• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Pitch Axis - new?

#41
Again, I'm not suggesting that theory is something less than important and that it isn't one of the key components to understanding music and playing well. But I still maintain, and I stand very firm on this, that there is a PERVASIVE misconception that knowing theory is the key to being able to improvise in a jazz sense at a high level. Like knowing your arpeggios in all keys really well is the trick to playing like Janek. There are people who really believe that because they don't know any better and there are more and more of them. Trust me, it's true. If someone has not a musical intent in their head, no amount of theory will help them. They need to find what moves them first.
 
#49
thepontif said:
Again, I'm not suggesting that theory is something less than important and that it isn't one of the key components to understanding music and playing well. But I still maintain, and I stand very firm on this, that there is a PERVASIVE misconception that knowing theory is the key to being able to improvise in a jazz sense at a high level. Like knowing your arpeggios in all keys really well is the trick to playing like Janek. There are people who really believe that because they don't know any better and there are more and more of them. Trust me, it's true. If someone has not a musical intent in their head, no amount of theory will help them. They need to find what moves them first.
Click to expand...
In order to play what moves you, you must have the vocabulary to do so.

Theory helps with this. Or at least it helps me.
 
#50
Yes. You've got the first step out of the way. You're moved. Not everyone is. That's the problem. No passion...they just want to sound good. There are those people out there and theory won't help them.
Look at it from my perspective...because I know a lot about theory I get asked to teach it a lot. But when I actually do that, like at Bass at the Beach or one of Vic's camps, I end up spending FAR more time on improvisation as a concept than on theory because the prevailing shortcoming is most commonly in students' ability to express themselves in general. Once they start to find what's in them, they start asking questions..."what is this thing I'm hearing and how can I understand it?" Then it's time for theory. Without the idea, the theory does nothing.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back