The ultimate connection!!

bubinga5 · #1 06-16-2006, 10:45 AM

Hey people. Have had some thoughts on my bass playing and how its progressing. I find im relaxing alot more, the one thing that is evading me is the connection between my mind and my fingers.
Since i started playing my Holy Grail was to be able to play note for note, whats in my mind.(My mind speaks and my fingers follow) At the moment i tend to play bass lines that are quite diverse but still feel there not really what my mind might do note for note!!
An example is when i play a bass line i know what it will sound like if i play into the next octave, or what the characteristics of certain passing notes are..
I have a guitarist friend who can listen to a song and play it immediately...I cant do this and it pxxxes me off!

To me this would be the ultimate connection to my bass, because there wouldnt be any more creative barriers(apart from a few technical ones)
Anyone had any thoughts about this.
Will i ever be able to play bass without playing a note i dont need to, or play the exact notes i want to play, or is this for people like my guitar playing friend?
THink i need a pro's advice. Much abliged..

lemur821 · #2 06-16-2006, 09:22 PM

Ear training! Learn your intervals. Or so I hear.

bubinga5 · #3 06-17-2006, 01:44 AM

Have seen alot of adverts for learning perfect pitch.is this possible??

Correlli · #4 06-17-2006, 03:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bubinga5

Have seen alot of adverts for learning perfect pitch.is this possible??

absolutely.

If you can remember a tune, sing or hum it aloud, and associate a key name to that tune (all without an instrument for reference), you can obtain a very high level aural awareness.

lemur821 · #5 06-17-2006, 03:32 AM

Not provably so. I'm disinclined to trust David Burge, since his method seems to consist of relaxing and listening, if I remember his web site right. If it were that easy, people would find themselves with the ability more often. Especially experienced musicians. Yet I have never heard anyone claim to have done this besides him. It's always been a "born with it" kind of thing.

Now, it is trainable in very small children. Look for "We Hear and Play", and the Taneda Method. So it's a question of whether it's trainable in adults, and if so, what the best way to go about it is.

Chris Aruffo (see http://aruffo.com/eartraining/) is the only person I know of who is actively trying to develop a training method. If it's at all possible, I expect him to figure it out eventually. I highly recommend visiting the linked web site and reading through his research journal.

He's also got an ear training game (for a very reasonable price) that incorporates his ideas about absolute pitch training. It's not at all guaranteed to work, since it's still experimental, but purchasers do get free updates as bugs are fixed and the method evolves. I worked with the program for a little while, but to be honest I found it mind-numbingly dull. Don't let that turn you off though, since everyone else I've heard talk about it loves it. They also report an improvement in their ear, although no one has gained "full absolute pitch" yet. Having played it a little, I can tell you that even in the early levels you'll find yourself hearing what you thought you couldn't (although not outside the game).

While that's all cool, and I'm sure absolute pitch would be very useful, you don't need it to play what's in your head, as you describe. Relative pitch will get you all the way there. In practice, there's not any difference between thinking "A C E" and playing it and thinking "1 3 5" and playing that. You just need to know where the note you want is relative to where you are.

bubinga5 · #6 06-17-2006, 03:47 AM

Was thinking maybe you could visualise sounds or notes, like you do with colour( blue cold, red hot).at the moment i seem to think of notes or scales as different attitudes. Tricky subject but my quest will continue!!!!!

christoph h. · #7 06-17-2006, 04:06 AM

you can't learn perfect pitch. but you can get to a point where your relative pitch is so good that you don't miss it.

transcribing is THE most important thing to get that ear/hand-connection happening!

lemur821 · #8 06-18-2006, 03:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by christoph h.

you can't learn perfect pitch. but you can get to a point where your relative pitch is so good that you don't miss it.

transcribing is THE most important thing to get that ear/hand-connection happening!

Not to be contrary, but you don't know that. It may or may not be possible to learn perfect pitch. It's not worth losing sleep over, since good relative pitch will let you do most everything it can, but I wouldn't rule it out.

whitedk57 · #9 06-19-2006, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lemur821

Not to be contrary, but you don't know that. It may or may not be possible to learn perfect pitch. It's not worth losing sleep over, since good relative pitch will let you do most everything it can, but I wouldn't rule it out.

I would tend to think that those who can learn perfect pitch are rare. My bass teacher transcribes extremely well, but he has to pluck around to find the reference note. He then is able to transcribe the rest of the song with ease.

cowsgomoo · #10 06-20-2006, 08:39 AM

I don't think you should lose any sleep trying to develop perfect pitch... I've heard and practiced the David Burge material and it can benefit you by helping you develop a good sense of relative pitch, but I'm not convinced perfect pitch is something that can be developed

the best thing to develop what you're looking to do (get your fingers to play what you hear in your head) is to SING to yourself as you practice... sing a scale as you play it up and down, noodle around and try and pre-empt the note by singing it a split second before it sounds.. it might feel silly but it's a fantastic way of drilling into your head the results of where you move your fingers

what you're looking to develop is very possible and arguably the most important skill a musician can have

Michael Henson · #11 06-20-2006, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cowsgomoo

I don't think you should lose any sleep trying to develop perfect pitch... I've heard and practiced the David Burge material and it can benefit you by helping you develop a good sense of relative pitch, but I'm not convinced perfect pitch is something that can be developed

the best thing to develop what you're looking to do (get your fingers to play what you hear in your head) is to SING to yourself as you practice... sing a scale as you play it up and down, noodle around and try and pre-empt the note by singing it a split second before it sounds.. it might feel silly but it's a fantastic way of drilling into your head the results of where you move your fingers

what you're looking to develop is very possible and arguably the most important skill a musician can have

I second this...

When you see a really good jazz guitarist or bassist a lot of the time (probably most of it) you can see their mouths moving as they sing to themselves what they want to play. This is what I would practice if I were you. Start with simple easy songs and work you way up to complex riffs and solos.