DEC GUITAR NEWSLETTER, issue no. 6
2009 Mar 13
EAR-TRAINING
You are afraid, and rightly so. Because tab and youtube videos will only get you so far in your musical training! You've got to use your ears!
* Here are some excerpts from the attached papers I've written on ear-training. The first paper explains the basics, the second gives you tab for what to play to start practicing ear-training.
Two steps towards effective listening
Believe it or not, there is a way to train your ears such that if you listen in the right way, you can simply play back or write down any rhythm, note, chord, melody, or chord progression that is presented to you. It is a two step process:
1. Study the basics of music by playing the components by yourself and getting them "into your ear." This is done first and foremost by singing.
2. Have someone else play the components while you play them back or do dictation. Dictation is where you simply write down what is played without being able to see what the other person is playing. You will eventually be able to transcribe any type of music.
You can do this! Music is all about sound, and you can learn to hear this stuff.
Intervals Introduction: The Octave
One of the more difficult aspects of music to grasp at first is the interval, which is the distance
between two musical pitches. I've already mentioned the octave, which is a jump from the root note to the next closest note which sounds like the same note color (a.k.a chroma or pitch). The octave is considered to be a pretty wide interval. The prefix "octa" implies that the interval distance is a total of eight tones. If we count from C: C D E F G A B C. There are eight notes total, so the interval is an octave. *Note: When we speak of an octave, we are usually referring to a perfect octave. There can be diminished and augmented octaves, but they are found infrequently. We will discuss interval
qualities in the next sections.
* How to remember an octave: sing "Some-where over the rain-bow". Those first two notes are an octave! (SEE: EAR TRAINING WITH GUITAR PT III)
Finished the paper and want more? Visit Justin's website for more on transcribing.
http://www.justinguitar.com/en/TR-000-Transcribing.php
SOME MUSICAL WISDOM
We all need it sometimes. Here is another excerpt from Zen Guitar by Philip Toshio Sudo:
page 146, "JAMMING"
"The most important thing I look for in a musician is whether he knows how to listen." -Duke Ellington
Some players perform strictly unaccompanied. Others perform in groups, but play only prewritten parts. To achieve a black belt in Zen Guitar, one must know the spirit of jamming - how to improvise with other players in the moment.
To truly jam, you must subjugate your ego for the good of the group and seek a harmony that lifts everyone higher. One player acting selfishly can ruin a jam. In basketball, for example, if one player on a team hogs the ball and takes all the shots, the other players become selfish and start hogging the ball as well. But if a player thinks first of passing the ball and setting others up to score, others begin to think the same. Just as selfish attitudes are contagious, so are the generous ones. If you play generously, anyone who's listening will feel it.
It is said that music is the only language where many people can talk at once and be understood. But there are still rules for conversing. Effective jamming means knowing how to listen, when to lead, and when to follow. There is no rule more basic to functioning in a group setting.
Listening
If you've ever been to a country where you don't speak the language, you know how difficult it is to communicate. You must look for people who are generous and willing to try and understand you. They must fully concentrate on your efforts at communication; you must fully concentrate on theirs. What you're looking for is a bridge that will carry you across the divide. When you find it, what develops is a kind of third language - not your tongue and not the other's, but a hybrid of the two. The shared spirit of trying to communicate is what carries you along to that common ground where you can make yourselves understood.
Musicians jam in the same way. No matter what their different styles, backgrounds, or preferences, players who know how to jam can make themselves understood. They're always looking for the bridge - musically and figuratively.
Leading
A jam will not go anywhere unless someone takes the lead. It need not be the same person throughout; in fact, different people can take the lead at different points within the same number. But if no one steps forward and says, "This is where we should go," the music will meander, wasting everyone's time.
Determining who should lead at any given point can be difficult. Sometimes the leader is preestablished - the person who calls the jam, for example, or the person whose home it's in. Other times the leader is the person with the most experience, or the most respected level of ability. Or the leader can be someone who simply has the strongest vision of where the jam should go.
When leading, don't fixate on what other players can't do; work with what they can do. Adjust the jam to work out of the pieces you have.
Following
Even a leader must know how to follow. When following, do so in the spirit of fitting in, in whatever way lifts the group highest. Sometimes this means playing something less than the full extent of your ability. If that's what the music calls for, then do it. The best musician is not the one with the best chops, but the one who best knows how to contribute to the whole.
Fitting in with others does not mean relinquishing your individuality. In fact, if the spirit of the jam is right, your uniqueness is your asset. Be like the hot sauce in a jambalaya - an indispensable spice that adds to the character of the whole.
Songs that are being worked on in lessons:
Foo Fighters - My Hero
Radiohead - Creep
Green Day - American Idiot
(Jazz) - Misty
Sound Of Music
Bach - Minuet in G
Ok Go - Here it goes again
America - Horse with no name
The Beatles - Can't Buy Me Love
Charlie Christian - Rose Room
Eric Clapton - Layla, Cocaine
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