How Do Singers Remember Lyrics?
Three Exercises To Help You Remember Your Lyrics and Get Them To Stick!
Do you have difficulty learning lyrics and getting them to stick? Well, you’re not alone. Many singers have this problem, especially when a song has a lot of verses that all sound the same (ie ‘Fields of Gold’ by Sting or the jazz standard ‘Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall In Love’)
The problem is, that learning lyrics is just part of life for singers. You can’t get up on stage and read from a music stand; its just not professional. Plus you want to be free to look at your audience, move around the stage etc.. and you can’t do that if you’re rooted to one spot because you haven’t learned your lyrics.
So what happens if you’re one of those singers who has trouble getting lyrics to stick? What if you’re one of the many singers forget lyrics mid-song or your mind goes blank when you get up on stage?
In today’s video I will share some simple but effective techniques for remembering your lyrics AND getting them to stick… for good!
Just remember… if you’re a jazz singer (or even if you’re not) and you get into an ‘OMG I can’t remember my lyrics’ bind, then you can always use scat (ie soloing like your voice is an instrument) as a way out 😉
But for now, take a look at the video for the three techniques.
Nicola xx
Here are three ways that singers remember lyrics.
1. Listen and copy.
Put at least two versions of the song you want to learn and one backing track of the song onto your phone or whatever you use to listen to. The first version needs to be the actual song with the artist singing the lyrics. Put the backing track next on the playlist.
Then put the second version third on the playlist and again, follow up with the backing track.
When we sing along with the artist, we don’t really memorize the lyrics because the artist is constantly reminding us of what they are. This is why, following up with the backing track means you’re forced to memorize the lyrics yourself.
Having two different versions only strengthens this, because it jolts you out of hearing the same thing again and again. The second singer may hold notes differently or sing in a slightly different rhythm etc. By having two versions, followed by a backing track its a sure fire way to get that song into your head properly.
Bonus Tip: I like to do this in my car because when I’m at home I get bored going over and over the same song… but when I’m driving, or out walking (which is probably a safer and better idea), I find the information gets stuck in my brain better because I’m doing something else repetitive at the same time. There have been studies that show that if you do an easy, repetitive physical action while learning new information, the brain retains a lot more of what you have just listened to.
2. Read through the lyrics properly and work out what they mean.
So what is the song you’re learning really about and what is the artist trying to say?
Imagine yourself walking through the song like it’s a movie and have it play out in your mind. If the lyrics say ‘come on lets party tonight’ then imagine yourself getting dressed up to go out to a party.
This will help you to remember your lyrics because most songs follow a story line. You go out to a party and then what? You meet a guy, or dance with your friends. Stories are more memorable that just trying to remember words.
And as an added bonus, this technique will help you to deliver the song better because you know what it is you’re singing about.
3. Try a written method of learning to kickstart your memory
People learn in a variety of ways. Some people prefer to listen, some people need things visually in front of them to learn, while some people need to write the lyrics out themselves in order for them to get stuck in your brain.
Throughout our school years, we do a lot of learning this way, the teachers will regurgitate a bunch of info, we write it out either by hand or on the computer and then it goes into our brain. So it makes sense to do the same thing with learning lyrics.
Instead of downloading the lyrics online, take the time to write them out by hand or on your computer, and you may find that you start remembering them.
So now you have three different methods for remembering song lyrics. Just choose whichever method you feel will work best for you, and please let me know if this has helped you in the comments below.
Happy singing!
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Great video nicola.Great advice too.It is mostly my own lyrics need to remember you advice works for that too.
Great video great advice. Thanks so much for taking the time to do this.
Great video nicola.Great advice too.It is mostly my own lyrics need to remember you advice works for that too.
Xcelnt advice
Love your advice
Awesome video Nicola !! I’m usually pretty good with remembering lyrics however when I get on stage I sometimes go blank if I’m nervous etc. What I do is ………. learn my lyrics to my backing tracks while I’m usually cleaning or cooking etc. This forces me to HAVE to MEMORIZE the lyrics once and for all. When I first started singing & performing I made the huge mistake of singing to ” karaoke videos ” to learn the actual songs I needed to perform however I found myself unable to remember the lyrics that way cuz I was so used to visibly seeing them on the screen. I got smart real quick and thankfully developed this other technique !! Thanks so much for sharing!! 🙂
I have got hooked on singing with lyrics on a tablet. I have a tablet on my mic stand. I had the stupid thing quit working last time we played and had to fumble through the rest of the night. Any suggestions. We play like 50 songs a night. I hate relying on this but have always had something like cheat sheets on the floor and now this tablet. I have always had a problem remembering songs.
Very good advice. Thanks for the tips. I am a man that works with my hands as a mechanic and I sing at church, but have a hard time memorizing a song. I try to be very professional in my performance, but many times get stage fright and forget everything lol
I’m starting to think an In-Ear Monitoring system might be my saving grace. I stopped performing a few years ago because of the overwhelming stage fright I’d get. It wasn’t the crowd that terrified me. That was the easy part. It was the persistent fear that I was going to forget all of my lyrics onstage. And oftentimes, that was the case.
I just can’t remember them. I’ve even tried psyching myself out by pretending it was easy to remember my lyrics – fake it till you make it, if you will. But that didn’t work either.
Fortunately, I usually had backup vocalists or else, when they weren’t there, I would fumble through to the chorus and signal for the DJ to cut the song off short which was a real confidence killer, and I imagine it usually ruined the performance for the crowd, as well.
I’ve been dying to get back on stage and resume my career, because if I can’t perform, I can’t get paid or continue my career in any meaningful way. I can always fall back on engineering, which I love, but thats simply not my main passion.
I wonder if anyone else has any experience with IEMs for their vocals. Did it help? If you’re here, maybe thats an indication you haven’t figured out a solution yet, but I’ll leave this question anyway. Besides, I’ve already taken the time to type all of this anyway, so there’s no point erasing it all LOL.
Rickie, have you ever tried IEM’s?
I am guilty of using a tablet attached to my mic stand for lyrics and I’ve always felt guilty and a silly for it, but I would be absolutely terrified to go up without it, even though I would likely be fine for about half the set. I’m not gigging right now, but if I have the time to work on it once I get back to it, I will. The question is whether I would ever have the courage to go on without the cheat sheet! I think not, but perhaps I could get better at not using it so much.
My 80s cover band used IEMs, which was super helpful for entrances (a little too helpful… we would forget how heavily we relied on them if they cut out, just because we were so used to not having to pay attention to that stuff), but we didn’t use them for the lyrics. I’m not sure how that would work. Are you talking about just prompting yourself with a couple of words for every phrase or something like that?
Hi this is a good advice to read according to me but i haven’t
Applied it yet such a pity but ill apply it from now on but i just have issue that i listen to the same songs which i like repeatedly and consistently sometime i sing it without any music and i get it done correctly but sometimes what happens is when i tries to sing it again (even on same day or day after thator after somedays) i forget either the starting of the song even the music and sometimes i remember the starting but forget the middle part of the song vice versa so what should be the solution coz this real bother me and get me too frustrated think am i sick or what which leads me to quit music dose it happens to anyone else or its me only
Thank you for the great videos Nicola!
I have only been singing for a few years and I am addicted to it. I really struggle with remembering lyrics, so thank you for the advice. I have found I need to practice with a backing track over and over and over again. I have been working on singing the song deeper in the track, instead of starting it from the beginning every time, which is what I used to do until I watched your video. You are also Damn funny! So glad I found you. Thanks again.