Playing a song...the whole way through

Nope.  I work on whole songs and then promptly forget that I know them.  Obviously, some parts are harder work than others.  I don't think I've ever tried to get anything 100% accurate, though.  I'm not interested in tribute style covers for myself.  Someone's already done the song that way, I usually wind up doing songs similarly but not the same.   Sometimes not even similarly.  Or some part the same and another part different. 

Similar but not the same: I do Kenny Chesney's "Don't Blink", The Dixie Chick's "Cold Day in July", and Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide", and Johnny Cash's "I Still Miss Someone" that way.  Not note for note, but sort of kind of similar and I spent some time getting the signature riffs something that approximates the original rendition.  On I Still Miss Someone, I do the vocals as close to Johnny's as I can, but spiff up the guitar part a bit above the standard JC boom-chicka-boom. 

Not even similarly: I do Elton John's "Crocodile Rock", Tom T. Hall's "I Like Beer", and Jimmy Buffett's "Volcano" that way.  Crocodile Rock I do as a bluegrass fingerpick, I Like Beer I do with pretty straightforward strumming instead of the slide work he used, and I do Volcano with a Bo Diddley beat instead of a Calypso beat and will sometimes slip that into "What I Like About You" by the Romantics but with a Bo Diddley beat, and then on into "Caroline" when I can remember the lyrics.  It's a 3:1 sale. 

- Zurf

I have a friend who has been playing for a few years maybe. He can't play a song all the way thru. He knows bits and pieces to lots of songs but nothing complete. He doesn't even know how to up stroke. Anyway, I make sure that I learn a song all the way thru before I move on to the next. Actually, I work on 2 or 3 songs at once, but I learn those before moving on. I feel that when someone asks you if you play guitar and you say yes, then you better have an actual repertorie of songs to pull from. I know Zurf, playing songs is not playing guitar. I'm using playing in a general sense. So when I open my 3-ring binder I can play everything in it. As I get better, I often go back and add stuff that I couldn't play before to the songs I know.

I think it's better to learn songs all the way thru. If not to make you a better player then just to say yes I can play that.

I am an oldie pro who played cover tunes in bars for too many years. I have unknowingly changed from one song to another with a similar chord progression when my mind wandered. It is no problem when playing alone but if that happens to you when playing with a band, you get some folks really mad at you.
toots

I use to be like that , but I forced myself to learn something all the way through. It helps me to sing it or it just sounds like I'm playing a bunch of chords.

I'll put my hand up to this aswell but it is something I've pondered over not just found myself doing.

I've been learning about 16 months, I have about 250 sings written out which I can play ok whilst reading from my book.  I love all genres so I have music from Elvis to the Beatles, Byonce to Motorhead, Moody Blues to Metallica.  The way I figure it is that I'd get bored just slaving to 3 or 4 songs for a few weeks.  I like to come home from work, crack open a beer and play whatever I'm in the mood for, it's certainly kept me fresh and I can honestly say that there have only been about 12 days in 16 months where I not picked my guitar up and I still average 2 hours a day.

Having said that I'm at the stage where I feel I'm ready to entertain friends at a BBQ and I did start identifying songs that would go down well and I can play/sing ok but the problem is every day they change?

I guess I'll just continue to play out of my books

I played a single song guy act for 10 years. I used to use my fat book for lyrics to songs I played less often. It helps with requests too because i have 400+ songs in that book.
My best buddy John Reno hired me to play single gigs when he was double booked. John is a really polished musician, song writer and never takes music onstage. He ordered me to play only songs I had completely memorized because playing to a crowd while staring into a book is highly unprofessional. It was tough at first because I only had 40 or so songs down that well.
I jotted lyrics to two songs at a time on 3by5 cards and took them with me on my daily heart-healthy walks. I would drill lyrics to one song until I tired of it and then switch to the second. By the time I did three miles I would have both sets of lyrics pretty well down.
John told me that drilling a song so many times that you are sick of it and never want to hear it again is when you finally have it down well enough so that you can not play the thing for a month or so and then do it perfectly.
Usually if you get the first few words of each verse, you can remember the rest of it.
I am sick and tired of many of my songs I have played and sang for many years but I am aware that tonight's audience has never heard me do it before.
I like to start an evening with some simple tried and true material I know well so I can divide my attention and listen to how my sound system is doing and observe the crowd to tell what they appear to enjoy most.
I will try some unfarmiliar tunes by request or because I think it may be fun but I warn the audience in advance that I may splatter this one off the wall.
toots

Welcome to the forum Steve!  Everybody here is pretty nice and friendly!

I agree... it's fun to fiddle with different songs, but when you get around other people (guitar players or not), they want to hear a whole song.  There's nothing worse then going to the campfire and someone bringing out a guitar to tool around on and every time they start playing and everyone starts getting into it - they stop.  I LOVE my Dad, but he's "known" for doing that.  It's frustrating.  At least try to learn one or two so you're prepared for it when someone else is around!    Unless you enjoy being a "closet guitarist" 

Hi, I can remember lyrics to some songs, and chords to others, but can't put the two together,
so I have to stop if I forget lyrics or chords.
Trying to stick to three songs I know pretty well!

Hi all, very new to this music game and I too have a couple of note books of songs i play. My problem is playing without the music before me on a stand. I do not like admitting this but, I can't always here the next chord change coming, if i hit a wrong chord i know immediately but i just don't know at all times when to change chords. Does anyone else have or had this problem? Thanks in advance.  b

Bobwill - Yes.  I have and expect that I will continue to have this problem.  There is no shame in using 'a chart' when you play.  If there were, every orchestra musician out there would have cause to be ashamed. 

- Zurf

This thread actually made me so ashamed that it forced me to learn a few songs off memory (see my post above).  So I learned Rockin in the Free World by Neil Young, Down Under by Men at Work and Zombie by the Cranberries.  I can also play a few more nearly all the way through but not quite. 

My opinion on this subject it is that your song books/sheets or whatever you use make you lazy.  Take any song, when you see it on paper it’s full of verses, choruses, bridges, intros, outros etc and on top of that there are the lyrics with chord changes thrown in as well!  But when you actually “look† at the song there are the same chord sequences all the way through perhaps with a different order for the chorus and an odd chord in the bridge.  Pretty easy when you break it down into parts. 

The best thing I did was start playing songs without my books and even when you go wrong don’t be tempted to refer to your book to check that chord you can’t remember, try and suss it out yourself, you’ll find the chords stick in your memory far better that way.

So don’t be lazy and learn a tune!