a very long post my practice regimin then and now how to develop the ear

[diverse379]

I am gospel musician I have been playing for about five years I have tons of theory I can read but the majority of what I am called to do is play by ear a singer comes up starts to sing a song i must pick it up

or a band mate brings in a song doesent know who sings it or have a copy just sings the melody and we have to catch it or sometimes when we are lucky we get a Cd there is very little written music for gospel


now to the question of how to play by ear
yes jermaine has a site and I like his material

and what he is providing is no different then what is already out there John meheegan has four books and any one of them can get you to really be able to play by ear

jjohn novello has a book contemporary keyboardist and if you combine that with stylistic etudes you will be able to play by ear

no matter who you study jermaine pj morgan your teacher you have to get used to practicing what is not comfortable

the problem is that many of you practice what is comfortable
never practice what is comfortable play what is comfortable practice what you cant do play what you can do

I started playing when i was 34 years old

no spring chicken yes I quit my day job and practiced 10 hours a dy for the first year

let me run down how I practice and then you will know what it takes to learn to play by ear

John Thompson book 1 book 2
took about three months to finish them
hanon 1-60 every day until you can play up to speed about 108 takes about a year maybe a little longer

learn one new hanon per week playing each new hanon four times
when you get tired of hanon pick up the little pishna pischna makes you transpose

no need to transpose hanon hanon is simply a hand strengthening exercise if you want to transpose go to clementi or pischna

john novellos key regimin drrill
major minor blues pentatonic whole tone scales in every key two octaves very slowly for accuracy

major minor augmented sus major7 minor 7 dominant 7 diminished 7 and half diminished 7 in every inversion and every key

then play them all around the cycle forwards and backwards

voicing practice pick a new voicing for each category and move it chromatically up and chromaticaly down
the chord drill mentioned  previously was mainly triads and tetrads the voicings are the stuff you utilize that sound pretty both types of practice are important the tetrads and triads will become your fills your melody harmonized chords and foundational elements when playing by ear
the voicings are used to create stlye

learn how to voice your songs in a variety of ways

learn solo piano style which incorporates 10ths 7ths and fifths and thirds and 9ths intervals

against either single note melodies or chord invesion melodies
practice left hand voicngs play the songs using ust left hand support in either A/B voicings or shells

learn three or four songs each week either by ear or by lead sheet take certain turn arounds or simple chord progressions and practice them until you know them
remember sundays coming got to know those hymns and choir songs
practice 7-3-6-2-5-1 in every key

this is a progression that contains all the main movements you hear in jazz and gospel

learn the concept of tritone substitution

so there are about 8 ways to play each 2-5-1

you must learn how to play in every key at least learn your 2-5-1 in every key
then add the 6 -2-5-1

learn how to play 1-4-5- in every key using upgraded chords

another secret i used to learn to play in every key I would search to find songs written in different keys and learn those songs until i learned at least one song in each key then i would utilize the chord moves and apply them to other songs
the downside was that when I played in G i always sounded like honkey tonk G blues

when i played in E i always sounded like richard smallwood Angels

In Db i always sounded like norman hutchins Battlefield

but eventually as i learned more and more songs i rounded out
I function pretty well in my church which is fairly big and I get a decent salary plus benefits

today my practice regimin looks like this
hanon 1-60 every three or four days maybe twice a weeek
pishna on thursday and saturday

mon - rest no real practice play around with a few chords play my scales maybe

tues-- scales in every key hanon chord voicing chromatically and around the cycle forward and back

explore left hand voicings of all types play them in every key chromatically and around the cycle forward and back
combine lefthand voicings with others so i am playing left hand voicngs in both hands but usually they are slightly different

do some type of inversion practice

style study
practice some style of music lately it is solo piano using stride elements and blues idioms
i utilize many books to study styles and I apply the concepts to songs I already know

one or two days a week I put on the internet radio play my station with music of my genre tastes and I play along with every song that comes on I listen first to the bass then once i have that I try to put a triad over the main bass notes usually the notes on the one of each measure

once i can catch the chord quality i begin to upgrade the chord
I do this for a half hour to an hour

some songs i dont catch many i do

reading right now I am doing czerny pianoforte for the beginner (hey its challenging for me i am no sight reader but i am working on it)

wed same as tuesday but more attention is payed to rhythym and timing this is a day also where i begin to take a song I already can play and revisit it utilize new voicings and scale ideas

also on this day I get my song list usually 5-6 songs i get them I learn the songs and write a chord chart for the harder ones it is better to take the time and write a chord chart so when i come to rehearsal I can get to it

once all the songs are learned i try to play them in organ style which is left hand voicings foot pedal on bass notes and right hand playing choir voicings

I mostly hold down the organ at my church but there are times when I play piano so i need to explore both styles

thurs practice all the songs I dont even think about hanon usually on thurs day until later after i go through the songs
no drills no scales just songs

after rehearsal i may play with some chords

friday
hanon but not 1-6- i begin at 38 and go to about 54 these are the core hanon virtuoso etudes

scales appegios scales in thirds scales in octaves
scales in sixths and trills
to be honest these are my core hanon exercises I rarely bother with the other ones 38-54

voicings I explore moving them around combining them playing the main progressions
2-5-1 3 b3 2 b2 1 etc

practice songs that are to be done on sunday

saturday rehearsal day two
pop in one of my many videos or DVd learn some new concept or technique and work on it try to play it in at lest two keys most of the time several

go over my song list do my regimin whether it be pishna or hanon 38-54

chord drills cycle and chromatic voicngs chromatically and cycle

sunday morning
hanon 1-60 or as much as I can
chord drills run through play list

practice preacher chords in F# Ab G Eb E And F
those are the main keys my pastor goes to

go to church do my thing

come home whatever time and
go over tape (I tape services )
go over my mistakes think about how to improve take notes and then put it down monday is a rest day

I am not the best musician but my strength is my variety I can play in a variety of syles from calypso to blues jaz classical traditional gospel contemporary

i dont solo too much never got to into that but I do some small runs and embellishments from time to time

I began to get payed to play almost from the beginning I knew how to play three songs on my first church gig that explains why for the first year i practciced 10 hours a day

my practice now believe it or not is probably not really too much more then 4 hours a day
it seems longer because i watch tv as i practice
a really bad habit

I shared this routine with you all because I want you to see that playing by ear is a lot more then just hearing it is having it in your muscle memory to execute the stuff you will reach for triads if all you play is triads
when i say all you play I am referring to your regimin of actually constructing these voicings independently of the sheet music

i hope you see what kind of things you need to do
the fancy techniques like the 1-2-1 locked hands variation gospel cats do or the flourishing chordal runs we do

take time to get it may take months to get one up to speed but we work on them because that is what we need to execute to stay on top of our craft there is no science I am not exceptionally gifted physically i am not young i didnt learn when I was three

I did utilize what i had my intellect others have a gift of hearing I did not i had to slowly develop my ear

others no theory that was me i utilized theory to teach me the ropes

others read grab a gospel song book and the CD that goes with it and learn those songs and when you hear something you like learn it in every key

that is how you will learn to play by ear you have to know how to execute it so when you are playing a song and you see a familiar chord progression you can use your new found knowledge to express yourselves
now honestly did I do all that every day heck no
i would have gone crazy by now but I do some and have done all of it some i do more than others

[Cherri]

Determination, discpline (ummm!) and dedication is the key elements. Whatever you want to do you can do. Yes, I second emotion the comfort zone---- will get you no where. I had to learn that the hard way---No growth. Once I realized that I wasn't going anywhere I had to change my oil, rotate the tires and gas up. Now, I focus on the things I don't know and that in which is unknow I strive to bring into existence to that in which I know. This post was definitely a joy too read, grasped something I can incorporate into my practice sessions. We must have a ACTION plan not just a plan.Thank you for sharing. God bless you....

[rjthakid]

the problem is that many of you practice what is comfortable
never practice what is comfortable play what is comfortable practice what you cant do play what you can do

That's the key.  I LOVE Db.  So as soon as I get on the Organ or my keyboard, the FIRST thing I want to do is jump to Db.  I'm struggling to force myself to play in other keys.  When you see somebody doing SICK runs & licks, the first thing you think is that this person is doing something you wouldn't dream of.  But they had to take that run or lick and practice it SLOWLY for a long time before they made it automatic. 

No matter how hard a run is.  How hard a lick is.  If you sit at that Organ and do it over and over and over and over....slowly, it will become automatic.

[Mysteryman]

LOL. WOW Im trying to figure out how you survived quitting your job. I thought about just playing for a church for a year and doing something like that but now I want to get married. LOL So I know that will take away from my playing but it time to get in what I can while Im single. Ive just got to manage my time better. For piano and bass. Good Post man!!!

[diverse379]

It wasnt easy at first i was making 125.00 at my first church but i played guitar and keys at a second churcch so that was another 30.00 and then i played guitar in a band so that was anther 30.00 i taught praise dance at anonthre church and thatnwas a nohter 40.00

so i managed to get by

then i moved before God led me and i spiraled downward my playing got worse and I lost contact with why I was doing this thing i had to get a job for a year to get my spirit stragiht but then after a year on that job i began playing at another ministry and I was led to quit that 9-5 and thats all she wrote God has been taking care of me.

I stepped out on faith It still is not easy sometimes but no matter how much you make you will always want more

[jlewis]

It wasnt easy at first i was making 125.00 at my first church but i played guitar and keys at a second churcch so that was another 30.00 and then i played guitar in a band so that was anther 30.00 i taught praise dance at anonthre church and thatnwas a nohter 40.00

so i managed to get by

then i moved before God led me and i spiraled downward my playing got worse and I lost contact with why I was doing this thing i had to get a job for a year to get my spirit stragiht but then after a year on that job i began playing at another ministry and I was led to quit that 9-5 and thats all she wrote God has been taking care of me.

I stepped out on faith It still is not easy sometimes but no matter how much you make you will always want more

Dude,  I got mad respect for you.    Having the ability to really step out on faith and let God provide.   I keep thinking, I have responsibilities ( wife, kids, car, mortgage) and so for me......  I gots to work.   God is still providing because he has blessed me with so much more than I deserve, But you really made the rubber hit the road bruh.


Props

jlewis

[rjthakid]

It wasnt easy at first i was making 125.00 at my first church but i played guitar and keys at a second churcch so that was another 30.00 and then i played guitar in a band so that was anther 30.00 i taught praise dance at anonthre church and thatnwas a nohter 40.00

so i managed to get by

then i moved before God led me and i spiraled downward my playing got worse and I lost contact with why I was doing this thing i had to get a job for a year to get my spirit stragiht but then after a year on that job i began playing at another ministry and I was led to quit that 9-5 and thats all she wrote God has been taking care of me.

I stepped out on faith It still is not easy sometimes but no matter how much you make you will always want more

That really is admirable.  10hrs a day?  Jesus.  I struggle to get in a solid hour every day       .  Being a full-time musician would be magical.

Imagine:

Being one of many Paid musicians for a Mega-Church.  Getting up in the morning, coming to church, and for 8hours a day, rehearsing.

     .

Of course I've never heard of Paid musicians who meet everyday for 8 hours, but I can dream can't I?  Imagine if that was actually your JOB.  The wife wouldn't be able to complain about me practicing now.

Wife: "Robert, what are you doing back there?"

Me:   "I'm workin'!!!"

    

[diverse379]

lol

[eulalia]

Wow, I am so inspired by your post, Mr. Maestro!!!  That is Awsome.  It sounds like you had a promise from God!  I'm 30 and I'm a songwriter Anointed by God to do so, I never really had to cultivate that much, it's just flows, but God gave me a promise that I was gonna make beautiful music, I want to play the piano, the guitar and all kinds of stuff, my main focus is on the piano though for songwriting purposes, and the minstrel in me is just waiting to bust out, there is this ache in my spirit.  I want to play soo bad that sometimes I just cry.  Sometimes I have thought but Lord I'm thirty now and I'm a perfectionist, how long would it take me to learn, but God used you to show me that it's never too late, and with diligence it won't take very long at all.
~ Thank you Maestro for letting God lead you to post your posting!