I know, After so many years....

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
How could you NOT know this Mike?
When you say "take the time to get this down".
Do you mean "To the point where it's easy to play" or
"To the point where you OWN it (memorized & can pull it out as needed)"?
For instance, I can easily play along through all the licks in Section One, but just sitting here I can only "pull out" example 5, which I already play all the time. The others I'd have to read or play along with you.
 

Griff

Vice Assistant General Manager
Staff member
That's always going to depend on the purpose of what you're working on. Is it something you intend to use in your soloing? Then you need it memorized, and available in time at the drop of a hat. That means you have to really own it and can play it repeatedly over various different tempos, keys, feels, etc.

If you have to look at a page to play anything, it won't be there in your brain on a bandstand.
 

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
That's always going to depend on the purpose of what you're working on. Is it something you intend to use in your soloing? Then you need it memorized, and available in time at the drop of a hat. That means you have to really own it and can play it repeatedly over various different tempos, keys, feels, etc.

If you have to look at a page to play anything, it won't be there in your brain on a bandstand.
I understand that, but I mean for the purpose of playing through the course, then deciding later which pieces I will want to use regularly going forward. I guess that means for now, just learn it well enough to play it along with you or just reading it.
 

Griff

Vice Assistant General Manager
Staff member
I understand that, but I mean for the purpose of playing through the course, then deciding later which pieces I will want to use regularly going forward. I guess that means for now, just learn it well enough to play it along with you or just reading it.
I would say so, yes. I would also say that, as soon as you find a piece you want to keep, work that one before moving on, and keep using it daily for a while.
 

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
I would say so, yes. I would also say that, as soon as you find a piece you want to keep, work that one before moving on, and keep using it daily for a while.
Thanks.
It's hard to know for sure when to move on.
 

TexBill

Blues in Texas
That is exactly the boat I am in. Like MikeS said, older means remembering less. Or is it that we have been exposed to so much info, it becomes more difficult to instantaenously recall minute details about those things we don't practice or use on a daily basis.

Almost 5 years now since I retired. If I am asked a technical computer question, I have to pause, attempt to recall or in some cases look up what the details pertain to. No shame in admitting you don't remember. Jokingly, my last day at work, I told my fellow co-workers not to call and ask computer quiestions because I just erased my memory. Now it is not the big joke any longer as I don't use that knowledge daily, it escapes the cognitive thought process more easily.

Funny even more so, I can recall all the chords of a song I learned years in the past and seldom play. What up wid dat? Did I make an extra effort to retain that one, or possibly it was a very familar tune that just stays with me?
 

Silicon Valley Tom

It makes me happpy to play The Blues!
Perhaps as we age, we remember less because we have matured to the extent that we realize there is that which is important and pure nonsense! Why waste your time thinking about that which is not important? :cool: You should decide what interests you and with retirement, there is no need to "please the gods"! :LOL:

Tom
 
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