How do you play.....by ear, or by music or tab notation????

[onewilyfool]

When I first started playing guitar (many moons ago) I just picked up a guitar that someone gave me, a $45 Aria classical guitar. In the beginning, I had to have my friends tune it for me and change my strings, cause I just did not have the ear to do that. So I started playing around with this Aria guitar, and figured out some simple chords, and some three chord songs, and I didn't even know the name of the chords. I would put my LP's (how's that for dating myself) on the record player, and try to strum along with the songs. My main claim to fame, was that I could figure out most songs and play along with the. I used to really enjoy figuring out the chord progressions of songs. So, in a nutshell, I self taught, and learned to play by ear, basically. Only when I started to play with others, did I learn the names of the chords. Even today, if someone says play an "A minor, augmented seventh" I won't know what they are talking about, however if they show me the chord, I will recognize it, and remember which songs I use it in...etc...etc.... When I am showing songs to others, I will say, then play THIS chord....lol.....not knowing the actual name....lol. I still enjoy figuring out songs, putting them in a key that my voice will be OK in.....and then tweaking the song, actually arranging it, so that it is recognizable, but still unique. I know there are limitations to the "by ear" methods I have, but it has served me well and gave me a good "EAR" over time. I have "some" ability to read tab, just as a reminder of what I played, lol.....but as far as structured music, I am at a loss. It is funny, my neighbor is a PHD in Music at Stanford, and he can ONLY play site reading music......when we get together to play, it is funny. How about the rest of you......what is your WAY????

[larryp58]

I'm with you, Wiley. I definetly play "by ear". That's how I learned to play. And like you, I can slap a record ( nowadays a CD ) on and play along right with it. Learning to play "by ear" did present problems like you encountered. Showing someone how to play a song and not knowing what the proper chord name was. I would just say, "do this"!!! After many years of playing (46), my knowledge of chords and chord progressions have grown. But I do believe that learning by listening, or "by ear" gave me a better understanding of music. Now I think that those who only play by sight are the ones who are "handicapped"! I mean if it ain't printed down on a piece of paper, or already have the tabs or chords figured out, they're lost. I can just say, "let me listen to it a few times and I'll play it for you!" I will admit, though, that tabulature stuff for guitar hasn't come to me yet! It reminds of of when I was setting in high school and trying to learn Algebra! (which still doesn't make sense at all to me!) I guess I'm to hard-headed to ask someone to explain it to me. (tabs, not algebra!) Anyway, that's how[cool] I roll!!!

[eds111]

For me it's sheet music with tab. I do read just standard notation, but whenever the tab is there too my eyes just go to that.

 

I never play from tab only arrangements.

[Taylor Player]

I use whatever I can borrow, steal or find. Most of my 30+ years were spent playing by ear or with chord books. As I got better and started to get into fingerstyle, the advent of the internet pushed me forward as I could find tab online. I still probably play mostly by ear as I like to jam along with my ipod or friends and never have a problem playing along after a few minutes, but tab, youtube, etc has helped a bunch over the last several years.

[nodehopper]

I actually use all three ...although I have to admit to not being good at any of the three either. Since Wily embarrassed himself by admitting to knowing what an LP is ....and even actually using them ...YIKES!

 

When I was 10 or so my Dad sorta forced me into playing the Accordion. Well he wanted to and I guess he didn't want to look like the only dork so he got me one and we did some lessons. I actually got a trophy at an accordion competition they had at the LA Airport ...whooo---hooo! well...that lasted until I hit puberty and realized how uncool it really was. But I did learn to read music. Well fast forward nearly 40 years and I can figure out the notes if given time, but I do remember the timing part of it. quarter notes - dotted half notes 4/4 time ...all that makes sense when I look at music.

 

Well ...my playing by ear is not great, but give me tab that has the music notation underneath and I am good. Although o be truthful, before I have a song down ....I get lazy and tend to just get the gist of it with the chords and some timing down ...then I switch and listen to the original and flesh out my version on my own.

 

So really in the end I end up never doing a song that closely to an original or popular version.

[larryp58]

 

When I was 10 or so my Dad sorta forced me into playing the Accordion. Well he wanted to and I guess he didn't want to look like the only dork so he got me one and we did some lessons. I actually got a trophy at an accordion competition they had at the LA Airport

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now THAT'S worth saying "YIKE'S" for!!!

[L5Larry]

I learned my first three chords from Mel Bay's "Fun With Guitar" book. I got good from playing by ear off records and the radio, swapping knowledge with peers, and learning from those better than I (stealing licks). To learn jazz I had to learn to read standard music notation, which is now what I do most often. Having a good ear, I never found a need or use for TAB, although I do understand it's usefulness.

 

I would say the one thing that took me to the next level (so to speak), is learning to read standard music notation, it opens up the unlimited resources and opportunities of published and written music.

[The G]

Ears for me.

Whenever I see sheet music I get all sweaty and nervous[blush]

[6stringTom]

I am mostly self-taught (by ear), although I learned to fingerpick through about 10 critical lessons about 45 years ago (how's that for being dated!). The lessons were of the show, tell, practice variety--no printed music and no drills, scales, etc. I learned flatpicking mainly from some columns in Sing Out! magazine. I later learned I had been doing it "wrong" and had to relearn a few things. I had learned to read music as a clarinet/sax player, and I use music reading occasionally to learn something new. Tab is the hardest format for me, although I am now finding it very helpful in learning dobro. I've enjoyed some dvd lessons, picking up tips from great players. I also like "live"workshops where I always learn some new technique or song. Even on the rare occasions when I use written music to learn a new song, I use it as a quick start aid only. I quickly move to making my own arrangement.

 

nodehopper, I remember when playing accordion was considered by most kids as the most uncool musical thing possible, sure to cause snickers and eye rolls. Too bad. It's a great instrument in most kinds of roots music--from cajun to bluegrass, country to old time. Today, we are all happy when our fiddle playing friend brings his accordion along for a few tunes. It really livens up the day.

[DAS44]

Mainly ear.

[milod]

6stringTom

 

Sounds as if we're from the same generation. <grin>

 

Remember the Folksinger's Guitar Guide? I learned out of it and later taught out of it.

 

I can read a little, albeit poorly; tab is okay and predates the standard notation. Ear... well, it depends.

 

I've mostly been a fingerpicker from the beginning, although I've done flatpicking for various situations. Picked up a little bit of classical, and that's mostly a matter for me of hearing it first, then reading the notation as a guide for my fingers to what my ear told me. I'm a really lousy sightreader for stuff I've never heard. But then, I was a lousy sightreader as a trumpet player as a kid (when I had teeth that I hadn't had to buy) and even before that, on piano.

 

My thing is largely doing my own fingerstyle arrangements to "old" music ranging from the folkie stuff to swing, to blues, standards, to 50s and 60s pop and rock and occasionally newer stuff. Mostly it's kinda what you might expect a stride piano player to sound like more than a guitar player, though.

 

m

[sjl200]

Well Started with the ear and a "Mel Bay Picture diagram chord book" (still have it.

Then I did take some lessons when I learned music notation this helps with timing mostly now as note reading comes very slow since I cheat "reading" the chords symbols but the notes give me a hint as to timing 1/4 whole, eights and the like..

The tabs gives me a place to start.

So presently I guess I use everything I can so as not to make a fool out of myself.Music theory is stll magic ,so far, and thats after 20 plus years of banging away ....but I do have a book.:-

[Oubaas]

I can sight read regular musical notation, read and play tablature, and well, just play.

 

I've been playing for forty-two years now, and these days, I don't very often even look at sheet music or tab. I just play. I can sort of "hear" where I need to go next, even on a fairly new song, and usually play something that fits.

 

I can't always accurately name the chords I play, sometimes they run into the jazz realm, but I generally can give you a name for them that's at least in the ballpark. And I know what notes are there, and usually know why I played them, although I sometimes resort to just saying that they felt right at the time.

 

If I hear a song these days, I can usually play it on the first try. But, when you've played the guitar for forty-two years, and spend anywhere from two to twelve hours per day playing, often six to eight, I guess you get pretty familiar with the fretboard and the sounds you want to make. I find that I can play without even thinking about it or paying much attention these days.

 

But, even though I get a lot of complements on my playing, I still wish I was better. I guess none of us will ever be as good as we'd like to be. I know I won't ever reach that zenith.

 

Cheers!

 

Rick...:-

[milod]

Rick...

 

I think when I play guitar up to my own potential, it'll be on a cloud somewhere in another cupla centuries. And when I play like I'd like to... well, I don't even think being somewhere on a cloud would help. Of course, if I'm shoveling coal instead, who knows if I'd have time to practice and the game likely would have strings breaking all the time...

 

Been pickin' since the summer of '63.

 

m

[onewilyfool]

+1 on Youtube.....If I had Youtube when I started, I would be GREAT by now....lol......Node....by the way, accordian and squeeze-box were great instruments in old blues stuff, cajun, zydico.......You better brush up on it.....

[nodehopper]

nodehopper wrote:

 

When I was 10 or so my Dad sorta forced me into playing the Accordion. Well he wanted to and I guess he didn't want to look like the only dork so he got me one and we did some lessons. I actually got a trophy at an accordion competition they had at the LA Airport

 

Now THAT'S worth saying "YIKE'S" for!!!

 

I would never have shared that humiliating part of my life, but after years of therapy, Electro-shock therapy, and therapeutic drug treatments ....my therapist says that I need to confront this trauma and admit to it to my peers.

 

You will never know that pain of carrying that secret deep with in me!!

 

To quote Marlon Brando ..." The Horror ......the horror......"

[milod]

Yeah, I'd definitely agree that Youtube is marvelous for getting different perspectives that in the olden days we simply hadda watch real humans to do. And we can watch over and over...

 

I think you also get some interesting additional perspectives not available years ago. For example, there's Doc Watson talking about first doing Black Mountain Rag on his Les Paul. <grin>

 

m

[BigKahune]

I actually use all three ... When I was 10 or so my Dad sorta forced me into playing the Accordion. ...

 

I use all three too.

 

Coincidently, I was 8 when I started formal music lessons - on the accordion (my dad's instrument). At 10 I took up an alto sax and stuck with it for six years in school orchestra and a band - so I'm very schooled in "site reading" sheet music and/or notation. When I got into guitar I would buy music books now and then, and figure out arrangements by ear from recordings. When tabs got popular I go into them.

[jgwoods]

I started playing in '58...before LPs were around much, most people had 45s or 78s.

I learned chords from a book, songs from friends, added in things learned playing trumpet, trombone and french horn in school bands and orchestras, and took to playing by ear, and eye- watching others- as the years went by.

Now mostly by ear and eye- when I am at a jam and playing mandolin or banjo I often eyeball the guitar player for chords to songs I don't know. The banjo and mandolin tunings often have E as the high string so you can pick up the melody line there sometimes- even from a fiddle.

[Oubaas]

Rick...

 

I think when I play guitar up to my own potential' date=' it'll be on a cloud somewhere in another cupla centuries. And when I play like I'd like to... well, I don't even think being somewhere on a cloud would help. Of course, if I'm shoveling coal instead, who knows if I'd have time to practice and the game likely would have strings breaking all the time...

 

Been pickin' since the summer of '63.

 

m

[/quote']

 

Ten-four, milod! If I ever get as good as I want to be, it won't be on this plane of existence, LOL!

 

Since the rest of you are confessing about your other instrument abilities, I guess I'll chime in. I went through my Charlie Parker, Paul Desmond, and John Coltrane stage, which resulted in me being able to play the alto and tenor saxophone. I prefer the tenor sax, of the two.

 

I also went through my Thelonius Monk, Oscar Peterson, Tommy Flanagan, Bill Evans stage, and I can now play the piano, as well, which was easier to learn, as my wife is an outstanding pianist, so I had good resources. The sax was just a cold call, scratch start self study.

 

Now, mind that I did not say that I play those instruments well, nor did I claim that I have an extensive repertoire in either case.

 

Which is why I mostly confine my playing to country music on guitar, with occasional forays into Django and Wes Montgomery when the mood strikes me. But usually, it's Merle Haggard, George Strait, Alan Jackson, or Randy Travis...

 

Cheers!

 

Rick...

[milod]

jgwoods

 

Ever get in to the Club 47 in Haaaaav'd Squah? <grin> I finished high school in Western Mass. while Dad did grad school in Cambridge. Culture shock for a kid from the Northern Plains. But I got to see a lot of the folkies during "vacation" and that pretty much got me thinkin' about a swap from trumpet to guitar.

 

Oubaas

 

If you're into country, look up Chris Ledoux on Youtube. Interesting. Chris was a fine fellow with a nice family who left us too soon. Pretty decent rodeo rider, too. A friend of Garth Brooks, one of whose songs got folks trying to figure out who he was.

 

I kinda like the Western Underground concept myself. BTW, only been through Texarkana a dozen times or so over the past 50 years, but I hadda be in Little Rock a day or two a week on average in the '80s from Memphis... I always figured the Texas "outlaw" country concept would kinda like Chris more than a little.

 

m

[onewilyfool]

Oh....and by the way.....thank heavens for websites like Chordie.com........just FYI

[KL]

I've been trying to play by ear, but have gone back to using my fingers now as I was getting a really bad neck.

[pete]

I just proof-read my post and apologize for the length. My feelings won't be hurt if you don't read the whole thing.

 

I play using a variety of almost all the methods mentioned-some with more success than others. Each has their merit & each has their downfalls. I personally feel that playing by ear is superior to anything else. What's cooler than hearing something and being able to play it?!? Those that can do it should be grateful.

 

Like many others, I learned to read basic music notation as a child. Since I don't read that often, my skills are very limited. One of the frustrations I have with this method is that I have no clue in what position on the neck I should be playing (unless there is a copy of the recording handy, then at least I have some idea). This process is very slow for me.

 

Tab is more comfortable. I'll learn the notes, then listen and apply punctuation with my playing. A frustration here is that rarely are the tunes complete and they are someone else's interpretation of the tune. Different key or tuning than written, doesn't sound right etc. Great way to pick up licks and riffs though. This process is slightly quicker.

 

I have only one DVD and I like that. I can only handle the dude on the DVD in limited doses, but hey, I've learned some technique and some tunes from him. This process isn't necessarily that much faster, but when I consider I'm "done" that part I know it is right and I can play it with confidence & soul.

 

I'm really digging youtube lately. There are, in my opinion, some exceptional players and teachers out there. I can pause, rewind, replay...and if the guy/gal is annoying there are twelve others that can show me-in one click.

 

The most successful method for me is jamming with other, more experienced players. I can feel the music, it is no longer mechanical. I learn WAY faster this way and have tons of fun. My playing was so poor for so many years I didn't feel that I was worthy of playing with better players. Then I said "F**k it, I'm not getting any younger and I want to be a GOOD guitar player. Throw pride out the window and just do it."

 

I also have so many books that it is almost embarassing. I just bought a few on fretboard theory/layout etc. My plan is to know that mofo inside and out so that I can play by ear.

 

One method I haven't tried but have thought about is a website with multiple teachers. I have researched a few and it looks there is a ton of resource on these sites. Anyone use them?

[Rambler]

I cant fathom only being able to play by looking at music. At some point, the ear and one's general sense of musicianship needs to kick in. A musician stuck on the printed page is like and actor who needs the script in hand.

 

That said, I think knowledge is a plus. Reading sheet music or tab, even knowing the names of chords (the old I IV V) wont dilute one's musical purity (Ray Charles for one was a reading musician).