Learning music from musicians -v- learning music from books/internet etc.

Rocker

I have been luck music wise as I grew up in a house where music playing was a daily occurrence.  All our family played music or sang and there were lots of visiting musician friends playing in our house.  There is 'something' about hearing a real violin or concert flute playing in the room, a quality that even the best replay systems fail to give the listener.  We all learned to play by ear, the accordion was the family instrument and as they were expensive, I learned the tin whistle, piccolo and mouth organ as well as the accordion.  In my teens I learned to play guitar, again by ear.  Friends and acquaintances showed me chords etc. as there were no books or music teachers in rural Ireland during the 1970s.  Not sure if I could have afforded to pay for lessons anyway.  But I got by.  In reality I knew nothing about scales and things technical, it was a case of using my ear to determine where the next note was!

Nowadays it is much easier as there are books and thousands of internet sites that show how to play just about every song ever released.  Note perfect!  But, and it is a big but IMHO, learning from a website is not the same as learning from someone playing the tune/song in the room beside you.  Musicians today are technically miles ahead of where we were in the 1970s, I too benefited from technology and know a lot more than I did when I was playing on the circuit, but I believe that a lot of today's musicians don't know the joy of playing a simple tune with other people.  Loopers, backing tracks etc have their place but when you sit down with a few friends, tune up and give a song a go, often stopping to suggest chord changes or a lead break, the effect is intoxicating.  You learn the difference between sound and music.  The type, colour etc. of your instrument does not matter in those sessions.  What you bring to the party, what you play or don't play, how you contribute to the overall sound - this is what matters.  It dosent matter if your instrument cost €50 or €5K either.

Discuss.

Revolting1

Cant beat a good jam, or a well selected/played instrument -  hitting the right note is often better than lots of notes

bloodandtears

By contrast, I've known some outstanding players but couldn't teach for toffee.. even the simplest of riffs.. whilst in the room..

pmbomb

@rocker I'm sure you're right but you're lucky to have both started young and in an immersive and nurturing environment. An amazing experience. But for many of us neither of those are available so we make do.

Rocker

pmbomb said:

@rocker I'm sure you're right but you're lucky to have both started young and in an immersive and nurturing environment. An amazing experience. But for many of us neither of those are available so we make do.

You are right my friend.  I grew up totally immersed in trad Irish and country music.  So much so that I thought everyone I knew was in exactly the same environment.  And if I made a mistake while playing a tune, that everyone would notice it.  It was only years later that I found out that only a small number of people could play music or even hum/whistle a tune.  Most of them did not know if I was playing the correct notes or not!

My main point is to encourage players to (somehow) get together with other musicians and try to play music together.  Playing music is not a competition, most players are not interested in hearing Led Zep riffs, rather can the group play Streets of London or other well known songs.  So do try to get out there and play.  You will enjoy the experience and definitely will end up a better musician as a result of the experience.