Remembering chords and lyrics? (Page 1 of 2)

Well if you know the chords, I'd play it with the music going. I find it easier to remember the words and sing along if I play along with the song. It also helps with your rhythm and timing...Just thoughts...Peace

First off sinjin look for songs with a 12 bar blues structure. Once you get the feel of a blues your fingers almost know where to go. With a blues there's the main chord, the verse departure and then the chorus departure chord, that's just 3 chords. So a blues in G goes verse G G G G C C G G chorus D C G C. A blues in A goes A A A A D D A A E D A D A etc Once you learn this it becomes second nature and you'll start spotting songs that use it and they'll come easier.

Second - lyrics. Look for keywords you can remember that cue you in. One trick singers use is to write lyrics out by hand, the very act of writing helps you remember plus if you try to make the words long or short with the timing of the song you'll understand the structure more.

The more ways you experience something the easier it is to remember/learn. This applies to songs, poetry, mathematical formulas, anything.

For example hear it, AND write it,  AND sing it, AND read it silently, AND read it aloud. Do each of these over and over again. The more time syou do all these things, the more it's embedded. It's the only way I've ever learned anything. Of course, our ability to do so declines with age!

"Can you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall?"

"Practice"

I memorize songs one piece at a time.  I haven't memorized many, so my advice should be considered with a grain of salt.  Anyway, when I decide to go about memorizing a song, I do it lyrics first.  I listen to the song as a whole and get the feel of the story it's telling.  It helps that I like story songs.  Anyway, I get a general feel for the song.  What happens.  What happens next.  What twist of phrase is used to describe this, that, or the other.

Then I sing it from the start until I don't remember.  And then I TRY to remember.  If I remember something, then I look to see if I got it right.  If I don't remember something, I look to trip my memory.  This is based on the assumption that I'm going to forget at the same places each time, which is usually the truth with me. 

Anyway, once I get each verse memorized, singing along on the commute helps especially if I'm singing one line and thinking about what the next line is, I then memorize the choruses.  I like Jimmy Buffett songs, so the choruses often change a little bit over the course of the song.  I like that method of moving along the story of a song. 

Once I can sing the entire song from memory (there are about fifteen or twenty songs I can sing from memory) I learn the chords WHILE SINGING.  The important part to me is fitting the chords together with the lyrics.  That way, the lyrics trigger the chord movement and vice versa.  Each piece helps me to remember the other piece. 

Finally, I play it about sixty gazillion times while concentrating.  I usually keep the sheet music in front of me, but flipped over or covered by something.  That way I can look if I get stuck, but I can't use it as a crutch. 

Mostly, though.  I just prefer using the sheets as a crutch.  There are only four songs I can play from memory right now: Forever and Ever Amen, Tin Cup Chalice, Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road, and Crocodile Rock.  If I have the sheets in front of me, there are a lot of other songs that I can muddle through just as you say - not really looking at the sheets but relying on them to jog my memory about what's coming up.  I mark up my sheets with notes, too. 

I hope that's helpful.  If not, blame Upyerkilt.  Apparantly the Scots have invented everything so it must be their fault.   

- Zurf

I love this topic ,
   I have been playing for about 45 years , and I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 songs at my fingertips ( mentally speaking ) . Sometimes at jams , I'll pop up with one that no one has heard for years and get through it without a hitch . Everybody is like , how the heck do you remember all these songs .
For me it has always come easy , don't know why .
That's not to say I don't have my share of "senior moments".
   When learning new ones though , upyerkilt and I have the same formula . Practice and practice ......I often will take one I'm working on and throw it in the truck when I get ready to leave for my jobs . I'll sing it all day as I'm working . If I get stuck on lyrics , i'll stop untill I can look at the sheet again , it seems like if you do it wrong more than once or twice , it will try to repeat every time you sing it so make sure you have the correct lyrics with you .
    With my own songs , since I always write the lyrics first,
then the melody , sometimes
the chords will escape me the first few times .
But PRACTICE , PRACTICE ...

Sorry to resurrect an old topic but I guess it’s better and starting another identical one,   I was going to post a topic along these lines anyway.  Basically all the songs I play are copied out into a notebook, I often find my chord changes are in slightly different places to the actual printout and additionally I sometimes leave chords out on harder to play songs.  Basically I like to personalise it.

Anyway, I maxed out my first book sometime ago and I’m well into my second, somewhere in the region of 130 songs which I can play reasonably ok.  My problem is there are probably only 1 or 2 I can play from memory and I wouldn’t be confident at playing them without a hitch.  I think it’s been mentioned above and that I think I’ve become lazy and it’s too easy to pull out my “book† and play away.

I’ve now concluded that I really have to start memorising a few songs and I have added a section to my practice sessions for this.  I have picked about 6 songs, some new, some old  all of which I enjoy to play but I’m concerned that if I play these to death I’ll get bored of playing them?

Is it a case that most of the songs you can play from memory soon become a nightmare to play due to boredom?

I have the same problem and i'm glad this thread came up. Alot of good advise here. Thanks

I have the same problem.  It seems no matter how well I know the words of a song, I still have to see the words and chords to do the song.  Once you've gotten used to doing it that way, it is very hard to change it.  Not that it can't be done.  I figure if a person can use sheet music on a piano, then I can use it when playing the guitar and singing.  It's more of a hassle to get the music and guitar out and all situated, but I live with it.

Heya Benson,

I think you are exactly right, for some reason a lot of folks seem to think guitar players should know the lyrics and music to every song. I know a lot of songs with no help from cheat sheets but it sure takes the pressure off if you have a songbook in front of you. I am seeing it more now days where a performer is standing or sitting on a high stool and they have a music stand at it's lowest position almost flat and it is very indescreet.

Crevs got the right idea with cue cards.   

Yeah, a lot goin on in this thread and a lot of truth.   Funny, if you know 10 songs, people will still expect you to be a "jukebox" and play any song on demand.  So it's good to have the notes.  But I was coached by a good friend to learn the song with the sheet but then DITCH the music stand.  You'll lose your place anyway and the audience is not very appreciative if you're not making eye contact.  You get so much more out of playing that way.  At least that's been my experience.

I tend to associate a word in the lyrics with the chord...like "Peaceful" in Peaceful Easy Feeling (Eagles) equals the "A" chord every time in that particular song.  Buys some time to think of the next lyric/chord.

I sing them in the shower with the express purpose of memorization.  I forget the lyrics to songs I write all the time.  Bugs me!