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Playing by ear. Good or bad.


red rooster
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[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1413986151' post='2584428']


Are you certain of that..? I have evidenced (too many times..!) folks singing along horribly, clapping off-time, mass slaughter of even such well-known ditties as the National Anthem (never heard football or rugby teams before an international match..?), and that's just vocal..! Our 2nd guitar only plays by ear, but boy, does he struggle to 'capture' the tonality of a piece..! It's not uncommon to be 1 fret away, for a whole solo, or to confuse a major with a minor. No, imo not everyone is gifted with an ear for music; in fact I'd say quite the opposite. Most folks will bugger it up. Sad..? Certainly. :mellow:[size=4] [/size]
[/quote]

Perhaps I've been locked in a cocoon for years whereby I've only ever encountered half decent musos. To be honest I've never come across another musician who didn't have the ability to pick stuff up by ear. It's just the way of the world in my experience. I don't doubt what you are saying is true, it's just I've never had the misfortune to have to listen to a total tone struggler. It must be horrific to rehearse with this 2 nd guitarist, I would be forced to administer a few hefty slaps to get them strumming in the right place. Good luck man!

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[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1413876691' post='2582918']
You can't not have it and be a reasonable player
[/quote]

That's me - a less than reasonable player :unsure:

I've been told that I shouldn't play music since I was a kid, because I'm tone deaf.
That just made me want to do it even more and I would encourage anyone else to do the same :)

[quote]
I would be forced to administer a few hefty slaps to get them strumming in the right place.
[/quote]

Nice! - you must be a fun band mate :D[size=4] [/size]

Edited by redstriper
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[quote name='ubit' timestamp='1413995397' post='2584618']
To be honest I've never come across another musician who didn't have the ability to pick stuff up by ear.
[/quote]

I should think all and every Musician can pick stuff up by ear.
Some just take (a lot?) longer - No big deal really,
it depends on experience and maybe a (natural?) ability to hear things,

In the heat of battle on a paid busking gig, a different matter of course,
(taking longer I mean).

Edited by lowdown
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I think a lot of crossed words here (and elsewhere on Basschat) would be avoided if everyone would stop assuming that everyone wants and does the same thing.

I've never once been given a 'chart' for any of the msuic I've played with other people. A piece of scrappy paper with a chord sequence on and a song structure*, hundreds of times....but that's about it. I suppose you could say I'm always playing by ear because I've almost exclusively played original music and most of the time I'm left up to my own devices as to what I play.

[size=2]*hey, maybe that is a 'chart' ? :)[/size]


I'm happy doing what I do....I don't really fancy playing jazz gigs, or playing in a situation where I'd be handed some stave or charts and expected to get on with it. That's for other folks who want to get into that side of it. More power to them - maybe I will in the future.

As a corollary not everyone likes building their own effects (I do), but I don't think I'm better at using effects or get more out of them cos I build my own.

Each to their own, folks....just cos someone's approaching something [i]differently[/i] to you doesn't detract from what you do, or the way you do it.

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[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1414007262' post='2584849']
He bowed out gracefully and in fairness he would be the first to admit his lack of ability, I wouldn't normally judge anyone like that as everyone has something someone else can't do imo and ime but seriously the guy isnt really ready to be in a band even playing simple stuff. He's a nice guy though.
[/quote]

I wasn't digging, Pete....
Just amusing myself with 'Previous'....lol...

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[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1414004385' post='2584795']
The previous bassist in my band played the same part for the choruses and verses for Blondie's One Way Or Another, hence the 'previous' ;)
[/quote]

There's no excuse for this if you've advanced notice that your playing a blondie or similar song.

Even if you don't have the ability to work out the parts by ear , there are plenty of chord charts/tabs etc all over the internet and in 10mins you can run through and check for any omissions or mistakes

Having said that blondie songs aren't always as straight structurally as most pop songs , until she wrote Maria at least


Answer to the thread title is "Good" , and obviously the more skills you have behind it the better

Edited by lojo
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Being able to recognise by ear, intervals, chord progressions and the "quality" of a chord (minor/major/dom7/etc) has been the single most useful thing for me when being asked to play with others, particularly for the first time.

I read, but have only been asked to read dots once in 35 years. I'm afraid to say as I hate musicals, I tend not to go for pit work, as I'm likely to walk out the moment someone starts to sing what they should just @**#$ say.

All the Jazz stuff I do is with chord charts, as I tend only to play standards, and not the more grown up high brow stuff.

I think Doddy is right, reading gives you more options. If you can't read then being able to hear and recognise what is being played can be quite handy too.

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