How did that go again?

So you're driving along or you're at a starbucks and all of a sudden a melody, riff, bass line, or whatever comes to your head. You play it over and over again in your head hoping to remember and play and record it later on when you get home. However, when you get home, it's gone...you forgot how that cool melody went...

Do you guys have any techniques or tips on remembering things like this? Do you carry a pocket recorder around with you. I remember Roland made a hand held portable sequencer gadget. Is that still around or is there one similar?

Balbs

i have this problem even worse with lyrics. once, on the tail end of a trip from massachussetts back to tennessee, i rattled off (freestyled?) coherent lyrics for about 10 minutes in my head. of course, i was driving, so no way to write them down and it was all gone 30 seconds afterward.

i always have stuff popping in my head and disappearing. the way i figure it, that sort of thing is the mind practicing for when inspiration and opportunity hit at the same time.

The stupid part is sometimes....weeks or months later somehow I remember it and then it goes away again....Guess I'm just a bonehead. My phone has a voice recording feature. I haven't tried it yet so I don't know how much it will hold. Sometimes it would take me days before I get to record stuff.

That MicroTrack seems cool. Does it have a built-in mic to sing (badly but try to sing) into?

Balbs

templates save me loads of time. i usually have a basic one that i update from time to time with the lastest complex song i've written. so much easier to take away than to add...

If you have a cellphone, leave yourself a voicemail. I do this all the time.

Cheers.

I learnt a little while ago that all those times when I think I'll remember my cool new melody/lyric/bassline etc.... I won't.

The ones in the small hours of the morning are the most irritating. When you really don't want to get out of bed to write something down or record, so you sing it to yourself a thousand times and get set to record/write it down as soon as you wake.

Morning comes and your idea is nowhere to be found.

The tips and gadgets mentioned above are what you need. I also find texting myself lyrics (or saving them as draft sms messages) to be a life-saver sometimes.

Somtimes I think of different parts of a song...I wish there was a portable way you can record, play back, then punch-in singing\recording the other part :) That would be awesome.

Now that's the ticket!! Sweet!



Balbs

With most everyone having cell phones these days, as mentioned in the posts above, you could simply call and leave yourself a message.

For years though, I had a student model tape recorder that I kept in the car, and for awhile there, even one on my nightstand next to my bed.

This was after I used the "old method"; the mistaken notion that the idea was so good, there would be no way I'd forget it in the morning.

To my recollection, that particular method never worked.