musophilr Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Audition Thursday. I can play all the stuff I've been told to prepare, and have learnt it except the song I got out of a book. Still can't play it without the dots in front of me. AARRGGHHHH! Once upon a time with a different band they criticised me for taking sheet music on stage. I said "I can play it right with the dots or get it wrong without them, which would you prefer?" Eventually they sacked me, allegedly for different reasons but my sheet music must have had something to do with it. Don't want the same to happen again. Why is some music so hard to memorise? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LowdownRumble Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 (edited) It helps me to visually memorise where my fingers should go, in other words, I remember a "path" across the fretboard. To memorise I simply play through without looking. When I forget, quick glance at the sheet and continue playing. Edited February 20, 2012 by LowdownRumble Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musophilr Posted February 21, 2012 Author Share Posted February 21, 2012 Your method "kind of" works, sir. I just played [i]Wonderful Land[/i] 3 times without looking at the dots. FWIW I looked at it this way: The outro = the into (all bar one note) In between are 3 sections: Section 2 = section 3 (it includes the bum titty bum bum titty bum bum bum bit). Section 1 begins like sections 2 & 3 but there's some other crap before you get to section 2 involving a C maj arpeggio interspersed with root & fifth on E, root & fifth on F ... Once you've got the structure, you've got some hooks to hang little reminders on. OK, celebratory coffee is now consumed, let's go back & see if I can still do it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doddy Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 It's easy to rely on the music,and to be honest I don't think it's a problem if you have charts on stage. However,I find that if I want to move away from the charts I just go 'bareback' and don't bother setting my stand up or getting the charts out. That way you've got no choice but to just play it and get it right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 I find if I can play it without a bass and without the music then I've learnt it. That probably sounds ridiculous but I genuinely try to learn sometimes without a bass in my hands. I know where the frets are in relation to my body so I can still "play" along as it were. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musophilr Posted February 21, 2012 Author Share Posted February 21, 2012 [quote name='charic' timestamp='1329839358' post='1548267'] I find if I can play it without a bass and without the music then I've learnt it. That probably sounds ridiculous but I genuinely try to learn sometimes without a bass in my hands. I know where the frets are in relation to my body so I can still "play" along as it were. [/quote] No it's not ridiculous when you've heard of concert pianists who "practice" on the train sitting at a table which acts as a "dummy keyboard". I'm sure it would also guarantee you get all 4 seats to yourself Going over the manoevres in your minds eye while "playing back" the music in your memory was something Alan Limbrick recommended at the Guitar Institute a long time ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 [quote name='musophilr' timestamp='1329845939' post='1548438'] No it's not ridiculous when you've heard of concert pianists who "practice" on the train sitting at a table which acts as a "dummy keyboard". I'm sure it would also guarantee you get all 4 seats to yourself [/quote] I also do that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 you could also play through hearing the changes. If you can hear intervals and know the song in your head... you just go with them ..you don't need to have your hands on the frets previously.. This is a classic busking/dep trick. You know the song and where it goes... someone will give you the key and since you can hear the intervals you can play it in any key.... Some people..notably gtrs..just play it by shape...but that is mostly because they don't know what the notes are anyway If you need to throw away the crutch tho..throw it away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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