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Topic: When YOU listen, do you really listen? |
Ray Montee
From:
Portland, Oregon (deceased)
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Posted 14 Sep 2011 7:58 pm |
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As a steel guitar player......have you trained YOUR EAR to really hear what is being played and how it is being played? or.......are you one that enjoys steel guitar music very much and are happy enough just to surround yourself with this great sound? This is an important question to think about.
As an olde timer, the only way the majority of us
were able to learn to play the HAWAIIAN steel guitar
was by training our musical ear, to tune out any/all instruments played on a record, so that we could concentrate on the steel guitar ONLY!
Within only a few notes, we were able to identify the tuning and the key the song was being played in. Upon closer audio-defining, were able to determine what strings were being played and more often than not, the correct tuning.
These were in the days of olde, prior to the 1980's, prior to Tabs, chord charts, electronic tuning devices, a single E9th tuning, multiple pedals or whatever.
It's still an excellent learning tool and I'd encourage anyone just starting out on steel guitar to
try and develop this aspect of learning to play and play well. You'll be better equipped to meet todays' challenges of playing and doing so correctly. |
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Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Posted 14 Sep 2011 11:16 pm
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I try to just listen and enjoy the music on a purely emotional level, but there's a part of me that's constantly analyzing what I'm hearing, trying to figure it all out.
It's like that movie Men In Black, where Tommy Lee Jones says the stars really are beautiful, but the people in his agency are too busy monitoring the aliens to notice.
_________________
Please visit my web site and Soundcloud page and listen to the music posted there.
http://www.mikeperlowin.com http://soundcloud.com/mike-perlowin |
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Ray McCarthy
From:
New Hampshire, USA
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Posted 15 Sep 2011 12:45 am
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As a kid in the 1950s I would listen close to the different sounds coming out of the speaker of the old "Voice of Music" hi fi. I could single out the various instruments and learn to hum or in some way mimic a particular sound. There wasn't much country in our house in NJ in those days, mostly the old rock and roll, and some old jazz and swing stuff on 78s that my parents had.
My introduction to steel guitar came from listening close to an album my father brought home one day called "An Hour of Hawaiian Music". I didn't know what it was that was making that sound, but I sure did like it.
It frustrated me back then that no one else seemed interested in all these inner sounds. Now I realize that most people hear music as a blur, and either like it or not as such. I was always able to like a song just because of the sound of a certain instrument within the song.
As for steel playing, I am almost 100 per cent ear trained. I hear something I like in a song and run to the steel and try to re-creat it. |
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Ben Lawson
From:
Brooksville Florida
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Posted 15 Sep 2011 2:56 am
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When I got my first peals steel in 1970 I was unaware of any teachers. Jeff Newman may have been teaching by then but I didn't know about it. I would listen and try to duplicate what I heard on recordings. It seems like there was more time then to do that. Now we play so many songs and change the tunes with some regularity that it's hard to take the time to learn by ear. We do use charts and sheet music in our shows but I find that too restrictive.
I think I get in a rut and play the same thing too often instead of improvising. Some songs need the signature licks to be like the recording; Folsom Prison, Look At Us, etc, but others can be played with variations. The charts seem to limit my ability or desire to do anything else.
Ray Montee it was nice to finally meet you at the ISGC. |
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Steve Benson
From:
Massachusetts, USA
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Posted 15 Sep 2011 5:26 am Indeed.
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Great topic Ray. I'm a young whipper snapper of 37yrs. Was a classical / jazz bass player 1st 1/2 of my music life. Ears and Eyes!
Now PSG and C6 8 string and a number of mandolins You and The late Great Mr Jerry Byrd Have inspired my dedication to C6. I have to say you must use your ears in all cases if you want to play at all. I have an audition coming up. I'll have very little time to prepare. Just a key and off we go. I've sat in with thousands of musicans without knowing anything and just use the old ears. Got a lot of work that way.
But charts and some prep can help if you can get it.
Nice to see you back on the SGF. 
_________________
Carter-Magnum S10. Georgeboards S-8 Stealth. Chandler Lap. Peavey Powerslide. Bunch of mandolins. Sitar. Oud. All that and a bag of chips. |
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Bob Russell
From:
Virginia, USA
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Posted 15 Sep 2011 5:31 am
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| The most common and most basic mistake people make in music is that they don't listen well enough. |
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John De Maille
From:
On a Mountain in Upstate Halcottsville, N.Y.
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Posted 15 Sep 2011 8:46 am
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| When I first started playing the pedal steel, I was just listening to the overall sound of the steel. I was just learning ( stumbling around ) and any steel sound was beneficial to me. But, as I got more proficient and understood the steel better, I started using a more discernable ear, when, it came to listening to a steel guitar. I have a slight case of dislexia and using my ears to learn are very important to me. Nowadays, I mostly try to dissect every steel part I hear, been doing it for years. In fact, I dissect most of the instruments I hear on a recording or in a live setting, when I can. Sometimes it takes away from the beauty of a song and I have to remind myself to engulf the whole tune instead of tearing it apart. BTW- It was a real problem in my fledgeling years of being a steel player. I didn't have all the changes on my steel, that, the pro's did and it was very frustrating sometimes. There were a lot of secret tunings and some people were very adverse to sharing their tunings, back then. Thanks to my friend Jeff Newman, for opening up all the doors and windows and letting us see what was going on. |
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Stuart Legg
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Posted 16 Sep 2011 12:24 pm
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Ray I know we have more learning tools at our disposal now days and I don't mean this to be contradictory.
But today IMHO I believe the most efficient and fastest way for a person to learn the instrument is visually at first.
So just listen and enjoy.
Yes I'm suggesting painting by numbers first so you can recognize the colors when you hear them. |
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Elton Smith
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 16 Sep 2011 1:21 pm
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This is an interesting thread.I do not listen to music as the average person does,but as musicans do we hear it different.I can tune out the instruments that I don't want to hear and listen to those that I do.I can hear a great song and identify it as soon as I hear it,but I still pick it apart.I love music,all forms of it.I think music is a window into the soul.We as musicans,which this forum is all about has a place to talk about these things.Im proud to be a member.
_________________
Gibson Les Paul
Reverend Avenger
Paul Reed Smith
Fender Telecaster
MSA S10 Classic
ShoBud
Old Peavy Amps |
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