Frustration and practice

[neverfoundthetime]

martinibates wrote:

I have now posted a brief intro as suggested. Thanks for all the replies and as I said in the intro I guess its mainly down to practice. I am also reminded of another piece of advice I was given some time ago (and forgotten). At first practice as slowly as you need to get it right - don't practice mistakes.

Hi Martin,
Welcome. You already have received some excellent help, so beyond the obvious -- practice. But that is only meaningful if you are guided in how to practice. TG and Neil's lessons have all the gold you will need to mine, so dig in. The metronome is going to be a tool you will want to use, because when you play along with your own tapping of the foot to keep the beat you will be unconscious of how you hold up the beat to catch up when you are in a spot you haven't mastered. The metronome waits for no man. In the same way any of the lessons where Neil provides a play along does the same thing, you must keep up. And yes, absolutely -- slow it down, and play it correctly is more important than a rushed incorrectly played. And remember it is called playing music. So take on a childlike attitude of play and fun.

Every one here is stretching into new things that takes time to master and understand. Keep up the good work, and good luck.

Wally

[Chasplaya]

HI Martin good to see another founding member, took you a while but you got here in the end.

Now a lot has been said so far and its all good stuff too.

But.

Why does everyone insist on getting rid of the sheet-music/tab from in front of you. Don't musicians in Orchestras have the music in front of them? I have even been to concerts of Rock bands and Blues bands that have paper in front of them, sometime its a simple chord chart or even just a break down of how the Verse , Chorus, Bridge patterns go but its there as an aid to assist them. Even Neil Young tapes paper to the top of his Acoustic showing break down. He and others also use this to remind them of the set list.

So whats wrong with that I ask!

If you are like me and I suspect you might be I have a terrible problem of recalling every song I have ever played and need these memory joggers in front. I rarely use tab as its too involved... but I do use chord charts and some songs I just use the break down of the song. I don't always need it, and I don't always have it directly in front but the safety blanket is usually not far away.

Someone somewhere has taken considerable time to write this stuff out (you may have even written it yourself as I have) so I say use it if you have to

If you really must play without paper in front then you have no option but to practice practice practice and then maybe practice some more.

But really is it the end of the world if we have paper in front of us! I say not...

Now I've gotten that of my chest I'll go across and read your Intro Martin

[AndyT]

Well, not having the sheet music in front of you forces you to rely on memory. Thats not a bad thing, but there's nothing wrong with having it there either. I have lyric sheets with the chord changes in them. That's what I keep in front of me.

[BigBear]

AndyT wrote:

Well, not having the sheet music in front of you forces you to rely on memory. Thats not a bad thing, but there's nothing wrong with having it there either. I have lyric sheets with the chord changes in them. That's what I keep in front of me.

Andy- the original question was how to memorize songs. How many professional performers do you see with cheat sheets in front of them? If you want to memorize the song you have to take the cheat sheet away! There is no other way.

Try some song you play all the time with the tab or chart in front of you. Then play the same song with the crib sheet removed. If you can play it all the way through without the sheet you have it memorized. If you can't, which is likely in my case, you still don't know the song.

Here's another example. If someone asks you to play a song for them do you grab for your cheat sheet or do you start playing something from memory. If you grab for the sheet you will look like a rookie because real life performers don't use crib sheets! Try playing in a jam session where everyone brings their best stuff. I'll bet you a beer they don't all haul out their crib sheets! You have to play songs you know by heart!

If you want to memorize songs, you just have to take the training wheels off! Do you fly an airplane with the Owner's Manual in one hand and the yoke in the other? If you do I'm not flying with you!! LOL!

:cheer:

[AndyT]

If I know the song well, then I just start playing it. Otherwise I reach for my lyric sheets.

When I fly, I have the Pilots handbook, Checksheets, and all kinds of stuff to help remember where, what when and why. The How I have down already. The FAA requires you to fly with all that, so if you will not fly with a Pilot that doesn't have it, then you won't do much flying. LOL

[Chasplaya]

AndyT wrote:

If I know the song well, then I just start playing it. Otherwise I reach for my lyric sheets.

When I fly, I have the Pilots handbook, Checksheets, and all kinds of stuff to help remember where, what when and why. The How I have down already. The FAA requires you to fly with all that, so if you will not fly with a Pilot that doesn't have it, then you won't do much flying. LOL

Lol Bear chose the wrong topic for an analogy, I was almost ready to jump in and point out the rules about Manuals/handbooks etc. I always come back to musicians in an Orchestra they always have music, they may not always need to look but its there.

[BigBear]

Chasplaya wrote:

AndyT wrote:

If I know the song well, then I just start playing it. Otherwise I reach for my lyric sheets.

When I fly, I have the Pilots handbook, Checksheets, and all kinds of stuff to help remember where, what when and why. The How I have down already. The FAA requires you to fly with all that, so if you will not fly with a Pilot that doesn't have it, then you won't do much flying. LOL

Lol Bear chose the wrong topic for an analogy, I was almost ready to jump in and point out the rules about Manuals/handbooks etc. I always come back to musicians in an Orchestra they always have music, they may not always need to look but its there.

Hey you two!! I've done a fair amount of flying myself and never once did I ever see a pilot flying with the manuals in his hands although they were certainly always nearby and available.

When I make an anology do I really have to spell it out for you two! Next time I'll type slower to make sure you both get my point!! ROFLMAO!!

[martinibates]

My take home message from the last few messages is - whatever floats your boat.

[BigBear]

martinibates wrote:

My take home message from the last few messages is - whatever floats your boat.

Andy, Chas and I go all the way back to the beginning and for some reason they just love to poke the BEAR!! They can't resist!! Best just to ignore them!!

[AndyT]

Please do not feed the Bear. Unless you have some very high quality scotch. LOL

If you really want to memorize the music, then the only way to do it is don't have it in front of you as Rick (Bear) says. As I'm sure you've guessed by now, not everyone feels the need to memorize.