How many can you do?

[taygull]

Well, How many can you do by memory?

The wife, kids and I went to dinner last night at a place in old Downtown McKinney. I think it was called "The Sweet Tomato"?
They have live outdoor music every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night. We had seen the add in the local paper and thought we would try it out.

The food was very good, typical burgers, sandwiches, some great salads, and misc dinners.

We got there about 8:00 and what looked like a small band was just starting to set up. After a few minutes is was obvious this was going to be a "Solo' gig.

I was shocked when I introduced myself to the fella setting up and asked what he played? He said a little bit of everything. I thought, hey that’s cool so I was excited to hear a "dude and his guitar". He then hands me 4 pieces of paper with his name on it and his "Solo Show Menu". HOLY COW it read;

I encourage requests! Let me know what you would like to hear, even if it is not on this list.

There were 400 songs on this list!

Everything from 3 Doors down by Loser? to Johnny Cash, John Denver, James Taylor, America, The Bee Gees, Matchbox 20, Bon Jovi, Beatles, Alan Jackson, Creed, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix...

He opened with Fire and Ice and wow, he actually sounded great. His guitar playing was very good and his voice was quite nice.

What really amazed me are how many songs he knew and could do from memory. Not just the lyrics but also the guitar parts. Is this really that tough for an above average performer?

So how many songs can you do from memory, by yourself, on stage?

P.S. The guys name is Eric Erickson

[frayne48]

Depends on how many drinks I've had. The list shirnks in direct proportion to the alcohol consumed.

[meridian]

I used to know a song . . . once!

[Rejoice Music]

This is a very strange coincidence. There is a restaurant on the pier in Ventura, CA, by that very same name: Eric Erickson! I wonder if there is any connection?

[taygull]

Originally posted by Rejoice Music
This is a very strange coincidence. There is a restaurant on the pier in Ventura, CA, by that very same name: Eric Erickson! I wonder if there is any connection?

The restaurant is "The Sweet Tomato", the artist is Eric Erickson!

[Red]

I can do quite a few but worship songs are generally fairly easy compared to other music. So many 1, 4, 5 or 1, 5, 6, 4 progressions!

[taygull]

Originally posted by Red
I can do quite a few but worship songs are generally fairly easy compared to other music. So many 1, 4, 5 or 1, 5, 6, 4 progressions!

I know that I can play along with bunches of songs, using the 1,4,5 etc...

What amazed me about this guy was he mixed in lead melody with his playing and he knew all the words to the songs.

[bagelsgirl]

I can do about 450 songs. I am proud of it, I have been working hard to get to this place but I still feel like I do the same 20 over and over.... I always think I need to learn more and dont like to retire one after I have learned it.

I do use a book occassionally as a safety net. There are about 30 I can't play without the book being open, even if I just have to glance at it twice.

My songlist is posted on my website. I haven't updated it in a while but I am sure there are over 400 selections posted:

here:

(I tried to link you right to it, but I can't I guess. Well, you have to go to the regular home page, then click on "songlist" and you should see it-)

www.elizabethroth.com

[wjpjr]

Elizabeth, I noticed you do" In my life" have you ever heard Jose Feliciano do this song ??? I just thought the Beatles did it good.. Oh my

[Pipsqueak]

I can't do very many from memory yet.....but I've only been serious about playing since last January.

I used to go watch Edgar Cruz all the time, back when I lived in Oklahoma City. He used to pass out a list of songs and it had at least 1,000 songs on it!!!!....and with the same eclectic range.

He would do "stump the musician" after the show and request anything pre-80s to try to stump him. He won every single time I saw him. (and that was a lot)

www.edgarcruz.com has more about him and a couple of soundbites......I'm tellin' ya, this guy has CRAZY skills.

click on "recordings" or "biography" for the sound bites.

[shane]

i didnt count the riffs that make up 30 songs lol, but im just guessing 10-20. i probably could do more but i dont feel like counting.

[tac5]

I had a friend and fellow player who, once he learned a song, could play it from memory regardless of how long it had been since he last played it. He had a truly amazing ability. If I don't play a song for a long time I tend to forget verses etc. But this guy was like a tape recorder. And he knew hundreds of songs. I wonder where he is now. His name is Cam King. I'm not sure of the spelling of his first name. Unbelievable!

[brooster]

Over 100
All Christian
Most directly from Scripture.
Music is a gift from the LORD.
It is the greatest way to memorize the WORD of GOD.

[BobS]

I can do about 65 completed from memory, not a lot by paid-musicians standards, but Im growing.

About 2 years ago I went to a family reunion and we all got out the guitars as usual and then we proceeded to collectively butcher a bunch of old and new tunes. Rarely did we get through more than one verse and I think there were less than 5-6 that we actually finished. I was very irratating and frustrating for me.. both as one of the "performers' and as one of audiance.
That very week I was reading an article about learning to play and in it the author said that one of the most important things you can do is to build a repetoire of songs that you can start, play and finish. His feeling was it was way better to be able to play 3 songs end-to-end than 30 piece meal. And after my weekend with family.. boy did that resonate. So since then I have made it a goal to increase my repetoire. I have started playing a lot of open mics and on several occasions found myself the only one playing and it was really nice to go for an hour or so without having to repeat.

I am a believer that you should develop a repetoire of complete songs. I also came to realize you need to end a song well. Nothing worse than having a nice performance end with..."....hum.. well that's it".

Bob

[beach bob]

I have about three tunes memorized, & it took playing them 20-30 times to get to that point. I suppose if I were gigging regularly that no. would improve...

SO, that's why I have a lyrics ring binder, it has lyrics for probably 250 tunes? & w/ the beauty of the www, I just lookup a tune when the thought enters my head that X tune might be a good one to do, & eventually I'll learn it. My strength is that I am a chord databank; I can't remember the lyrics worth a %^$ but I can recall chords really well, even many years later.

BobS, hear ya loud & clear, that's why I drag the lyric book w/ the guitar, saves much of that frustration in a picking session... I highly recommend this approach. I still need to get my diode light headlamp for reading lyrics in a camping situation

Some people are just wired differently, I have a picking pal on the other side of the state, he has a very good memory. I was flipping thru my book & said "Dan, ya know Tangled Up In Blue?" & he ripped it straight off, didn't miss a word. That tune has what, 9 verses? & he hadn't played it in ten years... dayum!

But my favorite song memorization story is this:
Many years back, the little lady & I took a cruise in the south Caribbean for our honeymoon. There was an ancient guy that did a pre-dinner piano bar singalong, he had the baby grand situated right outside the dining room, so a dozen of us would wait out the dinner hour by singing some tunes. The guy had two sets of lyric books, each had 100 tunes. He'd say "OK we're working from Book Two tonight!" He'd ask for the tune number that someone wanted, & then played it w/o ever looking to see what tune it was! So he had two sets of 100 tunes memorized BY NUMBER! Whatta sweet guy, I am sure he's retired now, as the cruise co. had already dragged him out of retirement twice due to his popularity... sounds like it'd be a nice gig too

Monday AM rambling ... need ... more ... coffee .... !!!