Literacy is an immensely valuable skill. Musical literacy is no different. While music is consumed aurally, reading sheet music provides us with a way to identify and analyze patterns that may not be obvious to our ears.

Though sheet music is a wonderful way to convey layers of details, it is often in our best interest to memorize our music. Memorization allows us to direct all of our focus on listening to the musicians around us. If the singer enters 4 measures early, or the guitar solo goes 8 measures longer than planned, we will have a much easier time adjusting if our head isn't buried in our music. Furthermore, some music concerts contain theatrical elements that eliminate the option of reading music.

Memorize from the beginning -- Though many successful musicians learn a piece of music first, then go back through a second time to memorize, it is more efficient to memorize as you go.

Chunk it out – Don't panic at the thought of having to memorize all the measures on the page(s). Start small, with a musical phrase. A phrase in music is like a sentence or a paragraph in reading. It is just long enough to have some structure, meaning, and context, but short enough to not be too crammed with information.

Grab a pencil and chunk it out by drawing brackets around phrases. For most songs in the rock/pop genre, a 4 measure phrase is a great starting chunk. Two 4 measure phrases, once memorized back-to-back, create a quite-substantial 8 measure phrase. Memorize two consecutive 8 measure phrases to complete a 16 measure chunk, and now you have a serious amount of music. Let's try out a sample 4 measure phrase.

What's the intention? – Learning the most important part of the phrase first can help establish structure. This phrase has several small embellishments spread throughout.

Without the embellishments, it should look far easier to comprehend, play, and memorize.

You can then go back and add the details. Bonus: if you wind up lost, confused, or otherwise off-track during the song, you can revert back to this simplified version.

Repetition. Repetition. Repetition. Repetition. Repetition. Repetition. Repetition. Repetition. Repetition.

As you memorize measures, phrases, and songs, you will learn the difference between "kind of knowing the music" and "having the song completely memorized."

You will also sharpen your sense of "How many times do I need to play this to learn it and memorize it?" The number may be far higher than you currently think.