YOUR DAILEY PRACTICE ROUTINE

[Anonymous]

this is where i loose the plot

watching how these guys composed/improvised, when they started out they hardly write 1 song and that was quite badly.. but they accellareted

[Abe Sloan]

I was wondering if you who feel you cannot play by ear are able to sing, hum or whistle a tune? One of my exercises is to take a very simple tune like Twinkle…Star, and play it starting on every note of the chromatic scale from the lowest B flat to the G# that sits on the top line. Sometimes I have to fish around to find the right note, but less and less as I learn the scales. So, if I start on C, I know that if I am about to hit a sharp or flat note it probably won’t fit. Also, as I have struggled with scales, I have learned that if I just close my eyes and play do-re-mi-so… on my horn like we were taught to sing it in grade school. Then I can go back and “read” the scales. It seems a little backwards but we all learned to understand and speak words (verbal notes) and phrases (verbal scales, chords and licks) before we learned to read words. So what is backward, really? In the end the only way to progress is to get as much help as we can and find our own ways to improve.

[Tim56]

Abe: Great approach! We all started that way to learn to talk. And, of course, mimicking who we hear. I can do the chromatic scale from any note now. All with Johnnies help! The beginning books I used to start did not spell it out. OK you guys!!! Here’s you assignment!! Get the notes for MONEY by Barrett Strong or The Kingsmen. I got it in my head and can’t get rid of it!! Oh Abe. I can hum or,, duh, duh tunes! Thanks. Tim

[Anonymous]

Tim & Abe – interesting points, the music learning sax book that i started out with – right from the beginning, way before learning where every key sax key position was, had lots of exercises to play simple songs by ear, it also started lots of improvisation jazz exercises with a backing track.

so it shows you can start all this stuff very very early on when starting out to play.

[Abe Sloan]

My favorite MONEY is by Stevie Wonder who, by the way, does not read music at all. Here is the Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsyT3Tqe7VI

[Tim56]

Abe: No sight folks seem to have other sensory skills that the sighted don’t have. I think Stevie has them in spades!!!

[Author]

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