I was once asked about learning songs fast and how can I better memorize them. It is one of those questions that students pose to teachers either verbally or indirectly as a new beginner.
I've recently written a free report on how the crucial steps to learn a song.
It is the method I was taught and it provides you with the layout and refers you to the tools and skills you will need to develop in order to be able to apply the technique.
How To Answer The Learn Fast Question
Learn a Song Quickly
In an of itself this is one of the hardest questions to answer. The idea of how fast can I learn to play and remember what I learn are hard to answer with a direct straight statement that these students want to hear.
Memorization is a related but another subject which I will write on at another time.
Let me see if I can help you get some prospective today on learning faster.
How quickly you can play or learn a new song depends on a lot of things. Let's look at a few things that can make a difference in your abilities.
One of the biggest issues that keeps students from learning a song well is the lack of concentrating on music theory. Here are several key concepts that must be considered when trying to learn a song and especially if you want to do it fast.
Do you know your key?
What key is the song written in? I've seen many a guitar player say just tell me what chords I should play. They have no concept of how the chords are even related let alone what key they are working in.
What this does is keep them from being able to quickly internalize the chords and know the structure of the song.
Have You Applied Scale Knowledge?
If you know you are in a major or minor key you know the scale of the key you know the 7 notes that will be used in the song. Not to say that they may be altered, but then you would know that as well.
This knowledge then gives you a whole perspective on the ability to learn a song, because now you know what to expect. Which leads to…
Harmonic System Chords
If you know the key and the scale then you know the chords of the harmonic system associated with that key. Now you are given the words to the music.
If you know the chords of the harmonic system you now know what chords to expect in the song. And even a if they are altered which will be the case a lot of times you know how they are being altered and used.
Flow – Chord progressions
Being able to analyze the chord progressions is how you get into the flow of music and is one of the quickest ways to accelerate your learning of any song. This is all about knowing where you're going. If you see the path you can get there. If it's covered with brush, you have to do a lot of clearing before you can get down that road.
Music Theory Course
I've just covered four major areas of music theory that help you learn a song quickly. If you are weak in any of these areas, check out our workshops and the music theory course.
If you register for our ezine you get a peek at the chapter that describes the above in detail. Click here: Register to get access to the free chapter of the Learn a Song report.
Memorizing a song takes being able to apply the music theory into bite size chunks, which is a technique of learning 3 or 4 things at a larger scale than just the notes. The brain can only effectively memorize things that are grouped in 3 or 4. Think about phone numbers and why they are divided into these types of groupings.
Any thing you would like to add? Leave a comment.
memorising songs fast
Memorizing songs fast takes the ability to quickly break down the song into chords and phrases. Chord progressions such as a vi – ii – V7 – I are common progressions, knowing these you can build on that structure for the specifics of the notes. Such as with the vi chord in the key of C you will play the A minor chord and the notes will revolve around the A – C – E notes. Knowing this you apply the sequence of notes. By grouping in this manner you consolidate the notes into compartments which gives you a better ability to memorize the flow of a song. This is the advantage of knowing your music theory well.