Song Help Request How do you memorize the music?

I thought that I would resurrect this thread today. I was playing "Where Have All The Flowers Gone" on Friday, and I decided that it shouldn't be too hard to memorize in the key of A. Lyrics wise it wasn't very hard, the repeat themselves a lot, and I pretty much had the chords and the chord changes committed by Saturday afternoon. So I decided that while I was on a roll, I would go after "Volcano" by Jimmy Buffett, key of C. The chords on that one are a piece of cake, but it took a lot to memorize all the lyrics, but by Sunday night, I had a pretty good handle on it. I'll probably have to play through it a half dozen times today in order to really drive it home. But it is there. My observation is, that memorizing songs and playing them is not easy, but it does get easier over time It started out taking a couple of weeks to learn a song. Two in a weekend is the best that I've done. Granted, both of these songs are not real difficult songs to play, but that is part of it, and the people listening don't think about that.

Hmm, learning music theory helps. Like if I know the key of the song, then I know that maybe about 95% of the notes in a melody will be seven of the twelve possible pitches and I can just mess around with those notes. Chords work the same way, although it's not as straightforward because chords can be modified with 7th's and sus4's and stuff.

The easiest way I memorize music, however, is by simply covering songs. Your own interpretations are much easier to remember than someone else's

This is a pretty neat thread. I have tons of troubles learning songs. It seems I can either remember the chords or the lyrics, but not both. I know a grand total of three songs by heart in 4 years of playing and singing. It doesn't matter how many times I play them either, and it seems like it's getting worse as I age.
But once I get an instrumental tune learned, it's there, stuck in my brain good. It makes a nice earworm, too.
The UOGB uses music stands in front of them during performances, I can see them sneaking looks at them.
I was chided once for using sheet music during open mic, so I don't sing there anymore. But I will play instrumentals.
I decided I'm not going to let it bother me anymore, it's probably just old age.....LOL

To some extent, it's all about how TENSE you are in playing.

I can pretty easily remember chords to a song. You know most have 3 or 4 chords, and at a certain point, you get a sense for what 5th or 6th ones might get tossed in.

Your ear counts for much!

With respect to fingerpicking arrangements, it is enormously difficult for me to memorize these things. . . chiefly this is because I just like to play, and I'm always after MORE songs, rather than fewer, and I just can't sit easy working over and over on just one piece.

Difficult: I'd love to memorize an advanced version of Girl from Ipanema!

I didn't have to read all the replies in this thread to know that everyone learns in different ways. I learnt that myself teaching in an Art & Design College for 20+ years. As a Lecturer, my challenge was to discover what the best learning strategy was for each student.
Although I learnt some music theory in my school orchestra, I found that I learn quickest by watching and playing with others. Of course now, as one of the 'Woodstock generation', memory in general is a challenge.
With the uke ( playing a little over 1.5 years now), I found that a combo of strategies work best ( e.g. I first use sheet music or watch a YouTube video and transcribe it. After I can play a song through with the sheet music, I slowly remove that support by looking away from the sheet music until I have developed the muscle memory to play the whole song through without the sheet music).

There may be some techniques that can help speed the process, but it boils down to strengthening the brains ability to form the connections required. There aren't too many shortcuts to simply practice practice practice. I found this TEDx video fascinating.



The simple act of playing music (and singing along) engages so many different areas of the brain, including left and right hemispheres at once that it is the equivalent of a full body workout for your brain. It's nice to know that this pleasurable activity benefits our mental acuity and keeps the mind sharp.

I've been playing for the seasons for a couple of years now and initially I couldn't play anything without staring at the lyrics and chords. Somewhere along the way I learned to memorize and this process has accelerated as I do more and more of it. I often will listen to a song over and over and then play it back in my head and visualize playing it as I walk our dogs in the morning. In a way, the act of focusing on the recall itself and not while I am playing is what helps me memorize the structure of the song and the lyrics.

After a few days of doing this, it is usually much easier to recall while playing. After another week or so of playing it to myself, I can usually recall it well enough to play entirely from memory. Over time this fades, but usually a quick referral to my original notes is all that is required to bring it all back.

I can't speak to what works for other people, but for me, the way to ensure that it takes forever to memorize a song is to use sheet music. When I first started taking banjo lessons, I would sit across from my teacher with a digital recorder. He would play the song through once and then we would work it out section by section. He'd play four bars and I'd try to replicate what he did. After the lesson, I would rush home to practice it before I forgot the fingering. I had to move after only about 6 months of lessons and all the teachers I've worked with since then have used sheet music to teach from. I can still play almost all the songs I learned from the first teacher from memory, but I still have trouble sometimes with the ones I've learned from sheet music. Now, I try to use sheet music to get started, but if I want to memorize a song I put the sheet music away as soon as possible.

Dave

Lots of great ideas. Thanks much.

After hammering the same two songs for almost 6 months, I now have them memorized, forgetting only a chord or two. Now I need to memorize 4 more songs by next Saturday. It's not enough time to do it my old way, by repetition for months.
Has anyone had success with writing songs (with chords) down on paper until you can do it from memory, then trying to play and sing without looking? This is how I passed my nursing tests....

Nickie said:

After hammering the same two songs for almost 6 months, I now have them memorized, forgetting only a chord or two. Now I need to memorize 4 more songs by next Saturday. It's not enough time to do it my old way, by repetition for months.
Has anyone had success with writing songs (with chords) down on paper until you can do it from memory, then trying to play and sing without looking? This is how I passed my nursing tests....

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I learnt to read music by transcribing a booklet of tunes into ABC so's I could generate MIDI files to hear how the tunes sounded ... so yes, writing stuff down helped re-inforce my learning process ... but learn four songs by next Saturday ... that's an awful lot of writing down

If it was me and the gig was an absolute "must" I'd probably bite the bullet and take lead sheets on stage ... a reasonable performance with a little assistance has got to be better than a total foul-up and nothing to fall back on!

Good Luck :music:

I guess I must be lucky, because if I play it once or twice I seem to remember it forever. The music that is, not the lyrics. The voices to me always sound like another instrument, so I never really listen to the words or their meaning. I would need a teleprompter for lyrics.