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Post by bellyshere on Jul 9, 2018 13:40:39 GMT
In my quest to find my mojo again i’ve been learning lots of old and new tunes. I’ve always been rubbish at remembering words though. It seems to have gotten worse. I would really like to try and look competent for once without having piles of words on the stage. Is it really okay to have idiot sheets on stage?
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ocarolan
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Post by ocarolan on Jul 9, 2018 13:56:37 GMT
Remembering what?
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Post by jackorion on Jul 9, 2018 14:35:30 GMT
In my quest to find my mojo again i’ve been learning lots of old and new tunes. I’ve always been rubbish at remembering words though. It seems to have gotten worse. I would really like to try and look competent for once without having piles of words on the stage. Is it really okay to have idiot sheets on stage? With 'idiot sheets' I do think it depends on where you're playing and how you display them - I sometimes take a couple of 'cheat sheets' with me to gigs which are basically just the first lines of a few verses of covers that I sometimes forget - I put them on the floor next to me setlist and, if I need to, I can glance at them whilst I'm playing and, normally, once I start singing the first line the rest comes to me. But I've got a pretty good memory for that kind of thing... I think it's fine to have some inconspicuous notes, but I don't like it when I see acts flicking through books to get to the next song, or basically just playing off the paper and not engaging the audience at all - I know it's the done thing in the classical world but we're not talking about remembering symphonies here where you might not play for 15 minutes and then have to come in at the perfect moment! It's mainly down to practise - both at home and in front of an audience - I don't tend to put songs into my set until I can play them at home bang on three times in a row without thinking at all, then I start sneaking them into the odd gig and, if they stay in the set, it's normally because I know them well enough to not make a big mistake live. If I forget something live it's back to being a home only song for a while...
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colins
Luthier / Guitar Maker
Posts: 2,318
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Post by colins on Jul 9, 2018 15:28:27 GMT
If you sang as badly as me, then the audience is usually pretty glad if you forget the words.
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Post by bellyshere on Jul 9, 2018 15:41:13 GMT
I do the first line of each verse to get me going. I just need to play more i guess.
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Wild Violet
Artist / Performer
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Post by Wild Violet on Jul 9, 2018 16:19:22 GMT
I used to have every song I played live memorised but since I hit my 50's, I've started to suffer the occasional memory lapse. Playing in a band, duo, and solo means I have a lot more songs to learn than I used to, so I now have most of them on an old ipad mini (soon to be replaced with a kindle fire in the sale) in a holder that attaches to my mic stand. It's unobtrusive and has saved me many a time. If you have good eyesight, could put them on your phone with an app like Linkesoft Songbook or Onsong which will scroll the lyrics at whatever time you set it at. There are holders to mount a phone on a mic stand, though I've seen people use a cheap phone mount meant for bike handlebars.
It seems the only people who object to music stands/tablets are other musicians, the general public don't seem to care at all.
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Post by bellyshere on Jul 9, 2018 16:35:27 GMT
I’ve used the ipad with mic stand attachment with the band before but they weren’t keen. It’s more kit to lug about which i hate. I guess the way to go is play play play.
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Post by fatfingerjohn on Jul 9, 2018 16:45:58 GMT
Horses for courses; depends where you are. Sheets are fine at many folk gigs if its just floor singers; I know some people object even to that but it doesn't worry me. If the act is getting paid I probably expect something more but I'm fine with people with ipads etc. Many stage performers have prompt screens. My short term memory has been shot for years and I can't remember lyrics at all (and its NOT laziness, its called old age). So without the comfort blanket that would be it for me doing any performing. As I don't own an iPad I use a lenova android tablet (considerably cheaper) and software called lyricpad. I have about 200 songs stored (not just downloaded or cloud linked) and a good scroll device. Very easy to put them into set lists. Works fine for me and saves lugging loads of files about.
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Post by robmc on Jul 9, 2018 18:01:31 GMT
It's weird how the brain works though, I can remember a riff or chord sequence no problems but I have an awful memory for..... Err.... .... ummmm ... .. . Lyrics.
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Post by thejamsinger on Jul 9, 2018 18:11:54 GMT
Like Fatfingerjohn I to use an android tablet with the lyric pad app. Big thumbs up as I to have trouble remembering lyrics. 👍👍
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brianr2
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Post by brianr2 on Jul 9, 2018 20:01:06 GMT
I can no longer remember if I have amnesia, so bad has my memory got.
Surely it’s about ends not means. Its the musial result that matters, not how it’s achieved. Classical musicians and choristers happily use scores.
Brian
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Post by martinrowe on Jul 9, 2018 20:13:09 GMT
"I just checked in to see what condition my condition is in"
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Post by bellyshere on Jul 9, 2018 22:03:47 GMT
I once sung the lyrics to another song over a different song at a band gig. I carried on for the whole song just so the song made sense, with all my band mates looking at me like “are you having a breakdown?”
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Post by dreadnought28 on Jul 11, 2018 2:24:47 GMT
I’ve always had difficulty learning lyrics and it’s harder now. But I persist until I have as I find that I can’t tell the story properly if I am reading the words. I have to live the part. There are three stages to learning new material. Learn the guitar part, learn the words, learn to sing the song and communicate it to the audience.
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Post by PistolPete on Jul 11, 2018 7:53:08 GMT
I once sung the lyrics to another song over a different song at a band gig. I carried on for the whole song just so the song made sense, with all my band mates looking at me like “are you having a breakdown?” I don't know what you actually sang, but in my head it will now always sound like this: As for learning lyrics, when I first started playing out I used to lug around a folder of lyric sheets. One gig I forgot it, sang better than usual, & didn't miss a word all night. I've never bothered since, although if I'm trying out some new material at an open mic I sometimes take a cheat sheet. I generally use "can I remember the words" as one of the benchmarks as to whether a song is gig-ready, along with "can I manage the twiddly bit" and "can I get the bridge in the right place".
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