Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Sheridan
Paul,
Why do you say the Real Book will cripple your ears?
I too have done a lot of playing solely be ear and by watching the piano players left hand. Maybe its because I'm getting back into playing a lot after not playing much for the last decade or so, but that's why I'm looking for advice from you guys.
Thanks for the input.
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Don't get me wrong Martin. Fake books are fine....but only as a visual, skeletal guide to commit the material to your memory. Problem is, many players become addicted to them and even become insecure without a chart in front of them.
Many of these books have wrong chord changes, wrong melody notes....I got into a little tiff with a kid about the tune "Blue Trane" He insisted that the true title was "Blue Train" because that was the way the title was listed in his Real Book.
Sure, use them, learn the tunes and THEN open up your ears. If you are looking at a piece of music all night long you are not hearing all the stuff that's going on around you in the music. As I told the kid..."Use 'em or lose 'em."
It, for me, is still better to learn the tunes by ear. With Youtube today, there's just no excuse to NOT do that. Hell, just come up with the title, do a UT search and there it is by, usually, the definitive artist with the definitive changes or, at least, correct changes (usually). If you don't care for the changes, this will motivate you to learn some reharms.
And, as Arnold said, we learned this stuff the hard way...by watching and listening to others around us...but it did exercise our big ears, and made them even bigger.
And please don't be askin' if that applies to any more personal male body parts. If I answer, you'll just call me a braggart.