Memorization, Do The Hard Part First

Lately I have been thinking about what methods I use to memorize songs. I am a guitar player and singer so I play the song on the guitar endlessly until the song can play naturally without me having to remember it per se.

I break it into sections, intro, stanzas or verses and ending. Your particular song may be in a different form but the concept is the same.

I try it in different keys to find the best key for my voice and also differrent keys on the guitar require different techniques and may provide me with insight or inspiration. Sometimes you find things you would not have thought of before simply by playing in a different key.

I find that if there are particular sections that are difficult or have a challenge of some sort that I need to work on this section first in my practice. This makes sure I do not overlook it and get lazy. If I always play through the song and stop when I get to the “hard” part then I will not ever get past it and it will actually become part of the final version. You must face yoru demons and work on the hard part.

Oh and the last part is to remind you that there are no shortcuts really. You have to play the song over and over and over and over and over…….