I realize we all come from varying keyboard playing backgrounds, as well as differing music education experiences. Some of us are formally trained and can easily ‘sight read’ complicated written song arrangements, yet may have great difficulty playing by ear, while others can’t read a note, yet are able to easily pick up & play a song (including the chords) entirely by ear. The ideal situation is to become proficient at BOTH ‘playing by ear’ AND ‘sight reading’. The reality for most of us though is different. Typically, formally trained players who learn to play music by reading music, are weak at playing by ear, while players who play strictly by ear, can’t read music very well, if at all.

I started piano lessons at 4 and began to read music even before mastering the alphabet and reading words. Though I eventually learned to sight read & play almost any piece of music put in front of me, it was always a struggle to play a song by ear. It wasn’t until I got to college and took musical ear training & music theory classes that I finally began to develop ‘playing by ear’ skills.

Even so, I now still feel more comfortable having a lead sheet (single note melody line & chords only) at hand, even when performing, to provide a road map (chord progression) of the song. making it possible for me to successfully perform audience requested tunes that I may not be as familiar with. In order for me to perform a large repertoire of hundreds of songs beyond my core memorized material, I rely on fake book style lead sheets to help me out. Still, I’m very careful never to position the music stand or music to block my view of the audience (or them of me), and always keep 98% of my attention on the audience, with the lead sheet acting only as an onstage cue card to glance at when needed.

Realizing there is no one right or wrong way to approach keyboard playing, I’m curious to hear how others of you (both pro & amatuer players) learned how to play the keyboard, and what method(s) you use when learning NEW songs, playing at home, for friends, & gigging out professionally. Do you play strictly by ear, play only fully memorized songs, utilize a lead sheet (with melody line & chords only), or prefer playing from sheet music which includes a full arrangement (both right & left hand)?

Everyone’s input and feedback greatly appreciated.

Scott

Scott. I can play only from sheet music, which gives me a lot of pleasure. The downside is I can not improvise very well which I would like to do, if I had started playing by ear I think the improvisation would have come naturally.

Graham

[This message has been edited by Graham UK (edited 01-27-2003).]

I can read music, but I try to not let it bother my playing.
I have many songs memorized. I have a stack of books containing charts that I've made over the years. Many nights I never open one, but as Scott says, they are often worth a nice tip or two. They have lyrics with chord names over, or in front of, the words.
I used to use fake books a lot, but not much anymore, because most of them aren't really true to the recordings. I learned to read the lead line from playing trumpet in school.
I plan to get a laptop very soon so the books will be history as soon as I get all the songs transferred. The ones from the past few years are already in computer, but there are still many I have to enter.
DonM

I think I must be lucky - I can play by ear but I can read as well. The reading is frankly rusty because I don't do it very often. I have a few "melody + chords /lyrics" books around for all those songs everyone know the first line to, but I only use them if I have to for requests.

For "popular" stuff I prefer melody + chords to full transcriptions, especially given that theres an awful lot of dodgy transcription out there (have a look at the sheet music to Diana Ross - Why Do Fools Fall In Love - its just the Frankie Lymon version with Diana's piccy on the front - and even then its still wrong!).

If I may be so bold, a related topic about how we remember tunes.... I find once I know a song properly I can usually play it in any key because my brain seem to remember the song in a "start here and then the changes sound like this". Even stranger, I play bass pedals with my left foot and even if I totally lose the plot with my hands and cant remember the tune I just keep playing the bass line until the rest of me catched up! Wierd or what...

Not proud of it, but I play totally by ear, although I can read charts also. At a very early age, I was able to listen to a song a couple of times, and then duplicate it on organ or piano. My parents thought I was an alien, since I started doing so at the age of four!

Angelo

I used to read music and then play from memory and also play by ear, but these days my memory ain't what it used to be. I can remember the tunes but not always the chords so I use fake books as an aide memoire.

I mainly play by ear, because I am not able to directly read-and-play.
Only when I have to learn something difficult or when I want to play exactly what's written, I start reading musing and learning.

But it is a long process.

I started off playing by ear when I was 5 years old, then at the age of 15 I started taking music lessons to learn how to read music notes, then after 5 months I was able to read and play, then I felt that I am loosing the ear sense of music because now I have to read everything I play. Then at the age of 17 I decided to go back to play by ear (till now). I think I did the right thing because every time I meet one of my old colleagues at the music school, I can tell from their playing style that they haven’t improved a lot over the last 20 years.

Maged

I can play by ear especially well and can read music proficiently, but I rely on hearing more than sight and imagination more than either. Improvisation is my specialty, "sight reading" is probably my weakest area but I can do it when I have to.

Started playing about the age of five totally by ear and could play anything I heard, began lessons at the age of nine. By the age of fourteen I was playing both solo and in bands professionally and I never stopped. Had a great high school music teacher that taught real theory and composition classes that helped solidify my reading and writing comprehension a lot. I won several talent shows and competitions in my youth and have performed as guest soloist with major symphonies.

I rely equally on memory and on single and double-page leadsheets as Scott does, but mostly I have created my own rather than rely on the Hal Leonard variety (print is too small for stage use). Recently found a fake book I love: Warner Brothers "Just Jazz Real Book": http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/det...=glance&s=books
These leadsheets are easy to read and can be copied and used right from the book. There is a "Just Standards" in this series too.

hi to all,i started taking lessons about 9 months ago,what helped me was ,if i had to play minor ,seventh, major seventh or diminished,then i would play a major, and as i progressed i would put in the more difficult chords, then inversions,(thats why i asked about the splitpoint),,mike