I believe that I use my ears more actively when playing slide opposed to normal fretting. This may be just because it's new to me, and in a way is like learning a different instrument. However, I believe that I often am to concerned with where to place my fingers to listen carefully enough to the music. This is partly a result of playing alone for nearly 30 years, and not evolving much (or playing much) for most of them. Learning songs by tablature or just chord symbols tend to focus on fingers instead of ears, but if I had played with others I guess I'd have developed the skill of playing by ear better. I've found that apart from playing with the slide, playing tunes real slow, focusing on making every tone sound good and not having to work hard to move the fingers fast enough is good for the ears. Do any of you have experiennced similar things, or have any advice on how to improve a pair of 43 years old (not very) musical ears? :roll:
I went through a period where I was so focused on pitch that it was almost impossible for me to listen to the radio or CDs,- everything I listened to sounded off pitch. It was a result of getting into lap steel, when you slide you have to be more focused on pitch than when fretting, and it's probably the best ear training you can get.
I'd also recommend playing along with CDs, radio and TV - especially programs with a wide variety of musical styles. At first you'll probably feel a bit lost, but after a while you'll learn to identify keys faster and play along, it's a very effective way of training your musical 'intuition' (of course, nothing beats playing with real people...).
Good luck! :wink:
Steinar
I've not been very eager to play along with recorded music, or even learning to play tunes from tabs or notation. My goal with playing seems to be to articulate the music inside of me, or my emotions to music. So I rather play and experiment with scales harmonies and rythm, and try to figure out something that pleases me. Both my rather poor technique and limited understanding of musical theory have been strong restrictions on my expression, but the latter year or so I've started to study these topics more deeply, and feel I make progress, though not very fast. Apart from the focus on pitch that follows slide playing, I also am intrigued by the possibilities of playing notes that's not in the tempered chromatic scale, like the "blue" flattened thirds, or the tonality of traditional folk music.
I guess that the main reason for me not to play along has been the fact that my playing has felt very poor along with recorded music. I realise that to narrow the gap between my ambitions and ability, this will probably be one good way to go.
If this thread is only of interest to you and me, maybe we should switch to Norwegian?
Erik
