Is it age

[chip]

Had a gig the other night with our band, completely forgot the opening to a signature song we rehearse practically every time we get together, couldn't for the life of me get it started correctly which is one that I start of course...and then did the same thing two songs later with another one...geez..is it an age thing? 62. Wasn't a bit nervous so it wasn't a case of the nerves..is this a common occurrence with us post 60?

[Tom Cherubini]

Jerry Mulligan used to laugh at Chet Baker because Chet couldn't read music too well and when Mulligan would announce the next tune Chet would ask, "What's my first note?"

[chip]

I use to sell the t-shirt from High Cotton when i was a sales rep for that company with the beer saying!

[sgarrity]

I've done that plenty of times and I'm 34

[chip]

Really? Any thoughts to why this happens as its really bugging me. It lets the rest of the band down as they are all perfect

[F-2 Dave]

If it's age then I've been old for a long, long time.

[shortymack]

Its called a brain fart.

[mandolinlee]

chip -
I've had the same thing happen, hope it's not age, I'm 75.
Happens to me when I'm the MC. Announce the next number, then forget how to start it.
I have a fellow mandolin picker that calls a tune at a jam, then plays something different.
Lee

[Bertram Henze]

It is age, yes, but any age.
You'll have to leave hints for yourself (like Hänsel and Gretel), e.g. writing the first two measures on some old-time looking grubby piece of paper hidden inside your hat, to get your brain into gear and trust that it will run on its own through the rest of the number.
In case of emergency, you can always take your hat off and actually look at what you wrote.

[Johnny60]

Hi Chip,

I've never gigged with my mando, but I've done hundreds over the years on guitar. Believe me, the same thing's happened to me many a time - even at the age of 17 when I was just a youngster! (52 now).

[UsuallyPickin]

It happens..... Hints help..... the more you worry about it the more it happens ... I know, only too well, if you can't get it started right it becomes a train wreck .... if you operate off of a list put the first three or four notes or measure next to the title after the key signature ..... the hard drive gets full ..... a stray thought interrupts the scheduled programming .... the scent of a woman ... or popcorn for that matter... welcome to the club....at 62 if this is the first time it happened you had a great run... Luck.. R/

[Shelagh Moore]

Yes it happens... especially as we get older. I was doing a song at an open mic the other night. I've been doing it regularly for 30 years but could I remember how the tune went at all? Best is not to worry about as UsuallyPickin said... maybe it was just pheromones...

[Astro]

This is funny. Especially as mandolinlee tells of the band guy that announces the next song then plays something different.

So many of our songs have the same chords, just different rhythms/melodies. When they come close to back to back I sometimes launch into the wrong rhythm of the other song trying to fit the right words and melody and then just crack myself up. Thanksfully, it hasnt happened outside of rehearsals yet, but I'm sure it will eventually.

[Bertram Henze]

So many of our songs have the same chords, just different rhythms/melodies. When they come close to back to back...

Soundalikes are also a known phenomenon in ITM. Some tunes are so similar they get mixed up in mid-playing, or I start one and the others join in on the other (well-known example: Pigeon on the Gate vs. Cooley's).
That's why I try to build unique identifyers into my versions to at least remind myself what tune I am in.

[mandolinlee]

Our group have certain tunes we never play back to back due to similar keys, chord progressions and melodies.
Lee

[Pasha Alden]

Hi mandolinlee, Bertram Shortymac and all other mando brothers and sisters

Well, the 16th of March is my first public appearance on mando and I hope I do not have a brain wobble - you see if you are citing age? Well, it is just that I have not yet passed 45 and so in SA we have a joke about taking a certain product for inprovement of memory. And worst of all, I can't even use that excuse - so please all thumbs held from now till 16 March to ensure that I do not have the much spoken about brain wobble and forget my intro, first riff or intro chords.

Stay well all and happy pickin' and strummin'

[OldSausage]

Brains are just not as great as they think they are, at any age.

[Randi Gormley]

I'd add another vote for a cheat sheet you can have somewhere either obvious -- and make it part of the show -- or on your case or boot top or something where you'd look anyway right before you start off. That way you can use it or not as the situation requires. I've certainly seen during stage acts where someone got messed up and had to start over, and age didn't seem to be a factor. It certainly is frustrating, though, when it happens with something you play all the time and people are expecting you to come through!

[allenhopkins]

Really? Any thoughts to why this happens as its really bugging me. It lets the rest of the band down as they are all perfect.

You need a new band. If I had to work with perfect people I'd worry myself to death…

But seriously folks (try the veal, don't forget to tip the waitress, I'll be here all weekend), this kinda thing can happen to anyone at any time. I'm pretty good at remembering things (lyrics, chords, instrumental breaks etc.), but every now and then I just "come up empty." Happens. Surprisingly, sometimes it happens with material I've rehearsed to death, while I may pull a song/tune out of the "archives" in response to a request, and it comes out perfect.

I sometimes wonder if "comfort" is the enemy of "access," if that little bit of extra adrenaline that flows when you know the song's unfamiliar and perhaps under-rehearsed, actually contributes to a sharper focus. "No problem, I've done this song a thousand times, and besides we just ran through it yesterday," may translate into "Oops! Whatthehell is the first line?"

My singing partner Bonnie, on the other hand, really does have to run through new material offstage just before we perform it. Quick review of the chord progression, which is where she has problems; words are usually right there. We're each a bit different in how we access remembered material -- or if we're able to do it at all...

[torchsong]

I've done it a couple times as a bassist, but it was more forgetting a complex run while still staying in key, so the only person that really noticed it was me as long as I could stay on the root notes.

Don't feel bad. I've seen professional bands do it in the middle of a concert. I'm wracking my brain trying to remember what band it was but the singer announced the song, then the guitarist started playing something different and the rest of the band just kind of shrugged and followed his lead. The singer called him out on it after the song was over, and everyone, band and audience, had a good laugh.

[JeffD]

You can make it part of your stage act. It makes you human. Instead of being the emotionally unavailable band on the stage, you can become a group of decent folks that want to share some cool music. Then, when something awkward happens, or something fails, well you can laugh and share your momentary embarassment with the audience. "You know I had this down yesterday, but I have slept since then..."

I much prefer that kind of performance anyway.

[Jim Rowland]

I can't remember if that happens to me or not.

Jim

[JeffD]

Brains are just not as great as they think they are, at any age.

I used to think my brain was the most important part of my body, but then I realized which part was telling me that.

[mandocrucian]

Is it age......



...or parasites?

[Pasha Alden]

Oh dear,

Jef and old sausage -
Yep, I think my ears and fingers are more important but the brain may have something to say about that!

As for the lapse of memory experienced by some - I remember as a child singing in a kind of choir performing Afrikaans folk songs, and other light music. The teacher had to play a real soppy love song and started to play the intro. Somehow he crossed picked a different pattern on guitar and we all waited with baited breat for him to get it right so the teacher coould take up the first verse and we join in with the chorus. - That was a different experience.

So I am going to work hard at no wobbles hitting me but hey as you say the brain takes a holiday from time to time? <big grin ---- demure smile...>