ear training

[Richard Prowse]

Originally Posted by Anselm Hauke

well, prowsey, in this forum, where i use my real name. i won´t tell names...
but i can tell you, i know deaf musicians that play any kind of instrument, not only bassplayers

Okay Haukey, I hear you.
There's something about thinking that gets in the way of hearing. Maybe we all just need to be aware.

[Paul Warburton]

I'm ALL about ears. I learned to play the bass with them. ( no, I don't have any calluses on them) To this day, I couldn't survive musically without a pair of pretty well honed ones. Being self-taught, and being fairly under educated in any real literal musical sense, I would have been dead in the water many years ago without them.

And PLEASE, let's don't get into that silly Van Gogh stuff. Been there, done that.
And PLEASE, Kenny Boy...let's don't get into any more of that swapping of our experiences with Bill, Eddie, Chuck, Marty and ALL the boys again. We went there many times before.
Maybe we should each make copies of that ****, and post them as attachments. ( as you would say...."LOL" ).

And yes, If you keep your nose in the REAL BOOK it will help cripple your ears.

[Arnold Schnitzer]

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

I'm ALL about ears. I learned to play the bass with them. ( no, I don't have any calluses on them) To this day, I couldn't survive musically without a pair of pretty well honed ones. Being self-taught, and being fairly under educated in any real literal musical sense, I would have been dead in the water many years ago without them.

I too grew up musically during an era where reading charts on stage was frowned upon. The bandleader either gave you the key by the amount of fingers he pointed down (flats) or up (sharps), and if you knew the tune, great. If you didn't, you watched the piano player's left hand and listened for the harmonic movement and cadences. And if you did not have the changes down by the second or third time around, you didn't work with those guys again. Some bandleaders didn't bother telling their sidemen anything, they just started playing. With the key of the last tune in your head, you figured out the new key and jumped in. We didn't have a thing called a Real Book. Paul, I bet you know the changes to thousands of songs, even if you (like me) can't remember their names...

[Paul Warburton]

Originally Posted by Arnold Schnitzer

I too grew up musically during an era where reading charts on stage was frowned upon. The bandleader either gave you the key by the amount of fingers he pointed down (flats) or up (sharps), and if you knew the tune, great. If you didn't, you watched the piano player's left hand and listened for the harmonic movement and cadences. And if you did not have the changes down by the second or third time around, you didn't work with those guys again. Some bandleaders didn't bother telling their sidemen anything, they just started playing. With the key of the last tune in your head, you figured out the new key and jumped in. We didn't have a thing called a Real Book. Paul, I bet you know the changes to thousands of songs, even if you (like me) can't remember their names...

Yeah Arnold...the old watch the piano players left-hand's-pinkie trick.
I Do probably know thousands of songs....goes with being an old ****. But, I also know most of the lyrics that go with them and many of the verses. Knowing the lyrics helps me remember their god damn names.

[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.

[Paul Warburton]

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.

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.

[Martin Sheridan]

Paul and others:
Would you like to expand a little on charts and chords?
Recently I ran off three versions of Hoagy Carmichael's GEORGIA.
That a song I've played many times and it seems like everyone does the bridge a little differently. One was just plain wrong. I think the guy who wrote it out had had one too many or had been at it too long. The chords started out right but were asigned the wrong number of beats. The second and third were nearly identical, but their bridges were different. Upon closer look I realized that both bridges were very similar and some of the chords were just different voicings. I don't have them before me know, but I think one of them had a Dm7b5 going to a G-7 and other had an Abdim before the G.