Fingerstyle guys - how many arrangements do you work on at a time?

[jklotz]

Just wondering. How many arrangements do you work on at a time? I'm trying to build up a repertoire. I'm curious how others do this.

[Hasbro]

For me it depends on how many I'm trying to keep in memorized quick readiness. I think 2 to 3 in the oven at a time is about the most I can handle and still improve them in their more minut details.

[TBman]

I have 4 or 5 in progress plus a couple of my own. The covers are 3-4 pages long, but with some repetition so they aren't tough to get through. I don't play for others so I don't worry about how many I can play and I don't bother with memorization either.

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by jklotz

Just wondering. How many arrangements do you work on at a time? I'm trying to build up a repertoire. I'm curious how others do this.

Depends. How much repertoire playing time do you want? How simple or difficult to play are the pieces you anticipate?
How many different tunings do you envision using, etc..?

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by jklotz

Just wondering. How many arrangements do you work on at a time? I'm trying to build up a repertoire. I'm curious how others do this.

Hi jkl

Probably no more than 3 or 4…but that’s after 55+ years of accumulation. I’ve always been able to work on several at once. For me arrangements unfold in sections (I always do my own arrangements). I’ll often have two or three at different stages.

The parts-n-pieces, and learning challenging parts, melody, figuring out harmony and trying a style.

Then rehearsing to get it to a performable stage. It rests here till I get restless and find spots I find myself improvising on - which usually I just keep improvising in - and if it’s being played as a duo with someone else, we’ll practice it with handing the lead back and forth.

Finalizing - which rarely happens. Sometimes I get to the point I think of it as final and then down the road discover a tweak or two to keep it interesting.

I learn one at a time. I also maintain a repertoire list of 30.

[lodi_55]

I need to focus, so just 1-2 at a time. I've already got a strong set list, so part of of my time is making small adjustments to existing songs.

[Pitar]

Many. In any given session I'll work through at least 10 different melodies. Not talking splicing riffs together. But, I've been doing that for so many years now it's become my usual routine. In the process some have matured to either songs or instrumentals, and many of the instrumentals have given way to songs because instrumentals are really just phrasings substituted for words. As one matures a lesser one gets into the rotation, and so it revolves with my development.

[donlyn]

Originally Posted by jklotz

Just wondering. How many arrangements do you work on at a time? I'm trying to build up a repertoire. I'm curious how others do this.

Have to adapt your question into 2 answers. I am usually working on one or two new ones all the time. This process can be days, weeks, months. or even years. But once I get most of it done, it really passes into the realm of work in progress. Nothing is ever complete. A work in progress may be raw or just looking for some finishing touches.

All arrangements are constantly worked on, mostly on a subconscious basis. That is, I might try something different on the fly, or maybe just stop and think something through that maybe didn't sound quite 'right'. Which may result in some small tweeks in harmony or fills, and less common, some wholesale re-appraisal, up to and including instrument, key, tempo, style, and / or tuning.

This applies to both instrumentals and accompaniments. With accompaniments it usually happens with fills or hooks or intros or outros, but sometimes to solo parts, which really would have more in common with instrumental pieces.

Don
.

[musicman1951]

It varies, but it works either way. If you like to work on multiple songs (my preference) or like to do one at a time - you eventually get to the same place.

It takes me a long time to decide there is nothing else more interesting left for an arrangement.

[sdelsolray]

Originally Posted by jklotz

Just wondering. How many arrangements do you work on at a time? I'm trying to build up a repertoire. I'm curious how others do this.

I basically have three categories of songs:

1) Current Tunes: These are currently memorized. I need to play these often enough to maintain them.

2) Older Tunes: These songs used to be memorized and in the repertoire but are not so any longer. I might be "bringing back" a handful of these at any particular time.

3) New Tunes: I've never learned them but want to play them. I might have a few of these on the music stand.

[drjond56]

If we are talking a new arrangement that I am doing myself, then usually just one at a time. I have dozens of fingerstyle insrumental: Celtic, Blues, Jazz, Sacred, Classical. Depending on what I want to work on, I will pull that particular book and play through it.

I don’t memorize—I am not a touring professional so there is no need to do it. I play the tunes just as well off the sheet as when I have memorized them, so I quit wasting my effort.

I very rarely play out anymore. Perhaps a Christmas house concert; something else rarely. I don’t enjoy playing with others so always a solo effort at this point.

Nowadays I am working on tunes from sort of opposite ends of the spectrum: fingerstyle blues (John Hurt style) and classical.

Jon

[mystfingerstyle]

I usually work on 3 or 4 at a time every week. I have around 750 fingerstyle covers up on my YouTube channel (I post 3 times a week), but can't recall the majority of those on demand. Would have to relearn them. Working on any more than 5 at one time starts getting me confused!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxf...redDZrshQpMUiw

[Arthur Blake]

I do memorize everything. Just seems the natural thing to do and helps being able to play well.

I'm always trying to play each piece to sound its best, and often find ways to improve them, in tone, right hand position, fingerings, timing, etc.

[Skip Ellis]

I don't memorize 'arrangements'. I learn the chords and melody to a tune and go from there - rarely do I play anything the same way twice. I just don't like playing someone else's version of a tune because they've already done it and I don't see the value in copying someone exactly (and the audience doesn't know anyway), plus, I don't have the time to do it even if I wanted to. To me, learning and memorizing something by rote, note for note, gets a lot of people in trouble because, if they get lost in the middle, they can't play their way out of it and have to sit there, look stupid, say "whoops", and start over - not a very professional situation.