9380 Members
50 Forums
26838 Topics
293690 Posts
Max Online: 390 @ 10/02/12 01:42 PM
|
|
|
#283980 - 10/03/11 02:12 PM
Memory tricks?
|
sugarplum_hippo
Be Nice (I'm New!)
Registered: 18/06/09
Posts: 18
Loc: United Kingdom
|
Hi all
I've been hammering a fingerstyle solo guitar book I had for Christmas and can now play 4 songs from it quite well but I have 2 problems.
Firstly- Take the TAB away and I can't play more then a few bars without getting stuck
Secondly- Some of the songs cover 5-6 pages and swapping between them quickly is tricky especially when it comes to repeats and Coda's etc.
Should I be trying to memorise each song and if so can anyone give me any tips as I'm struggling?
Should I be doing a few bars at a time or just play from the tab till I’m totally sick of it?
I do find recurring patens in the bass lines of the songs but the treble part tends to change with the melody.
Any advice please
Edited by sugarplum_hippo (10/03/11 02:13 PM)
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#284051 - 14/03/11 09:52 AM
Re: Memory tricks?
[Re: sugarplum_hippo]
|
OldSwanner
Professional Forumite!
Registered: 31/08/09
Posts: 142
Loc: Warwick, UK
|
Not much response here, so here's my 5c worth.
Definitely approach a bar at a time. In particular, pull out the bar you find toughest and examine in minute detail. One good approach is to decide that you won't bother with trying to learn the whole thing until you have that one bar up to speed.
Add in the bar before and loop. Then loop into the bar after. Build up a whole line .. see how it links into the previous and following lines, etc.
This is a world of difference from simply playing through again and again from the start, which is the approach best used when the full piece is known to be playable at (and ideally above) performance tempo with no problems.
_________________________
Gibson Blueshawk Fender Blues Junior/Hotrod Deluxe http://www.psgt.co.uk ... *Real* tuition for serious guitar students in Leamington Spa and Warwick.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#284055 - 14/03/11 12:49 PM
Re: Memory tricks?
[Re: OldSwanner]
|
Oldjono
Professional Forumite!
Registered: 15/09/09
Posts: 852
Loc: Dorset
|
When you see the tab infront of you can your do all the left and right hand movements in you head knowing they are correct according to the information. With even holding a guitar?
Seeing yourself playing a piece mentally is an approach many instructors use. Even his Steve Vainess believes in this approach.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#284070 - 15/03/11 06:31 AM
Re: Memory tricks?
[Re: Oldjono]
|
sugarplum_hippo
Be Nice (I'm New!)
Registered: 18/06/09
Posts: 18
Loc: United Kingdom
|
OK thanks I will try to play them mentally and see how I get on.
I can play all 4 pieces well now with the tab in front of me but I've had to resort to photo-copying the other pages so I don't have to stop to turn pages and I'm pretty sure this is not normal, is it?
Thanks
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#284076 - 15/03/11 02:01 PM
Re: Memory tricks?
[Re: sugarplum_hippo]
|
Oldjono
Professional Forumite!
Registered: 15/09/09
Posts: 852
Loc: Dorset
|
What can happen with tab is you tend to focus more of your attention on it and not using your ability to change chords or play the notes
Get page one and play it then imediately turn it over and just try and memorise what you did and play the piece from you memory. Then, when you can play page one do the same with page two and then repeat the process from the begining. Build on each page then join them up.
Also, this is an essential too. Give yourself a break or it will become manotonous and your will end up losing ther feel for the music and it will become a clinical execise rather than a musical experience.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#284083 - 16/03/11 05:17 AM
Re: Memory tricks?
[Re: Oldjono]
|
DaveBass
Old Timer
Registered: 30/10/02
Posts: 6462
Loc: The wilds of Surrey
|
A professional musician, who used to play in Las Vegas amongst other places, passed on this timeless piece of wisdom to me:
"Music is all about patterns."
Understanding music is about getting to grips with the underlying patterns.
For example, most music has a structure made up of four-bar segments. There are generally two, three or four of these segments.
In the case of the twelve-bar blues, the AAB pattern is very clear: you have an opening phrase A: "Woke up this mornin', couldn't get out of bed." This is repeated with slight differences(known as variation): "Yeah, I woke up this mornin' and I couldn't get out of bed." Then there there's another four-bar phrase, B: "Great big dog was sittin' upon my head." Or whatever.
Theorists call the basic AB structure question-and-answer. The A part poses a question and B part answers it, musically.
Similarly many songs of the 1930s, 40s and 50s have a sixteen-bar structure, AABA. So this is an elaboration of the basic AB.
Verse and chorus alternation is a larger-scale AB pattern. Top and tail it with an intro and an outro, and maybe put a guitar solo in the middle, and you have the structure of many of the Beatles' early hits, not to mention many other songs.
Occasionally you get a song with a five-bar segment, e.g. Elton John's "Your Song", but it's the exception that proves the rule. In other words, as a musician you notice that he's doing something unusual. It probably goes over the general public's head, but it gives the song a certain something.
As well as structural patterns, we have the patterns that make up scales and chords. These are well worth learning. Then for guitar playing there are picking patterns. And the fingering patterns you find on the fretboard.
Once you've broken a piece down into its inherent patterns, it becomes a lot easier to learn. But some of the mystique goes, because you realise that a lot of music is just the mechanical application of well-established patterns.
The job of the composer is to make music seem both familiar and novel. The underlying patterns provide the familiarity bit.
The job of the musician is to perform the music, and recognising the patterns will make this a lot easier. And the more you play, the easier it gets, because you end up in a position where you've seen most of the patterns many times before.
So my advice would be to analyse the music and try and spot as many patterns in it as you can.
Dave
PS: You don't have to play it exactly as written. Even classical musicians sometimes take liberties. 
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#286919 - 08/08/11 05:31 AM
Re: Memory tricks?
[Re: sugarplum_hippo]
|
Amasa
Be Nice (I'm New!)
Registered: 04/08/11
Posts: 22
Loc: Hampshire, UK
|
I tend to do what Jocko has suggested. I think you essentially have to find a technique that works for you. My 9 year old daughter amazes me, she is having guitar lessons with same tutor as me, and she can memorise a fair few bars in a very short time. According to our tutor, this is a common trait with young children. Could be numerous contributing factors, being young she sucks up information and she is used to having to memorise information from school.
I've a feeling that one reason she remembers her practice pieces better than me is because she is more relaxed. Where as I want to show our tutor that I've practised and progressed since the last lesson (which introduces an element of stress), she also wants to do well but is content that she has done her practise ('homework'), and can hear she has progressed. She doesn't think about memorising a piece, it just come naturally as part of her practice.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
Moderator: stickyfiddle
|
|
FREE Pre Sale
Personalised Setup worth £55
On every guitar sold (Since
1995)
Click on the Images For Further
Details
Acoustic Guitar Setup
Electric Guitar Setup
I have also created a page to help
explain, in basic terms, why a guitar sold by me will:
Play Better
Sound Better
Feel Better
Look Better
Stay In Tune - Longer Whether buying a guitar or otherwise, I hope you find the
information of value.
|
|
|
|
