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Here's the supposition: you get a phone call to grab your guitar and rush down to your local hot spot to perform. The money's great and you just can't pass up the offer. How many complete songs -- no partials and no songs you still haven't quite mastered -- entirely from memory could you do?

I figured out that I could do 21 songs. You?

Dennis:

Interesting question.....

For argument sake, I'll pretend I am in an alternate reality. If I can also grab my sheets to put on a stand an use to cheat, I can probably pull off about 30-40 songs. If I have to go from memory only, that number shrinks drastically to about 8-9, with maybe 4-5 more that are close.

Now, back in reality, the number would be 0! In real life, if I got up there, I would just freeze up and forget everything. I am forcing myself to deal with that though, so we will see.

Jason

Without singin I think 10, a few are the same chord progression and pickin (well almost)

Willem B)

Give or take...about 200 songs.

As long as I am fantasizing about someone calling me up to come down and play for money, I meant as well fantasize about how many songs I could play. :laugh:

Bill

Hey Dennis!

Tougher question than it appears on the surface... With no "cheat sheets", from memory, start to finish, I think I would be able to do 10.

Craig

I checked my list - 10, maybe 11.
I find I have to re-visit them often, or I will forget some lyrics.
I agree you have to do them from memory - trying to look down at a chart for the next chord or next lyric doesn't work for me.

Great question Den!

Well....this is a bit of guessing, but I do think it's close to the thruth, around 40 or so. Likely more. I would write it down though, a play-list I mean (not lyrics), then I should be good to go!

Edit: btw you made some excellent points (well all of them were excellent ) about performing in public in another thread, very very useful to keep in mind!

Music Junkie wrote:

Dennis:

Interesting question.....

For argument sake, I'll pretend I am in an alternate reality. If I can also grab my sheets to put on a stand an use to cheat, I can probably pull off about 30-40 songs. If I have to go from memory only, that number shrinks drastically to about 8-9, with maybe 4-5 more that are close.

Now, back in reality, the number would be 0! In real life, if I got up there, I would just freeze up and forget everything. I am forcing myself to deal with that though, so we will see.

Jason

Jason,

I'm far from being an expert on the subject, but my experience might be somewhat relevant. While it may not look like it from my videos (I'm lucky to have a face that doesn't betray my terror), I suffer from stage fright, too ... to the point where I'd get up on stage, look down at my guitar, and wonder what the hell I'm supposed to do with this strange wooden box with six wires. That's how removed from reality I'd feel. And when I'd force myself to start to play, it was as if someone handed me a zither or a tuba. That's the level of confusion I felt with my instrument.

I decided that the only way to effectively deal with this degree of fright was to expose myself to more of it. So I started doing open mics about once a month. Unfortunately, I found that this level of frequency, while sanding away most of my terror, didn't completely smooth out my nerves. So I increased the frequency of open mics to once per week. That seemed to do the trick. Now I get up there, kibitz with the audience freely, and get a good reaction to the songs I play. My brain is no longer taking me to faraway places, and I can now focus on what I need to do.

Most open mic crowds are hugely forgiving people ... especially when you tell them that you're very new at this sort of thing. They'll understand if you have to start the song three times because you're so terror-stricken. They'll cheer you on if your hands shake so badly that you can barely fret a chord. They'll even help fill in the blanks if they know the song (by the way, sing-alongs are perfect to bring to open mics, especially in the beginning).

The more you worry about performing in public, the bigger the monster becomes and the harder it is to slay. My advice: just grab a 3-chord song, something you couldn't screw up even if you suddenly discovered your drink had been spiked with LSD, get up on the stage, and start bashing out chords. Then do it again the next week. And the week after that. Pretty soon the ratio of terror to enjoyment will shift dramatically.

The best of luck to you.

Interesting topic. I have over the pat few months playing about 3-4 paid gigs a week. Each of though gigs last around 2 hours so that can take anywhere from 30-40 tunes. I am sure if I had the gift of gab of say an Al Stewart, I could get away with less songs. But to to be realistic, I can usually rip through about 80 off the top of my head with no notes or charts. I would like to bump it up to over 100 just because it is a pleasing arbitrary number.

John