Steve Stine Guitar Podcast

My Best Tips to Memorizing Songs (and Remembering Them Forever)

• Steve Stine

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Ever found yourself fumbling through song sheets while trying to master a new tune on your guitar? Say goodbye to that crutch and hello to 'clearing'—my unique method for memorizing songs that will deepen your musical connection and free you from the page. We kick things off by breaking down the process of internalizing tunes in a meaningful way, diving into the world of 'ego songs' and 'project songs.' These categorizations aren't just labels; they're a roadmap to building a repertoire that does more than impress—it connects you to the core of music through chords, rhythms, and dynamics. 

Next, we take a step backstage into the rehearsal room, sharing a glimpse into prepping for a live performance with none other than my daughter. The challenge of converting piano-centric pieces like those of Elton John or Billy Joel to the guitar isn't lost on us. It's all about capturing the essence, the groove, before even considering the chords. Strumming techniques, song structure, and personal interpretations take center stage, proving that the key to a memorable performance is injecting your unique voice into every chord and lyric.

To wrap this sonic journey, we explore 'clearing' in music practice, likening it to driving with the lights on full beam—always aware, always ready. I share insights into how this mindset is essential for ensuring clarity and confidence in your performance. The episode wouldn't be complete without discussing the high-wire act of singing while playing—an art in itself. So, whether you're a seasoned player or new to the strings, join us for a heart-to-heart filled with actionable advice and the kind of encouragement that only a fellow musician can offer. Let's make music that resonates, not just with our audience, but with our own artistic spirit. Happy strumming, GuitarZoom community!

Tune in now and learn more!

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Steve:

want to talk about a technique that I call clearing. You might have heard me talk about this, but for memorizing things. Like I saw, a number of people yesterday were talking about learning some songs, but they're having problems, problems trying to memorize things or problems with rhythm, different kinds of things like that. So I thought I would just take a few minutes today before I start my regular stuff, and just go live and hang out with you for a little while. And because this is only on Facebook, hey Bob, some of you again, your information might not pop up. It'll just say Facebook user or something like that, and it's a limitation on Facebook. It's not a limitation through Restream or anything like that, it's a limitation that Facebook has enabled. So if you want to just always type your first name in real quick, then I can make a comment and respond directly to you. So, anyway, let me talk to you a little bit about what I call clearing and just how practicing works for me Now when I'm practicing. And let's just talk about in the context of maybe, songs, learning songs, hey, jason, because it might make more sense that way, but you can use this for anything. But let's say you're, you're, you're in a band and you're learning some songs, or you're just having some fun and you want to memorize a song, but you're having some problems with it. The one thing I try and get people to understand is the less that you have to, you know, stare at your piece of paper while you're trying to play, as you play a song, the more you can actually connect to the song itself. And part of it, hey George, is is trying to make that process as simple as possible. Now, again, the songs that you choose are going to dictate whether or not it's a lot of work for you or not, hey Chris. So I want you to think about the fact that when you're learning songs, the first thing I'll say to you, hey Jeff, is that when you're learning songs, put songs in categories, and the two categories and again, you may have heard me talk about this before, hey Chester, but there's two different categories for me. There's what what I refer to as ego songs, and then there's what I refer to as project songs, hey Christopher.

Steve:

So an ego song is a song that you can learn how to play. Maybe you don't learn all the parts perfectly, maybe you don't learn the solo, maybe you don't learn all the lip, the licks or the riffs or whatever. But you learn how to play with the song in some capacity, from point A to point B, beginning to end, hey David. And when you do that, you tap yourself on the back and that's an ego song. It's a song that you can feel good about, because you're playing something that has a beginning, a middle and an ending and you're getting all the way through. And again, it doesn't mean that you've got all the parts memorized. Okay, hey Ed, hey Mike, it doesn't mean that you've got everything memorized, but you're able to play along.

Steve:

So let's think of some song that has, like you know, a bunch of different parts to it Wonderful Tonight, bayer Clapton right, it's got a solo, it's got all these different things going on, different picking, but you're just strumming to the song and getting all the way through it. Okay, that's step one. Step two is maybe then you decide you want to learn some of the picking stuff, or you want to learn part of the. You know the solo or something, and that's fine, hey Surgey, whatever you want.

Steve:

The point is is that because we are guitar players and we're humans, we tend to always try and take everything to the nth degree and try and make everything that we do as hard as humanly possible, because that's the only way we can find validation in what it is that we're doing. Okay, we've got to be, everything's got to be perfect and it's got to be the best and whatever and again, I'm not saying that that can't be a good mentality at times. But in the ego song category, when you're learning ego songs, the point is to build yourself a playlist of songs where you can just grab your guitar, press play and start playing along with things that have a cycle all the way through that you can play along with. So if you're with somebody and they want to hear you play, you can play along with something all the way through. Now, the beauty of that is is that when you're playing along, you're making all kinds of musical connections to the music chord connections, rhythm connections, groove connections, tempo connections, dynamic connections. All of these things are happening while you're exploring this, right? So it's not just well, it's an easy song because it only has three chords. So those are terms that we always use. Thank you, justin, glad you're here. Those are terms we always use.

Steve:

An easy and hard is a relative term to you, not to everybody else on the planet, because everybody's in a different place, right, in terms of their playing. So what I want you to understand is that think of songs when you learn a song. Think of a song as more than just a scale or a chord change or something. It's really trying to learn how to connect musically to the event that's happening with your input, the way you strum, the way you pick the dynamics that you're using the chords, that you're choosing the chord changes, all these different kinds of things. There's a lot going on. Even though we use the term well, it's only got three chords, so it's easy there's still a lot going on in there, Okay. So if we think about it from that perspective, we can always figure out what we need to improve on. So when we're learning hey, amos, when we're learning how to play a song, we're thinking about the chords, right, we're thinking about the sections of the song, like. So now let's take it to the next level. We're going to move into this clearing idea I was talking about. Thank you so much Again.

Steve:

If you are on Facebook, especially if you're in the VIP, the community or the masterclass groups, you might want to put your first name in, because those are private groups. I'm going live to the Guitar Zoom Facebook page to, but just Guitar Zoom. I'm not going on YouTube, not going to the Steve channels, nothing like that, just Guitar Zoom, just so we can hang out for a little while. Hey Steve, hey Dean, but if you're in one of those private groups, you might have to put your first name because it just comes up as Facebook user. For me it's a, again, a limitation that Facebook has to protect your privacy. That's what it is. So, anyway, let me keep going here. So when I want to learn a song, okay, and again, let's take out the easy heart, all that kind of stuff. Oh, before we go into that, let me finish this kind of this idea.

Steve:

So an ego song song you can pat yourself on the back, you're feeling good, you may not know all the parts, but you're able to play along and make a connection. A project song, on the other hand, is a song of elevation. A project song is a song that's going to take you a lot more time and you may never develop all the elements of that song in its entirety. Okay, right, it might be. Take a, you know, a crazy dream theater song or something like that. You might never develop every element of that song in its entirety and it's not that you have to is that you're using it as a project. You're developing a particular technique or a lick or an idea or rhythm or whatever it might be. That's what you're using the song for is for a project.

Steve:

Now there are times in your life where what used to be a project song might become an ego song to a certain degree, right? I mean, if you just started playing guitar, you know, a week ago, you're not going to learn a Dream Theater song, right? But if you just started playing guitar a week ago, just about any song is a project song. But once you've been playing for six months or a year, two years or whatever it might be, a lot of those songs would be considered ego songs, you see? See, you just have to kind of figure that out.

Steve:

Jeff says Holy Wars for him, which is absolutely true. That's Holy Wars for just about anybody. I don't know anybody that would say Holy Wars is an ego song. You know it would be a project song. It's just how much development does it need to get to the place where Jeff feels good about it? Right, that's the whole point. So now let me get back to a little bit easier. So I'm going to come back to ego songs here, okay, and let me explain to you what I do.

Steve:

So when I'm going to learn songs like this August, my daughter my oldest daughter and I have a show coming up. So she sings, I play acoustic and we play two hours with the material. Now, not that any of those songs are overly difficult for me to play on an acoustic guitar, because I'm really just strumming and supporting her singing. But I do have to memorize all the songs right, and a lot of those songs are piano songs where we'll do a lot of Elton John stuff or Billy Joel stuff or things like that, and I'm doing them on guitar. So I have to go into the song thinking, well, how do I want to strum this, how do I want the groove to be, how do I want the tempo to be Right? If I'm doing killing me softly that's a song we'll do is killing me softly. I got to decide how I want that groove to be. I might not do it the same way Roberta Flack does it. I might do it with a bit more of a groove, so to give it a little bit of a groove when I'm playing. These are things that I think about before I go into trying to figure out the song. So that's one thing.

Steve:

Now the next thing is is when I start actually learning the song, I pull up the song right in Spotify or YouTube or whatever it is I'm doing, and I just listen to the song. I don't play along, I'm not looking at chord charts, I'm just trying to absorb the song on a musical level, on an entertaining, spiritual, if you will level. I'm just trying to listen to the song, just like I would a song that I love, that I've heard a thousand times. I'm just trying to pull it in and as I'm listening to it, I'm getting used to. Oh, there's an intro, then it goes into the chorus I'm thinking about killing me softly and then it goes into a verse and then it goes into a chorus. And as I'm listening to the song, I'm getting used to the flow of this song. Now, I'm not thinking chords, I'm not thinking strumming, I'm just listening to the song, right, and I'm getting used to. I was called this bird's eye view. I'm just getting used to listening to this song and getting to know the tune. So if I listen to it again. I know what's coming up next and then I know what's coming up after that. And not because I've written it all out, but because I've listened to this song a bunch of times and I'm getting used to this. Okay, I'm getting used to the song.

Steve:

Now, after I've done that a number of times, what I might start doing is injecting some chord knowledge so I might get the chord chart or whatever and start looking at it or watch a video or whatever it is you want to do. And again, I'm not overly dissecting at this point, I'm not project songing it, I'm just trying to make a connection. So the chords are being played and I'm going okay, so it's a C sharp, minor, going to an F sharp, and then it's a B, going to what right whatever, and I'm kind of getting used to that. And what's really happening is in my head. I'm visualizing these chords as I'm hearing this song. Now, all of a sudden, there's pictures of chords that are happening in my mind.

Steve:

Now, for you, you might have to decide where that picture lies. If it's a D chord, what does that mean to you? Like, are you playing it as an open chord or a bar chord or something? And that's all up to you. I've never been that kind of player that you know. If you and I jam together and I play D up here and you play D down there, I might not go, hey, so and so, taught it, up here you split. I don't care If you play D and I play D, we could both be happy and have fun, right.

Steve:

So I'm not, I'm not. I'm not really that concerned with it, unless it's an essential voicing that is crucial to the song. Okay, that's different, but for the most part, right now, I'm not even worried about that. I'm just trying to make a connection to strumming, my pain with this. And I'm hearing this and I'm thinking, okay, so I'm going from this chord to this chord, kind of making that connection, and in the back of my mind I know verse is going into a chorus is going into whatever. Right, I'm already because I've been listening to the song. So I'm figuring this out, and now I'm putting, you know, names to faces, I'm putting chords to what I'm hearing. So I still haven't even picked up a guitar yet. I'm just playing or, excuse me, I'm just listening.

Steve:

But as I'm looking at this chord chart or whatever it is I've got, I'm also identifying where my problem is. Like. Do I not know that chord or right? Or how am I going to approach that chord If it says C minor seven? Am I playing a C minor seven or am I just going to play C minor right? These are the choices that I have to make. It doesn't matter.

Steve:

Like again, I want to make music. I'm not trying to be a copycat, right? I mean, maybe I'll play it the same, but maybe I won't. And again, a lot of times, if I'm playing something that was based off a piano to begin with, my voicing is going to be different anyway, because I'm playing it on a guitar and I have very different parameters than a piano player would, right? So I'm just trying to get this together. And again, I don't want to take all your time, but just so you kind of understand.

Steve:

So, as this is going here now, I'm listening and I've got some chords. Well, the other thing I would be doing at some point too, is I'm listening to the song and I'm deciding how am I strumming, right? So I'm listening again, I'm listening to, you know, killing me softly in my head, and I hear this going. That's what I hear, that I want to be kind of the groove. Now. Again, if I find that I cannot strum what I'm hearing, I have to do one of two things Either I have to change the strum or I have to stop this whole thing and develop what I'm trying to do, okay. So if that kind of makes sense, so I start putting all these pieces together, now at some point I start playing along with the song and start developing everything. Okay again, this is all happening without doing this.

Steve:

I'm not going looking at a piece of paper trying to do this, because I'm not saying that that's bad in some circumstances, but it's hard to make a connection to the music when you're doing that, because the reason you're doing that is because there's no connection. You're needing that chart Now. If the chart is there for a backup to help you with whatever, whatever, it's fine Right. But what I'm saying is, even in those situations, the more you can get to know that song, the more you can get to be a part of that song in here, the more connection you're gonna make and the better it's gonna sound and the more creative you can get, because you've got more freedom. Like all your brain power isn't spent trying to figure out how you're gonna strum while you're sitting on stage or performing with somebody or I don't know that chord. Oh my god, what am I gonna do? Well, this is all stuff we should have planned out beforehand. We should have figured this out Right as we were practicing these things.

Steve:

Okay, so as I'm going, okay, as I'm doing these things, now what happens is, as I'm listening to the song, I do a technique that I call clearing, and I've always taught this to students. What clearing is is, once you've got your plan together and you've got your song, go drive around some time or just listen to the song without your guitar or whatever. And clearing to me is is that it's like looking out a dirty window. When you're looking out a dirty window, or you're looking out a window when it's raining really hard and everything's blurry, you can't see out there. Okay, versus a very clean window and it's a sunny day and you're looking outside and you see the birds and the trees and everything else.

Steve:

That's clearing to me when you listen to a song, if a song is blurry at all as the song progresses through now, please understand, as I start playing, killing me softly, I don't see the entire song laid out in front of me, you know like a little chart, right? Oh, it's, you know three minutes. I do this and it to. I don't see that. I see it like driving a car. As I drive from where I live to where I'm going, I know when to stop and when to turn left and when to turn right, and my eyes are open. So if there is all of a sudden a stop sign that I didn't know was there, I know to stop. Okay, I'm driving. Okay, but I'm driving with clear eyes. I'm driving and I can see where I'm going. Well, that's what clearing is. So, as you're listening to the song, you know what's coming up next. All the time In the song, in the chords, in the strumming, in whatever it is that you're trying to do, you're clearing it as you go.

Steve:

If, at any point as you're listening to the song, you're apprehensive of what's coming next, that's blurry, okay. If there's any time where something could go wrong, that's when it's going to go wrong, right? So Jimmy says lyrics. Okay, I don't. I've never been one to care about lyrics. But let's say, jimmy is singing and playing at the same time, right, which is another level, being able to play chords and strum and sing at the same time, right? So Jimmy tries to do this, but it doesn't really work out. So Jimmy goes back and goes okay, what is it that I need to work on to clear this, you see? So as you're driving and listening to this song, okay, as you're listening to it, you're able to visualize and see what's coming up next.

Steve:

Now, when I do this? Okay, for instance, last weekend I had to go out to Minneapolis, which is about four hours away, for two different band rehearsals. I play in two different bands out of Minneapolis. So I brought my daughter with, because we went and hung out, had a daddy daughter weekend and ate a bunch of terrible food and whatever. So, as we're driving up there, there are certain points where I'm listening to the music that I'm doing. Exactly what I'm talking to you about is I'm driving.

Steve:

There are songs that I need to study in my head. Now I know them, I practiced them a bunch of times, but it still makes me feel good to clear them, I as I'm. So I'm driving, I'm listening, and she's listening to whatever she's listening to, and then, all of a sudden, she'll start talking to me, and so I'm talking to her and then I go oh crap, I wasn't listening to that. I wasn't clearing it right. I could hear it in the background, but I wasn't listening, listening. So I rewind the song and do it again, right?

Steve:

Or sometimes I might hear a song and I start singing along and now all of a sudden I'm not in my clearing head. Right, I'm listening to the song from an entertainment standpoint and I'm listening to the lyrics, but I'm not seeing me playing along with that song. I'm not seeing that happen. So I stop myself and go. Whoops, I got to go back and I got to listen and see myself, see my fingers, see what's happening, see myself doing this.

Steve:

And again, are there any points that get blurry for me? Well, not at this point, not if I'm driving to rehearsal. There are no points that are going to be blurry. Everything is going to be cleared by that point, because I would not show up to rehearsals not prepared. That isn't what I do, certainly driving for four hours and wasting anybody's time, including mine or theirs. So, if that makes sense, that's what we do.

Steve:

And so sometimes in those songs you get what I refer to as red flags. A red flag is when you get to something that's blurry but it's blacked out or you didn't see it coming. Maybe it's cleared but you didn't see it coming. So all of a sudden it just jumps up on you or you can feel a part coming and you know it's coming, but you don't know that part well enough. So, even though it's cleared and you know it's coming, but you don't know really how it actually goes. Well, those are things that you've got to make points on. Those are red flags that you got to make points on. Go really, that's what I need to work on more, because I need to get to the point where that's completely cleared and I don't have any you know anxiety or any issues with that part. So Snotts Willard says do I hear a tune in a certain key?

Steve:

No, but I can hear chords Again, we're talking about chords right now so I can tell if something's in major or minor. I can tell one, six, four, five, one, two, five, all it. When I listen to, I can start like my wife will laugh at me because I'll be sitting there, I'll go okay, c, sharp, minor, a, e, b, that's what it is Now when I get home, because I don't have perfect pitch. It might not have been in C, sharp minor, it might have been D minor or it might have been C minor, right, but that motion of the chords would be right. Like I can dial those in. You know, the guitar player might have been a half step down and I can't tell that. So when I get home and start figuring it out I go, oh, it was just a half step off or something. But I can hear those kinds of things Most certainly when I'm, when I'm listening to songs.

Steve:

Now again, if I'm trying to do some crazy prog metal tune, no, I mean, a lot of those things are going to need like, if you think about it, a lot of those kinds of songs are like songs within songs. So you might have six songs, if you will, that are all one thing, because they're all different parts that are completely independent of each other. Yes, they're connected on some thread, but the parts themselves need their own development right. So when you learn songs that are more complex like that, you got to take them section by section and learn them, because just sitting there listening to a nine minute prog metal song and then trying to absorb it is is pretty much impossible. You break it down into little pieces and you develop each piece as you go. So hopefully that makes sense.

Steve:

Okay, so I just wanted to go live, talk to you a little bit and let you know, kind of how I think about those sorts of things and see if that's something that might help you a little bit sometime in your practice as well. So I got to get back to recording. But I just want to go live and say hey to everybody and thank you very much for being part of the GuitarZoom family. I and everybody else certainly appreciate you being here and I just want you to stay positive and keep practicing and have a lot of fun with this. Okay, so everybody, take care and I'll talk to you soon. Okay, bye.

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