Developing a musical memory

you guys that can play 3 sets without cheat sheets. how does one go
about developing a musical memory? You play the same damn songs week after week after week. Then add a
couple of new ones a week until you have 4. 6 sets worth of stuff. I
can't believe you'll still need cheat sheets after 20 or 30 times
playing the song. The real problem with most of the guys who gripe about
not being able to remember the songs is they don't practice enough and
when they do practice. it's too much pointless noodling. Put every song
your band does on a cassette or cd then go over and over them for a
week. then toss the cheat sheet. This reminds me of the
article Jeff Berlin wrote in Bass Player about guys who wanna be
musicians but hate to practice. Turn off the TV. computer or whatever
else is taking up your time and learn the songs peiod and if you're not
willing to make that kind of commitment then maybe music isn't your
thing. .


VG piece of advice indeed ! I used to play (20 odd years ago) and be able
to memorise abt 15 different songs ea performance. basically because we'd
rehearsal 2/3 times a week (every week) !
Actually I'm sort of going thru yr problem these days: I've restarted
playing recently and the lack of routine practicing (listening. etc.) and
less time available for rehearsing (compared with youth days) do make a
awful lot of difference...