The genius of this concept is that it can turn seemingly mindless noodling into a springboard to razor-sharp audiation. And it’s fun too. Excellent content, good sir.
@l-123438 ай бұрын
This channel is so, SO underrated! The content here is beyond fantastic!!
@LeviClay8 ай бұрын
Thank you so much Luis! Tell a few people! 😂
@donindri2 жыл бұрын
Went through your Country book, lots of good stuff. Many years ago I had an instructor who gave me a very basic but very important ear training lesson. He had me close my eyes and as he played some notes, I had to say if it was higher or lower. After getting to a semitone difference, he then had me sing the note he was playing. I had to sing the same note while he went up or down to another note. Almost impossible to do, because your voice wants to sing what you hear! Gave me some confidence that I could learn to train my ears 👂! Thanks for posting
@ATX0705 Жыл бұрын
That's actually very surprising. I honestly thought Charlie Hunter was an educated type of player. He's indeed an amazing musician and guitarist!
@twangbarfly Жыл бұрын
Great stuff Mr Clay! Your advice is top notch. I know the theory but I honestly believe that the best thing you can work on as a musician is developing your ears. It's also one of the most fun things you can do at any time once you start to make progress. And you don't need your instrument - you can work on your ear anywhere and anytime. Learning to hear notes in your mind before you play them is where every musician wants to be - the best exercise to approach this goal to my mind is sight singing (which is in a snese what you're describing here - just without the written notes). There are lots of books about it but for what it's worth, one of the very best I've come across is "Jazz Ears" by Thom Mason (Hal Leonard). It's not a book for musical novices (you need to be able to read music, though not proficiently enough to be able to sight read, just to understand the exercises) and it can be a little complex in parts (e.g. learning Mason's 12-note solfège system - I tend to think in terms of chord intervals, 4, b5, m7, etc.), but working through it is CERTAIN to make you a much better musician.
@lawrencetaylor4101 Жыл бұрын
As someone who is scared of singing, but also timidly dipping my toes in the water, this was amazingly effective. I was told in choir class to move my lips and not make a sound. That's changing. Merci.
@ThelittledirtyMcNasty1683 Жыл бұрын
This is exactly how I play . Tell me 100 times what it’s called and what to do I’ll never get it. Show me once or twice and I got it. It’s actually quite unfortunate because I would love to understand musical theory. Been playing since 8 years old and am 40 now . This holds true with anything in my life . Mind you I can follow a procedure or directions for something well. Yet when it comes to music I have to see it and hear it and I can replicate it most decently. Party on Wayne!
@boomieboo Жыл бұрын
Love lessons like this because they actually have real-world musical applications. Thanks for doing it.
@el0blainoАй бұрын
I have never done this before and now I have perfect guitar face! Lol Honestly though, this has been a marvelous exercise for me. It is great at preventing the fingers from just playing whatever they are comfortable playing first - that pause and think and sing, it's great for making feel more connected to what I am improvising. Thanks!
@lkda01 Жыл бұрын
thank you Clay, you changed my mind.
@billbowdoin7541 Жыл бұрын
This lesson is priceless! I’ve just recently discovered your page and digging what I’ve seen so far!
@skymooseft Жыл бұрын
Brilliant. Good stuff. You have a new follower.
@marcingolab6227 Жыл бұрын
I like your approach, I think it can help people go places faster than trying to learn theory first, especially since hobbyists have to learn outside of a structured context and without the compulsion experienced by students at a school; it's really easy to give up on theory when you don't know where it's all headed and why. This kind of practical ear training, anticipating what's going to happen, you can learn this first and then see how it's described. A lot of the beautiful music in any genre will have notes from outside the scale, so taking them as examples to work on in order to master a scale can be off-putting.
@richardstober2540 Жыл бұрын
Great lesson!
@EclecticHillbilly2 жыл бұрын
Learning theory was a help to me but you still have to connect your head to your hands and ears, no matter how you get there. I've known people who couldn't tell you any of the chords they played past the basic minors and majors but they could play great runs and melodies. In the end, it's what it sounds like and the really great players know where the sound is going before it gets there.
@LeviClay2 жыл бұрын
Here’s the real question though… how many people do you know who can tell you ALL the theory… but can’t really play anything that doesn’t sound like they’re doing an exam?
@EclecticHillbilly2 жыл бұрын
@@LeviClay Oh, I agree with you. Theory can be a help but it's a person's ears that make music.
@RayTheGuitar2 жыл бұрын
@@LeviClay This is spot on, why i personally dont want to learn 'Modes' and Avant Garde Scales ... Im worried ill be overthinking everytime i play a 'Solo', as opposed to, i just play from Experiance, and Knowledge of the Fretboard 'Patterns' / Scale Patterns ...I do love learning little snippets, but i dont want to over learn, and sound like im 'Playing An 'Exam' test !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ( I know a few Players who play like this ! )
@NickKizirnis2 жыл бұрын
Hey Levi! Great video, really good stuff for me to think about it and complements what we were working on last time. Thank you!
@jubnx27812 жыл бұрын
Once you can connect your hands and ears, whatever music theory you learn just becomes new colors that you can now hear.
@lettersquash Жыл бұрын
It's weird for me watching this. I came from the opposite end of things, learning how to make a few chords on the piano and guitar, and before that just singing, making up harmony lines to pop songs, improvising. As well as learning to predict the note on your instrument, just improvising your own melodies or harmonizing with music is a great way to get this adiation practice. I had piano lessons for a few years as a kid, but I got virtually no theory training at all, and because my ear was so good I didn't learn to read too well - I'd work pieces out the first couple of times and then play by ear. I was always getting told off for guessing instead of reading. When I joined bands in my late teens and twenties, I had little idea what the other guys were talking about as they discussed chord progressions and scales on the guitar - I just did what Levi does here (not anywhere near as proficiently!) and hardly bothered to identify the notes or chords. And the other guys mostly didn't understand how I did what I did, just playing along with their chords. You have to make lots of mistakes and learn from them, too. It's a gift, a good ear, but also a curse, because it's made it really hard for me to learn music theory or to sight read well. I don't actually NEED theory, it would just be interesting to know more. I would like to read better, but traditional notation is so idiotic it drives me nuts, all the key signatures and accidentals, two different clefs for keyboard music, and complex note length iconography with dots and ties - and unless your music theory is really strong, you can't actually write music, because you've no idea when to use sharps and when to use flats correctly, even though the correct one might be the same actual note as the wrong one.
@warpig2786 Жыл бұрын
nice. ears more important than technique at least in the first stages... i mean when you're trying to write riffs and whatnot, to me at least, it's far more important if what im hearing is something that i consider unique but more importantly that i like!
@orangeblue35312 жыл бұрын
I find it really hard to do this over tunes and progressions with frequent and rapid modulations like Giant Steps. Can you please show us how? Thanks Levi!
@ThumpingThromnambular11 ай бұрын
What should be encouraged is to try to find fluent applications of music theory that mean something in the immediate moment.
@DK-jk8xz2 жыл бұрын
Happened to be on KZfaq 9 seconds after it was uploaded, got my pre like in then internet cut out all day (no cell service where I live, gotta have the wifi ) lol glad I can finally watch it now
@LeviClay2 жыл бұрын
You’re my hero! ❤️
@landajimmy2 жыл бұрын
That flat V is the Freddie Freeloader piano lick 😎
@amaruca7456 Жыл бұрын
I understand it's not the point of this video, but that's the best Strat tone I've heard in a long time. Great lesson too.
@fretbite2 жыл бұрын
Such a wonderful insight ❤
@ari1234a2 жыл бұрын
You struggle with Music Theory, blame Pythagoras. He started this whole octaves and fourths stuff.
@mattjclay2 жыл бұрын
I approve of your last name. I didn’t even watch the video yet but I know it will be top tier coming from a Clay
@LeviClay2 жыл бұрын
😂
@RayTheGuitar2 жыл бұрын
As Steve Lukather says 'Scales are for Fish' ... My own way of playing is like you do in this Video ..From Experiance, i can hear what the next note is going to sound like in a Millisecond before i play it ( As well as i Visualise 'Patterns' ( Scale Patterns ) .. My Theory is Limited, but im learning bits off you all the time !..... Ps. 9.5 Inches .. Do i go to TOP of list ???
@LeviClay2 жыл бұрын
That’s why Steve is an honorary GuitArsole
@tunaficiency Жыл бұрын
Apparently Django rheindhardt said something like “ oh so that’s a cmajor scale “ how bonkers is that. how can you have lessons with joe satriani and not know scales ( Charlie Hunter )
@dani7000 Жыл бұрын
Musical theory needs the music existence. Music doesn't need theory at all to exist 😅. Dear music student: please don't let the theory ruins your musicality. You cannot be a really good musician just by theory. It's a f... fact😢😂. Thank you. Great lesson!
@carldubcats3385 Жыл бұрын
cool
@user-bi5pv5lu1r2 жыл бұрын
I always wanted to know how my favorite players like Scotty and Wes played great jazz stuff without knowing any theories thanks Levi
@LeviClay2 жыл бұрын
Also great examples!
@oneeyemonster32622 жыл бұрын
They know theory..just NOT formal or tradition ( or alot more than just basic) And they prefer not to read/use NOTATION...because NOTATION can be WACKED. It's the samething as a child/baby learning how to speak without any pre/school..ect. They cant READ..but they can emmulate SOUNDS. and whatever sounds/word they use create response from adults.. even if the child dosnt have definitions of particular words. anyways... example...Im going to play 12 bar blues using all dominant chords E7......A7.......B7 I might play min and dominant over each chord. I might even target 3, 5, b7, b9..or even #9 I might even stack maj, minor. dominant ...arpeggios over those chords. or might do whatever boogie woogie devilish sounds.. G min C#dim D#dim into E7 or G min C dim B7 into E7.. I'll also play the maj7 as a passing/option note 6, b7,...x...R It's going to happen...sort of semi past..if im finger picking. Aside that...Im doing all sort of inflections...sliding, bending, hammer/pull., tapping, slapping,double stops and whatever the hell various right hand picking patterns I might use ect..ect I might even play.....aug....aug....aug......whole step....aug..aug..aug descending from F# semi...semi..semi to E then .....D aug..then I'm simply play B7 into E7 Im familar with those different SOUNDS ( I know what various scales they derive from) To a ROOKIES...they're going see my hands everywhere on the fretboard playing all the notes...it'll sound totally cool and wickage. And looks cool too. when they try to do it...it'll sound like crap.lmao Never the less..it would be a PAIN in the ARSS to NOTATE it. And a giant headache to site read it. What KEY is it in ??? Im using all 12 notes...eventaully.
@LeviClay2 жыл бұрын
@@oneeyemonster3262 wrong Theory doesn’t pertain to what you DO. It pertains to what you KNOW about what’s happened. What you can EXPLAIN. I have enough of a grasp on music theory that my dog can walk on my piano and I can explain the theory behind what he played. The conscious mind doing the analysis is mine. The dog can’t explain what he’s doing. When you take someone like Django, he can’t tell you ANYTHING other than “I like the way it sounds”, you can do all the mental gymnastics you want in your mind, but that’s a completely different thing from “knowing theory”, in the same way a 4 year old talking to me doesn’t “know grammar”
@oneeyemonster32622 жыл бұрын
@@LeviClay Ive play the guitar loner than you been on this planet. Im pretty sure I know Music theory inside and out. Aside from having formal music lessons from 2nd grade to play other instruments aside the guitar. I thought myself to play the guitar. I thought myself to play highway to hell and seek N destroy No adults was to teach an 8 year old that...just saying. Hell I even create scales you havnt heard of or used.... The Melodic min b5...is the OneEyemonsta...variation ONE. There's 7 modes in it...I like lydian dominant b2 ION #6...becuase I aint french, italian or german...Mix #2..works for me. Hell I even created dor b4. You aint going find these scales in any music text book anytime soon... My dog knows what's it's doing..when it bark at strangers with it's hair standing or it's back...and will lick my grandaughter face to makesure she's safe. I never trained my dog to do that..but intuitively it knows to protect my granduaghter. Nope, the dog cant talk to me..but im pretty sure it knows what it's doing.
@LeviClay2 жыл бұрын
@@oneeyemonster3262 oh… we’re doing the cock measuring thing are we? Good for you… you win… you’re a massive cock 👍🏻
@DarkMatterEclipse Жыл бұрын
"If you're a metal musician that skill might not be that useful to you." ....but if you're a blues....how snobbish is that. Crossing over ideas into any genre expands one's musical catalog and is beneficial to creativity. By ear or by studying theory, it's still theory, and it's theory not fact. Confining oneself is limiting. I like and play whatever catches my ear whether it's rock, blues, metal, jazz fusion.....and apply whatever I want improvising or creating.
@LeviClay Жыл бұрын
Good for you. Do you feel better about yourself now? I find, as a teacher to countless students over 20 years, using the limited time we all have available to focus on the things that will pay off the most for your area of interest is best. Maybe that’s why I’m where I am, and you’re leaving snobby comments on KZfaq videos?
@jw6588 Жыл бұрын
Theory gets a bad rep because people don't get that it's primarily for conveying concepts between experts, and only secondarily for educating the uninitiated.