Remembering/learning songs

I'll just say first that sorry for making my first post a question in a new topic. I'll try to post more in other topics

So I guess my issue is kind of a few different things. First it takes me FOREVER to find a new song to learn. I'll try to find one I like, but I can't tell what the difficulty is, so assuming I can actually find the sheet music for it (which most of the time I can't) I learn a bit and realize it's too hard and go back on my search. And once I actually find the sheet music for a song that is also an alright difficulty, I'll learn the notes and stuff, which takes a while to get it stuck in my head but that's alright. The problem then becomes after I learn it. I'll forget the notes if I don't play the song every few days. I've forgotten many songs because I didn't practice the.

So any tips on either issue?

Thanks!

Snap ! I have only been learning a year and half and been learning very slowly alone at my own pace, and like you find the same
My method has been to find very short passages of tunes that appeal
and can be played in slightly different emotions. All beit very quiet the first time and then play with a bit more harder emotion the next. I find this has got the way of not getting bored with easy tunes, it`s quite amazing how you really start to listen to your playing emotions rather than just notes.
I very often start to learn a piece that i really love , only to find that it is beyond me, but i keep going back to that piece at the end of my practice time for a few minutes with an attitude that i will learn a tiny bit each time, and it works.
At the moment , i always play through once, the tunes i`ve learnt on every session, just to keep my brain there.
But i have found that once you learn a song resonably well, it all comes back after a bit of practice and reminding from your music sheet.
I was in your same situation three months ago, but have since found these piano pieces to keep me happy.
At the moment , i have about six different things that i always try to play at least once on every session, but it all depends on what you want to play!!!!!
You will find a melody that you really like soon . I have.
Good luck and talk to you soon if you want?
Cheers , Neil

Hello Pianoplaya and welcome to the forum. I don't know at which level you are, but I'm a beginner and one of the first things I thought of was rushing into learning some of my favorite songs, contemporary music as well as classical.

I quickly realized that in most of those songs the complexity (chord progression and rapid arpeggios or playing of notes) was out of my league. I found out it would be wiser to practice scales, chords and even fingering. After learning some basic skills it's easier to learn favorite songs and pieces.

In many books and websites about piano practice there is a list of songs sorted by grade of difficulty. Andrew has provided us such a list.

https://afpa.hooxs.com/songs-f5/my-song-s-list-an-outline-of-suggestion-of-pieces-from-beginner-to-the-highest-grade-t970.htm

However if you can't wait to learn your favorite piece there are many tutorials on YouTube. Be careful if you're downloading music sheets from the internet that they're not simplified versions or plain wrong. Here is one sheet music site, think it's okay.

http://www.8notes.com/piano/

This guy has a lot of performance videos (he's not always the one playing) and sometimes he provides a link to the sheet music of the work.

https://www.youtube.com/user/smalin

Addition: noahandgabrielsmum and I posted our replies at approximately the same time. Just want to say I agree with him, it prevents you from getting bored to work a bit on a piece you like a lot.

@ noahandgabrielsmum

I know exactly what you mean with playing the same piece different ways to keep it interesting. That's usually what I do when I'm bored but don't want to learn a new song. That's a good idea with slowly coming back to it every now and then. I usually give up pretty quickly, but I can try to chip away at it. And I think you are right with the looking back at the sheet music after forgetting a song, because it should still be in muscle memory a little bit. I might have to try that. Thanks!

@ Pianoted

I actually have practiced a little bit of those when trying to avoid learning new songs. I did notice andrew made that list, however a lot of those are hard to find the sheet music for without buying them and such. And I've learned a ton of songs through youtube tutorials, however I've been trying to avoid them because it won't help with sight reading or any of that.
Thanks for the links though, I'll look into those.

Pianoplaya, you're welcome. Here is another link to sheet music, works sorted by grade level. It gets good recommendations at the Synthesia website (haven't tried it myself.)

http://www.gmajormusictheory.org/Freebies/freebies.html

Cool I'll check that out too. I actually just downloaded Synthesia today, pretty interesting program.

Hi, I expect my big cop out is that i am not interested in the classics, but i love new age music
I am not interested in the classics but love things like this.
Try youtube. YIRUMAS Wait there, kiss the rain,. lovely songs to play and listen to or search Winter Sonata, a korean drama with lovely piano and you will find great melodies to keep you going while you find others of your own taste
Let me know what you think.

Well see I already know the type of music I enjoy, which is mainly video game music and some classical. I just seem to have issues finding sheet music for those. Especially ones that aren't extremely hard. And I can't play by ear so youtube doesn't help much other than tutorials, which I might have to use again. I just stopped using them because I didn't want my sheet music reading to get rusty.

Hello Pianoplaya, and welcome.

First it takes me FOREVER to find a new song to learn- Finding a new song I find is the fun part . Its where you get to liston to loads of music to analyze whether you can play it or not. Just find something you like and find the sheet music (If you like video game music, and you cant find it on the net, ebay is a good bet.)

I can't tell what the difficulty is, so assuming I can actually find the sheet music for it. I learn a bit and realize it's too hard and go back on my search- First of all, by listoning to the piece, you should be able to partly tell if you think you can play it or not. And if your lucky enough to have the sheet music, read through it. Read through it and look for the part that sounds the hardest and practise that first. If you feel it is really too hard for you, then go back to your search. Or maybe your problem is, that if the music is a little bit too hard for you, you give up. If you decide you really want to learn something, then stick with it till ya get it.

I'll forget the notes if I don't play the song every few days. I've forgotten many songs because I didn't practice- I myself, have a whiteboard, with everything I've started on it. I used to forget things too, so now I write down everything I've started to make sure I remember. You could just write your list down then play them at least once each day. The more you practise piano, the better your memory will be. Your hands will just be on autopilot eventually.

Good luck

I usually can tell with the very hard pieces if I can play them right off or not. But it's the ones that are close to my level are hard to tell, mainly because I'm not sure if the rhythm between my two hands will be hard or not. I do give up slightly quickly just because it's aggravating not being able to find a song that sounds correct or I can't play but I'll give them some more practice.

That's actually a really good idea with the whiteboard or paper. I could have the pieces there just so I make sure I remember them, and I could even put other things I want to work on there that aren't pieces. Thanks!

pianoplaya wrote:Well see I already know the type of music I enjoy, which is mainly video game music and some classical. I just seem to have issues finding sheet music for those. Especially ones that aren't extremely hard. And I can't play by ear so youtube doesn't help much other than tutorials, which I might have to use again. I just stopped using them because I didn't want my sheet music reading to get rusty.

I suggest that you check out NinSheetMusic, they got an awesome collection of video game sheet music+midis. Here's the link:
http://www.ninsheetm.us/
However there are no fingerings for them as far as I know, so you would need to try to find your own fingerings or ask someone for help.

Thanks but that's actually the website I already use haha. It really is a great website especially with finale notepad, the only problem I have with it is the difficulty changes completely with each song, so it takes a little bit to figure out if I can play it or not. Thanks though.