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washburnb14 - Posted - 05/19/2009: 19:59:03
Ok! I have been playing the banjo for 15 months using Tabs. In the recent weeks I have started using the melody of a song to try and figure the song out by ear, but it is not working and I am getting frustrated. I feel there is no other option for me other than tabs.Everywhere I read says no tabs no tabs!Everyone I talk with says it will come to you, but I keep saying ther is no way I can do it. So my ? is were or how do you start learning to play by ear, I feel it is impossible! So can you set the record straight can anyone learn to play by ear or only certain individuals? Sorry I am not crying I am addicted to the Banjo and want to learn to play. I know it's not overnight!Mark
rollinalong - Posted - 05/19/2009: 20:43:22
Use tabs, then pick a tune that you already know the melody to. Pick something simple like Happy Birthday or maybe Old McDonald. Pick the melody and after you can do that, start filling in with rolls. It's a process not a destination and it will take time; lots of it. I'm still struggling with this myself, but this is how I started and it proved to me that it could be done. It gets easier the longer I work at it, but it's slow coming.
Bill
The best you can do is the best you can do, and you can do anything if you want to bad enough." - Barry Abernathy, Mountain Heart
a Flat head
an Arch Top
and an Open back
Richard Dress - Posted - 05/19/2009: 20:45:09
Someone recently had the same issue--here is what I said:
If you can't work the teacher angle here is a zip file that runs on your browser. It is a multi-media lesson plan for playing by ear--i give it to my students (it assumes you are learning Cripple Creek--Scruggs' style).
http://tinyurl.com/4f8xq4
BobbyE - Posted - 05/19/2009: 22:46:16
This is not an 'either, or' statement as to learning to play the banjo. You can use tab to help learn by ear and use your ear to help learn to transpose tab into recognizable music. They can and do complement each other. One of the things to help learn by ear is you HAVE TO KNOW THE MELODY well. Once you know the melody in your head transpose it to the banjo in single note playing. Then you simply add whatever roll you need to play (forward, reverse, alternating thumb, etc) that allows you to pick the melody note in its proper place to fit the timing, chord progression. At the end of a phrase you can add a lick that again fits the timing or chord progression. Sometimes the melody note will just not fit perfectly and you have to let the rolling chord 'hint' at the melody note but that is perfectly acceeptable in Scruggs style bluegrass.
Bobby Elliott
"found a few chords on the banjo is the key to life." Vince Gill
Robin Smith Timeless Timber-Walnut-Wreath in Ebony
Deering Golden Era
Pjotor - Posted - 05/19/2009: 23:52:49
The above posters beat me to it.
Start with a simple (like, REALLY simple) melody you really know and work your way from there, either to more advanced melodies or the same melody in another key. Good luck, I'm convinced you will succeed.
dpeters - Posted - 05/20/2009: 00:04:04
You might find that as time goes by you just use tab less and your ear more, that’s what happened to me. I’m sort of at the the stage where easy melody is found by stringing together a set of well known licks, with a bit of modification maybe. More complex melody has me reaching for the tab! I need all the help I can get, so I think you should use both methods.
Are you picking with other people? I only ask because they will generally be the judge when it comes to sticking to the melody and it helps to listen to others playing the same tune.
jorta - Posted - 05/20/2009: 03:58:43
quote:
Originally posted by Richard Dress
Someone recently had the same issue--here is what I said:
If you can't work the teacher angle here is a zip file that runs on your browser. It is a multi-media lesson plan for playing by ear--i give it to my students (it assumes you are learning Cripple Creek--Scruggs' style).
http://tinyurl.com/4f8xq4
Wow, thanks for that lesson. That was very helpful. Having the sound with the graphics - that's what I'm missing from books. Do you have the other two lessons that you refer to in your file? Also, to echo others here, I find that I'm just using tab less over time. I still use it apologetically, but it's becoming more of an auditory tool (I always play it, never read it) and I can pick up more songs more easily and with less tab as time goes by.
Richard Dress - Posted - 05/20/2009: 07:04:03
"Wow, thanks for that lesson."
You are welcome, jorta.
Remember that tab is just an aid. The tab you are looking at is just the way someone else might play the song. If you were as good a picker as the tab author, you would play the song differently.
PS: haven't done the other two lesson plans yet, sorry
Edited by - Richard Dress on 05/20/2009 07:04:48
minstrelmike - Posted - 05/20/2009: 08:20:35
You're asking multiple questions. To truly learn by ear, you must be able to hum the melody without anyone playing it for you and then you must be able to play it back. The Murphy Method is simply a copy by ear/eye and is no better or worse for a beginner than any other method (usefulness depends on the beginner's learning style(s)).
I think banjo is probably one of the hardest instruments to learn melody from while learning picking because all you ever work with is an entire arrangement.
If you want to learn by ear, you've got to try humming tunes to get them to a definite melody. I find this much easier with singing songs and fiddle tunes than with banjo tunes such as FMB or Theme Time.
A trick I use at jams (and one you can use during practice if you wish) is to play the chords to a song different places on the neck while doing backup and listen for the place the 1st string sounds out the melody notes. Keep moving and you will find the melody for some songs. Then you can work from there (and your ear gets better as you do this more and more).
If you want to learn to create arrangements using rolls around melodies, you can do that without having a good ear. Get Wernick's Bluegrass Songbook (has melody tabbed to standards) and play the melody to some song so you know it, then play thru once with the regular fwd roll TM TIM TIM, then with another variety: TIM TM TIM and then with the square roll (TITM) and the reverse and whatever else you've got down fairly solid. Then you can mix and match for a created break. You can also just force your way thru with a single roll and then break into another when you feel/think/hear that you want to. This is one first step towards true improv--thinking on your feet.
Mike Moxcey Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
http://moxcey.net/mike/minstrel/index.html
Gyrfalcon - Posted - 05/20/2009: 09:23:16
Janet Davis' 'Splitting the Licks' gives a really systematic way to go about arranging your own versions once you know the melody. I highly reccomend it. Jack Hatfield's 'You Can Play Banjo BY Ear' (opr something like that) is also a great book I've been meaning to spend more time with.
thebanjobuccaneer - Posted - 05/20/2009: 09:39:42
quote:
Originally posted by minstrelmike
I think banjo is probably one of the hardest instruments to learn melody from while learning picking because all you ever work with is an entire arrangement.
A trick I use at jams (and one you can use during practice if you wish) is to play the chords to a song different places on the neck while doing backup and listen for the place the 1st string sounds out the melody notes. Keep moving and you will find the melody for some songs. Then you can work from there (and your ear gets better as you do this more and more).
If you want to learn to create arrangements using rolls around melodies, you can do that without having a good ear. Get Wernick's Bluegrass Songbook (has melody tabbed to standards) and play the melody to some song so you know it, then play thru once with the regular fwd roll TM TIM TIM, then with another variety: TIM TM TIM and then with the square roll (TITM) and the reverse and whatever else you've got down fairly solid. Then you can mix and match for a created break. You can also just force your way thru with a single roll and then break into another when you feel/think/hear that you want to. This is one first step towards true improv--thinking on your feet.
A lot of really good advice on this thread. I've recently come across the same frustration and have decided to focus on learning adding melody to my playing. One new approach i've been trying i've found to be very rewarding: i've taken sheet music for traditional songs i know the melody to (check: http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/b...idxv13as.htm ), taught my self to read the basic notes on the staff (very easy), wrote down those notes under the staff and there you have the melody notes. I've found adding rolls and licks to make the song sound like bluegrass banjo to be the tough part, but i've now learned to read basic music, i'm finding where the melody notes are, and i'm learning the fretboard better than ever. Good luck! ------------------------------------------------ the buck stops here
pcfive - Posted - 05/20/2009: 09:40:13
I have Splitting the Licks and it explains very clearly how to do it.
pcfive
washburnb14 - Posted - 05/20/2009: 10:01:22
Lots of helpful info! Thanks!
Rich Weill - Posted - 05/20/2009: 11:53:05
There are three parts to playing by ear:
1. Playing chords by ear
2. Playing the melody by ear
3. Putting the chords and melody together into a banjo arrangement
Playing chords by ear is all about hearing the chord progression and where the chords change. Strumming while singing the song is a great way to get the changes down correctly, using the words to mark where the changes come.
One good rule of thumb -- at least for I-IV-V songs: The melody generally goes up the scale for a I to IV change, and down the scale for a I to V change.
Once you can hear the chord changes, you can substitute rolls for your strumming. It doesn't matter which rolls at this point. You're just picking the chord progression. You're actually playing a rolling backup. If you sing, this is one way to accompany yourself.
As for playing the melody by ear, this is basically trial and error at first. Just play the single note melody. It gets easier and easier the more you do it, and relatively quickly.
Then you have to learn to add the melody you picked out by ear to the chord progression. Certain rolls make this easier than others. A forward roll is probably the easiest. Just adjust the inside strings (2nd, 3rd, and 4th) you're playing in the roll to get closer to the melody, and then adjust your left hand for any non-chord melody notes you need.
For a standard forward roll (TM TIM TIM), the melody notes generally are played on the 1st, 4th, and 7th notes of the roll. In contrast, for example, melody notes generally go into an FMB roll on the 1st, 3rd, and 6th notes. There are always variations.
After this, the rest is just ornamentation: sliding into, or hammering onto, a melody note for effect. Throwing in a lick or two in the pauses.
As others have said, "Splitting the Licks" is a great approach to putting these technique to use.
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