[Acoustic356]

When I'm not gigging? Maybe 3 or 4. When I am gigging, maybe 40-60. I'm also an IT professional, so I prioritize what stays in my long term.

 

[Bunk McNulty]

I don't know. I sorta don't want to know. Many that I learned to play for one-off projects or auditions that I never played again.

 

[BaltBass5]

My current band pulls from about 175 songs regularly. I'd say I personally know about 300 that i can play at any given time.

 

[Deleted member 394181]

Three. Well, two and a half actually … but I’m working hard so I’m hoping it will be three by the end of the year.

If you can play them in a band, your off to the races.

 

[Texican]

When you learn a song, learn more than just “where your fingers need to go”. Learn the key of the song. Learn the scale degree of each chord in the progression. Learn to hear how these intervals sound and function in the song. Learn to play it in different positions on the fretboard. When you can do this, learning other songs on the fly will come to you so much easier.

 

[Rib 13]

Probably right around a thousand that I know without charts. About 200 of those I also sing. Various genres

 

[RichardW]

Maybe 50 that if someone said "play X" I could play it on the spot. My band has prepared and gigged about 450 songs over time.

I remember an interview with Keith Richards in which he said the Stones probably "know" about 50 of their songs, and the rest they'd have to rehearse.

 

[bassdude51]

If the song is in the 1-4-5 chord progression.............many hundreds of them!

 

[Holdsg]

I view this like concentric circles. A tight circle of ones I regularly play, wider previous band circle, and then the widest circle of songs I have never gigged but learned because I wanted to. The widest circle probably includes more than a thousand songs, that’s how many I have in my On Song app, with lyrics and chords added.

Examples: In my one current Zeppelin band, our 2 hour setlist has gelled over the years and is about 20-24 songs with encores. Those are the inner circle that I have down “cold”. We have another 20 songs we know but have been shelved from the playlist. We sometimes use some of those for Soundcheck.

Add in most recent bands I’ve been in in the last 5 years, that I used to know cold, that’s about 250 more songs. Many of those are cover band “staples” or “standards” that I’ve played in many different bands.

Add in bands from 15 to 5 years back, when I started gigging, another 200 or so songs.

Add in songs I’ve learned just because I wanted to learn them, but have never gigged. There are probably 25 or so of those.

Then add a completely different set of concentric circles for keyboard songs (instead of bass) and that’s where I get to 1000+.

 

[Fynn]

I'm not all too confident in my abilities, so I would say I probably know about 50 right now. I haven't played too much in the past few months, but I would say 50 is about right.
I've played at least 200. I was in a cover band where a setlist was around 60 songs. We wouldn't play all 60, but they changed constantly. At home I've played a lot of songs. Couldn't reliably put a number on it. It's more than I could count.

 

[TheReceder]

Better question might be, how many songs can you convince people that you know, or how many songs did you think you knew, but someone told you otherwise.

For me... as a kid I learned "Blue letter" note for note using an old tape recorder. The much older BL drummer told me it sounded nothing like the recording. Couldn't fire him.

 

[Medicine Man]

my brain can hold around 200 at a time. After that, I randomly forget an old song when I learn a new one. I can pick an old one back up in a playthrough or two or fake one off a chart pretty easily.

 

[Jefenator]

The first 200 are a bear. Then 1) you get good at it and 2) you start noticing most new tunes have things in common with material you've already learned – so there's less weird stuff you have to figure out for the first time.
I have a list somewhere of tunes I could sing lead on in a pinch. It's good to maintain lists like that, because it's all too easy to work up 200 titles then forget about half of them.
I have no idea exactly how many titles I could play bass on from memory. It would be a lot. Would also depend on how easy the song is to guess, how particular they are about the arrangement.
FWIW the ForScore library on my iPad contains 2597 scores, ranging in technical difficulty from Hank Williams lyrics to Beethoven's 9th symphony.

 

[mambo4]

I know 12 bar blues and Rhythm changes
That's about 500 I think

 

[strost]

Thanks all. This is really interesting. I totally forgot to add my high school and college bands - but those were probably about 100-150 total. And I forget most.

And I didn't count any 12-bar blues songs. If we count those, we can all do like a million.

Currently not in a regular band (even when I was, it was more of an "irregular" band) and trying to work up my knowledge base just in case an opportunity arises. I can learn songs quickly and can play anything with an easy progression (assuming no tricky bridges or unusual structures!) but would like to have a bunch just living in my head.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

Maybe around 500-1000? That’s a rough estimate

 

[J Wilson]

I've been playing since the late 70's. I have no idea, but I'd think I'll be here all day if I had to count. Now that I'm sitting here thinking about it, strangely I can't remember the first song I learned, though part of me thinks it was 'LaGrange' on the open A and D strings.

 

[Carlitos]

I think about 200-250 hot and another bunch of cold ones I haven’t played for decades. I’m now in three and a half bands and doing some substitutions; that gives me those numbers.

 

[wintremute]

I think more than a few people mistake "how many songs can I get through" with "how many songs do I know." If you don't know the intros, endings, and signature bass lines, you don't know the song.

This is kinda of a good point.

For the songs I play (other than my own), I tend to play it the way I want to play it, not necessarily note-for-note to match the recording. So, do I "know" the songs?