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Memorizing songs?

#161
If the band is new and just getting started, I can see it but I quit a band back in 2020 and one of the reasons was everyone was reading music for songs we had been performing for 3 years straight. The majority of the band was made up of cats with music degrees who played in the armed forces bands or were music teachers. Why don't they teach music memorization in school? Why do they make kids rely on sheet music? I was the ONLY one in the band who memorized all the music. Seemed like the BL hated that I wasn't reading. Even the drummer was reading.

Bottom line is I'm not a fan of music stands/phone or tablet stand on gigs. Engage the audience instead of focusing on the music/lyrics. School performances or orchestra jobs, I don't care but bands gigging, I prefer not.
 
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#163
I recently changed my view about this. I joined a band last year that played a lot of challenging tunes (close to 60), many of which (most, actually to be honest) were new to me. The band was also not very well organized when it came to putting set lists together. I had used BandHelper some years back in another band, and brought that into the mix. I put together charts for most of them. and added recordings as well. It was a great way to get up to speed quickly. The lead guitarist/singer liked it also for setlists and to refer to lyrics if needed. Before long, 3 of us (all but the drummer) had iPads on our stands.

Last month, we organized a video shoot at a local club - no audience (first mistake), and the lead guy initially said "no iPads" but changed his mind. When we got the videos back, I was appalled - every shot, close-up or otherwise, featured nice views of the backs of our devices. And although we didn't look at them constantly, it was pretty evident when we did.

So this season - my vow is no iPads. By now I know the songs pretty well, and still use BandHelper when I want to run through a set or learn something new. So my lesson from this experience - a learning tool can become a crutch.

By comparison, I stopped playing in a NewGrass band last year that never used music stands or devices (I did finally put my foot down on setlists to avoid too much hemming and hawing in between songs) and watching videos of that band was enlightening - much more engagement both between the players and with the audience.
 
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#164
This thread… again?

if all you do for a living is thump roots and fifths in one rock & roll band, then yeah I suppose you should be able to memorize a fifty minute set of material. Heck, I’ve been there.

but I’ve also been a multi-instrumentalist, subbing on drums for a clubdate company in a three-set format and playing lead guitar in a different band. Often being asked to play something that I’d never played before, with a group of players with whom I’d never played before. In front of hundreds of wedding or corporate guests.

it’s not possible to memorize in that context.

and since OP is gratuitously going to some lengths to knock folks who do need the ‘crutch’ in certain circumstances, I’ll one-up him: if you are incapable of reading lead sheets on the fly in front of a large audience while simultaneously following the bandleader, you have no business claiming to be a professional musician.

Furthermore: a reading musician can easily know, without looking at music, a bunch of stuff he’s never played before. If someone calls a Charlie Parker tune with which you’re not familiar, and you ask and they say “it’s rhythm changes in B flat”, you know it already. No ‘bassist’ who has barely managed to memorize a dozen Stones tunes can do that.
 
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#165
Flatwound said:
Last night at rehearsal, I called the keyboardist out for playing some wrong chords. Had to go over the song a couple of times to get him back on track. But I can’t stop in the middle of a gig and say, hey, that’s a Cm right there. You know, like the last hundred times we played it.
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If they can't even get the current songs right what's it like trying to get them to learn new material?

I don't know if it was mentioned in the past 9 pages but it's important for band members to watch one another and they can't do that if they're busy looking at sheet music.
 
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#166
coyote1 said:
This thread… again?

if all you do for a living is thump roots and fifths in one rock & roll band, then yeah I suppose you should be able to memorize a fifty minute set of material. Heck, I’ve been there.

but I’ve also been a multi-instrumentalist, subbing on drums for a clubdate company in a three-set format and playing lead guitar in a different band. Often being asked to play something that I’d never played before, with a group of players with whom I’d never played before. In front of hundreds of wedding or corporate guests.

it’s not possible to memorize in that context.

and since OP is gratuitously going to some lengths to knock folks who do need the ‘crutch’ in certain circumstances, I’ll one-up him: if you are incapable of reading lead sheets on the fly in front of a large audience while simultaneously following the bandleader, you have no business claiming to be a professional musician.
Click to expand...

:bassist:
 
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#170
Rib 13 said:
Back then, gigs were 5 nights per week...
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Can confirm.
During the mid-80s I did a 6 nighter at a hotel bar that was 3 dance sets and 2 Elvis impersonator sets. This lasted for 3 months.

We could, and often did, play those tunes in our sleep.

Expecting 4 or 5 hours of music to be memorized when you're only gigging one night a week is a lot harder ask.
 
#171
emal said:
a) As someone who has the hardest time learning songs by ear, I understand cheat sheets , but 18 months is long!
B) Memory is like a.muscle.
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A) there’s a cure for that. It’s called “ear training”, and is available at the nearest college that has a music program. Learn to hear intervals and chord qualities correctly, and learning songs by ear becomes much easier.

B) not knocking memory. But memorize what matters. Knowing in the first two measures whether you’re in a blues, or a minor blues, or a jazz blues with turnarounds, or an AABA standard, or a modal two chord thing, or whatever is far more useful than saying “hey I know Billy Squier’s Love Me Tonight!”
 
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#173
I sometimes have like...spark notes of lyrics down, out of sight, on the pedal board, just with like the first two words or so of the line, but that's because I'm memorizing all the bass lines and sometimes the words get a little jumbled in my head, since I'm playing and singing, but it's only for like one or two songs. But if its the difference between playing the song right or botching the words, I'm going to have the cheat sheet, as I'd rather get it right than not. I prefer not to have them, but hey, it's a lot to remember.

I've got a couple bootlegs where pro bands bumble the lyrics, first one that comes to mind is Ozzy repeating or getting lyrics in the wrong place live in some Sabbath stuff. 'Course, at least in that instance, substances may have had an effect ;)
 
#177
In that setting you should have the material memorized. Or have a setlist on the floor with a crib note or two if a reminder of some kind is needed.

The one carve out is the keyboard player. It feels natural to see someone at a keyboard with sheet music or a tablet so that doesn't bother me.
 

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