Subject: Your Most Important Piece of Gear
You are getting this e-mail because you subscribed to it on www.learn-to-play-rock-guitar.com. If you don't want to receive these e-mails any longer, go to the bottom of this message and click on "unsubscribe." Hey there Friend, Gear is cool. I love reading and learning about gear, playing with gear, even shopping for gear. Whether it's a new guitar (my favorite) or bass, synthesizer, audio interface, amplifier or an effects pedal, there's nothing quite like getting my hands on it to figure out all the bells and whistles.There's one piece of gear that I take with me wherever I go - in fact, you do the same thing. I'm not talking about guitar picks or your tuner and metronome apps on your iPhone. I'm talking about the most important piece of gear you have available to you - your ears. True, I've mentioned before that there are deaf musicians in the world, even at a professional level, but for the majority of us, we have the ability to hear music. Our ears are critical to our growth as musicians. And yet, despite the fact that we've been hearing sound since we were born, we're not really trained to hear. What do I mean? When most people listen to a song, they don't put a great deal of thought into what is going on in the song. Sure, the rhythm and beat affect them, as well as the supporting instruments that provide the foundation for the melody and lyrics. But the general listener will focus in on that melody. They will get the main meaning of the song from the melody and lyrics, and that's OK. That's how the song was mixed and produced. However, as you learn guitar, (or your instrument of choice), and more specifically the fundamental components of music (remember, melody, harmony and rhythm), you really begin to notice details as your ears start comprehending the connection between the physical act of play and the sound that is produced. Let's look at some examples. I'll focus on guitar because that's my primary instrument for playing and composing. As a casual listener you don't really pick up on many of the subtle sounds that musicians tend to hear. In the case of guitar, I'm sure you can listen to a recording and hear string noise as fingers slide up a string. You can tell whether the player is strumming down or up, you can tell whether the guitar is acoustic or electric, you can even hear the difference between a dominant 7 chord or a minor 7 chord. The more familiar we become with the workings of music and the timbres and unique qualities of different instruments, the easier it is to pick these things out of a piece of music. Our ears can isolate very specific sounds right out of the middle of a very busy song. It's truly amazing that these weird flaps of skin on the side of our heads can scoop up sound and identify the tiniest of details (as long as they're within the frequency range humans can hear)! As you become a more accomplished musician, merely having the ability to hear is not enough to take you to the pro level if that's your goal. You need to take the raw capability of hearing and develop your ears to a heightened sensitivity of sound. Again with guitar as an example, we use standard tuning most of the time, from low pitch to high, the strings (numbered 6 -1 from the thickest to thinnest string) are tuned to E, A, D, G ,B and e, respectively. After playing for a few weeks you begin to "know" the sound of the string tunings and can tell when a string is out of tune. You've effectively "trained" your ear to hear the changes in pitch and can tell when a chord doesn't sound quite right due to a string falling out of tune. Training your ears will also help you immensely when you're learning the music to a song. You'll have an easier time differentiating instruments and the various pitches (notes) you hear. Harmonies will be more apparent, and picking out different chord voicings (like hearing the difference between the A Major 7 and A major chords) will become second nature. For professionals, the listening skills are even more critical. Producers and mixing engineers have such highly honed listening skills that then can hear the effect on the overall sound of a recording of two different snare drums or whether the guitar strings were changed before laying down the rhythm track for a song. Their ears are finely sensitive to the smallest change in a frequency range - which can make the difference in a song having the energy it needs to become a hit or not. As I teach guitar to beginner students, one of the first skills they want to learn is basic strumming. Of course, they need to get some basic chords learned before strumming becomes relevant, but once they can play a chord or two we can start with an easy strum pattern. One homework assignment I like to give is to have them simply listen to music they like and try to isolate the rhythm guitar parts. I tell them to try and hear the differences between a downward strum and an upward strum. I'll work through some demonstrations of various strums (which is usually a bit comical because I need to slow them down enough to be able to vocalize the pattern). The point is, being able to hear the difference between a guitar pick strumming the low-end notes of a chord on a downward strum versus the higher pitched notes of the first three strings in an upward strum can help you be more accurate in learning and duplicating a songs timing and rhythm. This is just one of the many examples of how your trained ear can pick up on various techniques and effects we can use in playing music. An added benefit of having a trained ear is you get a great deal more enjoyment out of music. It's not just a mash-up of sounds put together in a pleasing way. You can pick out details that a general listener won't hear - details that could increase the meaning of a song for you, or give you a better understanding of the message the songwriter or composer was trying to convey. There are tons of ear training programs available, both paid and free. Earbeater is a cool free, online set of lessons that helps you begin to hear the difference between intervals and chords. 'Perfect Pitch' is an example of a premium program on CD that has had good reviews, but I can't say I've personally tried it out. A good site I have used is Theta Music Trainer, which not only covers music theory in general, there is a specific ear training course, exercises and games. Take a minute today and explore some ear training resources. It's a skill you'll benefit from a great deal if you work it into your daily practice routine. You'll end up hearing more, playing better and getting greater enjoyment from music. And everybody got time for that! Peace~ Dave Dave "Eddie" Vance is a rock guitar enthusiast and gear nut. He has been playing guitar for over 30 years and enjoys tormenting the neighbors every chance he gets. When he's not slaving for the man, you can find him rocking out with his B.C. Rich Bich guitar, a cold beer and some sweet tunes. He also runs Learn-To-Play-Rock-Guitar.com, but you knew that already! Follow Learn To Play Rock Guitar:I welcome your feedback! Did you like today's message? What other topics would you like to see covered in my e-mails? Please let me know at: dave@learn-to-play-rock-guitar.com As always, please feel free to forward this email to a friend! I review products before recommending them. If you buy a product based on my recommendation, I will receive a commission. However, my emails also contain links that don’t require any investment on your part and are jam-packed with "juicy, guitar learnin' tastiness". We don't rent or share your name with anybody. 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