Seasonistas general thread: yakking, joshing, news and pictures

The "observed" effect. That's why we're such wonderful singers in the shower! :D
I should start practicing uke in there too.
BEVOMU does, in the bath...apparently...
 
The "observed" effect. That's why we're such wonderful singers in the shower! :D
I should start practicing uke in there too.

Go for it!! Just make sure you use a plastic ukulele!

I'd run out of hot water!
 
Count me among those that when that camera is recording, I have issues with a song I otherwise know well.

As far as memorization goes, I have a couple of methods that work for me. Obviously repetition. Repetition. Repetition. Yes, repetition.

OK - as far as fooling myself, I had an experience while playing with a group. There was not enough room for everyone to have their music stands with the song sheets. So I figured that I would just share, and stood behind a seated lady where I could see her book. Well, she got disoriented, and kept turning pages in the book to find the song, so it was no longer a resource. Guess what? I actually knew the songs. I kept playing. The world did not end. Yet, when I tried to play them from memory, on my own, I still failed. Having the group around definitely helped.

SO

I started a new idea. I practice at sunset. With the lights off. My song sheet is there, my crutch, but as the sun sets it becomes more and more difficult to read it. Eventually you can't see it and guess what? You can still play.

I do think if it's there, I need to look at it or I will get lost. If it's not there, I am anxious I will mess up, so I "need" it.

When I really must absolutely learn a song off-book, I just play it overandoverandoverandover. That works. My wife is not fond of that technique, as the songs that I have memorized are now ones that she is sick of. Oh well!
 
Count me among those that when that camera is recording, I have issues with a song I otherwise know well.
...
SO I started a new idea. I practice at sunset. With the lights off. My song sheet is there, my crutch, but as the sun sets it becomes more and more difficult to read it. Eventually you can't see it and guess what? You can still play.

Innovative thinking here, Pueo!
I can get that "sunset" kind of difficulty by taking my glasses off, so I'm good for practicing all day. :)
 
Hello all of my Seasonista friends!!!! I have missed you all!!!

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3
 

When I really must absolutely learn a song off-book, I just play it overandoverandoverandover. That works. My wife is not fond of that technique, as the songs that I have memorized are now ones that she is sick of. Oh well!

Yep. My husband gets the same way. "Can you please play something else?" -I hear that a lot! Here lately, I just practice when he is at work.
 
Hello all of my Seasonista friends!!!! I have missed you all!!!

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3

And we have missed you. Maybe next time we see you it will be You Two :)
 
One more memorization strategy I've used in addition to many of those already mentioned... practice singing the song without playing uke until you've got the words and melody cold; practice the chords without singing along until you've got them; then put together singing and uke after you know each separately.

Great to read so many of your voices here. Fun thread.

And welcome back, 'tina!
 
One more memorization strategy I've used in addition to many of those already mentioned... practice singing the song without playing uke until you've got the words and melody cold; practice the chords without singing along until you've got them; then put together singing and uke after you know each separately.

This is a great idea, Ralf! It's memorizing work, then, when singing in the shower. :cool:
 
Thanks for posting that, it's a really interesting article. I particularly like the advice about naps :)

I haven't read this particular article but I will presume that it also has a suggestion about leave it alone for a few days maybe a couple of weeks ?

The brain can't do everything ,as brilliant as it is, when you are learning something...it is coping with:

..reading the new chords/strum/picking patterns or fingerings.

Driving the fingers / vocal bits and pieces /Standing up/ sitting up/what's for dinner?

....ooh was that a butterfly just went past my window (squirrel!!)

Reading and sending all these memos to the various relevant departments .

Note to owner . You want me to remember this stuff AS WELL....gimme a break......

So ,do give the old grey matter a break, play something else for a while ,do something familiar....go back in acouple of days and hey presto....your brain will recall the work and you will find that some of it will have stuck .

I stumbled across this by accident as a kid . When coming back from holidays (you did not take instruments with you on my hols ) or weekends away without an instrument I thought I was playing better and remembering things better ....many years later ...many,many in fact, I read this article and thought ...bugger ...if I had only written it down myself ...lol.


To be fair though....some things never ever stick.....after 10 years I still get the chord prog for Plaisir D'Amour wrong ....I forget to go from the second F to the G...or is it the C ? Dang.
 
I haven't read this particular article but I will presume that it also has a suggestion about leave it alone for a few days maybe a couple of weeks ?

The brain can't do everything ,as brilliant as it is, when you are learning something...it is coping with:

..reading the new chords/strum/picking patterns or fingerings.

Driving the fingers / vocal bits and pieces /Standing up/ sitting up/what's for dinner?

....ooh was that a butterfly just went past my window (squirrel!!)

Reading and sending all these memos to the various relevant departments .

Note to owner . You want me to remember this stuff AS WELL....gimme a break......

So ,do give the old grey matter a break, play something else for a while ,do something familiar....go back in acouple of days and hey presto....your brain will recall the work and you will find that some of it will have stuck .

I stumbled across this by accident as a kid . When coming back from holidays (you did not take instruments with you on my hols ) or weekends away without an instrument I thought I was playing better and remembering things better ....many years later ...many,many in fact, I read this article and thought ...bugger ...if I had only written it down myself ...lol.


To be fair though....some things never ever stick.....after 10 years I still get the chord prog for Plaisir D'Amour wrong ....I forget to go from the second F to the G...or is it the C ? Dang.

It was more to do with how sleeping, even napping, consolidates memory. But the leaving it alone for a bit thing is definitely true as well (probably for the same reasons).

If I'm trying to learn new music I find it really hard to stop, I tend to just bang away at it until someone tries to put me out of my (and their) misery by smothering me with a cushion. Walking away for a while and coming back to it fresh is a much better idea, and probably makes you less likely to repeat the same mistakes.

Funnily enough, the simple chord progressions are the ones I find hardest to memorise. C, G, F.. all just seem to merge into one in my whisky-addled head.
 
It was more to do with how sleeping, even napping, consolidates memory. But the leaving it alone for a bit thing is definitely true as well (probably for the same reasons).

If I'm trying to learn new music I find it really hard to stop, I tend to just bang away at it until someone tries to put me out of my (and their) misery by smothering me with a cushion. Walking away for a while and coming back to it fresh is a much better idea, and probably makes you less likely to repeat the same mistakes.

Funnily enough, the simple chord progressions are the ones I find hardest to memorise. C, G, F.. all just seem to merge into one in my whisky-addled head.

Whisky, Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....
 
Whisky? Yummy single-malt scotch? I just brought back from Ohio bottles of three brands I can't get in N.C.

What's your experience with how whisky (or similar libations) affects your practice? I think it's like having a friendly companion encouraging you to relax and try it again.
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