2chops
191 posts
Nov 14, 2013
4:52 PM
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I generally get the chorus first, then verse by verse. As for learning the music side of it goes, I work on getting the melody bit by bit. Then the embellishments take care of themselves.
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I'm workin on it. I'm workin on it.
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Frank
3276 posts
Nov 14, 2013
6:16 PM
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Re-write/change up a few of the lyrics in each verse or just the verses that are slippin your memory...These slight changes can help trigger what comes next. Also writing out the song onto paper - helps your minds eye to take deeper mental notes.
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The Centipide Saloon
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Last Edited by Frank on Nov 14, 2013 6:17 PM
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KingoBad
1412 posts
Nov 14, 2013
8:17 PM
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Start by writing the lyrics as you listen to the song like dictation.
Listen to the song over and over. I tend to spend a whole day with the song playing in the background on repeat, trying to sing what I can. Then leave it for a day - nothing at all. Then come back to it.
I learn anchor sentences at the beginning of each verse.
I can add a song to a working condition in a week this way, but it usually takes weeks to perfect it.
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Danny
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Jehosaphat
602 posts
Nov 14, 2013
8:56 PM
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One blues band i was in for a long time, we did 50% originals.. the singer wrote some great blues songs
even though he was a middle class white guy from Leeds(UK)
Sometimes he would forget his own lyrics and have to extemporise on the spot..
6 pints of guinness will do that^
I suppose the point i'm making is that with a lot of songs,especially at a Bar gig you can just fill in with any words that rhyme if you forget the right ones.
"It's not the words it's the groove"
Wish i could remember who said that.
But if you are doing a serious concert..well i suppose you need to remember the lyrics.
But when has the Blues ever been a serious affair
every blues player I've ever heard stole lyrics and riffs..thats what it is all about.
Just relax and the words will come.
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nacoran
7338 posts
Nov 14, 2013
9:06 PM
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Lyric memorization drives me crazy. Something about trying to switch the parts of my brain that are thinking of melodies and harp stuff to remembering words just doesn't seem to want to multitask properly in my brain!
Kingo's comment about anchor sentences is good advice; sometimes I'll even make a mnemonic of the first word in each verse. I've even, as I've written more and more songs, taken to making my songs a little more linear to be easier to remember. (And songs that repeat a line a couple times are always easier!)
Memorizing the rhyme scheme can help too, but ultimately, it's just about repetition. Sing it in the car. Sing it with backing and without backing. Say the lyrics to yourself. Write them down from memory.
And if all else fails, get a teleprompter!
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Nate
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Rubes
777 posts
Nov 15, 2013
1:24 AM
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I'm thinking about hiding an ipad in a small black case in front of me tomorrow night at a gig with a lot of stuff that's new to me! Mostly back up vocals....but some 'meaty' choruses I'm gonna try to zoom in on....on the fly......
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jbear
42 posts
Nov 15, 2013
4:05 AM
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Jehosaphat...was the guy's name Denis? Long shot.
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BC
4 posts
Nov 15, 2013
11:25 AM
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Photographic memory.
Actually since my singing is not so great I don't have to worry so much about it. Our group could use a good vocalist.
BC
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LSC
534 posts
Nov 15, 2013
11:40 AM
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The tip about writing the lyrics as you learn the song is a good one. I would qualify that by saying that typing the lyric as opposed to handwriting is more effective. We learn starting as children by reading printed text. It is actually been proven scientifically that this is the the best method for memorization.
The other method which I have found to be helpful is understanding the story of the song. If you know the general plot it becomes logical which order the verses go. Having said that, with blues tunes you can often mix up the verse order and no one is the wiser.
I've got hundreds of songs in my head and muddle them up from time to time, even on songs I wrote. When I've gone blank I've sometimes just made something up and a couple of times just sang, "I forgot the words to this song." The secret is not to panic and just act like you meant to sing whatever all along. Nobody pays much attention to lyrics at bar gigs and most of the time can't understand what's being sung anyway.
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LSC
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easyreeder
439 posts
Nov 16, 2013
8:00 AM
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Thanks for the contributions. Of course it's true that 99% of an audience doesn't know what you're playing by heart, and you can sometimes mix verses up without anybody noticing, but you still have to memorize the lines and verses, and you can't use the logical progression LSC describes if you mix them up, and story songs do require that progression to make sense. I'm mostly concerned with story songs because they tend to have lots of verses.
Once I memorize a story song, the progression of the story is critical to me remembering the next verse, and to not mixing up lines from one verse with another. If I get one verse out of order, remembering the rest of them gets difficult because the touch stones are no longer lined up in my mind. I just noticed this recently while working on a particularly long song, so I'm working on memorizing verses on their own, so they're solid without the touch stones of where other verses begin and end.
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1847
1305 posts
Nov 16, 2013
9:19 AM
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Lyric memorization drives me crazy.
fortunately for you,nate........ it's a short drive
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i get a lot of request when i play my harmonica
"but i play it anyway"
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nacoran
7344 posts
Nov 16, 2013
11:17 AM
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1847... don't I know it!
LSC's comment about knowing the structure of the song is a really good one.
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Nate
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