Hey guys, I'm an intermediate player, and I was just wondering, do you guys also have the trouble of trying really hard to learn a new song today, and you finally can play it smoothly from beginning till end of the song. But then after you put the guitar down and come back the next day, you realize you can't play through the whole song smoothly like yesterday, or you already forgot some parts. And you have to rewind and go back to watch the video lesson again. Moreover, if you put a song you can play very well aside and don't play the song for a long time. Would you forget parts of the chords / solos?

I mean, people go to some famous guitarists concert to watch them play the original version of a song. The guitarist can't just improvise right? People will know. So how can they manage to memorize so many songs to play in one concert? And still be able to play the exact same things on the next concert even if it's after a long time or after they were writing other new songs? I know sometimes they have screens on stage showing the lyrics to sing, but I'm sure it won't show guitar notes right? So is there a trick or something that allows the chord/solo of the songs to be in your memory forever or at least for a long time after you have learned it? Or it's just the matter of how smart you are and how good you are at memorizing stuffs... If that's the case, maybe I'm kind of dumb... b/c I practice a list of songs to play on a school concert, then after the performance I put the songs aside and start to prepare new songs for the next concert. Then I forget the old ones.... I can't always remember them... some might say play by feelings, but you still have to memorize the basic construction / melody of each song to make it sound like the song right...

I think the key is: play a lot. Cycle through your song book on a regular basis and refresh your memory. But that being said...

Learn the changes. Start with the chord progression and learn that first. Chart the song yourself. There's a massive amount of value in sitting down and writing it out by hand. First: you really have to listen and understand what you're doing to write it down. Second: you start to develop your own shorthand for what you write down, what you can remember and what you need to read from the paper and in developing that you learn things in a more permanent way.

Learn the melody. Being able to play what's being sung is the next part of understanding a tune. At least learn the key melody lines: the chorus outline, the verse outline. Again, you'll understand the song better and when it comes time to improvise you'll understand the theme of the song which, along with the chords, makes the song what it is.

Learn the hooks. Finally, learn the key bits of guitar that people remember. You probably don't need to know every bit of guitar, note for note (unless that's the type of band you're in). So learn the bits that matter.

The rest: fake it.

Though, truthfully, once you understand the chords and the melody you're not really "faking" it so much as "improvising intelligently". You'll find it's much easier to play what's right for the song when you understand it this deeply.

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- IAN C. -
Rig: PRS | Schecter USA | Gibson | Axe-Fx II | empress effects
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^+1 i don't know if you've ever noticed but unless its a real simple solo, the lead usually improvises when on stage vs. on a record where you here it the same way everytime. Sometimes the improve solos are better than the one that made the cut for the recored.

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Hamer Sat2 or Jackson JRR-94 Rhoads>Laney gc80a or hc25(practice).

Hamer(standard tuning) Ernie ball Slinkies
Alvarez Dana Scoop (standard tuning) D'adarrio 10's
LTD EC200qxm (standard tuning) EB Slinkies

Stick to catchy songs or songs you really like. It's more fun to play and morefun to listen to. Me, I try to remember "so what trick/writing technique did they use for this song?"

And you don't have to remember every note, just remember what each passage does. Scar Tissue is a perfect example; Frusciante is always changing what licks he does at the end of the verse phrases, so you just need to know where on the fretboard he is and what key is being played. For the chorus chords, starts on F major to fifth (C major) to relative minor (D minor) and bam, there's a great song remembered.

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Talking about wireless pedals...

Most bands have different live arrangements and improvise a lot live. Can you imagine playing the same song the same way for years on end? Also, studio tricks and instrumentation are not as readily available (although more available now if you have the money) live. When you see a live recording, it is probably the best take of a whole tour of performances, and doctored up in the studio afterward. Singers may not have the same range live as under ideal studio conditions. It may have taken 20 tries for the guitarist to get that riff perfect on the recording or the singer to hit that note. It may have even been accidental. As far as remembering stuff. Well..... some can, some can't. I'm an excellent backing vocalist but I could never remember all the lyrics to a long list of complex songs. Even ones I write. It's a gift front men and actors have. And they still screw up all of the time. And then there's telepromters nowadays on stage, canned vocals, pitch tracking, harmonizers, etc. Btw. A personal recorder and a notebook helps a lot.

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Stage Guitars: '80s Thin line LP Custom, '70 LP Standard, '83 Squier Black Headstock Strat w/ Dan Torres pickups, '59 Black Danelectro DC, sometimes others.

Pedal Board: Nady UHF 10 -> TU2 -> Rocktron Big Crush -> 70s MXR Phase 100 -> Cry Baby -> Bad Monkey -> Early '80s Rat -> Early '80s Ibanez CS 9 -> Ibanez DE 7 -> Behringer Dr 100 Stereo Reverb

Stage amps: '63 Blonde Tremolux w/ two original 2X10 cabinets with a '60 Ampeg Rocket/18 watt VTB Marshall clone/ Epi VJ into a Mashall 1965A