My granddaughter is 15 and a very good singer. She learns songs with what seems like no effort and she retains a lot of them. She has put in more work than anybody realizes though, it just seems like she was born with it.
My brain is mush anymore. I think I remember at one time all I had to do was hear a piece of music one time and I could play it for you. When I was in college for my music education degree (74-78) I took a class where they’d play a piece of a classical composition and you would have to write it out on a score. You’d have to write a specific instruments part too. Lead, percussion, strings, brass etc... now I can’t remember my address. Don’t get old.
What were we talking about...
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The weather!💦🌈🌤
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.
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.
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. 🪕🎸🪗🎼🎧
@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.
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.
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???
I have one but don’t have a phone to plug o to it. Lol
