As I get older

Rocker

my muscle memory seems to remember less [!!].  I will be 58 tomorrow and still trying to play my guitar.  I am basically self taught [with help from a number of the Showband guitarists in the 1970s], some blues lessons a few years ago and a room full of unused DVDs and music books.  I recently worked on learning the intro to Ride On [Christy Moores version].  After a few attempts I felt I had a workable version learned off.  But no, tonight I could have started again - the fingers simply would not stop where they should on the slide ups and it took me a full minute to actually remember what it was supposed to be.

But it is still fun even when it does not work out as planned.

mike_l

I have the same problem when using open strings....

 

DulcetJones

I used to have a repertoire of about 60 fingerstyle solos that I played almost daily between gigging and practicing.  I took about a 2 year break from playing a few years ago, just picking up an electric now and then and noodling.  Then one day I got out my nylon string and warmed up my hands and found that I could still play several of the easier songs all the way through just from muscle memory.  The songs I hit a snag with were a lost cause though, it was pure muscle memory and once I was off the track it was over for that song.  All of the higher demand songs are totally gone, I can't even recall intros let alone try to play them through.  I'm having more fun now writing songs, learning how to play them and getting them recorded and them forgetting how to play them altogether(seeing as I'm not playing live for the forseeable future).  

Grunfeld

Rocker said:

...I will be 58 tomorrow and still trying to play my guitar....

Hey!  Happy Birthday!

Dunno how it works for me with the learning and remembering stuff.  I think muscle memory is what works on the nippy stuff and ears can usually work it out if there's a bit of time to think about it, and the song structure is not too unfamiliar.