Learning and memorizing tunes. Help!

**baerashbrewer** · 04-20-2012, 12:56 PM

Does anyone have any tips on how to become faster memorizers? I have a huge problem with memorizing the melody and chord progression of a song. I play and improvise much better with my head out of the chart, and the crutch is starting irritate!

**coolvinny** · 04-20-2012, 04:42 PM

For the melody, learning it by ear (or at least making a reasonable attempt before consulting a leadsheet) is the way to go. It's really not that hard on most tunes. Leadsheets are wrong sometimes - I just experienced that last night on Lester Young's Symphony For Sid (which is really easy to learn). Then play in a few different positions. Do that few days in a row and you're set.

For the chords, a little analysis goes a long way...such as "Ok, the first 4 bars are simply a I-vi-ii-V and then at bar 5 the V switches to minor for a short ii-V-I and then...and then the bridge consists of a long ii-V-I in F and then again in Eb and finally ends on a dominant to create tension back to the I...". If you think of it that way and comp through it in a few different positions in at least 2 keys, it becomes hard to forget the progression, actually. Also, teaching someone the tune pays huge dividends.

You're definitely doing the right thing by getting away from the sheets.