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Thread: I've Got CRS

  1. #1
    Registered User Al Trujillo's Avatar
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    Default I've Got CRS

    I Can't Remember Songs!!

    Dang....I'll play a song for 30 minutes, walk away from it for a day then can't even remember how the darn thing starts. Its all pretty frustrating. Show me the TAB's and I can pick and play pretty well, its just the thinking part thats got me stumped.

    What techniques do you use to burn the tune into your head????

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    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: I've Got CRS

    I thought that was MDS
    Memory
    Deficiency
    Syndrome
    I suffer from the same thing! Pick like a fool one night and two days later, total blank! It can really make me crazy!
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

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    Default Re: I've Got CRS

    Welcome to my world. You know there are two things about getting old that are a bummer. The first is you can't remember anything. The second is............................

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    Registered User THart's Avatar
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    Default Re: I've Got CRS

    Sorry to hear I'm not the only one this syndrome affects & I'll be watching this thread for treatment ideas. Another variation I have is to have a tune running through my head but when I pick up an instrument and play a note, it vanishes! Well, I guess I know the cure. Practice, practice, practice. I wonder how many years I have left.

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    Registered User red7flag's Avatar
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    Default Re: I've Got CRS

    Got both CRS and MDS. I write a list of the tunes I am working on. With each title, I write the key and time signature. If having trouble remembering the first couple of notes, I will write them there also. I also have trouble remembering the tunes that I have written. I keep my phone and make a rough recording just to remind me.
    Last edited by red7flag; Sep-20-2017 at 10:27am.
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    Gummy Bears and Scotch BrianWilliam's Avatar
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    Default Re: I've Got CRS

    I don't start learning a song on any instrument until I can sing/whistle/hum it quasi accurately.

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    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: I've Got CRS

    I don't perform so it's not exactly the same issue, but I have noticed that the panic I experience when I can't remember a tune seems to somehow block the forgotten tune even more. I have had to rely on the confidence (frequently verified but never proven), that nothing is lost, just momentarily misplaced. That confidence takes the sting out of the panic and more often than not the tune comes to me soon after.

    In a performance situation this might not be effective, because it is not fast or timely.
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    Default Re: I've Got CRS

    Quote Originally Posted by Al Trujillo View Post
    What techniques do you use to burn the tune into your head????
    Yep, it's frustrating. You work on a tune and you feel you have it - til next day and you ain't got it. I would work up a tune - show it to my buddies in my jam group and snap - I can't remember anything

    IMO it's repetition (and a close analysis of the tune), but in beginning and intermediate phases of learning, it's way more repetition than we allow.

    I went thru a phase thinking I lacked the capability to remember tunes until I began to accept it took more than a few practice sessions to burn it to my HD. Clearly some pickers have a keener memory for this but in my group we seem to take the same time to 'know' it. And thats weeks of working a tune over in daily practice. Not a day or two or three

    Once I figure the tune out, playing daily, along to backing track that loops 6 - 8 times seems to work for me. Otherwise I used to play it once and say 'hey I got that' and move on. That did not work for me

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  12. #9
    Front Porch & Sweet Tea NursingDaBlues's Avatar
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    Default Re: I've Got CRS

    Quote Originally Posted by BrianWilliam View Post
    I don't start learning a song on any instrument until I can sing/whistle/hum it quasi accurately.
    Pretty much what I do. It's something that my Dad taught me when I was just starting out.

  13. #10

    Default Re: I've Got CRS

    With a gig coming up this Saturday night, I too have been struggling with CRS. I don't want to use a music stand at this gig so I have been writing out the lyrics to a couple of songs that I tend to forget when under the spotlight. I find that writing the lyrics out on scratch paper helps cement them in my brain. I throw the scratch paper away, of course; replacing the lyric sheet with scratch paper doesn't make sense.

    As for remembering melodies and chords to songs, I usually don't have a problem because I play the song about 1,000 times before I get brave enough to do it in front of an audience.
    "Those who know don't have the words to tell, and the ones with the words don't know so well." - Bruce Cockburn

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    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: I've Got CRS

    I used to hand write the words of a new song I was bringing into the band four times and by the time I had finished the fourth one, the words were pretty well established. Whether or not the other guys could read what I'd written was their problem!
    As for the tune, I think Teak has the best mnemonic device, get the tune in your head then tell fingers where to go. It's the simplest form I know of and one you have a little more difficulty losing.
    But......
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    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

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    but that's just me Bertram Henze's Avatar
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    Default Re: I've Got CRS

    Often i can't remember how to start, but I can remember the B part of a tune (or chorus in a song) and after the end of that, the A part is back in place.
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    Default Re: I've Got CRS

    I prepare a song list:
    Title
    Key
    First line of lyrics
    first few notes

    Then, if I can't remember I ask for a little help, but this is usually sufficient.
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  21. #14

    Default Re: I've Got CRS

    Play it twenty times a day for a week. Then play it every day for a month. The next month play it once a week. Then play it once a month for the rest of your life. You will remember the tune for as long as you live.

    It takes time to learn a tune well. The older you get, the longer it takes.

    Drinking doesn't help.

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  23. #15
    Confused... or?
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    Default Re: I've Got CRS

    Quote Originally Posted by OldSausage View Post
    Play it twenty times a day for a week. Then play it every day for a month. ... play it once a week ... (for several years). Then play it (occasionally) ... for the rest of your life. You will remember the tune for as long as you live.
    HA! I'd been thinking exactly that. Of the 60 or 80 songs that my college rock band played (just turned 71!), maybe only 2 or 3 are not instantly at hand.

    Quote Originally Posted by OldSausage View Post
    Drinking doesn't help.
    Oh! THAT'S where those 2 or 3 songs went ... along with that other whats-its-name that I learned last week!
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  25. #16
    Registered User Al Trujillo's Avatar
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    Default Re: I've Got CRS

    Quote Originally Posted by BrianWilliam View Post
    I don't start learning a song on any instrument until I can sing/whistle/hum it quasi accurately.
    My instructor told me this yesterday....gonna' try this.

  26. #17

    Default Re: I've Got CRS

    I have a problem with fiddle tunes I haven't played in a while. I can't remember the A part, and have to play the B part first, then the A part comes back to me. Strange.

    If I don't have lyrics in front of me, I forget them, if I do, then I rarely need to refer to them.
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  27. #18

    Default Re: I've Got CRS

    Quote Originally Posted by OldSausage View Post
    Drinking doesn't help.
    Actually, if drinking makes you not care about CRS, it could help.
    "Those who know don't have the words to tell, and the ones with the words don't know so well." - Bruce Cockburn

  28. #19
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: I've Got CRS

    Listen to the tune, if possible, in addition to learning it from tablature or standard notation. By which I mean listening to it from a recording, vid, whatever. Play along with the recording (also if possible -- assuming it's in the same key in which you're playing it).

    I agree with the suggestion to hand-write out words; I've copied many a song, line by line, from a recording, and those songs tend to stick with me.

    Also, remember that the aging process does affect our ability to assimilate, retain, and recall data -- as anyone fumbling mentally for a friend's name will attest. Be gentle with yourself; brains are built differently from individual to individual. I'm blessed with a better-than-usual memory when it comes to songs and lyrics -- or rather, a worse-than-usual ability to mentally discard unwanted/unneeded musical material. This popped up a couple years ago, when someone at a gig wanted to hear Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor (On the Bedpost Overnight); yeah, I was able to come up with the entire song, which I hadn't thought of in 40 years or more. And I wasn't proud, just a bit worried about the junk I carry around in my head...
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    Lurkist dhergert's Avatar
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    Default Re: I've Got CRS

    I once wrote a song about this. But I can't remember the words or the melody.
    -- Don

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  32. #21
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    Default Re: I've Got CRS

    I prefer CRCL Syndrome (can't remember chords and lyrics), for the classier connotation. That said, regarding David's comment about alcohol, I have an uncle with an awesome sense of humor who refers to that issue as "Anheiser's Disease," with tongue firmly planted in cheek. Please understand that I'm not intending to make light of actual dementia or alcoholism, but a dark sense of humor isn't always misplaced

    I agree that repetition is key, and far more repetition than we think is necessary. Sometimes, when I draw that dreaded blank, it helps to just let my mind relax and start playing without dwelling on it...often the song is there, but when that panic sets in it can override what you've learned...
    Chuck

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  34. #22
    acoustically inert F-2 Dave's Avatar
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    Default Re: I've Got CRS

    I record the song on my phone. If I forget how it goes, it's right at my finger tips.

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    Registered User Ivan Kelsall's Avatar
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    Default Re: I've Got CRS

    Al - I totally understand where you're coming from. Over 54 years in playing Bluegrass music,i've learned literally 100's of tunes !. These days,i've reached the point where i can remember the names of some of 'em,but can't remember how they go. Others,i can still play but can't remember what they're called !. I used to mentally beat myself up about it,but i realised that we can't remember everything. Since i first played some of those tunes 40+ years have elapsed & i've learned 1000's of other things in between. So i play 'em whether i can remember what they're called or not. As for the other tunes that i can remember the names of but not the tune,i look 'em up on the 'net !. I did that a couple of weeks back with ''Whoa mule !''. I used to play it on banjo,but hadn't played it in decades & decided that i'd take a crack at it on mandolin. I found a shed load of different versions on YouTube.

    As for 'getting it into your head' - only playing it over & over & over & .............. will do it for me. Bela Fleck,in the book ''Masters of The 5-String Banjo'' (Tony Trishka & Peter Wernick), states that he records his practice sessions (or used to 30 years back). The only other thing that i can think of is to TAB your tunes out - if you can write TAB of course. Other than that,it's just repetition,
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  37. #24
    Registered User Ivan Kelsall's Avatar
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    Default Re: I've Got CRS

    From above - "I did that a couple of weeks back with ''Whoa mule ! ''. It was ''Flop Eared Mule'' - see what i mean !!!!!,
    Ivan
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  38. #25
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: I've Got CRS

    No Ivan, that's "TNIS"
    Tune
    Name
    Inversion
    Syndrome

    It's a wide spread malady, very common in musicians. Not fatal but much like flatulence, it occurs when least appreciated.

    I know....."Corner!"
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