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How to Memorize Music and Lyrics Forever and Ever

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Memorizing song lyrics hasn’t always been my strongest asset. Learning chords, chord progressions, scales and guitar solos were always the easy part.

I’d go through them once or twice and they were stored in my brain for ages. But those nasty lyrics didn’t seem to get further than my short term memory.

Spaced repetition

I ultimately tackled this problem by using a learning technique called spaced repetition.

Spaced repetition works with graduated time intervals. It makes use of the spacing effect where you learn something several times spaced over a long time span.

Instead of cramming (hastily and intense studying at the latest possible moment) which is great for storing huge amounts of information for a short period of time, spaced repetition will pass the information from the short term memory onto the long term memory and make it last indefinitely.

Source

This technique was first discovered by Hermann Ebbinghaus, a german psychologist who experimented with the study of memory and did some extraordinary findings. He contributed to science with brilliant insights on the forgetting curve, the learning curve and the spacing effect.

Practice Memorization

While you can apply the spaced repetition technique to any kind of (musical) information, we’ll take “memorizing lyrics” as an example.

How to Play Guitar and Sing at The Same Time

By Klaus Crow 6 Comments

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Learning to play and sing at the same time can be challenging in the beginning, but this is a skill you can definitely learn. Once you know how to play some chords and strum a few songs, the next step is to sing along with the rhythm you’re playing. It’s a great feeling being able to play and sing at the same time.

Developing this skill will open up a whole new world for you. You can entertain friends and family or learn to perform and play for an audience. For me it’s also a feeling of freedom. Whenever I feel like it, I pick up my guitar and start playing and singing my favorite songs. It makes me feel good instantly.

Learning to play and sing at the same time is tough in the beginning, but if you follow the tips below and practice regularly you will get the hang of it.

Work hard, have fun and reap the benefits!

1. Start easy

First things first. Pick a song you like and something that is easy to play. A familiar song with easy chords and an easy strumming pattern.

2. Listen first

Before you start trying to play and sing simultaneously you first need to listen to the song quite a few times. Listen to the song on your iPod, iPad or whatever device you prefer, until you know the song inside out. Listen to the melody, listen to the lyrics, listen to the guitar and listen to the beat of the song. Try to count the beats. You can do this by listening to the kick (bass drum) and snare of the drummer.

10 Effective Ways to Memorize Song Lyrics Much Faster

By Klaus Crow 19 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy

In my early twenties I went backpacking in Australia with my girlfriend. During that trip we spent three days on a catamaran sailing the Great Barrier Reef with a group of people. One of the best times of my life.

When I first entered the catamaran the hosts asked me if I could play guitar. I was dumbfounded and said “huh, yes I do” and thought to myself, “how did they know that?” Later I would find out they asked everyone the same question.

In the evening we would all come together for a drink and a laugh. And then suddenly one of the hosts came out with a guitar and started playing and singing songs to entertain everyone.

Then after a while they handed the guitar over to me and said “Now it’s your turn!”. I thought, okay I’ll play a couple of tunes (I had been playing for about ten years by then) and suddenly I realized I could play a whole bunch of songs and some pretty cool solos, but I couldn’t sing the lyrics to the songs because I didn’t got them memorized.

Luckily my girlfriend was with me who is a singer and it turned out to be a great evening. Everyone sang along and was really enthusiastic.

I was saved! I realized what a shame it was that I couldn’t sing a few songs myself. A missed opportunity, but also a lesson learned. I would focus on memorizing song lyrics!

Here are 10 effective ways to get the job done:

How to Memorize Lyrics, Chords and Chord Progressions

By Klaus Crow 39 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy

One of the things I have always had a hard time with is memorizing lyrics. I see this in people around me as well; finding it difficult to memorize chords and chord progressions. So based on my experience and some research I’ve done I give you some tips to overcome this obstacle.

But why do we need to memorize and remember lyrics and chord progressions? What’s the use of that?

Well, let’s say one of these days you’ll have to perform in front of an audience somewhere, somehow.
Maybe with a band or on your own…

or a friend asks you to perform a few songs at his wedding or birthday party…
or you would like to accompany a singer…
or you want to play some nice songs to entertain a few people on a holiday in the south of France while drinking a cold beer…
or just to try out a guitar in the guitar shop in town.

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