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Musicians Tips #1

by San Diego Musician and Teacher
Scott "Oly" Olson

Tip #1

Open Doors to Musical Learning

By Scott Olson

The more ways you can experience music, the better. If you fail to open or choose to keep a door to learning shut, then you have been limited. This segment is meant to make you think about some of the possibilities for learning the craft of music. If you think of some that I have missed let me know and I will add them to my list

1. Learn How to Read Music WHY? How?
2. Learn How to Read Tablature WHY?
3. Learn How to Play by Ear WHY? How?
4. Play with Other Musicians WHY?
5. Play for Others WHY? How?
6. Learn from Instructional Media (CDs, Tapes, Videos, CD-ROM, etc..) WHY?
7. Pass on What You Know/Swap What You know With Others WHY?How?
8. Experiment/Create WHY? How?
9. Use the Internet WHY?
10. Take Lessons WHY?
11. Attend Musical Events WHY?
12. Listen to Good Music (Appreciate What You Do Not Like!) WHY?
13. Create Opportunities for Learning! (Don't Just Wait for them!) WHY? How?
14. Open Ears, Open Eyes, Open Heart, Open Mind, and Patience with Yourself/Others, Set Realistic Goals/Practice Realistically Towards Those Goals WHY? How?

How Many Doors Have You Opened?

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Tip #2

The Dangers of Tablature Dependence/Tabaholics Anonymous

In the past 20 years, guitar publications have strayed from a primarily standard musical notation format to a tablature format. Tablature is a method of notation which does not require the user to actually know what notes he or she is playing. It simply indicates at which frets notes are to be placed. I am not a great sight reader on guitar (which is usually the case amongst guitar players), however, I did teach myself to play by ear and by note. Tablature is one of many learning methods, or "open doors" as I call them, but I would like you to ponder what I feel are some potentially limiting and perhaps some crippling results of tablature dependence.

1. Tab can keep a person from learning by ear. I have taught literally hundreds of people how to play guitar. I have seen countless cases of kids and adults who would never venture in to learning a song by ear, because they could find it in tab. In my opinion, this is a form of laziness which hinders a person from developing an original style, as well as developing a "good ear." I have an analogy for "tabaholics." They are like the student who steals the answers to a test then memorize the answers. The student gets a good grade on the test, but is left with no understanding or greater insight pertaining to what they just "regurgitated."
2. Tab can limit knowledge of the fret board. Tab shows the guitarist one way of playing something. If the same thing is learned by ear, the musician will very likely discover several ways to play the very same thing. Likewise, if the musician learns the same thing by note, they will also discover different ways of playing the same idea, and will ponder different choices of fingering that would have been dictated to them by the person who did the tab transcription.
3. Tab can hinder one's knowledge of music theory. Music theory involves a basic relationship of notes letter names by numbers. Since tab does not deal with thes relationships, it does not reinforce, nor make known, the relationships that would be helpful to a person to theoretically be able to describe to themselves or to others, what it is about a certain lick thyat is so appealing. For example, "I really like how the flat five (Eb) sounds over the A7 chord. When you know the relationship of a sound to a situation, it can then be transferred to a different key(transposition). The tabaholic is not going to be as likely to make those comparisons and discoveries.
4. OK Guitarists (and Bassists), are you ready to get mad at me? Guitarists are typically among the most musically illiterate musicians I have ever encountered In part, I blame this on Tab. Tab is a quick fix but a long term hinderance. So few guitarists can read music that it is pitiful. If you are teaching yourself to play, teach your self to read music, and to play by ear. It aint rocket science dude! (or dudettes) If you can count to 13 and say tyhe alphabet from A to G, you can learn the basics of music. If you are taking lessons from a teacher who does not teach note reading or the concept of playing by ear, get a new teacher.

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Tip #3

How to Play By Ear

OK,..Take a deeeeeep breath,..(I'm taking one.) This, to some, is a toughy. First things first, anything worth being good at takes hard work. (I wish I had come up with that one.) It is true. I have learned that attitude and determination can overcome most, if not all so-called "limitations." I think I heard someone say,..."Why should I learn to play by ear I.... a) can get any song I want to on the 'net." b) can buy the tab at the store." c) can read standard notation, and can buy the music at the store." d) don't know how." e) can't do it." (for whatever excuse) Not to take away from the importance of taking advantage of all of your open doors to learning, but music is sound, and to be able to relate sounds from an external source to your instrument connects you to what it is you are playing and to the instrument it is that you are playing. I am going to describe my way of teaching and or learning to play music by ear in a very generlized way, then I am going to break it down in to parts.

4 Steps to Playing by Ear

• Hear It
• Sing It
• Find It
• Play It

Listen for Extremes

1. Hear It Listen to what it is you are attempting to transfer to your instrument. I should say your external or secondary instrument. Regardless of whether or not you feel you are a great singer or not, your voice is your primary instrument! Use it to connect to your secondary or external instrument.
2. Sing It Yes , sing it. Whistling is fine, humming is fine, using nonsense syllables is fine. (doo, doo, dee, dee. bah, bah,) Whatever it takes, match what you hear with your voice.
3. Find It Now that you have "recorded" a snippett of music with your voice, sing a few notes back, then one b one find those notes on your instrument. DO IT! I Have No Time for Wimps Please! No Excuses, DO IT! AND, in your spare time sing all you can. Sing with the radio, stereo, etc....Oh yes, do not just sing what singers are singing. Try singing bass lines, guitar solos, drum fills etc...
4. Play It String together small bits of music to make longer bits of music, pretty soon you will have learned that song or lick that you have always wanted to learn.

SOME STRATEGIES

Tune in and Tune Out

(I am not talking about Timothy Leary's Thing Man!) 1. Isolate Certain Sounds

• Guitarists and pianists often hear more than one pitch at a time. This is called harmony. It is not possible,in most cases , to sing more than one pitch at a time. SO, we must tune in to one note at a time while tuning out the rest. My reccomendation is to listen for the lowest note in the chord first. It is also a good idea to listen for the note that the bassist is playing. The reason being; usually the letter name of the note the bassist is playing is the note that is the name of the chord being played by the harmonic instrument. For example, if the bassist is playing an "A" note, the chances are pretty good thart the name of the chord being played at that pount in time is an "A" something. (A Major, A Minor, A7,etc...)
• The Next Strategy I reccomend is to listen for the highest notes of a chord. They seem easier for most to "pick out.".
• The next is probably the most difficult; hearing the notes in the middle. This sis where the idea of "tuning out" comes in to play. You must "blow off" or tune out the notes you have already figured out, and tune in to the notes you are attempting to figure out. This does not mean to "forget" the notes you worked so hard to locate, but to momentarily put them on the back burner, so to speak.
• Vocalize What You Hear (No Matter How Stupid You Think it Sounds!) The point is to transfer what you hear over to your instrument, not be an impressive singer. In fact, I will give you an example of something I say to describe a typical blues ending of a song. Fluh, Puh, Puh YesI>Fluh, Puh, Puh If the note is too high to sing use your falsetto voice. (What I call my puppet voice) OR Sing the same note one octave lower. If the note is too low, sing the note one octave higher. What's to do if you discover you have difficulty matching pitch? Keep on singing anyway. If you are especially challenged when it comes to matching pitch, you might consider the following plan. Get an electronic tuner. Play a note on your instrument. Lets say "A." See what note the tuner says it is. Then, attempt to sing the note you just played for the tuner. There only three possibilities. a) You sang the correct piutch. b) You sang too high. c) You sang too low. If you did not match the pitch correctly, try to "slide" your voice up or down. (like a slide whistle sounds) Stop when the tuner registers the correct note. Then try starting on the correct pitch. Then try different notes. You will improve if you want to. Remember, so much of becoming a musician has to do with being persistent and maintaining a positive attitude.

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  Tip #4

  Practicing an Instrument

  

  Tools for Practicing

  1. Patience
  2. Determination
  3. Common Sense
  4. Consistency
  5. Proper Attitude (Positive/Realistic)
  6. Properly Functioning Instrument
  7. A quiet, private, well-lit room
  8. Metronome, drum machine, sequencer
  9. Music Stand
  10. Pencil
  11. Tape recorder
  12. Tape Player
  13. CD Player
  14. VCR and or DVD Player/TV
  15. CD Player
  16. Computer
  17. Staff Paper
  18. ?
  19. ?
  20. ?
  21. ?

  Practice Strategies (Your Plan of Attack)

  Yeah, plan of attack! Be aggressie at music. No, don't smack someone over the top of the head with your instrument, but be aggressive toward bettering yourself. The meek may inherit the Earth, but they aren't going to kick ass as musicians! Blood, sweat and tears baby. You want it? No one's stoppin' ya! Go get it!!
  1. Develop a routine and Stick to It
  2. Set Goals
  3. Balance Your Desire to Be Good With How Much You Practice In other words be realistic with yourself. Being a crummy musician takes time. Being good takes a lot of time. Being great takes a hell of alot of time!
  4. Use Common Sense Think while you play, don't just stare into space with a dumb look on your face.
  5. Play Things Slow enough to Get Them Right/NO MATTER HOW SLOWLY!!!!
  6. Play things enough times to let them sink in. One of the biggest mistakes I have seen a during student's practice is the lack of repetitions they do. Not only the lack of reps, but the lack of correct repetitions. To play something incorrectly is the same as saying 2+2=5. WRONG!! Close, but WRONG! Music is very mathematical and exacting. A good grade on a test in school might be %90. In music, to play 10 wrong notes per 100 is horrible! (%90) Think of hearing your favorite song. Pretend there are exactly 100 notes in that song. Now, imagine that every tenth note there is a real raunchy wrong note. I think your opinion of your favorite tune would change.

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  Tip #5

  Myths of Being Able to Read Music or Learning How to Read Music

  
  1. I will lose my creativity. Wrong.
  2. My ear will not develop. Wrong, your ear will improve.
  3. I will become a nerd and have to wear horn-rimmed glasses with white tape in the middle. (I just made that up)

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