How many songs can you play? (Without help/ music/ tabs)

[Akio Dāku]

1 hour ago, Delberthot said:

I would think that it has to be over 1000 for me.

Over 1000! 😲 I'd have a hard time naming 1000 songs let alone knowing 1000 off by heart! 😵 I've forgotten how to play full albums that I've written! For me, if I've not played a song in a year or two, hell even a few months can do it for some tunes, it's gone, formatted from my brain. I mean sure I could relearn them very quickly but the material would still require refreshing and no chance could I just play them;

12 hours ago, T-Bay said:

instantly if asked without reference to music/ tabs or practice.

Call me a cynic and by no means do I intend to call anyone's claims into question but this is all very hard for me to rap my head around... It just sounds super human to me. 😓 Maybe my inclination to indulge in "herbal remedies" has done more damage than I first thought. 😜

@thepurpleblob I'm totally with you Sir. Thank god I'm not the only one. 🙌

Edited May 1, 2018 by Akio Dāku
Typo + Adding an @ reply

[PaulWarning]

I've put 81-100 but how many can I play without making a mistake? a lot less than that 

[Highfox]

A lot, if..i can remember them

I even forget our own songs if we haven't played them in a while.

Edited May 1, 2018 by Highfox

[Barking Spiders]

I put about a 100 though I've forgotten a lot as well as I don't like /play them anymore. Bass-wise my preference is for  playing funk & disco and 80s pop/synth & post punk so I made I made a point of nailing many of the 'classics' that any funk-tion band would probably play.  I

[dlloyd]

Hundreds... thousands maybe. Been doing it a long time and once they're in my head they tend to stay there. 

One thing to bear in mind is that people think in different ways. I can remember patterns, numbers and music really well but I cannot remember visual things.

[Woodinblack]

3 hours ago, Akio Dāku said:

That kind of sequential memory is far beyond my faculty. 🙏

It is not a sequential memory though, I wouldn't be able to write down the sequence of notes for any song, but I have no problem remembering a pattern of patterns. Even if it is a group of single patterns. I guess it is the way you learn it in the first place. 

It is like song lyrics. I can remember most of the lyrics to most of the songs I have heard, but only when I am singing them. They don't exist as words in my head, just patterns.

On the other hand, ask me to remember the name of a friend of mine that I have just been talking to and my mind will go completely blank and I will end up with 'oh you know, wossisname'

[Woodinblack]

49 minutes ago, dlloyd said:

I can remember patterns, numbers and music really well but I cannot remember visual things.

Oh yes, I would be the worst detective in the world - 

"So officer, did you see the blood spatter on the wall between the kitchen and dining room'

"There was a wall there??"

[Akio Dāku]

14 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

It is not a sequential memory though, I wouldn't be able to write down the sequence of notes for any song, but I have no problem remembering a pattern of patterns. Even if it is a group of single patterns. I guess it is the way you learn it in the first place. 

I understand what your getting at but it is sequential memory... A pattern is a regular and intelligible form or sequence and a pattern of patterns quite is literally a sequence of sequences...  

[Japhet]

I can forget a song mid performance that I've played hundreds of times. Fortunately I can usually blag my way out of it but sometimes I'll be thinking 'There's a funny bit coming up. What is it?' It comes back to me 99 times out of 100 but on the odd occasion I make something up that could be OK or not, in which case I tell people I play a bit of jazz if anyone comments.

[Marvin]

How ever many are on the set list at any one time. That's about it. Like with any other thing in life, if I've not used the info for a while it starts to get forgotten.

I go to blues jam nights occasionally now. Blagging my way through an 8 bar or 12 bar song for any given key doesn't really count I don't think

[Delberthot]

Unless we're talking swing or big band music there are only so many ways a song will go chord wise over the majority of pop songs.

Using a combination of this and listening to the keyboard melody and vocals means that I've never had a problem playing tunes at a gig that I've never played or even heard of before.

Sometimes, as Japhet also mentioned above, I'll be getting to a bit in a song where I don't remember what it does but my fingers seem to remember what to do. Is that my brain remembering the song or is it muscle memory or are they one and the same thing?

[Bassalarky]

Enough to do a 4-hour gig with one band and a 2-hour gig with the other. (61-80)

[Akio Dāku]

I feel like people are conflating "songs you know off by heart" with "songs you've played across your life time as a musician"... 

[Woodinblack]

11 minutes ago, Bassalarky said:

Enough to do a 4-hour gig with one band and a 2-hour gig with the other. (61-80)

Are you in Milwaukee? 

[EBS_freak]

I think the original question should be... how many songs that are not derived from a standard 12 bar blues progression can you play...?

[MikanHannille]

Easily around 100 mark. Probably more.

[EBS_freak]

I must have about 1000 Gregorian chants down.

[Barking Spiders]

In guess we're all talking about basslines here in which case we all probably can play upwards of a 1,000 

Edited May 1, 2018 by Barking Spiders

[Barking Spiders]

In addition to the 100 funk/disco songs I mentioned, I can also play the basslines to  around 200 AC/DC and Status Quo songs each ...and I've only ever actually heard their bigger hits.

Edited May 1, 2018 by Barking Spiders

[Barking Spiders]

Is there a function for deleting  one's own posts here. I cant seem to find one?

Edited May 1, 2018 by Barking Spiders

[Guest adi77]

..the first song i ever learnt to play was am i evil

 

 

Edited July 16, 2018 by adi77

[Dad3353]

1 hour ago, Barking Spiders said:

Is there a function for deleting  one's own posts here. I cant seem to find one?

Yes, it's the 'Report' button. A friendly Mod will oblige as rapidly as is reasonable, and for a very modest fee. 

[Phil Starr]

It's a good question. I suspect those people in gigging covers band score well for high numbers. At one point I was in three covers bands and had 120 songs I was gigging regularly. Covers bands also tend to do a lot of fairly straightforward songs. I ticked 200+ on the basis of that being about how many I could take to a first jam through of songs or offer at an  open mic. For me I'd want to be in a situation where if the singer went to the wrong part of the song or the guitarist broke time I could return them to some semblance of sensible That would at least halve that number. Playing any song when the band are bob on is much easier than playing when people slip up. How often have I played a song perfectly? Never, so maybe I should have ticked zero.

I loved the comment about going mind-blank in the middle of a song though, I guess it happens to all of us but such a scary thing at the time.

Incidentally this came up on another forum and all the guitarists said they never forgot a song, made me feel quite inadequate but strangely I've rarely met a guitarist who can remember an arrangement

[leschirons]

I've been in covers bands for 50 years and could probably play 90% of the numbers I've played over that period. I put 200+ in the poll however, you wouldn't want to bet on me remembering the first vocal line of any song I'm singing, or why I've walked upstairs 😂

[Krysbass]

11 hours ago, dlloyd said:

Hundreds... thousands maybe. Been doing it a long time and once they're in my head they tend to stay there. 

One thing to bear in mind is that people think in different ways. I can remember patterns, numbers and music really well but I cannot remember visual things.

That's how it is with me too. I seem to be able to recall melodies or even the sound of a voice quite easily.

But I'm useless at remembering how many films end; even if I've seen them a couple of times before. I'm not great at remembering faces either, so I'd be a lousy witness in court  if I was required to identify someone - especially if several weeks or months had passed since the incident.