As a life long student of music, I have a lot of experience with not only my own learning and memorizing tendencies, but I’ve also seen how others learn and memorize. Honestly, the answer is very simple:
You NEED to make an effort to memorize. I repeat: YOU NEED TO MAKE THE EFFORT TO MEMORIZE!
While repetition certainly helps when it comes to familiarity and muscle memory, if you don’t make an effort to memorize, you won’t. Being passive and going through the motions isn’t active learning. If you aren’t actively learning, your brain isn’t going to store the information.
Understanding Memory
Think about phone numbers you have seen and dialed countless times, but you still don’t know it by heart. Perhaps you always have to ask your friend what she wants from McDonalds, even though she always gets the same thing. Think about all the knowledge you’ve forgotten since school!
Chances are, unless you have photographic memory, the only things you tend to remember without trying are things that really stood out to you (like a crazy dream or video), or something that you have an emotional connection with (like song lyrics or a friend’s story).
As you get older, it becomes harder to retain things for a few reasons. For one, we simply aren’t trying to memorize because we don’t feel a need to (thanks technology!), and two, we aren’t in school anymore!
Back then, we had to study and cram and try to memorize things so often to prepare for tests and presentations. Since we couldn’t resort to our textbooks during exams, we had no choice but to try to understand and memorize the content. Our grades depended on us memorizing, so we practiced that often.
As adults, or even students who have been online learning for some time, you may have noticed that our brains have gotten quite lazy. If we don’t need to memorize something, we won’t make the effort. We rely more on calendars or our friends reminding us.
As a musician, if you don’t feel a need or urgency to memorize because the sheets or tabs are always in front of you, you’re simply not going to make the effort. It’s a lot to remember after all, so reading becomes the default.
If memorization happened naturally, or we only had to read things once to always know it, we’d all be geniuses who could win Jeopardy!
Why Repetition Isn’t Good Enough
As a musician who is learning through sheets or tabs, you will have the notes in front of you to read as you play. Despite practicing and playing through this song many times, you still haven’t memorized it, unless it’s super easy. What’s going on?
Well, let’s think about video games for a second. You are given visual instructions, you process it, and you will react. You will go through the whole level, but obviously, you haven’t memorized it. You weren’t making an effort to. You were just doing what you had to do when you had to do it, to get through the level.
You can play that level over and over again, and yes, it will get easier as you become more familiar with it, but you cannot do it blindfolded. You are going through the motions, but you’re not making an effort to memorize those motions, thus you can’t play it passively.
The same thing happens when you’re reading music. You see, you react. You’re not learning or memorizing. So when you have to play it again, it still feels kind of new. Familiar, but parts may still trip you up if you aren’t paying attention.
At one point, it may feel so easy and natural that you think you have it down, but once the visual aid is gone, it will feel like you’ve forgotten everything because you never truly internalized it, nor got comfortable playing without it. Repetition means nothing if you’re not actively learning it.
“I Can Learn By Ear Though…”
If you can learn songs by ear, that’s great! It’s certainly a trait many wished they had. You’ve practiced hard to be able to play without tabs…
However, you’re probably not memorizing the songs either because you don’t feel you have to. You can always figure it out when you need to, right?
You may be so good at playing the sound in your mind that you can be spontaneous, but that is still different from memorization. If you forgot how the song sounded, then what? If someone tried to talk to you, can you continue playing it through muscle memory?
When you are playing by ear, it requires more mental energy and effort on your part. Songs wait for no one, so you need to think and act quick. Even if one is pretty good at recalling quickly, you’re still prone to mistakes or coming in late. If there’s distractions and/or you can’t hear yourself, it may be too hard to do, because the piece was never memorized in your head or your hands.
Imagine a spelling bee. You got someone who has taken the time to learn and memorize every spelling of every word in the spell book. You also got those who understand phonetics and are able to sound out words really well, but didn’t spend much time getting familiar with the words.
Who do you think will have an easier time winning? The latter could win for sure, but it will take a lot more energy and stress to figure things out on the spot.
Learning vs Memorizing
(Orchestras vs bands Study)
There is a difference between learning a song and memorizing it. Learning means you can play through the song the way it was intended. You worked out the quirks, your timing is great, and your playing is awesome.
Those in orchestras can learn songs and play through them without memorizing it. For a lot of these musicians, they have to learn many pieces, and/or these pieces could be very long and complex. They may not have a very long time to learn these pieces either, so it’s better that everyone has their sheets to refer to.
For orchestras, there is added pressure to be perfect. They are playing alongside 25+ other people, and some are playing the same instrument or parts as you. There is no space for mistakes, nor is it a time to ‘be creative and have fun’. You play the piece as the creator intended, under the guidance of your conductor.
All that matters is the music. You are to blend in and play your part. Everyone dresses the same and everyone has their sheets in front of them as a reference. Uniformity and no excuses.
Obviously, some members may go out of their way to memorize, especially during harder or faster parts that may be difficult to read on the spot, but they have the comfort of knowing their sheets will always be there as a reference.
In a band, however, stage presence is a big part of the genre and why musicians are attracted to perform in one. It’s a chance to be in the spotlight for not just their skills, but who they are. People go to concerts not just to hear a song they’ve heard before, but for the live experience and unique performance.
If a musician truly wanted to have fun on stage, engage with the audience, or they had to sing and dance along, having the song memorized is a need. They should be able to play it without thinking much, and preferably, without looking at their instrument all the time.
A lot is going on while on stage, from lights to the crowd screaming. You’re not used to playing in this new environment, and you’re probably dealing with adrenaline and anxiety as well. There’s less people on stage so you’re going to stand out more. The last thing you need is the added pressure of knowing you don’t fully know your part.
There are cover bands that have 30+ songs memorized and ready to go. For a lot of genres that fit in a band, like pop, rock, and blues, the music isn’t nearly as complex as classical music. A lot of songs follow the same progressions or have similarities, and the riffs or choruses repeat.
For some positions of the band, like drums and lead guitar, they have more freedom to play around and make it their own. They can change a fill, or play the riff a little differently, and people either won’t notice or enjoy it more. Bass can make their part a little funkier too, and it would actually be appreciated.
(Rhythm guitarists, like me, have to stick closer to the book though. Not only is our part more audible than bass, but changing the chord, progression, or strumming pattern could essentially change the whole song. We are the true foundation. As one person puts it, if rhythm messes up, “the entire ships implodes on itself with women and children burning to death, like that scene in T2.” More on the importance of rhythm guitar in this article).
But all in all, memorizing is important if you ever want to truly own the stage and make it your own (or at least make eye contact with your crush when playing a song). If you relied on sheets, you would have to stay in one spot and keep your eyes on the paper so you don’t lose your spot. What kind of fun is that?
Thus, if you aim to reach this level of memory for a song, and you want to be able to just pull it out anytime and play it confidently, here’s some tips to get you started!
Tips For Memorizing Songs
1. Take The Song Piece By Piece
If the song is new to you, unless it is a very simple, it’s best to take it piece by piece. You can go through the whole song to get familiar with it, but once you have it down and you want to memorize it, break it apart.
I personally like to start with the chorus. It tends to be the easiest part in a lot of songs, and because it repeats, I’ll learn half the song just like that. I will then to the verse for similar reason, and then take on the intro and bridge as those tend to be the most complex. I will pay close attention to the strumming pattern early on so I can get more familiar with it as I go through the progressions.
As I learn, even if it was from tabs, I’ll try to figure out what chord I’m playing, remember what it transitions into, or relate it to another song I know for easy reference. If it’s power chords, I tend to think in numbers, and remember how many frets between chords.
Figure out what works for you. Definitely make sure you can play the section or the whole piece first comfortably before trying to memorize it, otherwise, you will have to keep referring to the tab since you can’t memorize something you don’t really know or understand.
2. Get Off The Tabs/Sheets Asap
Now that you are making an effort to memorize, get off the tabs asap. Get it out of sight so not to cheat, but still keep it close so if you really can’t remember a part, you can review it. You can hide the tabs after learning each section, or learn the whole song beforehand.
You are going to forget bits and pieces, and it’s okay to refer to your tab a couple times to make sure you’re remembering it right, but after that, I challenge you to work on your recall skills.
After playing it a few times, you should have an idea of what kind of chord or what section you should be playing next. Test a few things out and see if it comes back to you. Work on training your ear as well. Try some chords or notes, and see if it’s too low or high. Only if it really doesn’t come to you should you look at your tabs.
Definitely follow the above advice and build confidence in your memory. There will be times when you don’t have your sheets around to take a gander, but the show must go on! Soon, even if you think you forgot a piece, your hands will remember for you once you start playing.
3. Repeat It Over & Over & Over
Okay, so you have a song down, now you’re good to go right? Wrong! Remember what I said about things you learned in school? Unless you’re using or referring to something regularly, or it’s already been drilled into your head 250 times, you’re going to forget it eventually.
For a newly learned song, I recommend the spaced approached. For your first week, you should practice this song daily, multiple times a day if possible. You want the song to start feeling second nature to you and for the transitions between riffs and chords to be easy.
Once you feel that you don’t have to think too much to play it, you can space out your reviews to a few times a week, and then once a week. As your set list grows, other songs will need more of your time and attention, but do your best to still review the song a couple times a month as a refresher. The song should come back pretty easily at this point.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it’s not that songs are hard to memorize, it’s that we haven’t made an effort to memorize, so it’s not sticking. You’re not going to feel confident playing without tabs or sheets if you never play without tabs or sheets.
If you really want to be someone who has 50+ songs in their setlist ready to go at any time, you need to learn the songs and get off the papers as soon as possible. Work on actively recalling parts on your own or learning by ear. You can also work on improv skills to fill in the blank if by chance, you do forget.
Memorization takes effort, so put in the energy!
