remembering fiddle tunes

[JonZ]

Sorry you had too much fun Jon
This has me anxiously waiting for your next creepy avatar...

My first avatar was my business portrait!

[Rob Gerety]

I never have any problem remembering a tune that I have learned by ear. If I learn a tune from tab or from standard notation I have a heck of a time remembering it. Not sure why. But that has definitely been my experience.

[DSDarr]

I never have any problem remembering a tune that I have learned by ear. If I learn a tune from tab or from standard notation I have a heck of a time remembering it. Not sure why. But that has definitely been my experience.

This is my experience as well. I am a very slow ear-learner but once I learn a tune that way it tends to stick. I can read and play lots of tunes from tab and they tend not to stick -- I have to really work at them before they are committed to memory. Practice is improving both for me though -- getting quicker at learning by ear and getting quicker at remembering tunes learned from tab.

-David

[Jesse Weitzenfeld]

I think one of the most important things you can do is listen. When I'm learning a new tune I try to find as many versions of that tune as I can and listen to all of them. Luckily with youtube you can do this nowadays without spending too much money. But anyway if you listen to enough different versions eventually your ear will naturally start picking out what they have in common and that melody will sort of start to sink in. Then when you go to practice it, your ear knows what it wants to hear and your fingers have a better chance of going to the right place. The second half of the equation is practice, practice, practice until you're sick of it. At least that's what I have to do. For me, it's a double edged sword...by the time I learn it well enough to play it, I'm usually sick of it. Maybe one day I'll get good enough that I can shortcut the learning process...but I'm not holding my breath.

[Rob Gerety]

The more you do it the better you get. I know people who can pick up a tune at full speed after hearing it one - maybe two - times through. Amazing. Of course, they make their living playing music and do it all day long every day.