memory - tips and tricks required

[juice]

hi guys,

here is the long and short - I have memory issues short-term due to the meds I'm taking (all on prescription!). Recently I have put alot of effort into learning material but been unable to secure a slot with a coupleof bands because I refer to my tab notes a lot during initial rehersals. Guitarist from last band said "you can't sight read tab, you need to learn the tunes".

I would welcome your opinion as I have decided to spend some serious time perfecting my learning methods before I look for another vacancy,in the hope that my brain can be trained to actually soak up and retain the tunes more effectively. To help I wonder if you could answer the following;

[indent]• what would you say is an acceptable rate to learn the songs? (last band initial 9songs in 3 weeks, about 20hrs then additional 3 in a week about 7hrs)

• do you use crib sheets, tab or score when learning/rehearsing?

• do you think all musicians should arrive at band practice having nailed their parts for songs and therfore not require notes of any form?[/indent]

finally - does onyone have any tips on getting new material to 'stick'? previously I would listen to tracks at every opporunity on ipod, work out tracks by ear then write tabbed riff and structure notes for band practice.

thank you in advance for any help you can give.... I have been seriously considering returning to being a bedroom player unless my current situation can be worked around.

[ZMech]

Depends, are you just playing over chords or are you playing over a set bassline? If it's the former, then making a small crib sheet and leaving it on your amp just saying the chord sequence for each song, assuming they're usual 4 chord sequences, shouldn't be such a big deal.

[juice]

just noticed I put "I have memory issues short-term" that should have read "I have short-term memory issues" LOL my problems are here to stay I think!


[quote name='Zach' post='1171610' date='Mar 22 2011, 12:32 AM']Depends, are you just playing over chords or are you playing over a set bassline? If it's the former, then making a small crib sheet and leaving it on your amp just saying the chord sequence for each song, assuming they're usual 4 chord sequences, shouldn't be such a big deal.[/quote]

last band I played for needed me to play Me First & The Gimme Gimmies tracks note for note to the originals. That was why I thought writing out the main phrases in tab along with the song structure would help until we had the set ready to gig. I find it interesting that the Vocalists were ok with having full lyrics on a music stand throughout - whats the difference I wonder?

Edited March 22, 2011 by juice

[Bilbo]

Learn to read music.

I am not necessarily suggesting that you write out every note you ever play but, if you can read short passages of a couple of bars and read rhythms in particular, you can write out a single sheet that contains all of the cues you ned to nail a tune everytime. I did a rehearsal and gig with a blues trio over a year ago and was asked to dep again a few weeks ago. Because I had made some notes on their charts, I was able to recall all of the significant kicks, stops and starts, the main impeteus of each groove and all the changes without much difficulty.

[Doddy]

We all know my opinions on tab,so I won't go on about it.
There is nothing wrong with having some charts written out for reference-not tab though.
The more you play the songs the easier you will remember them,it's just a matter of repetition-some people learn faster than others. Also,this is where some basic theory knowledge will help,because rather than trying to remember every song and chord individually,you will learn to recognise and understand standard chord changes and intervals which(i find)will make it easier to remember more tunes.

[juice]

[quote name='Bilbo' post='1171832' date='Mar 22 2011, 10:26 AM']Learn to read music.[/quote]
Bilbo - I think that with my current impairment learning to sight read music could prove tricky despite its clear advantages.

[quote name='Doddy' post='1171902' date='Mar 22 2011, 11:12 AM']We all know my opinions on tab,so I won't go on about it.
There is nothing wrong with having some charts written out for reference-not tab though.
The more you play the songs the easier you will remember them,it's just a matter of repetition-some people learn faster than others. Also,this is where some basic theory knowledge will help,because rather than trying to remember every song and chord individually,you will learn to recognise and understand standard chord changes and intervals which(i find)will make it easier to remember more tunes.[/quote]

Doddy, I think the theory side is a good place for me to invest my time to help overcome my issues, after all if i can't recall a set piece the theory would allow me to at least improvise a section on demand.

To that end do you guys have any reccomendations for further reading or DVD suggestios? I'm tempted to look at the RGT course books...

- juice

[AndyBob09]

Record. No fancy recording equipment is needed but if you're struggling to remember songs the either take your laptop along to rehearsal (most have a built in mic these days) and record that way. If you have no laptop with built in mic, take along a cassette player/boom box type thing and record onto cassette that way. Finally, when you get home, listen back to the band recordings and then record just the bass line. Listen back to it a few times, play it a few times ... A few days later, play what you remember of it, what you don't, you have recorded.

[AndyBob09]

Forgot to mention, there's 100% nothing wrong with writing out charts for the first few weeks of rehearsals or the first few weeks of new songs going down!

[fatback]

[quote name='AndyBob09' post='1174779' date='Mar 24 2011, 03:23 PM']Record. No fancy recording equipment is needed but if you're struggling to remember songs the either take your laptop along to rehearsal (most have a built in mic these days) and record that way. If you have no laptop with built in mic, take along a cassette player/boom box type thing and record onto cassette that way. Finally, when you get home, listen back to the band recordings and then record just the bass line. Listen back to it a few times, play it a few times ... A few days later, play what you remember of it, what you don't, you have recorded.[/quote]

+1000

Gives confidence, too.

I you can then write out a chord chart (not tab) from the recording, you'll get on top pretty quickly. As Doddy says, it's easier to remember a chord sequence (if you know a little theory), because the same sequences come up in a zillion songs.

I wouldn't try to learn to read music at this stage. Do learn about chords and chord sequences though.

Edited March 24, 2011 by fatback

[endorka]

I think Andy's post about recording rehearsals is good advice.

When I am trying to memorise a tune that I can't get right away, I find it help to break it down into smaller chunks that I can memorise. Sometimes these will be very short, e.g. a couple of bars.

I work one on short section at a time until I am secure with it, take a break, then work on the next. Before you know it you've memorised the whole tune.

The key is to allow plenty of time for this process to happen naturally, and not try to rush it.

I also read somewhere that after 20 minutes of practice, the ability of the brain to retain information diminishes. Therefore it is most efficient to practice this stuff for 20 minutes, take a break, then come back to it for another 20 minutes, and so on.

Sleeping on something is also good. The brain seems to sort it out for you. I find it usual to be having a tough time memorising something one day, then the next day it is easier.

Jennifer

[62P-Bass]

There's loads of info out there on memory and 'memory tricks' that you can use to impress your friends etc. I actually read a book on this to see how much of it would apply to music. Not a hell of a lot to be honest - it was mainly good for remembering shopping lists or random facts, or sequences of a deck of cards etc. Not actually that useful in everyday life or music making.

The two main points that I did get from the book though that I think are really valuable, if quite simple, are:

1. You've got to [i]want[/i] to remember - as in put some effort/energy into it.

2. Repetition. The more times you repeat things the stronger the memory is.

It sounds like you have the first one covered. The second one - bear in mind that repetition doesn't just mean playing the whole song again on your bass, it could be just thinking about what order some of the notes or chords are, or the structure of the song, singing bits of it to yourself, visualising how certain sections will feel to play or what they will look like on the fretboard. I find this really useful to do when I'm walking about or cycling somewhere. Sort of like a self quiz - what key is it? What are the first few notes? What's my cue to change to the chorus etc etc.

You need time for this information to go in. By that, I don't mean 10 hours in a row and then you'll be fine. I mean over a period of time with lots of intervals and breaks and coming back to it. I read somewhere once that whilst we're asleep our brains do a lot of sorting and filing of the days information as Jennifer said, which explains why you memory can go first when you're suffering from a lack of sleep.

Along those lines it's important to think about how the information is going in in the first place. Again, it's like filing - the more organised and structured it is, the easier it will be to locate things when you need them. The more labels and definitions you can put on things you are trying to remember, the easier they will be to recall. For some people this will be the names of the chords, the names of the notes, or even the number of the frets - that's okay too! The more you know about music theory, the more labels that will give you and the deeper the understanding you'll have, and therefore the more supported the memory will be.

I'm a very visual person, so I find it really helpful to write things out - usually in a brief form, not all the notes. As I organise the chords and structure on the page, it is organising the way my brain thinks about it. Also when I am trying to remember things I can visualise what I wrote and how it looked on the page. The more I do this the better I get at knowing what it is I'm likely to forget, so I concentrate on these bits when trying to learn stuff. For me it's mainly song structures that catch me out.

I started music in the classical world where you are pretty much always looking at something, so I never thought I'd be able to remember songs at all without any form of written reference. With time and effort though it is achievable. Last year I did a one-off gig playing over 20 songs backing four or five different artists. We'd only had one brief rehearsal, but I managed to walk on stage without a single piece of paper which was a great feeling! In fact, one of the singers tried to get me to take their lyrics on stage for them but I completely blanked them - there was no way I wanted to be even momentarily associated with anything of the sort after I'd put all that effort into learning it all! They probably didn't realise what a big deal it was for me though and just figured I was being an asshole - oh well!

Hope some of this helps,

Andrew

[chrismuzz]

It doesnt matter if you remember or not. Nobody pays attention to the bass anyways

But in all seriousness, there's nothing wrong with having little reminders in practice. Even having them on a gig is fine! I've seen lyric sheets on stage floors before. In time that short term memory will become long term and you may not need them at all, but don't feel bad about having to make do in the meantime It's better than fluffing up right? And if the guitarist has a problem with it just promise you'll hide them behind a monitor or something like that

[juice]

Big thank you to all for your help

I am going to work on my theory over the next few months, nail small sections of a song at a time through increased repetition, switch to using chord charts where needed and for whatever my next project is record rehearsals for reference.

again, thanks for your support my confidence took a knock because of the situation and comments from the last band which left me wondering if I was capable at all, by taking time to work on the things suggested I hope to be able to continue with playing live.


-juicex

[chrismuzz]

By the sounds of things you're willing to put in a hell of a lot more effort than the average band member. You're definately an asset to them! And when you're finished getting all the songs down you'll be so well practiced you'll probably be the tightest guy in the band!