jsinjin - Posted - 05/05/2025:  07:03:12

I try to practice switching between songs but I find that stuff gets all muddled up. It’s almost like I have to “put away” the first song and reset with playing and trying to re think for song 2. And it doesn’t matter what order the songs are played in. The thought process is a complete disconnect from one to the next so right now I can’t just play one then the other.

I’ve been practicing the ending of one then the beginning of the second and vise versa but it’s still a jarring switch.

How have some of yall practiced switching smoothly from one song to another.

KCJones - Posted - 05/05/2025:  07:16:18

It's old time music, all the songs sound the same so it probably doesn't matter much that you mix them up. You might be the only one that even notices.



Jokes aside, I've had this issue particularly with songs that are very similar. Western Country and I'll Fly Away are similar enough that I'll mix the B parts up sometimes. Old Home Place and Road to Destruction I would always get the lead breaks mixed up. I find it really only happens with songs that are the same/similar chord progression and key. My solution is to mix it up more, and if there's two songs I get confused I always put a couple songs between them to "reset" my brain. That seems to have worked.

Edited by - KCJones on 05/05/2025 07:16:37

Owen - Posted - 05/05/2025:  07:21:48

I very much doubt it'll help any, but I've learned to approach it from the other end.   I've only been able to sort of competently do an alternating thumb roll as back-up (?) to my sort-of singing; "finding / figuring out" the melody is 'way beyond me.*   So I choose songs that fit into the one timing / tempo framework I've internalized ... I can sort of play/sing a "medley"   that goes on, and on, and on, and ... etc.

* not a request for referral to a teacher / method / program. 

Edited by - Owen on 05/05/2025 07:22:37

Texasbanjo - Posted - 05/05/2025:  11:12:52

Considering you only really have 7 whole notes to work with (and 5 half notes), it's not surprising that many songs have the same or similar chord structure and/or melody. It's not unusual when playing one song to switch over to another without even being aware of it at first. I wouldn't let that little problem become a big one. It probably happens to most of us at times.

trapdoor2 - Posted - 05/05/2025:  11:25:58

I tend to vamp between tunes. Just make some mindless, rhythmic noise and let your brain ease into the next tune.

That is, unless I'm playing a medley. Then I'm working to a schedule: X times thru tune 1, X times thru tune two, X times thru tune 3, big finish. Done. After a while, it is all One tune.

jsinjin - Posted - 05/05/2025:  11:28:36

Thanks all!

I’ll keep at it. I tend to go note by note because of the way I think so I’ll need to figure some ways into build cues for how a different song shifts.

I literally go note by note and fret by fret and string by string for a song so it’s essentially memorizing another long list but I’ll work on it.

Bob Buckingham - Posted - 05/05/2025:  11:38:07

There is the matter of playing with intention. Centering yourself on each piece to get the best of it in your version. I go back and listen to source material to see what I've missed. It usually is not an if I missed something but a what. Then I go back and incorporate that into the piece. It really is never about how many pieces you play but how well you play each one. Having an understanding of each piece as a distinct entity is important. I have missed things and was adamant about being right, when later on I heard that I was in fact not hearing what was there. Reading tab gets you started but hearing and replicating each piece is where the music, the tradition, the truth of the matter lives.

Edited by - Bob Buckingham on 05/05/2025 11:39:28

Rusty - Posted - 05/05/2025:  11:38:59

Practice, practice and more practice.... I play tunes in sets of three, it becomes seamless.

jduke - Posted - 05/05/2025:  13:45:38

Many years ago, when I was just beginning, a friend pointed out that whichever song (of the few I knew back then) started out on, it always ended up being Long Journey Home. Now days, on purpose, I do a medley

that I call "Everything Ends in Two Dollar Bill".



I don't sing, but writing out the just the first few words of the next song helps me make the transition from one to the other.



Example:

It takes a worried man to sing a worried song.....

Lost all my money but a two dollar bill.....

My brother Bill has a still on the hill......

Lost all my money but a two dollar bill......

Etc.

Edited by - jduke on 05/05/2025 13:47:57

jsinjin - Posted - 05/06/2025:  10:02:51

In high school we had a competition called academic decathlon that I was part of. There was a literature section and one of the years the topic was American poetry. Emily Dickinson was featured and we learned that nearly every one of her poems has the meter for the yellow rose of Texas. Which resulted in a 300 nerd singing of “a bird came down the walk” at a competition.

I only know two songs in banjo currently. I have the notes completely memorized fret by fret and string by string all the way through each one but they have fairly different patterns so it’s been hard to finish one and then sort of “call up the sequence” of the next one note for note in my head. I can compare it to reading one book about finance and then switching to a book about science fiction abruptly. That’s what I’m having trouble with.

I should state that I have a lot of mental trouble learning melody and can’t really remember melody to a tune at all (even simple thjngs like twinkle little star). So I’m literally memorinxing every note to a song as a pattern letter by letter to play it. Song A doesn’t stay in my head, it sort of only exists while I play it as notes that im playing then to play it again I have to recall the notes. I’ve just noticed that switching from song to song takes an incredible reset for me.

ALCO - Posted - 05/22/2025:  22:24:44

Hi John,
I think that you should stop trying to connect the two tunes and concentrate on each one separately. Based on your approach to learning, I suggest that you break down a tune into phrases, play each one repeatedly and try to create a degree of musicality from those few notes. Whilst I don't believe it will directly help with your difficulty in learning an entire tune, I'm sure that this practice would go someway towards you being able to recognise the relationships within and between the various groups of notes that appear in many of the tunes that you may want to learn. As each phrase is likely to consist of only about six to eight notes, it should be easier for you to focus on the particular placement of your fingers, to and from each note within the group and also to benefit from the fact that most of the phrases can be repeated without interruption, becoming a mini tune in and of itself. Over time, connect two phrases and work on that until you feel ready to add another one. See if you can find ways to introduce dynamics into your playing.

banjoboyd - Posted - 05/23/2025:  10:41:39

quote:

---

Originally posted by jsinjin

Thanks all!



I’ll keep at it. I tend to go note by note because of the way I think so I’ll need to figure some ways into build cues for how a different song shifts.



I literally go note by note and fret by fret and string by string for a song so it’s essentially memorizing another long list but I’ll work on it.

---

The more you can "compartmentalize" — thinking in terms of phrases/chunks rather than sequences of single notes — the easier basically everything will become. Learning new tunes, differentiating between similar tunes, linking existing tunes, and so on. And there's no one way to go about it. Yes, there is the actual sound, but there is also the shape the phrase makes on the fingerboard, the physical motions of either hand, the names of the notes. Music is actually a very formulaic thing, but most things aren't formally labeled (and there are so many possible "things" that labeling everything would be impractical), so it gets into the realm of implicit knowledge. 

Corwyn - Posted - 05/24/2025:  12:49:44

quote:

---

Originally posted by jsinjin

I try to practice switching between songs but I find that stuff gets all muddled up. It’s almost like I have to “put away” the first song and reset with playing and trying to re think for song 2.

---

You have to leave time for the audience to applaud, so that's fine.  There is no reason not to give each song it's own time.

Thank you kindly.

LyleK - Posted - 05/25/2025:  09:53:44

Hi John,

I've read through all the comments in the thread here and there is much good advice to follow.  I will say that I bristle when I see the word "practice."  I started playing French horn around age 10 and started playing banjo when I was 13 so I could have a diversion from practicing the horn.  When people ask how much I practice the banjo I say that I only practiced the first week.  After that I just started playing.  Admittedly, my banjo playing was downright horrible for (maybe?) the first three years, but I always enjoyed what I was doing (as opposed to practicing on that darn horn!).

Now to the question at hand (or fingers).  I personally think that you will have to get beyond the point where you are thinking in terms of strings, frets, and notes.  Bluegrass players tend to refer to "muscle memory," but they are referring to the rolls that the right hand is doing.  For clawhammer you need "muscle memory" for both hands.  The point is that both hands (and their attached fingers) will "know" what to do without you having to think about it.  This takes time to develop.  I guess you could refer to developing this "muscle memory" as practicing, but I would say to play the tune (using tab if you need to) and enjoy what you are listening to.  Eventually, it will get ingrained.  As examples, I'm attaching two medleys from at least 15 years ago.  Could I play them today?  Absolutely not, as the muscle memory for the tunes is no longer there.  But at the time, was I thinking about what I was doing?  Absolutely not.  There's no way I could be thinking about where my fingers on either hand were supposed to be going or what notes I was playing.

Edited by - LyleK on 05/25/2025 09:54:48

Soldier's Sorrow / Mississippi Sadder

Old G-athon

Paul R - Posted - 05/25/2025:  12:06:56

My problem is, when doing a medley, remembering the name of the tune/song. If I know the name, I can play the tune. I have a medley of "I'll Fly Away", "Will the Circle Be Unbroken", "Wildwood Flower", "You Are My Sunshine", "Simple Gifts", "Loch Lomond", and "Home Sweet Home" which I transferred to guitar in "triple C" tuning. I seem to have a problem recalling "Circle" on time. With so many tunes, it's pretty much an option to drop one or two. Sometimes I just go with "I'll Fly Away" and "Home Sweet Home".

Lately I've worked out a version of "Roseville Fair" with a break to the tune of "Liberty" (I've messed with other tunes but "Liberty" seems to fit quite well). The only hitch is working out the timing of the switch to the fiddle tune and back to the song.

jsinjin - Posted - 05/25/2025:  13:04:32

I play Polly (Molly) put the kettle on then Angeline the baker. Both in A. After several thousand repeats I can now get through them both. It’s a bit of a memory walk to go though them but I can play them both in that order now.

Owen - Posted - 05/25/2025:  13:57:39

For the purposes of practicing for practice's inherent value and singing a few songs around a campfire is a smooth transition a real concern?

jsinjin - Posted - 05/25/2025:  15:27:33

It’s what I am doing and tracking. I have learned two songs and I am learning a third. The challenge and practice is very enjoyable. It is difficult to do. Sort of like perfecting my rowing stroke endlessly even though I will never race. The goals are mine and I enjoy them. You don’t select things to perfect?

LyleK - Posted - 05/26/2025:  04:55:41

quote:

---

Originally posted by jsinjin

I play Polly (Molly) put the kettle on then Angeline the baker. Both in A. After several thousand repeats I can now get through them both. It’s a bit of a memory walk to go though them but I can play them both in that order now.

---

I'm curious where these versions came from.  Both are (almost?) always in D, not A.

jsinjin - Posted - 05/26/2025:  05:35:08

I typed A but meant D. My bad. aDADE tuning. Capo up to second fret. My teacher has them on Patreon although I have a weekly or twice weekly zoom lesson with her. She has several hundred songs set up on Patreon broken out by her teaching style and collected by tunings and level of difficulty. So far she has taught me these two and part of shady grove in sawmill which I also enjoy as a tuning and learning.