How many songs do you know?

[rpjazzguitar]

I think that great players learn the melody like any non-musician. A non-musician can't tell you the right chord, but will know if you play the wrong one. So, part of the non-musician way of learning involves knowing what the harmony is supposed to sound like.

So, there are lots of tunes I can sing the melody of, but I don't have Bruce's skill of finding the chords on the fly. I've never been good at it and drilling it for years has only helped to a degree. He has what I think of as Big Ears.

If knowing a tune requires being able to comp it, on the fly, in any key,. I know a few dozen. A few dozen more in the original key. And a few dozen, or more, after that, that I could fake my way through.

OTOH, if I know the melody I can play it in any key with very few mistakes. For some reason, my ear works much better for melody than chords. I probably know hundreds of melodies, although I'll sometimes forget the bridge.

[JCat]

It seems to me that the number of tunes here is of secondary importance.
It is important to get to know the songs well.

I agree, especially when performing for an audience. I like to be well rehearsed and this is also what I expect when I attend a concert. The boys play a set of 10-20 songs; these are the only songs they have to "know" that night.

The fact that I have played many thousand songs over the years, and that these are part of my vocabulary, helps me pick up new things fast, sometimes on the fly. But I wouldn't use this as an excuse not to rehearse.

There's a saying; "when a player stops practicing, development stops" and this certainly pertains to a band as well.

-But isn't it fantastic to go places, bring your guitar, sit in and do your thing at any time, without any (pretentious) preparations? It could be a magical night, a happening (or just easy money)...

I like to take the opportunity here and suggest that;
Without practicing, without rehearsing, there won't be any magic. Non-musicians in the audience want to believe in magic. Musicians work hard to prepare themselves to bring the magic to the audience.

-But there's no money in rehearsing. I just want to gig, resting on my laurels, confident that I know 1000 songs.
There are 1000 reasons why somebody don't want to rehearse, but I don't care. I can immediately tell if a band is well rehearsed or not.

[benhatchins]

Remembering songs honestly feels harder now because people stream so much random music every day. Years ago albums stayed in your head longer somehow. I recently checked fubotv reviews while trying to decide on streaming options and caught myself listening to old songs I still know perfectly after decades. Music memories really stay with people. Interesting question honestly. Everyone has certain tracks permanently burned into memory.

[Skip Ellis]

I used to play pedal steel in a band whose lead singer was a blind American Indian - I think he knew the lyrics to every country/classic rock song there ever was and those of us in the band had to be able to play every one of them at a moment's notice. We figured out, once, that we could play 5 sets a night for at least a week without even thinking of doing a repeat. And it wasn't all 3 chord country - he also did some standards. If I've heard a song, I can pretty much stumble through it without making myself look like an idiot.