It comes down to learning the material, rather than trying to remember it.
Simple way is to chart it out.
No bass involved, the instrument is not needed, as it is not a playing issue that is physical, it is a playing issue that us mental.
"If you can say it you can play it." was what i was taught, the idea is that if you chart out and understand the arrangement you simple play what you learned from it.
Now this is a cool way to learn a song deeper, so here is an example to try.
Take any song you can play and without listening to it, or using an instrument to play it, write down its arrangement by bars.
So points to include are intro;
Do all the instruments come in together or do the build in to song?
When does the 1st verse actually start, does it start with the vocals or is there a lead in?
Does a chorus follow the verse or is there a device such as middle 8, bridge, pre chorus etc...is there another device being used that is to verse chorus?
When does the solo, or instrument break happen and for how long?
How do all these parts fit together, are their bar lengths the same, is there a pattern that appears.
How does the song finish, is there an outro or three being used to set up finishing the song?
There is more to it than listed above, the idea is to work out your own method and apply it to your songs.
So what you get is a consistent methodology to apply to in-consistant situations.
The process of learning becomes the same, looking for the same components and working out where they are produces an arrangement you can learn.
So when learning a song, take pen and paper and listen to it, no instrument needed, and write out the bars involved as you listen to it.
The process of the repeated listening to small parts as you write them down is reinforced learning of what is involved, by using your mental process to sort out the arrangement means you can recall what you write easier, in my case i can see a mental picture of the page i am playing, or the lyrics i am singing.
Writing out what you want to play in this way gives you the arrangement by bars, add the chords, or notes being used, once you have the bar arrangement, and you have a written learned arrangement. Notes or chords can be added once you learn the bar arrangement, you just add them at the appropriate places....so again you are going through the song in a deeper way than just remembering it, you are learning it.
The simple way to highlight this is that we all know the alphabet, so what letter comes after 'L'?
Now can you just recall it, or do you have to recite it?
If you can say it you have learned it, if you have to recite you have memorised it, but the point is you can recall the info, but one is more immediate,and since our memories can play tricks on us, such as forgetting things, then learning it is better than remembering it.
Since music flows then immediate recall is needed, there is not time to recite..we need recall, and ignored to have good recall we need to learn, not memorise.
Simple way is to chart it out.
No bass involved, the instrument is not needed, as it is not a playing issue that is physical, it is a playing issue that us mental.
"If you can say it you can play it." was what i was taught, the idea is that if you chart out and understand the arrangement you simple play what you learned from it.
Now this is a cool way to learn a song deeper, so here is an example to try.
Take any song you can play and without listening to it, or using an instrument to play it, write down its arrangement by bars.
So points to include are intro;
Do all the instruments come in together or do the build in to song?
When does the 1st verse actually start, does it start with the vocals or is there a lead in?
Does a chorus follow the verse or is there a device such as middle 8, bridge, pre chorus etc...is there another device being used that is to verse chorus?
When does the solo, or instrument break happen and for how long?
How do all these parts fit together, are their bar lengths the same, is there a pattern that appears.
How does the song finish, is there an outro or three being used to set up finishing the song?
There is more to it than listed above, the idea is to work out your own method and apply it to your songs.
So what you get is a consistent methodology to apply to in-consistant situations.
The process of learning becomes the same, looking for the same components and working out where they are produces an arrangement you can learn.
So when learning a song, take pen and paper and listen to it, no instrument needed, and write out the bars involved as you listen to it.
The process of the repeated listening to small parts as you write them down is reinforced learning of what is involved, by using your mental process to sort out the arrangement means you can recall what you write easier, in my case i can see a mental picture of the page i am playing, or the lyrics i am singing.
Writing out what you want to play in this way gives you the arrangement by bars, add the chords, or notes being used, once you have the bar arrangement, and you have a written learned arrangement. Notes or chords can be added once you learn the bar arrangement, you just add them at the appropriate places....so again you are going through the song in a deeper way than just remembering it, you are learning it.
The simple way to highlight this is that we all know the alphabet, so what letter comes after 'L'?
Now can you just recall it, or do you have to recite it?
If you can say it you have learned it, if you have to recite you have memorised it, but the point is you can recall the info, but one is more immediate,and since our memories can play tricks on us, such as forgetting things, then learning it is better than remembering it.
Since music flows then immediate recall is needed, there is not time to recite..we need recall, and ignored to have good recall we need to learn, not memorise.
. Thanks.
