So make me feel better, Mike:

All these great tunes you've worked out and tabbed and pulled apart the various guitar parts and styles of guitar playing.........if i pick any tune at random that you covered for GT say two years ago.......would you be able to recall it quickly and play it again like you did the song very recently?? i ask because I still get so #@#! frustrated even after a couple of days of working out a single guitar part to one of your songs!! Memory is the first thing to go perhaps??? Seriously, it's so hard for me to recall a progression and style of a tune and I realize there's no real shortcuts but there's got to be an artform to great retention!!?? Then.........when I do believe I have songs (or licks/solos) worked out and I'm in any jam situation.......instead of just bursting into a cool tune you've taught us and impressing I freeze and instead......I get crickets!!!?? There should be a course just on commiting things to memory.......identifying key passages or even great tunes and having them stick to the ole grey matter!! Thanks!! Jim C.

Hey Jim! This is not uncommon! Depending on the tune, I would have some trouble remembering some of those songs from a few years ago (heck, even a few months ago). Good news is that if you've already put in the work of learning it, getting it back after a few months is kind of like riding a bike. It comes back a bit quicker.

When you've learned something, it's important to keep working on it every day if you can, using the repetition to burn it into your brain and fingers. It's also always a good idea to set aside some time every few days (or once a week) to run through all the songs you've learned just to keep them fresh.

Nerves in a jam situation are also common --- you've changed the environment you usually play in, so you're out of your comfort zone. Just keep putting yourself in those sitiuations and you'll get more and more comfortable.

Keep at it and let me know how it's going!!

Mike

This is something I've struggled with so I thought I'd chime in an relay my experience.

Mike mentioned repetition...repetition is king!! For me, there is no substitute for tons of reps. For me to really memorize a challenging song, I can't tell you how many times I have to play it...at least 50 times, probably more like 100. A "memorized" song for me is on that is in muscle memory. There are songs I play in my band that I would have to stop and think to tell you what the chords are. I go on auto pilot and my fingers just go where they need to go and my ears tell me if I'm off or not.

I've learned songs to record as part of a collaboration. I will learn them well, but once they are recorded and I don't play them anymore, they become quickly forgotten. As Mike mentioned, if I chose to relearn them, they would come back quickly.

In my band, I have a book of "cheat sheets" listing chords for various parts. Even after a year of playing with them, I still have to follow some of the sheets closely. As time goes on, I become less and less dependant on that book.

Song form can be a struggle too...how long are the verses and choruses, what are the variations, etc. With repetition, you will start to feel where the transitions are. When I first started paying in a band, I would worry about missing a cue for a solo. Over time I've found that I'll feel or sense it coming.

I've been playing for 30 years...seriously for the last 15 or so...and I STILL have a bit of a "duh" moment if somebody hits me with the "hey, play something for me" bit.

Just keep playing, and playing, and playing....then play some more, and it will start to stick and become a natural extension of you.

One last thing...don't worry about exact replication of strumming patterns, rhythmic phrasing, sometimes even note selection. If you strive for exact replication, you will be paralyzed and make little progress. You want to be close and capture the overall idea for sure. For example, if you decide to play "Hard to Handle" for somebody, don't beat yourself up if you miss some of the funky rhythm or slop up a few notes in the solo. You don't want to be sloppy...but you don't need to parrot the original recording either. If you watch some players, you'll find that even they don't always replicate their own original recording exactly. So cut yourself some slack there :).

Originally Posted by: maggior

One last thing...don't worry about exact replication of strumming patterns, rhythmic phrasing, sometimes even note selection. If you strive for exact replication, you will be paralyzed and make little progress. You want to be close and capture the overall idea for sure. For example, if you decide to play "Hard to Handle" for somebody, don't beat yourself up if you miss some of the funky rhythm or slop up a few notes in the solo. You don't want to be sloppy...but you don't need to parrot the original recording either. If you watch some players, you'll find that even they don't always replicate their own original recording exactly. So cut yourself some slack there :).

This is some great advice !

Wheeew, so my CRS Syndrome may be a little more common than i thought. I'm sure that the degree and frequency varies also. Seriousely though, this does make me feel a little more at ease with my delima ecspecially coming from professional players and players with much more experience than me....Cheers!

great advice Maggior!!! Thanks for chiming in!

keep rocking everyone!

Mike

I can certainly identify with Maggio's response........but the other part of this is where do we find the patience and persistence (Hey!! P&P!!) to stick with this song or even cool solo or chord progression.....and not start climbing the walls with repetition?? A prime example is Mike's fantastic recent breakdown of my all time favorite acoustic guitar song "From the Beginning". This song has so many great and haunting very meaningful memories for me........I love learning to play it but then studying the more difficult parts like the guitar solo.......I get into a movement away from the mystical aspect of all the meaning and sometimes start to detest this song or even a great solo. I wish there was a magic pill because espeially with some of the cooler solos on electric........there's a fine line between truly mastering the solo and spending a ton of time and then cringing any time I play it or even hear it played!! Part of the talent of guitar playing or really anything is the ability to just forge ahead and not get caught up with 'too much of a great thing'. Word is that even the great Elton John refused to play his biggest classic "Your Song" for many years plus sir Paul refused to play Beatles tunes but then finally came around to embrace all this......Jim C.

Stratmanjimbo, that's why it's important to have multiple things you are learning at the same time. Moving onto other things (other songs, other parts of the song, scales drills, chord drills, etc.) can help prevent a rut, prevent boredom, and ward off frustration.

Try to focus on the positive. Perhaps you haven't mastered a solo yet, but maybe you have the opening lick down. Celebrate that!!! Take great pride and joy in that!! And continue moving foward. You WILL get there.

It's perhaps cliche, but it is very true...learning guitar is a journey, not a destination. Try to take joy in the journey.

Oh i do, believe me...getting profocient upon guitar is the juice and elixir that keeps me coming back to take bites out of that apple!! Good example is a while ago I had zero idea on how to play a solo intro....but then I took this void and filled it with perhaps too many memorized concepts!! I'd say easily a dozen classic plus some my own......I get encouraged and then somebody like Mike Olekshy comes slong and blows me away with his ease and grasp of things I get super humbled again!! If you're reading here Mike.......I'm chop busting a bit since you've obviously put in years and decades of study to reach tis point but like maggior points out here it's a journey........and man, I wish I could lock in and retain ten times better!! Jim C.

Originally Posted by: maggior

Stratmanjimbo, that's why it's important to have multiple things you are learning at the same time. Moving onto other things (other songs, other parts of the song, scales drills, chord drills, etc.) can help prevent a rut, prevent boredom, and ward off frustration.

Try to focus on the positive. Perhaps you haven't mastered a solo yet, but maybe you have the opening lick down. Celebrate that!!! Take great pride and joy in that!! And continue moving foward. You WILL get there.

It's perhaps cliche, but it is very true...learning guitar is a journey, not a destination. Try to take joy in the journey.

This +1000!!! Thank you Maggior!!

Jim - chop bust away!! I do feel the retention has something to do with age. All the music I learned and played (over and over) from around age 15 to 25 is permanently in my brain - I couldn't erase all that if I tried! Fast forward to a few decades later, and anything I learn now -- if I'm not intentional about working at it - it's goes away pretty quickly.

Mike

I hear ya, Mike..........my era........well before yours.......was Mountain, Grand Funk Railroad, The Who, Black Sabbath......and the like!! As a young teen......I learned "Inside Looking Out" (great tune by the way!! Classic....in fact I'm stunned it's never made a resurgence........hint............hint!!!!) verbatem and then some!! I'd wager I could relearn all the integral guitar parts again well within and hour and play this again like a pro as I did back in my heyday........and I was good too........this was a concensus but any way......but any one of the many more recent great songs you've taught.......definitely not so much! There's definitely something to be said about 'opportune' youthful learning....like a foreign language. Everyone who speaks 3-5 foreign languages started at a very early age!! But......just to bring things full circle........this is exactly why I so look forward to your great artist study courses (here I'm back at the great Pete Townsend that's finally on deck and man am I psyched.....one great idea from me, no!!!??) because I can still generally grasp concepts and pull upon this core learning which I wich never stopped from my young teens and expand upon all this to hopefully..........hopefully make my own style and sound plus make this all sound great. It's definitely a HUGE challenge and very frustrating at times but you and GT 100% make all this possible!! Everyone there but especially you as well as Christopher really care and carefully design and consider lessons that really speak to me. I hope you don't mind all this dribble here but it's invaluable lessons I'd wager you wish were around too when you struggled or got lost trying to advance upon this very frustrating yet beautiful instrument!! Jim C.