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Thread: How long do you guys remember songs?

  1. #1

    Default How long do you guys remember songs?

    My normal routine is to learn a new song, normally takes A week or two. I add it to my practice session. I end up with about 6 or 7 songs I’m currently playing by memory. As I go forward the oldest song that I’ve learned falls off the practice list. If I go back to my notes / tab of an older song I can play it again but need to work out the parts I’ve forgotten. How many songs do you guys remember by memory only? I sometimes feel like I should be able to remember more than I do. Just curious how others go about practice and do you work your older stuff in? I don’t seem to have the time to practice a lot of songs while spending most of my time on the new stuff. Thx for your input .

  2. #2
    Registered User Mandobart's Avatar
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    Default Re: How long do you guys remember songs?

    I don't forget the songs I learned by ear or had someone show me. I learned some fiddle tunes 46 years ago by watching/listening to a local fiddler in my town that I still know.

    If I learn a song from sheet music I never really know it as well. I have around 300 songs that I know the chords, leads, intro, lyrics, outro well enough to get up and perform.

    I go to 2 to 4 weekly acoustic jams where we play a bunch of tunes. That helps me keep them current better than sitting at home playing with myself....

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    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: How long do you guys remember songs?

    Songs or tunes? I still remember the songs I learned decades ago but may need refreshing for all the lyrics. Tunes I remember are the ones I have been posting for decades. The ones that I learned recently I just need the first few notes to get it going. I really need a little book of the first bar or two of each tune in case I can’t remember it. Sometimes I can sit there for maybe ten minutes and the tune will pop into my head. Memory is a strange thing.

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    Default Re: How long do you guys remember songs?

    The more often you play and sing the songs/tunes the more you can remember. Use it or lose it, is true.
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    Default Re: How long do you guys remember songs?

    Still remember chords, lead guitar, & most words from at leat half the songs of my college rock band, back in '65-'68 (several being "tunes", a/k/a "instrumentals", a/k/a "surf music"!). That would number at several dozen; total that we actually learned was over 70.

    REAL fun was one of us hearing a new song on the radio =always released on Tuesdays=, deciding it was worth chasing, and then playing it live Friday night!

    Of course, more recent stuff hasn't been pounded into my head for quite as long.
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  6. #6

    Default Re: How long do you guys remember songs?

    I’m very new at this but agree, if I don’t play a song for six months I have to take a few tries before I remember how to play it. I’m up to about 80 memorized songs after 2.5 years but there are probably a dozen of those that would take me a half hour to an hour of refresher to get them back under my fingers.

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    Default Re: How long do you guys remember songs?

    wait what was the question?
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  9. #8

    Default Re: How long do you guys remember songs?

    I find that writing down the words helps me to remember them.

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  10. #9

    Default Re: How long do you guys remember songs?

    for me if I learn a song by ear I pretty much wont forget it. I have never used tabs for mandolin so not sure if I would retain it the same.

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    Registered User foldedpath's Avatar
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    Default Re: How long do you guys remember songs?

    In Irish/Scottish trad (the music I mostly play) a tune is an instrumental piece and a song has lyrics and is sung, so I'll use that distinction and talk only about tunes because that's what I play. What might be called "fiddle tunes" in OldTime or Bluegrass -- reels, jigs, hornpipes, etc.

    There are two different categories of tunes I can play from memory. In the first category are ones I know well enough that I can start them in a pub session and then the others join in, often in sets of three tunes where I'll lead the transition to the following tunes. I have maybe 50-60 or so tunes memorized in this category that I can confidently start from scratch.

    However it's not a static list! I'm constantly learning new tunes that creep into the "can confidently play" list while older tunes roll off the back end. I have to be careful to keep practicing some of the common session standards for the sake of playing with others, and not let the list get filled up with weird tunes that only I enjoy playing. There's a social aspect here, which may not apply if you play music by yourself at home.

    In the second category are tunes that fell off the back end of practice. Ones I used to play years ago but haven't brushed up on recently. I couldn't start these tunes from scratch if my life depended on it, but I can join in if someone else starts them to jog my memory. I don't know how many tunes are in this category but it must be at least a hundred, maybe more.

    In the local amateur Irish/Scottish music scene that makes me something of a low-end tune starter. Some of these people have been playing this music all their lives and have an astoundingly large tune repertoire. I've only been doing this for around 15 years now.
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    harvester of clams Bill McCall's Avatar
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    Default Re: How long do you guys remember songs?

    I learned ‘Happy Birthday’ and others when I was in kindergarten. Still know them. Don’t remember many rock songs but some Doc Watson tunes I’ve played and sung for over 50 years. Better the song, better the memory.

    Fiddle tunes are a different story.
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    two t's and one hyphen fatt-dad's Avatar
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    Default Re: How long do you guys remember songs?

    are you talking about songs or tunes (i.e., the words or the melody)?

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    Registered User Ranald's Avatar
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    Default Re: How long do you guys remember songs?

    Quote Originally Posted by foldedpath View Post
    In Irish/Scottish trad (the music I mostly play) a tune is an instrumental piece and a song has lyrics and is sung, so I'll use that distinction and talk only about tunes because that's what I play.
    And in every other tradition involving speakers of the English language!
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    "I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
    Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.

  16. #14

    Default Re: How long do you guys remember songs?

    I don’t have a lot of tunes under my belt, but I find that I memorise all of the chords in a song but lose track of how many beats for each chord. It would help being able to play with others. Finding others that play at the same level seems to be a problem.

  17. #15

    Default Re: How long do you guys remember songs?

    Quote Originally Posted by Phil-D View Post
    I don’t have a lot of tunes under my belt, but I find that I memorise all of the chords in a song but lose track of how many beats for each chord. It would help being able to play with others. Finding others that play at the same level seems to be a problem.
    If youre into bluegrass, I'd suggest just looking for an open jam and not worrying about it too much - as long as you can play in time and can pick out chords by ear or read guitar players' hands, you should be all good. You don't need to play breaks if you don't want. I've found that jamming regularly makes me improve much faster.

  18. #16

    Default Re: How long do you guys remember songs?

    Quote Originally Posted by Phil-D View Post
    I don’t have a lot of tunes under my belt, but I find that I memorise all of the chords in a song but lose track of how many beats for each chord. It would help being able to play with others. Finding others that play at the same level seems to be a problem.
    This is why songs are easier for me than tunes. The lyrics help me remember the timing and rhythm. Sometimes playing through a break I’ll mentally replay a verse or chorus to keep the timing right.

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    Registered User Polecat's Avatar
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    Default Re: How long do you guys remember songs?

    Quote Originally Posted by Mandobart View Post

    If I learn a song from sheet music I never really know it as well. I have around 300 songs that I know the chords, leads, intro, lyrics, outro well enough to get up and perform.
    That is impressive! Last year, as an exercise in learning how to make a data base, I created a song list, with about 150 titles that I theoretically know and have learned over the past 45 years. Most of them I can play off the cuff, but some I have to run through a couple of times.

    I learn most songs by ear, and always have - like Dave Hanson, I find writing down the lyrics help me to learn them. Tunes I usually learn from dots - www.folktunefinder.com is a fantastic resource. My repertoire of "celtic" tunes is in the twenties or thirties, and I would guess that I know roughly as many jazz standards, though I hardly ever play them any more.

    As regards how long I remember stuff, it is definitely a case of "use it or lose it" - the mental discipline of committing anything to memory gets better with practice, like any mental discipline, and is not dependent on "intelligence" - I personally know a couple of young doctors who can neither do any but the simplest mental arithmetic nor navigate using a map for the simple reason that they grew up in the era of calculators and sat-navs (and these days smart phones which do everything for you),
    Last edited by Polecat; Jan-19-2023 at 12:38pm. Reason: gremlins
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    two t's and one hyphen fatt-dad's Avatar
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    Default Re: How long do you guys remember songs?

    for the melody, I whistle a lot!

    No good remembering words, so I make them up!

    f-d
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    Default Re: How long do you guys remember songs?

    I end up getting tunes stuck in my head after I learn them, which I have no complaints about since it makes me remember them better!

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    Registered User Mando Esq's Avatar
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    Default Re: How long do you guys remember songs?

    Quote Originally Posted by pops1 View Post
    The more often you play and sing the songs/tunes the more you can remember. Use it or lose it, is true.
    This.

    I keep a list of all the tunes I learn and every so often I will run through them all to make sure I still remember them.
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    Default Re: How long do you guys remember songs?

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    Default Re: How long do you guys remember songs?

    I'm terrible with lyrics. But, my band has at least 50 songs that we play. I can remember the lyrics to the harmones I sing, plus the chord progressions and breaks. It has taken a long time and a lot of practice to get that far.
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    Registered User Bob Buckingham's Avatar
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    Default Re: How long do you guys remember songs?

    I still sing songs I learned in childhood. It helps that I came from a singing family.

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    Registered User Ranald's Avatar
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    Default Re: How long do you guys remember songs?

    Quote Originally Posted by Bob Buckingham View Post
    I still sing songs I learned in childhood. It helps that I came from a singing family.
    Me too. I was amazed how long-forgotten lullabies crept back when I had kids.
    Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
    "I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
    Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.

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    Default Re: How long do you guys remember songs?

    I still catch myself singing MAD Magazine musical parodies from the mid-60s. “Hello, Deli” and “Ground Round” particularly often pop up in my head.

    I used to consider myself to be pretty good at remembering songs. I would work out the lyrics and chords, and whatever arrangement I needed, and could play it quickly. The last few years it’s been getting harder. I’ve even started using music on stage, something I’ve always reviled and view as a defeat. But the music I play is more complex than it used to be.

    I blame the Internet. In the old days, you’d drop the needle, try to understand a line, write it down, find the chords. Now you do a google search. An important part of the learning process is missing.

    On the other hand, I started playing tenor banjo in Dixie bands a few years ago, and find that there I can usually get through strange-to-me tunes by listening. You can hear where the harmonies are headed.

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