Do you think or play?

Sathington W. · #1 08-13-2010, 04:56 PM

I'm recently coming to a crossroads where simply "feeling" the music is getting me into a rut, especially as I'm trying to learn how to jazz.
My question is, when you play, do you think of the name of each note as you play it? Do you think in terms of numbers (i.e. 1-b3-5)? Do you not "think" at all and play from muscle memory?
What goes through your head when you play?

Phalex · #2 08-13-2010, 05:03 PM

On the dot or between the dots mostly..........

stratovani · #3 08-13-2010, 05:07 PM

If I think when I play I get f'ed up. So I don't think when I play. I think before I play.... I think!

brendanbassist · #4 08-13-2010, 05:16 PM

I think about the notes, and just "feel" the rhythm, if that makes sense.

deaf pea · #5 08-13-2010, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sathington W.

...What goes through your head when you play?

If I "think" about ANYTHING, it makes me screw up the music, big time . . . I usually go "into the zone" when playing, "BEING" the music . . .

. . .

brendanbassist · #6 08-13-2010, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deaf pea

If I "think" about ANYTHING, it makes me screw up the music, big time . . . I usually go "into the zone" when playing, "BEING" the music . . .

. . .

I definitely see your point, but I believe the OP's question was geared more towards writing music then playing live.

Jazzerbone · #7 08-13-2010, 05:31 PM

As a jazz player, the goal is to eventually understand the instrument and music theory so well, that one can use all of the tools at his/her disposal without having to think about it at all. The player can just simply play what they are feeling at the time in the same way that I am typing to you what I am feeling, without thinking about letters, words, spellings, sentence structure, etc. Personally right now in my own playing, I do a lot of playing without thinking until I get into territory that I'm less familiar with (weird keys, difficult changes, hard melody lines). Then I have to start thinking because I haven't learned that part of playing well enough. When I started, I had to think about EVERYTHING consciously because I was still learning those things. As I became more comfortable with things I had to think about them less, and eventually not at all.

I've been playing trombone much longer than I've been playing bass, and at this point on that instrument, sight reading music has become almost effortless. The experience is similar to you reading this post. You don't have to think about the words and how to pronounce them or what each sentence means. You just know it and you say it. Years of college level study and professional playing on trombone has brought me to that point. I only got there through lots and lots of practice and hard work.

My bass playing isn't there yet. I still have to do a lot of thinking sometimes because I'm at an earlier stage of learning.

All of this to say, keep practicing and cracking at it on a regular basis and you will get better to where you will have to think less.

Exploiter8 · #8 08-13-2010, 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phalex

On the dot or between the dots mostly..........

Dots right!

X8

mid_life_crisis · #9 08-13-2010, 06:06 PM

I think I can, I think I can...

I am so thinking every single stinking move I make at this point. Every journey starts with but a single step... and I've just lifted my first foot.

tfernandez · #10 08-13-2010, 06:16 PM

i usually do a mix of thinking about dots and numbers when I need to, then muscle memory and feel the rest of the time. half the time that i actually making anything cool sounding is straight just from my fingers doing something that i didn't even think about though. it just kinda comes out on its own.

randaddy · #11 08-13-2010, 06:46 PM

I think in terms of numbers.

I can read charts with the chord names also, but I greatly prefer numbers.

I've put time into learning the music theory of chords and chord changes, and it's just a matter of following the chart and having fun with the possibilities.

Of course, I've spent a lot of time at home trying lots of ways of going from a 1 to a 4, a 4 to a 1, a 1 to a 6m, etc. (I'm talking chords here.) But I think about all of this as numbers and it keeps it all straight in my head.

I'll mention that I think in terms of the chord numbers, and I also think of the scale numbers for the key I'm in, but also for each chord. So in "C", the "F" chord is 4, but if I play an "A" I think "the 3rd of the 4 chord". Whereas the same "A" for the Am chord is "the 1st of the 6m chord".

But after finding moves that sound great and playing them many times with the band, it becomes second nature. Kind of like just speaking. Then I may not actually think of the numbers any more for that move.

And it's not like thinking about a math problem! It's just a way of keeping the fretboard "manageable". I can do more this way.

MalcolmAmos · #12 08-13-2010, 06:58 PM

I think in chord tone interval number. See or hear the chord, then visualize the box pattern and what interval number I think will be best - at this moment in the song. I build the bass line utilizing chord tone interval numbers.

C chord my choices are pretty endless however, I tend to move toward.
Roots, or R-8's in many different combinations.
R-5's in many different combinations.
R-3-5-3 for slow ballads, etc.
Then if called for the b3 and b7 enter the picture. I seldom get fancier than that. Pentatonic scale if I think it fits. Modes never enter into what I do in public, perhaps at home jamming to some backing tracks.

Chromatic runs to the next chord if they fit. I'm pretty basic, nothing fancy. Course I'm Country and that is pretty basic.

randaddy · #13 08-13-2010, 07:04 PM

^Yeah, this.

And you mentioned chromatic runs. It's so much easier to find the good chromatic notes when I'm relating them to the chords I'm playing. Moving from 4 to 5 for instance. The #4 is wonderful. Or the b3 moving to the 3. It's all related to what was before and what is coming up next... and numbers help me with this.

(Of course, the ears decide if it was a good move or not. Then I know if I want to play it again in the future.)

JohnMCA72 · #14 08-13-2010, 07:11 PM

I try to keep from looking at my hands, so dots/marks aren't a factor.

I can generally "think" (hear, in my mind) any note & map its location on any string depending on the tone I want and/or what comes next.

From a given note, I generally think in terms of intervals. In other words, from the current note, the relative change of string & fret to the next note, & the next, etc.

dukaruk · #15 08-13-2010, 07:12 PM

Think in practice, feel for performance.

timmus · #16 08-13-2010, 07:40 PM

I am usually singing the bass line in my head (comes from years of singing bass in a choir and also playing trombone)...what I am singing in my thoughts I am usually putting down on the fret board...hence the reason I can't sing (out loud) and play at the same time...

Stingray5 · #17 08-13-2010, 08:25 PM

For me the thinking part is for when you are writing, learning, practicing, rehearsing. When I perform is when I am not thinking but instead just playing. Pea said it best, about Being the music. That's when the magic happens, and if it happens, everyone knows it.

deaf pea · #18 08-13-2010, 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sathington W.

I'm recently coming to a crossroads where simply "feeling" the music is getting me into a rut, especially as I'm trying to learn how to jazz.
My question is, when you play, do you think of the name of each note as you play it? Do you think in terms of numbers (i.e. 1-b3-5)? Do you not "think" at all and play from muscle memory?
What goes through your head when you play?

Quote:

Originally Posted by brendanbassist

...I believe the OP's question was geared more towards writing music then playing live.

Where did you get THAT idea from?

I think that when the OP said "What goes through your head when you play?", he WAS talking about PLAYING, not "writing music"

YMMV, IMO, etc.

Billnc · #19 08-13-2010, 09:20 PM

I think a lot, in practice and rehearsal. Those are hopefully all preperation for not having to think on the gig, I want to be able to look at the girl with the yellow underwear and not miss a beat.

Seriously, I can usually fake my way through stuff well and need few reherasals, but I like being free to not think on gigs.

JimmyM · #20 08-13-2010, 11:33 PM

certainly people think when they play, otherwise they'd be all over the map. however, you can reach a zone once you've put it all together where feel takes over and you think less about getting the notes right and more about just making the music feel good. doesn't always happen for me, but there are times when it does and i feel like gold. takes a lot of thinking to get to that point, though. at least for me.