LearnJazzPiano.com archives: playing by ear

mcjazz! -- 02/10/2005, 13:39:25 -- #11117

Does anybody else really hate jazz theory and just want to play by ear all the time? Not unlike playing classical music from a book, as soon as the book's gone, you can really play and feel the music and not think about turning pages or other things like that. I don't like thinking about scales as i improvise (i'm not saying there's no merit to this method for some, or that it wont help the improvising to sound smooth and i suppose easy-on-the-ear, because after all it does make musical sense to sort out what scale you might be playin over a progression) but, in fact, i can't really do the two things at once myself. Perhaps it's some sort of musical dyslexia i have as lots of other people seem to have no problem with  it.  i can only get nicely into improvising when i just do my own thing and have a feeling for the chord changes without having to read the chord chart, like if i know the song really well that is.I'm not saying my impro is great at all, far from it, but I'm starting to think that i might never read a jazz book again and just do my own thing and listen to lots and lots of great players. I'm wondering though,what do you think?

Dr. Whack -- 02/10/2005, 13:52:38 -- #11118

Well there's been a lo of debate about this here...just poke around a bit...but it all boils down to "whatever floats your boat" :)

savage -- 02/10/2005, 15:51:23 -- #11134

Good answer. We donīt want another thread of 100+ posts... savage

Father Mike -- 02/10/2005, 23:59:06 -- #11144

quite the opposite I wish I did not have to worry about whether things sounded good or not.  I get damn pissed when I have worked out all the theory and practiced something and it still doesnt sound good.  I just wish everyone were deaf sometimes.

hotlipsporter -- 02/11/2005, 03:21:14 -- #11153

Hey Mcjazz, I believe that there are two basic ways that you can approach improvising in Jazz. One is to play by ear (void of any analytical process or forethought) and the other is to play by a conscious thought process that relies very little on your ears and more heavily on theoretical knowledge and application. Though I meet players all of the time that seem to fall into one of the two catagories above, I believe that those who can utilize both, have an advantage over those who are either ear players or head players. Again, as I mentioned in another thread, compare improvisation in jazz to that of speaking English. In day-to-day conversation, you don't quite know what you are going to say before you say it.  In this sense, we are in fact already highly skilled in the art of improvisation. What it boils down to is subject matter. Consider the person that always speaks from their heart and never thinks about what they want to say before they say it. Consider the person that comes accross cold because they speak in a way that is too analytical and doesn't come from their heart...or perhaps the person that is always repeating something they've heard someone else say, and as a result comes accross as derrivative or insincere. On another level, compare the person that never went to school and learned a second language by ear out of necessity to the person who did go to school and learned a second language from the books. Both of these methods of learning have serious disadvantages to the way that we all learned our native language. This is because we recieved our initial training by ear out of necessity and eventually in school we learned how to apply theoretical knowledge to what we already knew in order to master our grasp of the language and by knowing the rules, became masters of the improvisation of the language. Those that play mostly by ear rely heavily on pitches, key center & melodic memory (having the melody in mind throughout the form when improvising) when impovising. However, those that play mostly by thought, rely more heavily on the structure of the chord changes, form, scales, intervalic conception, etc. As a result the ear player often comes accross as melodic and "inside" harmonically. Depending on how quick their ears are, these players are ussually lacking in the ability to play tunes in every key and often do not venture "out" harmonically and are limited by what they can hear. However, the thinking improviser has no limitations other than what he/she can think or how fast they can think of it. These players often come accross as inventive, harmonically adept, but are often lacking more in melodic concept. Now, of course there are always exceptions and the percentage is never 100% ear vs. 0% thought. However, I believe that the best we can hope to achieve would be 50/50. Why not use the process of how we learned our own native language as a model for learning the language of jazz. Learning by ear first is natural and aurally more stimulating to most beginners than studying scales and theory. Learning by ear will only take you so far and you will eventually have to back that up with some book knowledge in order to not only hear better but to learn to think- to think fast. I love John Coltrane and Louis Armostrong's playing because I believe they each had a perfect blend of these two important aspects of improvisation. I'm willing to bet that the musicians whom you enjoy listening to the most share this ability as well. Then again, some weigh a little heavier to one side or the other. The great thing about practicing from your head is that you can literally practice in-your-head...anywhere. I'm not just talking hearing notes, but actually thinking through chord changes in terms of function (I-V7) rather than pitch (C G7). Practice thransposing a simple melody in your mind without trying to do it by ear- do it intervalically. Thinking of music as numbers takes time and hurts the brain (at first) but it is a necassary skill to be learned if one truly wants to master the art of  improvisation and break free of the limitations of only playing what you can hear. Think of all of the things you can't hear, but may stumble upon by thought. Better to have both options open in my opinion. Oh, and a little Mc Gangle hear and there helps quite a bit ;) -hotlips

Father Mike -- 02/11/2005, 08:05:57 -- #11158

Amen Hotlips.  Well put

elwapo -- 02/11/2005, 08:14:04 -- #11160

In the name of the father and the son and the holy ghost......amen

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