How many tunes do you know by heart?

bayswater · Post by **bayswater** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 2:24 am

Just curious... I've heard of a guitar player living in my area that should know about 500. That's wild

Jumbuk · Post by **Jumbuk** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 6:17 am

bayswater wrote:Just curious... I've heard of a guitar player living in my area that should know about 500. That's wild

Hmmm ... as a guitarist, I have to ask if he actually "knows" them - can he play the melody? If you count being able to play a believable accompaniment to a tune, then I can probably "play" about 500 too - hell, I can play 500 that haven't even been written yet! I can probably only play the melody for about 20 though.

bayswater · Post by **bayswater** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 7:36 am

Jumbuk wrote:
bayswater wrote:Just curious... I've heard of a guitar player living in my area that should know about 500. That's wild
Hmmm ... as a guitarist, I have to ask if he actually "knows" them - can he play the melody? If you count being able to play a believable accompaniment to a tune, then I can probably "play" about 500 too - hell, I can play 500 that haven't even been written yet! I can probably only play the melody for about 20 though.

That's true. I don't know; maybe he plays banjo too, I'm not sure. But yeah - I guess there's a difference between knowing the melody part and the accompaniment

I was told it like he knew the melody part for 500 tunes. That's waaaaaaay in the future for me

But 1 has clicked the "> 500" option so I guess it's not impossible. I wonder how many the pros know - like Mike Rafferty?

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 8:17 am

This subject has been up on the whistle forum recently. There I replied that at some point it becomes a fleeting thing, you know loads of tunes, some ready to play, some will come back as soon as you hear them, some come some go, someone may start a tune you have never played but know to hear and you play along instantly. I ticked the 500 in the poll but probably have three times that. Again: if you have music around you all the time your head is full of tunes and if you've been playing long enough you'll be able to bring them out without too much of a problem.

colomon · Post by **colomon** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 8:27 am

Yeah, eventually you reach that point where you join in on a tune, play it with a few rough patches but basically okay, and then realize it's one you've never actually played before...

Ro3b · Post by **Ro3b** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 10:54 am

I used to keep a list of the tunes I knew. I stopped about ten years ago when a) I realized/decided it was a pointlessly dorky thing to do, and b) I'd reached the point that Peter and Coloman are talking about: I'd hear a tune and be able to play it and not even know if I'd ever bothered to "learn" it. I just knew it. Which meant I could probably play tons more tunes than I had on my silly little list, which by then was about 800 or 900 tunes long. It just takes lots of listening and playing. It's a long, happy path.

BrendanB · Post by **BrendanB** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 1:39 pm

Ro3b wrote:Which meant I could probably play tons more tunes than I had on my silly little list, which by then was about 800 or 900 tunes long.

Rob, was that before or after you pounded the nail up your nose? Although, I suppose the real question is whether you play better with the nail or without it?

David Levine · Post by **David Levine** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 1:44 pm

Rob is right. It is dorky to keep track of how many tunes you know. A pointless exercize of ego.
Jimmy Noonan will tell you how many tunes you should know: "Three, well."
There will always be somebody in a session who knows a tune that you don't. And you'll know a tune that nobody else knows... so you'd better know it well!
In the final analysis we're all tunevores.

Unseen122 · Post by **Unseen122** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 2:20 pm

There are a ton of tunes that I can play along with at a session when they come up, but probably about 60 or 70 that I really know.

rama · Post by **rama** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 2:42 pm

...one suddenly realizes how little one actually 'knows' when there is silence in the audience, attention is given, everyone is waiting, and it's your turn...

...i guess that's when you find out what you know and don't know.

what i do know is i have made many an aquaintance along the way, mosty casual and fleeting.

Cathy Wilde · Post by **Cathy Wilde** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 2:55 pm

rama ... isn't that the truth.

I just heard John Skelton give a concert last night and was once again reminded I don't know a d____ thing.

Jayhawk · Post by **Jayhawk** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 3:06 pm

On bodhran, I can play several thousand tunes (or at least I think I can), but on flute I'm much more limited.

There are just so many tunes out there to learn - it's amazing. You can feel all safe and secure in your local session, travel to another town, and realize you know nothing at all (as I reminded in Baltimore last month). Then again, I think that's half the fun - going somewhere else and finding a bunch of tunes you want to pick-up.

Eric

Ro3b · Post by **Ro3b** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 3:47 pm

Rob, was that before or after you pounded the nail up your nose? Although, I suppose the real question is whether you play better with the nail or without it?

Oh yeah, man, there's nothing like a nail right up there in the forebrain.

Not that there's nothing better, mind you, there's just nothing like it. Kind of like eating hay when you feel faint.

Hoovorff · Post by **Hoovorff** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 5:04 pm

Cathy,

You're so right! THe concert with John Skelton last night was amazing! His tone is just so powerful, and his playing is so nuanced. Quite a combination.

Your band played well, too. I enjoyed it!

Jeanie

Unseen122 · Post by **Unseen122** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 7:03 pm

Jayhawk wrote:
There are just so many tunes out there to learn - it's amazing. You can feel all safe and secure in your local session, travel to another town, and realize you know nothing at all (as I reminded in Baltimore last month). Then again, I think that's half the fun - going somewhere else and finding a bunch of tunes you want to pick-up.

Eric

Of course if a different person is leading the session each time, this problem does not usually occur.

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