Members Stackabones Posted April 30, 2008 Members Share Posted April 30, 2008 For the ones I perform often, yes. But I've got a few in my notebook or recorded that I haven't memorized yet. For my solo sets (guitar/vox), I have about three plus hours of material memorized -- a mix of standards, rock, blues, country, etc. For one of the bands I've played with for several years (guitar only) it's probably around five or six hours ... though at one time it was a bit more. Of course, many songs follow certain patterns (like 12-bar blues and the Rhythm Changes) that make it easier for me to remember the music, but the lyrics ... that seems to belong in a different space in my mind. Is memorization important to you? Sorta OT ... method of loci. I wonder if anyone here has used it for songs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Spring_of_Life Posted April 30, 2008 Members Share Posted April 30, 2008 I know most of the lyrics and I can usually figure the chords out from memory, but friends have had to teach me my own songs in the middle of practice before. It's a little embarrassing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ido1957 Posted April 30, 2008 Members Share Posted April 30, 2008 Yes:thu: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eddieboston2 Posted April 30, 2008 Members Share Posted April 30, 2008 If I don't play them all the time they disappear very quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eeglug Posted April 30, 2008 Members Share Posted April 30, 2008 I don't play live so after I finish recording, I forget them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wwwjd Posted April 30, 2008 Members Share Posted April 30, 2008 some yes, some no. some come back FULLY after a couple seconds of re aquaintance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted April 30, 2008 Members Share Posted April 30, 2008 Do you know all of your original songs by heart?I believe the pertinent expression is bwahahahaha! While I can remember obscure and sometimes minute details from my childhood, details from conversations years ago, etc, the ability to remember a poem or a song in sequence is very difficult for me. I have to continually practice/rehearse it. It never seems to lock in for long. When I was around 14 or 15 I got sick of that and decided to work on my memory. I got books of mnemonic tricks (most of which I've forgoten... no, really... about the only one I remember is the image ladder trick and it doesn't seem to work too well for me anymore... I think it's overused and all the old images of shopping list associations, etc, keep re-emerging). And I forced myself to learn Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky, certainly the longest work I've ever been able to remember. I was able to recite it for a few months or so. After a while it was just the first two stanzas. Now it's maybe two lines... past "...gimble in the wabe..." I'm lost. The next longest I ever learned was Leonard Cohen's "Stories of the Street" for a "Leonard Cohen live cover" contest promoing a new LC album at a local club. (I had some absurd idea that Lenny might come down to see us clowns massacre his songs.) It was a major feat for me... but it was forgotten within a couple days. (Someone else won -- I think he got a free album. Amusingly, I was talking to one of my clients recently and he mentioned the contest (maybe 16 or 17 years ago) and I said, yeah, I was in that, I didn't remember him and he said, Really? I was the guy who won.) With regard to my own songs, out of roughly 150, I might be able to remember maybe 3 or possibly 4 well enough to peform them without crib notes -- but I can't remember which ones those are. (That's only kind of a joke.) Now, with regards to chords, for some reason I'm usually a lot better there. I used to never write down the chords and while there were only 20 or 30, that wasn't bad. But now, I try to remember to write down the chords when they're locked in. (That's another thing... I tend to figure the arrangement of many of my songs is kind of dynamic... but every now and then I just completely blank and have to go back to a recording to figure it out if I haven't written them down.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vladtra Posted April 30, 2008 Members Share Posted April 30, 2008 Yeah I got all my songs in my memory. Have'nt performed live yet, looking forward to it. Thinking of putting on a decent show.I have about 15 minutes worth of music memorized. I'm doing good for a 24 year old. I have a friend that plays guitar and and a friend that plays drums. Something about live instruments that is fun. I need to find some filled up venues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Johnny-Boy Posted April 30, 2008 Members Share Posted April 30, 2008 None of them by heart. Thank goodness for the written note. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Microwave Walrus Posted April 30, 2008 Members Share Posted April 30, 2008 yeswhen i see professional bigtime musicians on stage, they never read from lyric or music sheetsso i have always pretty much assumed that's the way to go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted April 30, 2008 Members Share Posted April 30, 2008 yes when i see professional bigtime musicians on stage, they never read from lyric or music sheets so i have always pretty much assumed that's the way to go Yah! If you can do it. That said, I strongly suspect if I was doing the same damn 12 songs night after night, I'd probably actually even be able to pull it off. Until I blew out my brains in some hotel room. I don't respond well to enforced boredom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rudolf von Hagenwil Posted April 30, 2008 Members Share Posted April 30, 2008 I can't even remember what I composed yesterday... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eeglug Posted April 30, 2008 Members Share Posted April 30, 2008 John Lennon was notorious for messing up his lyrics, even in the studio as can be heard on some early Beatles recordings. On the Let It Be rooftop concert, he messed up on "Don't Let Me Down" and sang nonsense syllables before recovering. He managed to get through "Dig A Pony" thanks to a roadie holding a clipboard with the lyrics (the roadie was crouched down out of camera view)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeveryHarper Posted May 1, 2008 Members Share Posted May 1, 2008 Hell no! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Stackabones Posted May 1, 2008 Author Members Share Posted May 1, 2008 Okay, y'all have peaked my curiosity. It seems the general idea is that some of HCSWers don't memorize original music. In the past couple of years, especially for my solo sets, I've been performing a mix of tunes ... by heart and by the page. I decided, as a New Year's Resolution I guess, to try to play my solo sets just by heart. Something about reading off the page at gigs wasn't cutting it for me. Maybe I couldn't make as much eye-contact with the audience or maybe I couldn't get deeper into the song. Maybe I was rebelling against the jazz cats who show up with a music stand and just read the charts. I don't know. I feel that it's very important to play songs live and play them live often to get deeper into them -- though lately I often record songs after the first blush of composition (this has to more to do with having the gee-whiz gadgetry than anything else). Just rambling here. Try to figure it out. I also really revel in the notion that I can show up anywhere at anytime with a pick in my pocket, a guitar in my lap, and a headfull of songs and play for hours. Makes me feel like a troubadour or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted May 1, 2008 Members Share Posted May 1, 2008 No, that all makes sense. I just wish I could do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kennychaffin Posted May 1, 2008 Members Share Posted May 1, 2008 For the ones I perform often, yes. But I've got a few in my notebook or recorded that I haven't memorized yet.For my solo sets (guitar/vox), I have about three plus hours of material memorized -- a mix of standards, rock, blues, country, etc. For one of the bands I've played with for several years (guitar only) it's probably around five or six hours ... though at one time it was a bit more. Of course, many songs follow certain patterns (like 12-bar blues and the Rhythm Changes) that make it easier for me to remember the music, but the lyrics ... that seems to belong in a different space in my mind.Is memorization important to you?Sorta OT ... method of loci. I wonder if anyone here has used it for songs? Good topic. Yes, I think it's important when performing, but I have an awful time memorizing tunes. Sometimes I think I just don't have that ability in my brain. I'm currently working on learning some Celtic tunes on whistle and flute and have actually memorized a couple, but I definitely struggle with it. KAC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kennychaffin Posted May 1, 2008 Members Share Posted May 1, 2008 None of them by heart. Thank goodness for the written note. John I'm definitely with you on that! KAC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members King_For_A_Day Posted May 1, 2008 Members Share Posted May 1, 2008 Use it or lose it! I definately forget songs if I don't go over them frequently. I have lead sheets (lyrics & chords) from older songs that I never recorded, even as demos. Some of these songs are evidently gone forever since I don't remember how they go any more. Of course some of them are best forgotten........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MattSkibaIsGOD Posted May 2, 2008 Members Share Posted May 2, 2008 Yeah, most of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kirobaito Posted May 2, 2008 Members Share Posted May 2, 2008 Yes, I know all of my songs by memory. However, I still always have a lyric sheet there with me just in case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Stackabones Posted May 2, 2008 Author Members Share Posted May 2, 2008 Yes, I know all of my songs by memory. However, I still always have a lyric sheet there with me just in case. So ... technically you're disqualified! You're walking the highwire with a net!!! Much more interesting without a net! :poke: But isn't the "just in case" where all the magic happens? I've come up with whole verses because I've flubbed one and had to think fast -- or at least mumble convincingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WrdsNmuzik Posted May 6, 2008 Members Share Posted May 6, 2008 I need the lyric sheet nearby until the song's really planted in my head, and sometimes even after that, depending on how wordy the song is. Back in my band-days, I was constantly flubbing lyrics to my own songs, but I took some comfort in the fact that Lennon constantly flubbed in many of the old live Beatles bootlegs....even screwed up "Help" in the "official" hollywood bowl release, if memory serves. as for the music, yes, I have to remember it. I can't write it down, other than chords, so long ago I got into the habit of remembering what I was playing very quickly. used to record first ideas on cassette and listen to help it sink in, but I don't even do that anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mr.O Posted May 7, 2008 Members Share Posted May 7, 2008 Me too!! I don't play live so after I finish recording, I forget them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BrianKeesy Posted May 8, 2008 Members Share Posted May 8, 2008 I heard once that Harry Nilsson was bad about remembering lyrics also but he was so good at improvising that he would just make stuff up on the spot. As for myself, I only wish I could remember all the lyrics I write. I don't have a problem remembering the music, even if I don't play the song for a while. But lyrics will elude me minutes after reading them. While we are on the subject, is there any good ways to help memorize lyrics? I've just been playing my songs over and over but that doesn't always help for some reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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