Well, if you do not play a complete song the Complete Song Police are not going to haul you away. :roll:
That said, it is good to learn a song from beginning to end.
This is actually very common. And what is funny about this is that people generally know the whole song except for two major parts:
The intro and the outro or ending.
Yep, ask most folks to play a song and they can play the verses and choruses, but they cannot play the intro and the ending. For some reason people do not consider this important, but really these are the most important parts of a song. I play in a band and we know many songs. We always have to spend lots of extra time on the intro and the finish. You make or break a song right there.
My advice: Record yourself. Get a cheap little tape player and record your songs. Work out your own little intro and ending if you have to. Play the entire song and record it. Try to make it sound as professional as possible. It doesn't have to be difficult or complex, but try to get complete songs under your belt. Make a little notebook and keep your songs in there, review them often. Soon you will have a repetoire and be ready to perform in front of people.
If you play one song well and play no more, people will believe you can play any song well. If you play 10 incomplete songs or play them poorly, people will believe that you cannot play any song well. :wink:
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
Well, if you do not play a complete song the Complete Song Police are not going to haul you away. :roll:
That's a relief. :) I think they had my house staked out for a while there... :wink:
If you play one song well and play no more, people will believe you can play any song well. If you play 10 incomplete songs or play them poorly, people will believe that you cannot play any song well. :wink:
+1 to that.
For me, the strategy has been not to get too hung up on getting a song 100% complete quickly - especially in the beginner stage of learning when I believe it's unrealistic to expect anyway. I just make sure that I don't forget to go back to the old songs and apply the new skills once I've mastered them.
My version of the notebook suggestion is a folder that I keep my current work in. It has clear sleeves that you can drop A4 sheets into. I photocopy the pages from the songbooks and drop them into the 'working song' folder. I use the same system for general work sheets and exercises. I've got several folders now, but so far no song has been thrown out. I just keep returning and improving and extending them. I guess we're all different, but that works well for me. Some of the early songs were just very short versions from early learning books, so I must remember to take your tip and actually write in any intros/outros and general extras on the sheets. I tend to just play various additions now, but don't always write them in. But writing things down is a good memory aid. Not just because you can then refer back to it, but the act of writing things out also helps the brain remember.
Chris
