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Memorizing lyrics -- Age related
- Thread starter hbarcat
- Start date
When you were younger were the songs you played in your head on daily basis via radio? Are the ones you're trying to learn now in your head on a daily basis? I've found that the lyrics to classic rock songs we cover are easy as they were ingrained many years ago. More modern stuff has not gotten the same level of play time.
s0c9
Supporting Member
As a former (and still) guitar player before moving to bass.. lyrics weren't that big a deal for me when playing guitar.
Hold a chord, strum a little, sing.
I can't do that with some lyrics and the syncopated bass lines I sometimes play.
I do a LOT of backing vocals in my main band but there are some songs we play that not only can I NOT remember the lyrics, but can't sing them anyway. left brain-right brain ?? <shrug> idk
Hold a chord, strum a little, sing.
I can't do that with some lyrics and the syncopated bass lines I sometimes play.
I do a LOT of backing vocals in my main band but there are some songs we play that not only can I NOT remember the lyrics, but can't sing them anyway. left brain-right brain ?? <shrug> idk
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A couple of things. Age and long and short term memory. Data that you recall no matter how long you learned it is in long term memory. Data that you have recently learned is still in short term memory, and is more easily forgotten. Repitition over time moves it from short to long term. Stuff I learned from a professional technical trainer course.
You're one year younger than me. I still use the same method I used in the 80s and it still works.
My main trouble was keeping verses straight. I remember using this on a song for the first time on The Weight by The Band.
First I pictured everything in that song actually happening as a story. Next I picked key words from each line and just made a sentence out of that. That reminded me of which came next.
Now I didn't have that much trouble with all songs I learned over the years, but there we a few such as that a Hot Rod Lincoln, Wreak of the Edmond Fitzgerald, and the like which had a lot of words.
I still find this visualization of it happening to be a great help. I did something similar when I was a kid and had to learn and recite the Village Blacksmith poem for school.
Every song doesn’t tell a story but one can still do this with any group of sentences that make some sort of sense.
My main trouble was keeping verses straight. I remember using this on a song for the first time on The Weight by The Band.
First I pictured everything in that song actually happening as a story. Next I picked key words from each line and just made a sentence out of that. That reminded me of which came next.
Now I didn't have that much trouble with all songs I learned over the years, but there we a few such as that a Hot Rod Lincoln, Wreak of the Edmond Fitzgerald, and the like which had a lot of words.
I still find this visualization of it happening to be a great help. I did something similar when I was a kid and had to learn and recite the Village Blacksmith poem for school.
Every song doesn’t tell a story but one can still do this with any group of sentences that make some sort of sense.
Every jazz band I have ever been in uses charts and fake books and real books at some point during the set, often on a tablet.
If you play the upright bass, it is big enough to put a whole set list of tunes taped to the sides or even velcro that tablet. Watch out for using your phone, as I have a couple of friends who get a kick out of calling whenever they see that and then the chart drops during the song.....
If you play the upright bass, it is big enough to put a whole set list of tunes taped to the sides or even velcro that tablet. Watch out for using your phone, as I have a couple of friends who get a kick out of calling whenever they see that and then the chart drops during the song.....
No. When I started playing in metal bands in the 1980s, heavy metal wasn't ever played on radio stations. I listened to music constantly on cassette tapes.
When I switched genres to "classic rock", I could hear all the songs on the radio anytime.
I drive down the road singing, to the mix station, I knew more lyrics to cheezy top 40 songs, 70s stuff a few 80s and 60s even some 50s.
My active pop years sort of ended after 80s pop, and rock. After that... mostly jazzy, yacht rock, bebop, trad... whatever. The local pop station or oldies gets very little airplay. I'm still going thru my cd collection tho'
My active pop years sort of ended after 80s pop, and rock. After that... mostly jazzy, yacht rock, bebop, trad... whatever. The local pop station or oldies gets very little airplay. I'm still going thru my cd collection tho'
My only suggestion is listen to the sounds over and over whenever and wherever possible. Then get "in character" with the vocalist you're working on emulating. Eventually it will get ingrained.
I'm going to repeat something that has already been said because I believe it the most effective of all of the suggestions. WRITE IT DOWN. By hand. The one that works best for me is just do it like I did when I was younger. Start listening to the song. Listen to a line, hit pause, write it down, rewind and then go a little further. By the time i'm done (yes it takes a while) I usually don't really need the notes anyway. I work with other singers who just pull the lyrics up on their phone and expect to learn them that way (or they don't expect to learn them so they use prompters forever) I am not knocking anyone who uses ipads if that's what you want to do. If you don't want to, try this.
I’m afraid I can’t function at 100% as an entertainer with my eyes on paper. It’s no fun for me and no fun for my audience. Prompts are ok but if I have to think about where I am on a page while playing and singing I’m probably already more lost than I want to be. Time to hang it up, for me, at that point.
Since my cancer diagnosis and chemo treatments I have taken to carrying a tablet with anything new that we do until it becomes a standard for us. It a fact of my life that at 70 and cancer treatment sometimes I need a little help!
Duke
Duke
Memory problems are real and I am starting to experience them.
I’ve been taking private lessons for jazz for the last year or so. I am very pleased with my instructor and my progress.
However, a little over a month ago, we started on a new song - In a Sentimental Mood. I wasn’t all that familiar with the song when we started working on it. I follow the accepted method of learning a song. First, I listen to many recordings of it to the point where I can sing the melody. Then, I learn the melody by ear followed by working out multiple bass lines. Lastly, I work out a solo. In the course of working on the song for about two weeks, I listened to recordings about 100 times and played the song probably 200 times. I was especially proud of the solo I came up with.
Then we started on a different song. After working on the newest song for about a week, I went back to play Sentimental Mood. I found that I didn’t remember anything about the song. It was if I had never heard or played it before. That experience scared the heck out of me.
I scheduled an appointment to see my primary care doctor later this month to see if any of the current meds or combinations of those meds might be causing the problem. Hopefully, there is a simple explanation for what I experienced. My long term memory is still like a vault. I have absolute clear memory of code that I wrote (line for line for 1000’s of lines) 40 years ago.
I’ve been taking private lessons for jazz for the last year or so. I am very pleased with my instructor and my progress.
However, a little over a month ago, we started on a new song - In a Sentimental Mood. I wasn’t all that familiar with the song when we started working on it. I follow the accepted method of learning a song. First, I listen to many recordings of it to the point where I can sing the melody. Then, I learn the melody by ear followed by working out multiple bass lines. Lastly, I work out a solo. In the course of working on the song for about two weeks, I listened to recordings about 100 times and played the song probably 200 times. I was especially proud of the solo I came up with.
Then we started on a different song. After working on the newest song for about a week, I went back to play Sentimental Mood. I found that I didn’t remember anything about the song. It was if I had never heard or played it before. That experience scared the heck out of me.
I scheduled an appointment to see my primary care doctor later this month to see if any of the current meds or combinations of those meds might be causing the problem. Hopefully, there is a simple explanation for what I experienced. My long term memory is still like a vault. I have absolute clear memory of code that I wrote (line for line for 1000’s of lines) 40 years ago.
