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...I started bass at 13...not 1 ! (typo...)
dp
--- DP <> wrote:
>
> 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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> >
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