Playing by Ear

"T" my maintenance guy is a bass player. I bought him a brand new bass guitar last Christmas. Today he and I went to a local Guitar Center to shop for a guitar that would be easy on my trigger fingers. I saw him slapping and all that on the bass guitar and I knew he could play well, but I was shocked to find out that he didn't know any of the fretboard notes!!! I had installed a bass tuning app in his phone and mine before. We pulled out our phones and opened the bass tuning app. My, he didn't even know what note each open string represents except the lowest note E string. I said to him, “OK, I am going to sing We Shall Overcome in C. You accompany me.” He didn’t know where to start. I took the bass guitar from him, found out what each string note is from the app, and began to play and sing old black gospel tunes and spirituals; Precious Lord, Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Seen, Down By the Riverside, Glory Halleluiah Since I laid My Burdens Down, and etc. I am no bass player but the guitar is my second or third instrument next to piano and accordion. I was showing him the 1st fret on the E bass would be F, F#, G, G# or Ab and so on. As I kept playing just the roots and 5ths while singing different tunes, I guess a light bulb went on for him. He blurted out some ugly words on me that I am not going repeat here. It was meant to be a compliment. He knew where to go from there. In his own words, he was elated. As I was driving, I offered to take him to dinner. He was so excited that he turned it down. He couldn’t get over his excitement. I shared with him about a guy who used to give me black gospel lessons on the keyboard more than 10 years ago. He couldn’t teach me nor could I learn from him; he couldn’t spell out chords or notes though he played all kinds of fancy chords and progressions. He just played it. Another pure ear player. Now I am thinking of a professional guitarist Doyle Dykes who can’t read a single note. Once my friend put out a piece of music and invited Doyle to play wit him. That’s when Doyle said that he doesn’t read music. I think I posted his video before, but if anyone cares to watch, here’s Doyle playing the Lord’s Prayer from a request at Taylor Guitar booth, Winter NAMM 09. He is a pretty humble, down to earth guy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYIHTowOPbs

Never seen the point of playing by ear, it's much easier to use your fingers.

Bill

Listening to him play,he has a God given talent. To change horses in the middle of the stream would be disruptive,at best. If it ain't broke,don't fix it.

Beautiful guitar work. Several famous jazz players, notably Jimmy Smith (organ) and Errol Garner (piano "Misty") didn't read music, but most of today's top jazz players do. As a general rule, most 'ear' players tend to play some of the simpler forms of music such as blues, folk, and rock. Very few become 'world-class players' and almost to a man they'll tell you that they wished that they could read. Of course 'reading' means different things to different people. Reading a 'fake sheet' and playing a simple Presbyterian hymn from a standard sheet are two different things. IMO, the best musicians can do both.

chas

The Beatles played all by ear in the beginning ,not reading notes at all .

I

Yes, for someone like Doyle Dykes who travels all over the world, being able to read a few notes would not do anything for him. However, in the case of my guy "T", who is an extreme case of "ear playing," (it was fascinating for me that he would play the bass without even knowing string notes let alone fingerboard notes) just knowing the fingerboard notes and a little theory would go a long way. That's why he said it opened up a whole new world for me as he was watching me play the roots and 5ths of I, IV, and V on the bass guitar.

Chris

Speaking of the Beatles, I found this video; Doyle Dykes Classical Gas Beatles Medley. I enjoyed his story as well as his music.

Playing by ear is fine... but when I play octaves... it hurts my nose

That's cuz your big schnozz blocks the view of the whole keyboard.

Uh oh! I know a Philly guy isn't going to take that lying down .

chas

Well, I THINK Dave is 1/2 Italian, so he may get away with it ...

That'sa right! Gaelic & Garlic here!

Our pastor sponsors a dinner for St. Patrick and St. Joseph and calls it "Gaelic and Garlic Night" ...

I always thought of Garlic as a sex deterrent.

chas

Not if your partner likes it too!

Actually the opposite; Buddhist monks stay away from garlic.

Chris

Indeed, I heard ‘ear’ players saying that they wish they knew how to read music. I had been what Jazz musicians call a "note reader" for a long time. I think that's why Jazz has been very elusive for classically trained musicians.

Chris

Per request.
Live on the job using Korg PA4X.
Rainy Night in Georgia

I do both...."read" and "play by ear." Most of you know I've been working hard on the piano for the last six months with certain practicing methods. One of the exercises I do is to take any song and arrange it in your head as you're playing it. i.e. One note at a time. After each note decide what you want the next note to be in your arrangement (or SHOULD be according to the melody). and....guess at where it falls on the keyboard. Then play the note and see if you nailed it.

I originally did it just for practice, but after months of doing this....a pleasant surprise. I found that my pitch recognition has improved 100% (well, maybe 99&44/100%). Paul (montunoman) said it in one of his posts....INTENSE CONCENTRATION is what makes it work!

Almost forgot....

Torch...this is an absolutely brilliant performance. I watched it a few times for a few reasons.

It's one of my favorite Christian songs.

To observe the clever way he arranged it for guitar.

To try to figure out what sounded out of place. Turns out it was the lack of "spacing" of notes...breaks...style.

One of the things that, thankfully, was passed on to me over the years by a senior musician was..."learn the words to a song before you learn the song." I'm wondering if the gentleman "learned the words" because "learned lyrics" lead to great "phrasing."

Eva Cassidy is the greatest example I know of. Doesn't rush her songs. She milks "Over the Rainbow" with every consonant and vowel that comes out of her mouth. Works the words and feels her songs through and through right down to the bone.

I just really love this song, and so, naturally I was also singing it in my mind. But it was difficult to keep up with the pace and feel the emotions this tune awakens in you. I'm curious...does he just play the song without understanding what the song is actually about, do you think?

Either way, I reiterate. An absolutely brilliant, beautiful creative and engaging performance he did!

Mark, there is no question of the effort you put into your music; and I agree with the greater part of it. One of my friends, a guitar player, studied ear training, his ability to recognize intervals and pitch improved.

From my twenties to my forties I put a lot of effort into improving my music abilities. I bought every record that Johnny Smith, a well-known guitar player, made. The books he wrote were not very good. Later in years I found that m playing had a flavor of Johnny Smith. My playing was a mixture of Johnny Smith and me.

My point; When I am playing, I no longer think of scales, arpeggios, pitch, or intervals. It’s time to play song after song and allow what is inside of me, my natural ability, my emotions to be my main thoughts. Doing my best to play what is in my head. A new song: I study the chord progression, play the song a few times, then put away the music and make sure I do not play the melody, note for note as it was written.

Just my thoughts, John C.

Don, did you want to post this in chas' thread ?

Fabulous. And it just keeps getting better and better as the song progresses. I still don't know how Don does those incredible guitar parts. I've tried to duplicate it with every keyboard in my studio; not even close . I hope most of you give this a listen. It really captures the essence of the song. It's personal and almost a little depressing to me at the moment as I'm waiting on a dry day to get a roof repair from a recent storm and the forecast is for 4 more days of heavy rain. Don, can you come up with something like SUNNY day in Georgia . Anyhow, thanks for posting the tune and glad it's not trying to be a clone of the Brook Benton version.

chas

I think I posted it in the wrong place. It was late at night after a rough day on the golf course. Donny straightened it out.
Thanks guys!

Your welcome Buddy..I watched them all all over again...
great stuff....more more!!

"rough day on the golf course."

Still better than a good day at the office ... Well, maybe not in your case, considering where your 'office' is ...

No matter where it landed Don, I really liked it.

I read just well enough to be able to prep for a recording. I'd be lost if I had to sight read in real time.

Reading is absolutely essential as a "hired gun" in the studio.

Playing by ear allows you to be much more expressive.

I LOVE it!

Russ

Imagine yourself in a library. You can sing and tells jokes, but you can’t read.
It’s the same for with music, you can play, play good, but you miss so much that you might have learned.

John C.

Thank you Chas. I've always loved that song. A guy from South Louisiana, Tony Joe White, wrote it. He also wrote Polk Salad Annie.
I could never equal Brook's recording, so have to my own take on it. I'm glad you appreciate it.

Doyle played The Lord's Prayer in my friend's church years ago. I thought it was a better version than the NAMM version. Also, at the church he was playing through a high end custom Rivera amp. Rivera is one of his sponsors. That amp sounded amazing and it filled the whole auditorium with some presence!

Doyle has served as a minister at a small church. I liked how he started out at NAMM by saying, "probably this is the strangest thing that I have ever started out on, but I had a request from a fellow over here." "What a sensible guy Dykes is!", I thought, if you know what I mean. The lyrics of the song maybe didn't mean much to many at NAMM but they all enjoyed the music and his performance, and to those of us the lyrics meant a lot, I am sure many heard the lyrics even through the instrumental version of it. Doyle made his guitar sing beyond words. Doyle will say emphatically it is a God-given talent as Bernie mentioned.
Chris

Chris...I really want to thank you for posting this. There's some great Christian music out there and The Lord's Prayer is one of them...high up on the list for me. Also, Let There Be Peace on Earth and Because. When I hear things like this, and, Contemporary Christian music I'm tempted to go in that direction. Especially seeing what Doyle did with that song and how he's making his "gift" useful in the Ministry. And, yes, he seems like an awfully nice fellow.

I got some great musical ideas from him listening to how he played that song.

Mark