It seems to me that playing fast, in time, has (a) a physical component (hands that go fast), and (b) a mental component, where one can “chunk” and line up the appropriate notes so everything is in time with the metronome clicks, where the hands are not blocked by thinking or mental uncertainty/confusion. I will start by saying that I am not qualified to answer this question, but perhaps there is something about the following that is correct: But again, that works if you’re an intuitive person Now I know plenty will say “You can have just one escape motion and play pretty much everything by rearranging the notes or adding slurs etc. If I then switched over to an Eric Johnson solo and noticed I’d do best with a USX motion, same thing.
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If my natural inclination when learning an Al Di Meola solo was to adopt a DSX motion since this is the best way to play his stuff, then learning his solos by ear would have had a great impact on my technique. I will say, if I were more intuitive, I’d have a different answer to this question. I was shown the error of my ways and learned what works, what doesn’t and how fast playing should feel so easy when you do it correctly. Once I found Cracking the Code, that of course changed.
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I was pushing an inefficient technique to the max. On my best days I could play a couple measures of 16ths in the 170bmp range, just before I tensed up and it crumbled. I eventually arrived at respectable speeds. I just thought I needed to work on it more since “practice makes perfect” as the flawed proverb says. Anything that ever seemed difficult for me to play, I never thought of changing my approach or analyzing why it might be difficult. And even though work ethic is typically a good thing, it was the opposite for me in this situation. I am a horribly non-intuitive individual. So all of my electric guitar playing, picking in particular, is self taught. While I was formally trained as a classical guitarist in college, I never had any lessons before that. Now contrast that with my technique…that is another story. After all, people tend to get good at what they do an awful lot of, and for several decades I was training my ears for hours most days. I’m proud to say I developed really good ears. I could learn by ear and play their solos note for note ( …just not up to speed). That all included songs by Petrucci, Eric Johnson, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Joe Pass, Yngwie, Al Di Meola, Brad Paisley and the list goes on. In my formative years, nearly any piece of music I wanted to play that had no sheet music available (this was pre-internet) I had to transcribe myself. Nearly my whole life (from age ~5 to now, 38) I’ve played a lot by ear and done formal ear training (solfege) at college. I’ve had plenty of people (college music professors included) comment that they thought I had great ears. TL DR: This would only be true if you play what you’re learning by ear with correct technique and not all of us are that intuitive. But you’ll be surprised at how much better you get at this within a few weeks of practice.I’ll vote no. This will take time the first time you do it. There’s a lot to be said about figuring out a song by ear, but the basics are simple.
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Instead, I’d recommend songs with simple riffs or melodies. But children’s songs are often surprisingly complicated, not to mention not very inspiring to play. Music teachers often suggest nursery rhymes for this. Take a melody that you know well, that’s slow and doesn’t have too many notes. I know this can seem a little intimidating at first. I recommend the approach that all the greatest musicians in music history took: learn songs by ear. You can do this anytime you listen to music: give it your full attention and notice every little detail. Next, do the same for another instrument.Īs you listen with total focus, you’re bound to discover things you never really noticed before. What is it playing? Try to follow it from the start of the track to the very end, note by note. How many instruments do you hear? Pick one of them. Focus and ask yourself what you’re hearing. Let yourself be totally absorbed by the music. Now hit play on a song that you love and try to really listen to it. Take your best pair of headphones and find a relaxing spot to sit. So, we’ve discussed two important reasons to train your ears.