help me to learn beginner songs

I am not new to the guitar, I have had five years of lessons, I feel that I hardly learned anything from five years of lessons at music schools, I learned Amazing Grace here and ode to joy by Beethoven. how do I remember the lyrics? I can play the chords and strumming pattern to Amazing Grace but have trouble remembering the lyrics, how do I learn new songs and remember the chords plus the lyrics, my cousins perform with the guitar and singing in Colorado and do like 30 songs without reading tabs or notes, how does one build up a repoitoire of songs and lyrics like 30 songs for performing? is it ok to perform reading notes and song books? I can read music and tabs, let me know,

Most musicians use sheet music on stage, but for some reason rock/country/blues bands don't.

Here's what I do: I work on one song, with the music in front of me, and go all the way through. I don't let myself get distracted. I go all the way through to the end, even if I make a mistake I keep going. Then once I have that down, really down, so that I am bored, then I try to do the first verse without the music. Once I can do that, I add the second verse.

Basically, take your time, stick to one song, and play all the way through. Repetition is your friend.


Hope that helps.


Jon

Learning any instrument or lyrics requires practice. Every musician has at some point sat down and just practiced their craft. There are many different ways of learning and they all are going to have varying results depending on the individual.
I can only recommend that with music you start slowly and play parts of songs till you have them down by memory and then move on. Rather than overwhelming yourself by trying to learn the whole song at once. Makes sense?
The same thing goes for lyrics I reckon. Start with one verse or just the chorus.
Once you have it down by memory move on to the next part.
And once you have one song down, you approach the next song the same way.
So if you keep this up you will eventually end up w a repertoire of songs.

Regarding using notes and tabs while performing. I guess it's all about how well you can do it and how you want the performance to be perceived. Does your favourite performers use sheet music? Do you play genres/pieces of music where it's ok or even preferred to play w sheet music? There's really no right or wrong answer, only your own preference.

Bands and musicians spend a lot of time and money on getting their performances right. It takes a lot of rehearsing to play a 30 song set without any notes or sheet music. There aren't really any shortcuts when it comes to this.


Hope this helps!

Originally Posted by: oceanprof16I am not new to the guitar, I have had five years of lessons, I feel that I hardly learned anything from five years of lessons at music schools, I learned Amazing Grace here and ode to joy by Beethoven. how do I remember the lyrics? I can play the chords and strumming pattern to Amazing Grace but have trouble remembering the lyrics, how do I learn new songs and remember the chords plus the lyrics, my cousins perform with the guitar and singing in Colorado and do like 30 songs without reading tabs or notes, how does one build up a repoitoire of songs and lyrics like 30 songs for performing? is it ok to perform reading notes and song books? I can read music and tabs, let me know,

Simply put,PRACTICE,PRACTICE,THEN WHEN UR DONE PRACTICING,PRACTICE AGAIN.IM SURE UR COUSIN DIDN'T LEARN OVER NIGHT..I LL SAY THIS WHEN I BOUGHT MY FIRST GUITAR,I NEW NOTHIN.I STARTED TAKING LESSENS, AND I PROMISE YOU ,I PRACTICED FOR HOURS AT A TIME.STOP DOING WHAT I WAS DOIN,LIKE HANGING OUT WITH THE FELLAS,I JUSY CLUED THAT GUITAR TO ME.CAUSE,THATS HOW BAD I WANTED IT.2 years later,i was the lead Guitar player,for skin and bones. Good luck