How Many New Acoustic Finger Picking Songs To Learn at One Time
 

I am a intermediate player. I have about 8 fun fingerpicking songs memorized and play them pretty good, at least for my family audience, but I have 6 great fingerpicking songs I want to learn. All at the intermediate level. Don't want to be overwhelmed trying to learn too many songs at once. My thoughts are to start out with two, play them fluently, then tackle the next two. Any thoughts from anyone that's been down this road before would be appreciated.

It varies for me, but typically I will focus on one at a time. I tend to repeat, repeat, repeat if I hit something that is particularly challenging. I like to get one thing nailed before moving on, but sometimes it's also good to flip to something else for a while. So, for me, it's mostly one at a time, but almost never more than two...

Only your brain can tell you what's too much, but I generally don't mind having 2-3 pots on the stove at a time.

If these are tunes you're needing to memorize note for note, you might need to cut back depending on what you find you can retain.

I like to have 3 on the go. Tends to be one that I am learning/starting out with. One that I can get through but stumbling in parts if not everywhere and one that is coming up to scratch.

Ideally the one I am learning moves through that progression, and ends up in my repertoire.

However if I get stuck or bored I will abandon ship and go to something else, and I may return to whatever I got stuck on in the future.

I probably devote about 50% of my playing time to learning new stuff and 50% to playing through my repertoire.

I have been having a good time working on a couple of harder tunes for my skill level and at the same time play through a bunch of easier tunes. When my hand is too tired to work on the harder stuff I can still play the easier things forever.

Lately I have been playing easier things from 50 Easy Classical Pieces and in between the easy stuff I have been also working on Evocation (2nd part is hard for me), Steve Howe's Mood for a Day (resurrected from a 48 odd year layoff), Lagrima Prelude by Tarrega and Sor's Study In B Minor.

I also have other things to work on by Marianne Vedral, Wolfgang Vedral and other finger style players like Stephen Wake, Lance Allen, and Masaaki Kishibe, but I don't want to overreach things.

Since my stroke back in 2017 it has been very difficult for me to memorize anything, but I managed to memorize Lagrima and Evocation is coming along too. Things that I had memorized prior to the stroke (Mood For a Day, etc) stuck around luckily.

I think working on multiple tunes is the most rewarding, keeps you fresh and interested in the hobby.

I wouldn't bother memorizing songs. If you can sight read tab or standard you can play hundreds of songs without having to memorize them. Learn some theory and work on your ear so that you can hear something and know what's going on rhythmically and harmonically. To me that's more beneficial than learning to play something by rote. .

There's not one right answer. We're all different. Do what makes sense to you.

And keep it fun.

That doesn't work with finger style.

Does for me.

I'm talking about good music TBR, :D :D

Yes, learn to play what you are working on fluently. If that limits you to less pieces to work on so be it. You will progress faster this way to play with precision and feeling.

Brad, I am five years in - an easier "measure" for me than a measure of accomplishment. Like you, I am drawn to fingerstyle. And, over time, I have made progress with simpler songs with repetitive lines (eg. Green Green Rocky Road). And with songs I have written.

This week, I have been working on that classic, Vestapol, relying on various YT instructional vids. And what I have found, as I have in the past, is that my brain tells me when it has had enough - when I cannot seem to absorb any more, or cannot process a particular measure or two. And it gets frustrating. That is when I know it is time to stop or move on. And it is not at all unusual for me to come back the next day, and find that I go right through the roadblock and move forward. I think that the brain, at least mine, requires time to process what I throw at it. And it will do so in its own sweet time.

Enjoy the ride.

David

Does for me also. And most any banjo picker worth his salt.

Personally, I do one at a time. Depending on the level of difficulty I'll spend a week to 2 weeks learning and then memorizing the song before I move on to something else. All the while playing those songs I wish to maintain. I've found that I can only maintain 10 - 12 songs in memorization and playing proficiently at 1 time. That really depends on how much time you care to invest.