Firstly. I don’t know how accomplished a musician you are so I apologise if my comments are well below where you are at. I have read through this thread and understand very little of it! But this post leaped out at me and I though it was worth investigating.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin G String
I've heard a number of these esteemed session men say that if you have to think about which note to play, it's already too late. Wow. I suppose that is more important in their world than mine! ;o)
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OK, I’m sitting here thinking “But isn’t this a basic skill for playing guitar?”. I returned to guitar playing after a long gap only a couple of years ago, and I’m playing in a different style and genera (bluegrass/Americana) than I did when I was a teenager (rock and roll on an electric). So I’m basically a beginner of sorts although I do play other instruments.
I don’t knowingly play any scales or practice any scales on guitar. And I certainly couldn’t tell you the notes I was playing on the fretboard without working it out. I play in the style of musicians like Doc Watson, Tim O’Brien, Townes van Zandt, Jonathan Byrd and the like. I listen to their records, hear their intros, lead lines, licks, fills and rhythm patterns and copy them. I have to say that if I was going to learn some blues pieces or jazz pieces then I’d follow the same approach – listen to the records over and over and find those sounds on my guitar; which gets easier and easier over time. I do also use YouTube so I can see each musician’s approach – I look at the way they sit or stand, the way they hold their guitar, how their arms, hands and fingers move while picking, how they hold the neck and shape their chords – all big picture stuff first before going down to the detail. I don’t think in terms of notes, scales and chords but in sounds and movements.
Playing guitar is a physical act with an auditory feedback loop. It is a kinaesthetic / auditory / kinaesthetic virtuous circle. The process is too fast to be cognitively filtered – so I believe my practice should be aiming to remove the cognitive as quickly as possibly and drive the feedback loop into the non-conscious. The aim of practicing scales (if that’s what you do) is surely to drive that movement/sound/movement/sound loop into the non-conscious so they become one and are non-consciously triggered while playing.
I don’t think this is an advanced process; it is a basic building block in playing guitar. I suppose it is what is commonly meant by the term “playing by ear” and is something that is taught and practiced (rather than being innate). However, it may be counter to some peoples' primary learning preference and so they are less likely to pay attention to it – and therefore practice it less.
I think someone else in an earlier post said something along the lines of "listen, copy, listen, copy - repeat". That way you'd have lots of building blocks hidden away in your non-conscious that would just be there to "come out" as you play. Even at my basic playing stage of progress I have licks by Doc Watson, Tim O'Brien and the like that just "come out" when I'm playing - I don't think about using them, they are just there when the music seems to need them!