Again, I'm not going deep into this for two reasons; it's too hard to explain, and....someone made a good point: what works for ME might not work for the next 1,000 people.

This came about by accident. It started years ago when a musician friend casually said to me....if you really want to get better, practice this.....

There's much more to it, but here's the basic step. Just play notes on the keyboard, one after the other, but CONCENTRATE/FOCUS ON/HEAR the intervals between the notes as you play them. Example: the first six notes in My Favorite Things (Sound of Music). Play those notes in another key, play them backwards, mix them, etc. The mind will take everything in as you play and remember those notes in relation to each other when you come across them again. BUT..you DO have to CONCENTRATE as you play each note. Let the mind digest each sound it hears.

This is something that you do by faith. Bill Lewis agreed in my other post.....principles like this can't be explained.

Here's how I view the whole thing. I don't ask questions of these principles. I see my brain as a control booth....a nucleus of my entire being....an amusement park ride operator (?). Something that just sits there and fills with information and gets activated and functional using what you feed it as fuel. The beauty of it all is that you just have to do the exercise and let the mind do the rest. Feed it with music and it will feed that music back to you.

Now the reason I'm excited about this now is that I've been doing the above every day for months now.....EVERY day. In addition to what I described, I also got this (it started around two weeks ago): Suddenly I can hear "pitches" on the fly as I'm playing. If I'm doing a "run" I know exactly what notes I want to hear in that run and I can play it effortlessly. i.e. my pitch recognition has improved almost overnight.

There's more to it but it really is too complicated to explain. Just wanted you to know if you don't practice EFFICIENTLY and in a creative way, you can waste many hours getting non-productive results like I did in the beginning.

That's it for me.....I'm happy that I discovered these principles myself. I DID waste a lot of years when I was younger practicing those boring scales over and over and over. And, by the way, I finally gave up practicing "those boring scales over and over and over" when I started learning them in context of French musette music. Musette songs consist most of "runs," broken arpeggios, and SCALES. I learned everything much faster in that context.....much less boring.

One more thing.....I DO believe that's how these incredible studio musicians can play, transpose, improvise just about everything and anything they come across....playing all day and everyday and letting your mind just "take it all in." Until eventually you have a degree in music without even having to go to school to get it.

Rory too. Being blind I think helps his mind to focus on "hearing" notes and embedding them in his brain much more than if his mind was distracted by the vision process.

If you can't understand what I wrote here, you're not alone. I can't understand it either!

Only my opinion:
There are many parts of being a musician. I go to the gym to improve my health – in the same way arpeggios and scales help my performance.
Practicing pitch recognition can also help; I have never done that.
I think of the different scales as families of notes and chords; I am comfortable knowing most of them. Try to avoid the transposing button is not a bad idea. I have some friends who play everything in the same key. There are some good points about that idea also. Confession: Lately I find myself playing everything in C major. (Getting lazy)
Everything in moderation, I do not wish to become a machine that I have created; what comes naturally should not be lost.

Improvising:
Studying the Major and Minor scales – and scales modes are helpful. When overdone they become you and you become boring. They become a very destructive to your natural ability.

What I found valuable is to listen to a musician that you would like. I listened to Johnny Smith (guitar player) for years; I never studied any of the books he wrote. After a bit of time I found myself playing some of his ideas.
PLAY YOUR FAVORITE MUSIC EVRYDAY AND KEEP SEARCHING FOR NEW IDEAS FOR WITHIN YOUSELF.

Good subject, John C.

I was thinking today about what I wrote above and remembered......Ludovic Bier (world famous accordionist) said it all in ONE sentence.

I was at an accordion demo. Ludovic was playing a big convention in NY and was invited to play here on his off-day. The place, naturally, was packed. I caught him on his break and we talked 10-15 minutes. Nicest guy you ever want to meet. I inquired of him "Ludovic, how does a guy as relatively young as you get to play like a seasoned pro? Answer: "Play all day and every day, and don't worry about mistakes. Just......KEEP PLAYING!"