Staying on the top of the game
I am surprised how much playing I need to do to "stay on the top of my game".
I've played Gary's Blues maybe 300 times, and yet if I don't do it for several days, I will make mistakes if I play it again.
Half of my practices now are just repeating the 3 songs which I have already learned.
It feels like I have to do 3-5 repeats before I play OK-ish to my friends.
I thought it would be like riding a bycicle - once you learned it, you can't forget it.
Harmonica I do forget - quickly.
Is it just the way itworks?
What I am going to do when I have 10 songs in my repertoire? I will forget the first song by the time I get to play the 10th one! :)
Hello RB. Thank you for your comments Marc... they're all good tips. Adding to what Marc said, working on past songs is not the best use of your time. Play each song just once each day as a warmup. They will burn into your long-term memory over time. Once this reaches more than 15 minutes of your practice time each day, make a playlist on your computer for your old songs and play them once a week, like Marc said.
Ok.
So If I stumble during my weekly repertoire repeat - say I cannot execute a certain bar in a song (even if executed it hundred times before) - do I replay that bar via Amazing Slowdowner immediately, or let it go for another week?
Let it go another week. If the song has many errors, it's probably best to put the song on the daily practice list.
Are you forgetting the songs? Or are you remembering the songs, but just making mistakes as you play them?
I think you might benefit from the idea of "spaced repetition." "Spaced repetition" is the idea that you will repeat things on a regular basis, but space out the time in between repetitons gradually. It's a way to help put things into long term memory. For example: maybe you start every day by playing "Gary's Blues." Just play it one or two times. After a few weeks, you should have the song memorized pretty well. At that point, maybe you switch to playing it every two days or every three days. After a few weeks of this, put it on a weekly schedule. You might want to designate one day a week as your "repetoire day", where you just play through the songs you want in your long term memory.
Another thing that might help to remember the song is if you can analyze the song and break it down by parts. Look at the repetition that Dave uses in the song. For example, look at Chorus 4. There's a main phrase, which he uses in the first 2 bars. He repeats that lick in bars 3-4, then transposes it up for the IV chord on bars 5-6, then plays the original lick again in bars 7-8. If you can remember that one lick, you'll have 8 of the 12 bars!
If you are remembering the songs, but you are just making mistakes in your execution, then that is a different practice. You'll need to deliberately practice the tricky part of the song. In this case, don't waste your time playing the entirety of the song. Use Amazing Slow Downer or some other software to isolate and loop just that part, and practice it over and over. The tongue blocking techniques (slaps and pulls) take some time to learn. It's like muscle memory. You'll have to practice it a lot, but it will eventually become second nature and you'll find yourself inserting these techniques without thinking about it.