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Tab as a memory aid

M

mjnyc

Feb 15, 2021
146
216
NYC
#1
Playing some rock songs with a "nyc school of rock" adult group. Memorizing the songs, using various methods including YouTube bass cover videos (very enlightening).

Need a memory aid when I'm not totally secure with a song, don't want to watch the whole video again, am playing with others etc. Up till now I was just writing down the chord changes. Problem is the chord changes don't always jog my memory, especially since they don't tell you what string/fret to start on, and often when I have that, the rest comes automatically.

Lately I've been jotting down a very rudimentary form of tab, with mainly the roots for every chord change and sometimes a few other notes to remind me of a riff.

Just curious, anybody else do anything like this? Any other systems?

Michael
 
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#2
Michael, if I find a decent tab/notation for whatever song I'm working on, I just print them out. The more I listen and play to the song, I may hear a discrepancy with what I've found, using my less than perfect ears (but still an invaluable resource) to make notes and hopefully resolve.

If I can't find a decent tab/notation, I start from scratch using Guitar Pro 5 to notate what I hear.

Like you, if I don't play a song regularly, it's easy to forget the nuances/fills of a song... you go to all that work learning it, right? Much easier to have a reference/review than to... (gasp)...

... relearn it.

*Many moons ago, I took the time to notate RUSH's 'Natural Science', by hand. It's somewhere in the house, and I'd really like to make it more professional, entering it into GP5... I hope it didn't get donated, with my Mr. Potato collection.
 
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#3
mjnyc said:
Problem is the chord changes don't always jog my memory, especially since they don't tell you what string/fret to start on, and often when I have that, the rest comes automatically.
Click to expand...
If you know your fingerboard well enough, they do.

It sounds like a good thing to practice would be arpeggios, so that eventually you'll know your fingerboard like the back of your hand.
 
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#5
Papageno said:
If you know your fingerboard well enough, they do.
Click to expand...

Let me clarify this. I do know the notes on the fretboard well on strings 3 and 4 and fairly well on the others. My point was, when I see a chord in a chord chart, it's not always clear where/which string to play that chord/root from. Once I get my finger on the appropriate string/fret, the rest of the passage often comes back to memory automatically.

Standard notation is a whole other topic, which compounds the problem of where to play the note from, and I have a very tough time going from standard notation to the fretboard.

Michael
 
#7
mjnyc said:
Let me clarify this. I do know the notes on the fretboard well on strings 3 and 4 and fairly well on the others. My point was, when I see a chord in a chord chart, it's not always clear where/which string to play that chord/root from. Once I get my finger on the appropriate string/fret, the rest of the passage often comes back to memory automatically.

Standard notation is a whole other topic, which compounds the problem of where to play the note from, and I have a very tough time going from standard notation to the fretboard.

Michael
Click to expand...
I did not imply you don't know your fingerboard at all, I wrote that it seemed to me that you don't know it well enough. (otherwise you wouldn't need to ask).

If you practice your arpeggios a lot (i.e. all chords, all qualities, all inversions, in all areas of the fingerboard), I assure you that you will know where to play your chords (actually, it is entirely up to you to chose this, depending on what you want to achieve musically).
 
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#9
mjnyc said:
Playing some rock songs with a "nyc school of rock" adult group. Memorizing the songs, using various methods including YouTube bass cover videos (very enlightening).

Need a memory aid when I'm not totally secure with a song, don't want to watch the whole video again, am playing with others etc. Up till now I was just writing down the chord changes. Problem is the chord changes don't always jog my memory, especially since they don't tell you what string/fret to start on, and often when I have that, the rest comes automatically.

Lately I've been jotting down a very rudimentary form of tab, with mainly the roots for every chord change and sometimes a few other notes to remind me of a riff.

Just curious, anybody else do anything like this? Any other systems?

Michael
Click to expand...
I have an iPad with Ultimate Guitar, Premium (paid) version. With this, I can make a playlist of every tune I expect to play with a particular group and refer to it if needed. With Wifi/internet, I can also lookup any song on the fly.

For "Official" transcriptions, you get:
TAB for each instrument
Standard notation for each instrument
Chords over lyrics
Transpose key
Play the song (MIDI type output), solo/mute each instrument.
Change speed of playback

This works well for most rock tunes. For originals, other genres, I use iRealPro or OnSong, or just write notes in a Google Doc.

I'd recommend Ultimate Guitar and Google Docs for notes. Ideally, you know the song well enough that a chord chart is enough to jog our memory, I rarely need to look at tab/notation once I learn the song.
 
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#11
mambo4 said:
So is the root of the problem :
  • you see a Am7 and don't know where an A is
  • or you see Am7 and can't decide which A to use?
Click to expand...
Definitely the second.

When I memorize a bass line to a song, I can pretty much play it from memory, no problem, after I've learned it.

If I haven't played it very recently, I need something to jog my memory to get started. Often (not always) just starting on the right note/string/fret will get me started and I can play from there. Sometimes I need the same push for a different section of a song. So that's why seeing Am7 doesn't automatically get me where I need to be.

If I'm not trying to more or less replicate the original bassline but just playing roots and some other notes this isn't an issue, if I have a chord chart. But playing from memory for me is more visualizing the notes to play on the fretboard rather than remembering the chords. Maybe this is the same thing as so-called "muscle memory".

Michael
 
#12
RyanOh said:
I have an iPad with Ultimate Guitar, Premium (paid) version. With this, I can make a playlist of every tune I expect to play with a particular group and refer to it if needed. .
Click to expand...

Thanks.

I have UG premium and IReal pro too, and find them very useful. I'm taking jazz lessons also and IReal is the preferred app of my teacher.

I guess what I'm trying to say is ... when I'm playing with other people, songs that I've learned, sometimes my memory is such that when we jump in, I can't remember how to start. I need a little something to get started. The name of the chord doesn't jumpstart my memory, but a specific string/fret will.

As I think about it, complete tab is overkill for this purpose. Which is why I was trying to just tab out a few notes.

Michael
 
#13
mjnyc said:
Definitely the second.

When I memorize a bass line to a song, I can pretty much play it from memory, no problem, after I've learned it.

If I haven't played it very recently, I need something to jog my memory to get started. Often (not always) just starting on the right note/string/fret will get me started and I can play from there. Sometimes I need the same push for a different section of a song. So that's why seeing Am7 doesn't automatically get me where I need to be.

If I'm not trying to more or less replicate the original bassline but just playing roots and some other notes this isn't an issue, if I have a chord chart. But playing from memory for me is more visualizing the notes to play on the fretboard rather than remembering the chords. Maybe this is the same thing as so-called "muscle memory".

Michael
Click to expand...
A quick fix to this is simply annotate your chord charts, to indicate on which string to play the root.

For example Am7 (E) means play the A on E string, Am7 (A) means play open A (or whatever you find convenient).
 
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#14
mjnyc said:
I guess what I'm trying to say is ... when I'm playing with other people, songs that I've learned, sometimes my memory is such that when we jump in, I can't remember how to start. I need a little something to get started. The name of the chord doesn't jumpstart my memory, but a specific string/fret will.
Click to expand...
I also make playlists in Spotify for all the tunes I play in bands. I sub in bands once every other month etc, so I forget tunes...but I can listen to music while I'm at work, while I'm driving, taking a walk. I purposefully listen to songs without a bass in my hands and just listen, I want to hear nuances or variations I never noticed before and incorporate it into my playing.

The repetition of listening is helpful, but ultimately I find that playing songs live with others is what reinforces my memory. You'll get better at it, play as much as possible in a live setting.
 
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#17
Lately I've spent more and more time as a hired gun. At 60, I found it increasingly difficult to remember what key, etc. of all the songs. My solution is a Samsung Tab A running an eReader program, held using a special purpose mic stand mount. I go on the internet, find the tabs, chord chart, whatever I need for the song, copy it into Word, make edits and annotations as necessary as I listen to the song, the export it as a pdf and move it to the tablet.

At performance I open the song file, review it quickly, and then play the song. Never causes a problem, but I'm not actually reading the chart. It is just a memory aid.
 
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#18
Nothing wrong with whatever type of cheat sheet works for you. But keep it as short as possible - just whatever will trigger the things you do know.

A few years ago, I joined a band, and had to learn about 48 songs in 4 weeks. For the first few gigs, I had a two page sheet, next gig one page, next gig 5 lines.
 
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#19
mjnyc said:
Playing some rock songs with a "nyc school of rock" adult group. Memorizing the songs, using various methods including YouTube bass cover videos (very enlightening).

Need a memory aid when I'm not totally secure with a song, don't want to watch the whole video again, am playing with others etc. Up till now I was just writing down the chord changes. Problem is the chord changes don't always jog my memory, especially since they don't tell you what string/fret to start on, and often when I have that, the rest comes automatically.

Lately I've been jotting down a very rudimentary form of tab, with mainly the roots for every chord change and sometimes a few other notes to remind me of a riff.

Just curious, anybody else do anything like this? Any other systems?

Michael
Click to expand...

I have a notebook with many set lists. For each tune in order, I have the sequence of chord changes and any specific note sequence what I want to play. Usually a glance or two is all I need to get memory going.

In recent times I've been using a tablet running Songbook to give me the chords in real time. Since both guitar players also use tablets and software, at least we're consistent.

I suspect I am not alone, and my ability to memorize songs and chord changes has not improved with age.
 
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