Memorize or Read the Music? - General Discussion

RE: Memorize or Read the Music?

jerseychicadee — Sat, 12 Dec 2020 18:19:31 +0000

I have one but don’t have a phone to plug o to it. Lol

RE: Memorize or Read the Music?

Eric Reinhardt — Sat, 12 Dec 2020 13:45:15 +0000

@jerseychicadee you still have a landline? 🤣

RE: Memorize or Read the Music?

jrick92 — Sat, 12 Dec 2020 04:37:21 +0000

@jerseychicadee 😀 😀

RE: Memorize or Read the Music?

jerseychicadee — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 02:19:50 +0000

How can I still play ‘Thanks For The Memories’, ‘On Wisconsin’, ‘Colour My World’, and ‘I’m From New Jersey’ completely start to finish, 47 years in my memory, on the flute but I can’t remember my current landline number or my house address number???

RE: Memorize or Read the Music?

Scott Morrow — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 01:16:09 +0000

i agree, I would love to memorize more songs to be able to play impromptu, but I usually play from tabs. I tend to learn a song through muscle memory.

RE: Memorize or Read the Music?

Susan Wagner — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 01:13:11 +0000

@georgeanddoris66hotmail-com I know exactly how you feel. My mother-in-law insisted that I play something for her on the guitar and I just drew a blank. Couldn't think of a single song I could play without the tab sheet music n front of me.

RE: Memorize or Read the Music?

jerseychicadee — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 03:08:38 +0000

Yea I’m the same way. Were I ever asked to play for someone I’d need the music stand, iPad or iPhone, or sheet music and a backing track and maybe Devin in the background singing ‘G,G,G,D,D,etc...’ None of this is remotely possible. 🪕🎸🪗🎼🎧

RE: Memorize or Read the Music?

George Lange — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 02:14:02 +0000

It is better to memorize a couple of songs. I have had the situation arise and I felt bad because I could not play anything without sheet music in front of me.

RE: Memorize or Read the Music?

Keith Homes — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 09:48:55 +0000

When I was a kid every now and then teachers would have us memorize poetry. I could never see the point and did very poorly as you might imagine. Later in life (in my 50's) I started this guitar journey. I would lock onto that cheat sheet and play and sing. Then I went to a community jam and had a mike shoved in my face. I couldn't follow the sheet, look at my fingers and sing into the mike at the same time. Something had to give. So I printed out just the words of the song and played the guitar without the chords in front of me (after learning the chords naturally). It is amazing how quickly the brain kicks in when it is forced to.

Then I would learn just the words one part at a time without the guitar. I would keep going over one verse for instance until it stuck. I carried the words around with me and would try to sing it in my head or out loud (depending where I was). If I got stuck I would get the words out.

Then I printed out just the first line of each verse/chorus and used that as the only prompt.

The best thing I did was to buy myself a mike and stand. I didn't plug it into anything, but used it to force me to look forwards and not at a music stand or fretboard.

It seems like a long and painful process, but I have found since then every song I have learned has taken less effort.

RE: Memorize or Read the Music?

jerseychicadee — Sun, 08 Nov 2020 17:31:56 +0000

The weather!💦🌈🌤