There are three types of long-term memory: procedural, episodic, and semantic. Procedural or implicit memory is unconscious, but the other two involve conscious awareness of past events as episodes in one’s individual history (e.g., episodic memory of meeting a friend for the first time) or facts and concepts not drawn from personal experience (e.g., semantic memory of state capitals)

A complex operation such as learning to play the guitar involves the gradual and incremental processes of motor learning (using implicit memory) to improve finger work, as well as the episodic memory processes involved in trying to internalize and later repeat specific skills taught in a lesson, such as playing a particular chord sequence, semantic memory for information such as key signatures, and emotional memories of successfully playing beautiful music.