Ever finish learning a new song and then abandon it?

Hi guys,

I spent serious time learning a long, difficult piece (14 pages). I was finally able to play it through from memory Thurs. night and then spent 3 hours trying to do the same Fri. evening and couldn't.

So I sat for a half hour and thought things through. I realized I spent almost the entire evening having no fun, killing myself trying to play the tune through. I also realized that, while I enjoyed hearing others play this tune, I did not enjoy hearing me do it.

So I dropped it and honestly felt much better. I've been trimming down long pieces in my repertoire lately and I should have recognized that a difficult 14 page tune is not what I need anymore. It's still a great, iconic tune but it's not for me. As they say, if you're not having fun, what's the point? Lesson learned.

Ever come to the same conclusion?

[TBman]

The longest tune I will attempt now will be 4 pages, at most. If its more than I can lay out on my desk I won't even try it.


I can't memorize things any more simply by playing them over and over like I used to, but I haven't gone out of my way to memorize things either.

[Glennwillow]

Yes, I have learned pieces, thought I had them down fairly well, then recorded them and finally concluded that this was just not good enough. We can't be good at everything. Some songs fit us, some don't.

It's best to learn one's limits and to be critical enough of our own performances to know when it's time to move on to something else.

As you have noted, Doug, this is supposed to be fun. A performance or a rendition of a song or piece that doesn't make us feel good after a good try should be forgotten. There are an infinite number of pieces out there to learn or to make up. No sense being frustrated over one that just doesn't fit.

- Glenn

[rick-slo]

Sort of an epiphany for me was when I was in the process of memorizing Bach's Chaconne in d minor. A lot of work without a real purpose as music is not my career and it was crowding out a lot of other stuff.

Semi solved by recording some of the pieces I have worked up. Now it somewhat analogous temporal wise to having done paintings. I can always go back and take a look.

[Silly Moustache]

My old pal "Mando Bob" spends a lot of time on You~Tube looking at the likes of David Grisman and Norman Blake - but conctrates on the mandolin melody lines.

I'm primarily a singer and seek out songs from people like Mandolin Orange, Peter Rowan, The Romeros etc.

Bob frequently comes up with instrumental pieces - latest one being this

So I ask him what the chord progression is and he looks at me as if I'm daft so I have to spend hours working it out.

Then next time we meet up, I say "I've worked out the progression and he says, "Oh I can't remember it now!" and it more than likely gets abandoned.

He is still struggling with this song that I love which I can play and sing and even play it on mandolin, but he can't get the progression or the "feel".

[tbeltrans]

Since I don't sing, and have no desire to do so, my focus is on instrumental playing. I have spent much time over the years working hard to memorize pieces written or arranged by somebody else. I can never remember these. For me, it is a frustrating experience to finally get a handle on a couple of tunes, and then have to spend my days playing these so I don't lose them.

The solution for me has been to let go of that and learn a vocabulary with which to simply play tunes so I don't have to remember how I did it the last time. For me, that has been liberating. With such a vocabulary and a pile of fakebooks, I can begin to explore the many ways to approach each tune. Instead of work, this whole enterprise has become fun and adventurous.

I am still learning the vocabulary, but that is a lifetime pursuit. Because of the freedom it provides, it doesn't seem at all like work to me and I am finding myself gravitating back to the guitar as my primary instrument.

Tony

Thanks for the support guys. I added this tune to the list of ~ 80 that I have learned but have allowed myself to forget. I haven't abandoned a piece so quickly before but it's for the best. On to the next tune (which is 2 pages long)!

[joe paul]

If you don't mind me asking, what was the song that you've put to one side?
I seem to remember you playing some Rev Gary Davis, one of my heroes, so I'm curious what it could be.
I find that going back to a song a month or two after leaving it be can often change how I feel about it, I enjoy something else about it, hear it differently and play it differently, with different intent. Or not, and then I'll just move on.

Originally Posted by joe paul

If you don't mind me asking, what was the song that you've put to one side?
I seem to remember you playing some Rev Gary Davis, one of my heroes, so I'm curious what it could be.
I find that going back to a song a month or two after leaving it be can often change how I feel about it, I enjoy something else about it, hear it differently and play it differently, with different intent. Or not, and then I'll just move on.

It was Blind Blake's Blind Arthur's Breakdown.

[Pura Vida]

I'm pretty fickle. I can have an interest in something, and then suddenly I...

[joe paul]

Blind Arthur's Breakdown, ok, wow. That's really something.
I play some Blake tunes, but I've never had a shot at that one, I can imagine it being frustrating. Some of the breaks are pretty close to moments in other tunes, but it's so syncopated it's crazy.
I like a challenge as much as the next guy, but if I were going to take it on it would be slowly over time, not worrying about mixing parts up...
And with a good supply of vitamin tablets (or something stronger) to get anywhere near that tempo and that grace of movement.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by J-Doug

Ever come to the same conclusion?

hi JD

Nope. I have realized audiences were not enjoying a song as much as I enjoyed playing it, so I quit playing it for audiences.

[keith.rogers]

I don't do complicated instrumentals, but I take different turns to try and stretch myself. I usually put them out in front of folks for a couple tries at open mics and if I see it's not working, for any reason, it'll go in that "abandoned" category. You always learn something (usually "Don't do a song like that again!").

[Pitar]

Yes. I'll record something and consider it a chapter closed.

I move on. The art of the song or instrumental takes me to a certain plateau. Each is different. The skills brought to each must beget additional skills, and so on, in a stepping stone procession of learning. The individual pieces learned along the way become more or less tools in building the skill set. In that study they lose much of their original (artful) charm by the time they're learned. That's always been the case from day one. I still retain some of them in a repertoire of music that survived my task-master's objective treatment but most fell by the wayside like so much roadkill.

It has to be engaging, challenging and worthy enough to place value upon. The stuff that initially seems to be that but reveals itself to be something less, or more of the same, represents the roadkill.

[Bob Womack]

Um, memorizing parts and then dumping is kind of a part of my job. I play sessions. As part of that I am asked to either play or create parts with little advanced notice. Interestingly, those parts go into recorded music, most of which I will have no opportunity to ever play again. I call the process "throughput" and have written up a discussion of it on my little website, HERE.


Bob