{"id":5133,"date":"2011-02-19T15:34:11","date_gmt":"2011-02-19T15:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/?p=5133"},"modified":"2011-02-19T15:55:29","modified_gmt":"2011-02-19T15:55:29","slug":"bass-reflections-music-theory-vs-ear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/?p=5133","title":{"rendered":"Bass Reflections &#8211; Music Theory vs Ear"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Bass%20Reflections%20-%20Music%20Theory%20vs%20Ear\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p>Before I start, I should mention that, many many years ago, I did know some music theory. The first instrument I learned to play, even before the baritone horn in 4th grade, was the piano. Learning to play both included structured lessons. So yes, I did at one time in my life know some theory. But, as you will see, I threw it away like one would throw away chicken bones after a good meal. (get the analogy&#8230; bones&#8230; music structure&#8230;  \ud83d\ude42  ) <\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve been a bass player for some 25 years, but  haven&#8217;t been a student of bass since I took up the instrument all those years ago. Back then, I wanted to learn where all the notes are on the bass. I went so far as to hand draw a huge chart showing every note on the fretboard. But early on, slowly but surly, my ear took over. I love having that talent to hear a song just once, and be able to play it at least reasonably well. That works great when you&#8217;re in a jam session, and the keyboard player calls out &#8220;hey, do you know this song?&#8221;, and you can say &#8220;Yeah, I can play it!&#8221;. even though you have never done so. It&#8217;s a tremendous gift for which I&#8217;m grateful. That said, I didn&#8217;t realize by placing all my eggs in that basket I was choking myself, denying myself the breath of knowledge that would have made me a better player. I stunted my growth as a  musician. <\/p>\n<p>Fast forward 20 something years later. For the longest time I swore I would learn to play guitar. Last year I finally started to do just that. I&#8217;m  making good progress and even played a few rhythm guitar bits on stage. I&#8217;m also making the effort not to just learn where the fingers go to make sounds, but I&#8217;m learning what those notes are and how they relate to chord structure. <\/p>\n<p>Has it helped? <\/p>\n<p>My band, Acoustic Highway, will often have two or three guitars going at the same time. Late last year during a rehearsal, while trying to figure out a new song we had started to work on during the previous get-together, one of the guitarists asked what key it was in. I blurted out A minor!  Now, to many here, that may sound like a basic thing. But, for me, it was connection I never could have accomplished if I hadn&#8217;t been working on the guitar.  <\/p>\n<p>I still have a very long way to go, and things don&#8217;t sink in as quickly as they do when I&#8217;m playing by ear&#8230;. But, I&#8217;m improving. I guess that is all I can ask.<\/p>\n<p>PS. Thanks to <a href=\"http:\/\/anthonywellington.wordpress.com\/2011\/02\/04\/knowingyourbass\/\">Anthony Wellington<\/a> for inspiring this post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Bass%20Reflections%20-%20Music%20Theory%20vs%20Ear\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p>Before I start, I should mention that, many many years ago, I did know some music theory. The first instrument I learned to play, even before the baritone horn in 4th grade, was the piano. Learning to play both included structured lessons. So yes, I did at one time in my life know some theory. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[65,42],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5133"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5133"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5135,"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5133\/revisions\/5135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}