Tips for remembering solos

[MAdX]

Tatosh Guitar said:



Dr Nick said:


The solos I remember are the ones I've played at multiple shows in the past, or ones I've really liked and listen to regularly.

There are plenty which I learned for a gig, played once, and never again. Could probably re-learn them quickly, but don't carry them in my head. Agree with Tatosh, stuff I learned as a teenager is pretty much all still there.


Funny how memory works.


[/quote]
I honestly wish i had progressed more as a player when I was a teen cause that would give me a better chance to be the player I have always wanted to be now. But access to the stuff I wanted to learn wasn't what it currently is. I had a hard time even finding the good albums as it was.


[/quote]
It's never too late. Sure, there are some big advantages of starting at an early age. However, I've made the most progress when I was already past 30. The secret? Consistent practice. You don’t have to practice for hours every day, as long as you are consistent. Since I started to get up an hour earlier every weekday to practice, my playing has improved leaps and bounds. It took a year before it started to show, but the goal is to be patient and play the long game.

[Tatosh Guitar]

MAdX said:



It's never too late. Sure, there are some big advantages of starting at an early age. However, I've made the most progress when I was already past 30. The secret? Consistent practice. You don’t have to practice for hours every day, as long as you are consistent. Since I started to get up an hour earlier every weekday to practice, my playing has improved leaps and bounds. It took a year before it started to show, but the goal is to be patient and play the long game.


[/quote]
Yeah, I totally get that. Don´t get me wrong, there has been improvement. While I think I was a notch faster when I was 19 (I could practice more cause I had more free time.) I would say that´s the only thing that teenage me had over current me. Well, that an my down picking, which apparently went out of the window when I got the whole alternate picking going. I am way, way better now on that department, and so is my string muting, my pinch harmonics and my chord knowledge.



But as far as memorizing solos, yeah, I definitely was better at that then. I still can play the ones I learned then without even thinking about it. The ones I learn now, I need to practice or it will just fade away.

[merlo_zeppelin]

I've had a couple of students, guys in their 40s or over, that wanted to improve after being stuck in the same level for decades, and developed a simple, 15 minute a day practice regime, that starts with the technique and after a couple months build up to include theory and that has worked wonders for the ones who stuck with it

[Dinosaur David B]

I've made more progress on lead and speed post-age 50 than I did from age 20-50.

You have to WANT it, believe (with some guidance) you CAN do it, and find how you learn best. Then put in the work.

[eduardoritos]

The tip is more or less the same on all areas of music; maybe because I was used to sit next to my sister while she was practicing the piano, I've adopted the same aproach:


1) Cut the music excerpt on piece. Learn the first one by repeating ad nauseam.

2) Learn the second piece by repeating it ad nauseam

3) Join piece 1 and 2; repeat ad nauseam.


Do 2) and 3) again and again joining the rest of the peaces until the whole thing is memorized.

[Tatosh Guitar]

Thank you guys for your suggestions. I have made a list of solos I want to really, REALLY learn, and also worked on the order i am gonna learn them (easiest to hardest, i suppose). I have also assembled a schedule to do so. My skillset is more advanced now, so I feel confident I will attain some of the things that have eluded me in the past. Will report back.

[eduardoritos]

One thing very important on learning guitar solos is training your ear to feel the diferent string tone. You know, each note is on each string, but sounds diferent. You can figure what postition is played after the note's tone.



BUT, also, it's very usefull trying the same notes on different positions, so you can grow a better fretboard map into your head.