Who plays regularly but knows few, if any songs?

mikelz777

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 29, 2012
Messages
3,224
Reaction score
2,900
Location
MN metro suburbs
As I was adding some songs to my song book today, I realized that I have been playing the ukulele for about a year and a half now yet I don't really know any songs. I currently have 44 songs I've chosen for my songbook and there are many more waiting for chord diagrams and/or to be transposed to a key I can sing comfortably. As I sit here typing this, I can think of only 1 song that I can play by memory and that is the first song I ever learned on the ukulele. (Groucho's verses of Everyone Says I Love You from Horse Feathers.)

I do play regularly and sometimes for more than an hour at a time but I guess my joy and pleasure has been in playing for the moment. I haven't worked on memorizing anything so I'm chord/lyric sheet dependent. I could probably play bits and pieces of songs if pressed but only know one by memory. Is anyone else out there like this? If so, are you happy with this practice or do you have plans to memorize songs? I guess it would be nice to know a bunch of songs without having to look at a song sheet but I'm not sure how to go about it without it seeming too much like work.
 
In short, yup.
 
Yup. .
 
are your song in pdf file....if yes send me a copy and i will analyze it see if i can help you ;)
 
Same here. I admire people that can play and sing from memory.
 
Well here's the long answer. Playing about same time as you, 2 huge 3ring binders, love playing, practice several hrs/day...had nothing memorized..embarrassing. I decided that I was gonna put an end to that but like you, I want to continue having fun, not make it a chore. This is what worked for me. If you want to make quick progress, first, start with songs you already know the lyrics to (one less hurdle), second, one's that you can sing reasonably well (chords in a key you can sing, or you'll have to memorize which songs you need to capo and where, or you'll start playing, song terrible, have to stop and then fiddle-fart with your capo to figure out where you need it, by then people will no longer be interested), third, pick some easy four chord progressions to start with, and fourth, pick songs you like, cuz if you don't want to quickly tire of something you've taken the trouble to memorize. You'll find these kind of songs won't take long to memorize. Just run thru them periodically when you practice/play, so they don't fade away. I also pick one or two more difficult songs that I work on to memorize but I don't pick one with a million chords changing every two beats, like some old songs do (I'll save that for when I'm alot better player). I look for ones where I can organize the song easily into some discernible pattern, even if it's different for v, ch, and br.And again see rules 1,2, and 4 above. Before you know it you will have a bunch of songs you can rock out. I do love being able to take my uke to the beach, park, wherever, whenever and just play. That being said, if you never memorize a single song and always have to break out that songbook, so what? You're havin' fun, right? Just my 2cents, from a fellow advanced beginner.
 
I have never been able to memorize words to songs, even way before I became a senior citizen! Maybe a few lines or a verse is about all...I can play the first verse of 26 Miles, that's my entire repertoire from memory.
 
I make it a point to memorize the songs I really love. Not necessarily the latest hip song to learn, but the ones I mostly know by heart anyway. I find that manually transcribing a song into my songbook, and experimenting with where exactly to put chord changes, really helps with remembering a song. The harder thing for me is remembering the list of songs I know, because I end up practicing a lot around strangers and don't like subjecting others to my voice!
 
I've been doing it for about a year. If pressed I could play one song.
 
I have been playing about the same amount of time and I know exactly one song, Silent Night. And I just recently learned that one. I've just been spending most of my time just trying to get proficient at as many chords as I could, figuring I would learn some songs after that. Also, for some reason I just can't figure out the tabs, at least the ones with the words to the song and the chord above a word. I need to see how to strum or pick, not just the chord to change to. I do enjoy just "noodling" around so for now that will suffice.
 
I don't have many memorized at all. For me to memorize a song and get it good and deep in my memory, I have to play only that song for a long period of time without playing anything else. That is too much like practice for me. I like to jump around when I'm playing. I've been playing less than a year so, maybe with years of playing the same songs, they will sink in.
 
I bought my ukulele about one year ago. But I started really (kinda) practicing just a few months ago.
At first I thought I'd just learn to play tunes (like I used to do on the guitar) since I'm a terrible singer.
But since strumming a few chords seems easier at first I just try to pick some songs that I really like
and that are not too hard too sing.
So far I memorized: Ukulele Lady, Shady Grove,
O'Brien Is Trying to Learn to Talk Hawaiian (I already know the lyrics, but I'm in the process of learning the chords),
Hey Good Looking
There are few others that I'd really like to learn.
To memorize the lyrics I take them with me everywhere (I sing them in the street when nobody's around, ...)
a
 
I think the trick to memorising a song, is not so much about changing from chord 'A' to chord 'B', rather to remember how the fingers move on the fret board. The 'dance of the fingers' if you will. Then memorising it in stages, starting at the start, running through to the point of failure, check what comes after the point of failure, then from the beginning and repeat. There would be few musicians who could play all their songs from memory, but a practice of some memorised songs on the days before a performance allows them to play without sheet music.
 
Uncle Rod to the rescue.
Uncle Rod's boot camp which you may already have heard of also has an accompanying songbook, but not so much a songbook, but how to learn new songs using a 'disposable method'
If you look at it I'm sure it will make more sense! (Aloha to you document)
http://ukulelebootcamp.weebly.com/
h
 
Yeah, me too. I keep telling people I can remember the chords, or the words, but my ageing memory makes it very hard to do both. :confused:
 
Yep, me too. The only one I know absolutely for sure is the first one I learned (This Land is Your Land). When I was taking lessons I knew two or three more, but since I hated them I haven't played them since the class ended, and now they're gone from the memory bank.
 
Top Bottom