John M G
203 posts
May 02, 2018
5:53 PM
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I've been encouraged to start singing in the band I play with and now have about 15 songs I can go to.
Learning the lyrics was something new.
I'd never really paid much attention to the actual words, the song was more to me about the musical colour and the singer was just another instrument.
Now I'm singing the lyrics are of course really important.
I've come up with my own way of memorising lyrics but I'm interested to see how others go about it.
I've never allowed myself to use a song sheet when playing in public.
Interested to hear how others go about it.
Cheers JG
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SweetBlood
67 posts
May 02, 2018
6:19 PM
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Old fashioned repetition. I listen and sing along and then play it on guitar while trying to sing the lyrics or possibly even accapella. If I get stuck I don't look immediately, instead I stop and think and see if it will come to me. If it doesn't, I'll read the lyrics and try again. Eventually I have it.
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kudzurunner
6470 posts
May 02, 2018
6:40 PM
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I go for a run and set up a left-right rhythm. Then I sing the lyrics in my head. Very effective.
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Beyond the Crossroads: The Devil and the Blues Tradition
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nacoran
9827 posts
May 02, 2018
9:38 PM
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There are different ways. I usually try a mix. Some of it is reading the lyric sheets over and over and quizzing myself. Some of it is listening to recordings and singing along (or just listening a ton!). Some of it is figuring out how it fits in the song.
Personally I've noticed that I'm pretty good within the rhyme scheme of a single verse, but I often screw up which verse goes where. I suggest writing out the lyrics with notes on where the instrumentals are going and all that. Use those sheet to practice. Get a scratch recording of you singing it, even if you have to use the lyric sheet. Then listen to that scratch recording until you can sing it without it. Sometimes you can figure out what is tripping you up and remember something short to keep that in your head. Here is my Song Wet Dog Blues, annotated with what trips me up.
I came in from the rain,
Like a wet dog
I came in from the rain,
oh, like a wet dog
Okay, that's the chorus... It's literally just one sentence and the words are in the title... no problems yet. Now I've got to remember the first of the two paired verses... this is where I get in trouble...
Shaking my head,
'bout what you said
Wonderin' to my self
If I should just play dead
-This one line, for different reasons, trips me up... it originally was 'If I'd be better off dead' which flows much better, but is much darker and doesn't have a dog pun, and this song is all about the dog puns. I know when I get here that I have to pronounce play as pla-a-ay dead.
I know I'm just a dog with fleas
Sometimes I just do as I please
Get down on all fours
Beggin' darlin' stay with me
I screw those two verses up all the time, so I work on that. I get them out of order, and I particularly get the first one mixed up with the first verse of the second part of the song.
-Now I go into the bridge
These wet dog blues
Are making me sick
They say you can't teach
And old dog new tricks
-For some reason I get the two parts of this verse backwards and start with tricks, which doesn't even make sense!
But losing you
Would give me paws*
So I learn a new trick, just because.
-Okay, now back to the came in from the rain bit... that makes sense... when I'm practicing it I skip right over because it never trips me up....
-But then there is this one, which I use logic to remember... I know the last verse ends with howling, so I can sort of remember, if I think about this one that it leads into it.
Wagging my tail
Chasing every piece of tail that I see*
-I have to catch a breath before this to spit out this many syllables quickly enough)
Never knowin' what I got
Till it gets away from me
I know I screwed up
I'll take the collar*
Stayed out all night
Made you howl and holler (ow ow owwwww)
Chorus
Bridge
Chorus
So in my head I know the general structure of the song, but I screw up the verse order. Once I get into a verse I'm okay... so really, when it gets right down to it all I need to remember is:
Shaking
Fleas
Sick/Trick
Wagging
I screwed up
If you write that out in front of me even if I haven't sung the song in a few years I can figure it out just from that little bit. Once you get to that point you can just go over it in your head whenever you need to. It's better, in general, to break your learning up into clumps. It's funny. I haven't been playing out for a while now and all of the sudden songs that I nearly had down but sometimes needed song sheets for now I don't need song sheets for.
Most songs have a structure. I noticed a lot of my early songs (and even a play I wrote in high school) all tend to be made up of sort of floaty verses and acts. In response I worked on tying verses together better so one naturally flows into the other...
Your lithe and thin
And smell of cinnamon
And in my mind
Where we've so often been
More than just friends
Travellers on the same road
Listening to the same
Station on the radio.
That, for my brain, is much easier to remember. It's got two rhyme schemes but the last sentence of the first stanza runs into the topic of the second stanza, tying them together. If you're writing, write those if you have a hard time remembering. If you are doing covers, look for spots where they do that.
Sorry for all the dog puns. Sometimes I just speak say that one and listen to all the groans. When I'm doing Wet Dog Blues just with me and my harp, wherever the * are I wink, raise my eyebrows or smirk, or tell them it's okay to groan.
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Nate
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WinslowYerxa
1564 posts
May 03, 2018
8:15 AM
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Another way is to paraphrase the lyrics. Find another way to say the things the lyrics say. This helps not only with memorization but also with interpreting and expressing them.
Another way is to focus on the pairs of rhyming words at the end of each line. Memorize those catchy bits and use them to hang the preceding words on.
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BronzeWailer
2055 posts
May 03, 2018
4:28 PM
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When I started singing lessons we did very little song work at first, maybe 10 minutes out of an hour. Then I eventually got up to a couple of new songs a week.
I often write out the lyrics by hand at first. Then I will remember the end lines as Winslow says or sometimes the beginnings. I sing while riding my mountain bike along the mighty Parramatta River, in my car, and in the kitchen.
I don't worry about screwing up the lyrics too much. I can always repeat a verse if I get forgetful.
BronzeWailer's YouTube
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Bb
356 posts
May 03, 2018
6:28 PM
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Learning songs with not a shit ton of lyrics is a good way to get your song count up. Many straight up blues have a lot of repetition in them even if they have a good number of verses. Songs that have a story line are easier for me to remember too. I recently learned Tangled Up in Blue which has a ton of lyrics bit tells a story I can follow. Oh, having gigs where people are depending on you to get it right helps me too.
-Bob
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snowman
346 posts
May 03, 2018
8:36 PM
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I use audacity and break it down verse by verse
so 1 song on cd is just a verse--next song just the next verse---then i try to make 1 lead a song and sing over it --that way i can skip-to the verse Im having trouble with
picture whats happening in the lyrics -to get a feel
"she left me" picture in yr mind yr wife or girlfriend leaving you
I also do it acca-pella to really get it---u would be amazed how much harder it is to sing a melody line, with no backing--when u get get u really have it--even with no backing
Last Edited by snowman on May 03, 2018 8:37 PM
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Andrew
1784 posts
May 03, 2018
11:08 PM
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In my case, first you need a memory.
I've been singing the same songs at the uke group for 6 years and I still don't know any of them.
I'd love to learn a song or a poem.
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Lee Shamrock
3 posts
May 04, 2018
4:03 AM
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Great advice above. Only thing I can add is learning more than 1 song at a time seems to make it easier. I suspected this was true and later read about a university study that confirmed it.
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