colinm said:
Dot reader but I wish I could play by ear, I can only remeber 4 tunes, if I go wrong it,s a disaster, there must be a way to learn to play by ear someone please.
colinm
I have tought several dot players to play by ear as well as non dotists starting on the box.
A fundamental difference between the two skills is where you start a tune. the dotist always starts from the beginning which is of course the perfectly logical thing to do.
This is not a good idea for the earist. most of us have at least some parts of tunes floating around in the head eg little jingles. Start by playing those, wherever they may be in a tune - in other words have a go at bits of tunes that are already stored in the brain - it doesnt ;matter where abouts in the tune they belong! Then gradually add more bits, perhaps quite randomly or like a jigsaw until you have the whole tune.
Where there are gaps you can then try a bit of poking and prodding i.e play a scale and stop on the note that sounds something like the first note of the bit you ae trying to play - then try other notes , having decided whether to go higher or lower, the next note is usually not very far away
Start the process with tunes you can hum or whistle as they are firmly in the head! Keep to slow tunes initialy as it gives more time to find the next note.
easy by ear tunes to build confidence include When the saints go marching in, Oh dear what can the matter be (3/4), coming round the mountains, in and out the windows, grand old duke of York etc etc etc there are hundreds of them!
For the bass just busk in the 3 chord trick for starters , it will work well! . When you are confident with the melody you can then think in terms of getting bass rhythm right and possibly going for more complicated harmony using a sort of 3 chord plus .
Playing by ear requires well honed listening skills, something that has to be developed and which is often lacking amongst dot readers who assume that what goes in to the processor as visual input is bound to send absolutely accurate signals down the arm!
I would suggest that learning to play by ear is a worthwhile additional skill for dot readers to develop as you will always have your head with you but not necessarily the right sheet(s) of dots! (and of course it is useful for earists to get the hang of basic dot reading)
george
george