Reading or Playing by Ear? Neither, I play by chords. I don’t like the term music theory because it suggests something that has not been proven. There are certain logical rules that chords follow. There is only one reason why chords adhere to the rules of the road; it sounds good. That’s it. No theory here. It just works that way. This logic allows you to discern patterns that make up harmony, melody, and rhythm. Knowing the rules that chords almost always follow allows me to do the playing by ear thing. After awhile, you will know the sound before you press the keys. For me playing by ear meant that I would have to know the rules and the chords inside out. Playing by ear is just using chords logically. Then again, the same thing could be said for sight reading. Yep, chords are involved in both reading and playing by ear. But it is the ear that is the closest distance between what I am playing and what the listener hears. Just try blaming the sheet music for it not "sounding right".

If you are wanting to play classical music then all bets are off. Scales is the name of the game in that arena. And that is the stage that most music teachers stand upon by tradition.

Floyd

Grubb99:

Here are a couple of links to threads which you might be interested in reading, which I had initiated on this same subject almost a year ago. - Scott
http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/Forum37/HTML/005736.html
http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/Forum37/HTML/005740.html

Fran, we two GUYS seem to think alike. I agree that a feeling for and knowledge of theory is most beneficial. Learning the left hand bass on accordion at age ten seemed silly, but now I know all the progressions and realize accordion bass is a 5th up or a 4th down; very ingeneous and helpful. Having a 'feel' for the music is even more important. I know so many musicians who can read and play anything, but without feeling. It doesn't matter if or how much one reads, but reading is helpful; understanding is more helpful.

hi all,i always wanted to play an instrument,and lets face it ,its not easy,i have had many second hand instruments over the coarse of many years and i was like a jack of all trades all i wanted was to be able to play 2 or3 songs on each instrument,,by teaching myself with very basic books,then i realised that with a good keyboard i would have it all at my fingertips,so i thought right i will learn piano,keyboard,i just did not realise there was so much to learn,anyway i started and when i realised that most music was in the keys of C and up to 3 sharps and down to 3 flats,so why learn what i will not use,after all how many pieces are there in Csharp or G sharp,i mean you can transpose it if you want,don,t get me wrong i would love to play like our TOP PIANIST on our site but these studied from a very young age and put many many years of hard effort to get there,but for me i,m just happy to be able to play from fake books for my own pleasure,i think that for those that cannot read music,even if they only learn major and minor chords they will be able to get by, and enjoy,mike

Everytime I try to play by ear I get an ear ache

I took organ lessons for 6 months forty years ago. I had played trompone in school before that,so I didn't have much background on keyboards. After a month,I told the teacher to skip the scales and teach me to read a fake book. In 6 months I was playing out.

The downside was that without reading left hand,I was not voicing my chords properly,so I taught myself to read bass clef as well. While I use chords while playing,a little knowledge of reading and theory is useful.

As for playing by ear, I became a slave to a fakebook. I didn't dare let go of my crutch until I started playing along with midfiles. I played over the melody for awhile and then muted or deleted the track.
By developing your ear for intervals,and finger memory,you can have the best of both worlds.

You have to admire guys that can sit in a Glenn Miller type setting and read the charts seeing them for the first time. Al Hirt could do it.

I can read a little. I play mostly from memory and knowing how to run the chords on my sax.

One fellow in high school could read anything you'd put in front of him but he couldn't jam on a Bb blues without the music.

He learned to read first and by ear and such later. It all depends on what you enjoy and what you want to do. I get bored practicing reading.

I play by ear, but it hurts after a while, so I use my hands instead.
Seriously...I, like Brickboo, admire those who can sight read at the drop of a hat. I personally know some trained pianists, who are lost without sheet music, and I can't for the life of me figure out why? I can read the notes if you give me time to figure it all out, but the spontaneity of playing by ear can't be beat.
Anyhoo..just my thots on the matter. btw, my surgury has been re-scheduled for Feb.17th. Hope to see you all back here in the funny papers.