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Kristena:
I started on guitar as a little kid...like 8 years old.
Then I started playing on the piano a little. I learned to
read music some...but, for me , reading was a slow and
difficult endeavour. At 1, I started playing electric
bass, and by 16 I was playing electric guitar too.
Almost all of my learning has been "by ear". I have taken
some music theory classes and some keyboard classes, but I
still mainly "play the changes" as they say.
I have auditioned for a couple of orchestras on the upright
bass, but my sight reading skills are God awful. I can
play the rhythm and the chord changes, but I "free walk"
through the changes. The directors have said, "your
playing skills are fine, but you aren't playing what's on
the page..." They're right...I read music like a
6-year-old...real slow.
I believe that kids should play music early on because it's
beneficial to their overall development. I don't think it
matters what they begin with: drums, guitar, bass,
keyboard, flute, recorder, xylophone...but, I do have a
prejudice towards the string instruments.
so, I guess you can caount me in to the "by ear" column...
regards,
dp
--- Kristena Hernandez <> wrote:
>
>
> > Surf music is so perfect for ear
> > training.
> > -Marty
>
>
> I'm curious, I don't read music and always played by ear.
> How many
> others here strictly play by ear?
>
> When I was young, we bought a piano. I started playing
> and replicating
> things I heard. I know what notes all the keys are, but
> I don't read
> them. When I was a little older, my mom tried to get
> lessons for me, but
> I fought it. Looking back, I wish I wouldn't have, but I
> was just a kid.
> According to my logic at 11 years old, "Why should I
> learn to play
> 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star' by reading notes when I
> could already work
> through classical pieces by ear?
>
> The same goes for the guitar. I fought that too. I
> could play bass as a
> teenager, but my hands always cramped up on me when I
> tried to play
> guitar. Regarding my kids, I had spoken to a member of
> the Hollywood
> String Quartet. He highly recommended starting kids on
> stringed
> instruments early for that reason--so their hand would be
> flexible. I
> know violin is much different than guitar, but does
> anyone here have any
> thoughts on this? Did anyone here start as an adult, or
> were you young
> when you started playing? I would bet that some of our
> favorite
> guitarists here started before adulthood.
>
> -Kristena
>
>
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