“Getting off the tab sheet” is sorta what I have to do. The tabs with the TEF file are fine, but when I print the pdf, it’s too small for my antique eyes!
So I work on memorizing the song before I play with the rhythm track.
I figure it’s probably bad in the short run but good in the long run.
Forgetting What You Know
1 Like
I have gone back & looked at some of my earlier attempts. It’s kinda embarrassing, like looking at your old school class picture.
Back then I thought I was cool, 
but what was I thinking with that hair!?! 
3 Likes
Great discussion @BanJoe. I’m glad you put yourself out there and asked these questions. I was wondering the exact same thing about forgetting songs I’ve been learning. It sounds like going back to a song is like driving back to an old town you haven’t been to in a long while. You think you might not be able to get around but once you start seeing all the familiar landmarks, it all comes back to ya.
4 Likes
@BanJoe Not a unique problem but like all our sharing on here one that confuses my mind as well as my body . Took a lot of years out from playing guitar but when I came back some songs where still there almost intact others miserably gone. Consistency none, of these I could remember there were classics with extended passages and 3 chord wonders. Of those I had forgotten the very same. Even analysed for a while to see if were key related but it wasn’t, What was evident though was of those I could remember I was doing it with such confidence I threw in some additional 1/4 bends and the like-So i think its just welcome to the World of Music-Happy Picking
2 Likes
Well, dang, I feel encouraged! I mean, I think I should because I have not “forgotten” any songs. Or, maybe it’s because I don’t know enough to forget. Either way, thanks!
5 Likes
Well, it just happened. I was sitting here going through my stash of backing tracks and thought “Now I know I learned another song after I got Shenandoah Breakdown figured out.” I use my backing tracks to keep tabs on what I’ve learned and need to practice now and then, but Shenandoah Breakdown was the newest one I had.
Yeah, turns out I had learned Cumberland Gap a few weeks later. So, here we go… relearning it.
7 Likes
after reading all this post and the replies I realize now its just common to forget things you’ve learned woo who it isn’t because I am getting old LOL
1 Like
I was certain I had something to add to this post oh well!
2 Likes
Where did I put my car keys ?
I have heard stories where folk have gone out to Sunday lunch and left the kids in the restaurant. !!! 
2 Likes
Yes we Brits had a Prime Minister who did that!
3 Likes
Was that Cameron ?
2 Likes
Yes
2 Likes
“Oh… yes… I 
forgot the kids.”
3 Likes
@Mark_Rocka @Archie @David-Gear Never forgot kids but car keys are another story it got so bad with car keys that I attached a string to them and tied them to my belt loops so they would tug at my pants when I got out then I forgot that I tied them to my belt loop and dang near lost my britches when I got out to go in a store was standing there in the middle of the parking lot with my pants dang near to my ankles.
5 Likes
3 Likes
When one spends as much time as I do standing around in a room wondering why I came in there, you realize that forgetting part of something you haven’t played in a while is a small thing…
10 Likes
Problem one: It’s great to be able to self-diagnose your problem areas. Care in naming them because the mind is powerful. I always slow down on curves so, personally, my key thought to get through with success would be to approach the transition from A part to B part as a start/finish line during a multi-lap race. I would think of maintaining the average best manageable lap speed though that transition on a straightaway and con serving fuel to finish not blistering the tires as well.
Golfers do something similar called a ‘swing thought’. It’s usually one word like straightaway, in this case, so you can think it as you approach your speed bump without much effort.
I used to think of a smoothly flowing creek when my melodies got too choppy, but it lead to many bathroom breaks. Choose carefully.
1 Like
The more doorframes you pass through on the journey the higher the chance of forgetting the purpose!
Inversely Proportional
1 Like
I do that too Dave, I guess they will be telling us to grow up shortly and start acting our age eh? I don’t know about you but this website and all the content on it keeps me feeling young.
Every time I go to the Doc for a check up she asks me how I feel, I tell her I feel great I play banjo. You should see the reaction I get from that statement
3 Likes
I actually think that the door frame argument has some basis in or brains associating it with a change but hey hoo I read too much. I notice that If I go from the living room out to the Garage for a Job to do in the Garden Cabin I am flummoxed half way through!
Yes I have to go for medicals myself due to the Military Injuries and often impress/dismay them . It quite bizarre actually if you go downhearted you get told to lighten up If I go full of life it gets viewed odd!
Ehmm that E mail was not from a dismayed fan! It dragged in too many elements of his life and friends for that-Just unpleasant really-Take care now!
2 Likes