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Musicians: do you notice your ability to hear and understand music is different depending on the instrument you play? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 1 day ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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I main on fingerstyle guitar, but I find my aural understanding on guitar feels impeded. Now I know music theory and how the fretboard works, but translating it is so damn laborious.

I've played other instruments, and this is what I've noticed about their impact:

  1. Penny whistle. It's mostly in one key. The root will always be the same fingering and the fifth will always be the same fingering. I think this helps with making associations with sound and scale degree, as opposed to more chromatic instruments played in different keys. [Also used a transposing electronic digital instrument to the same effect.]

  2. Clarinet: Having to figure out the fingerings made me painfully aware of key signatures and where the sharps and flats are. On guitar you can smoothly shift up or down a fret without much thought or just play in position, but on clarinet there is often a specific button or button combo you need to get one specific note.

  3. This is the big one: Piano. You do need to bring a little theory into it to know what chords you're playing, but the actual NOTES you are playing are immediately obvious, and since I'm building all these chords myself, I know exactly where the third is and how to lower it to make a major a minor, or where to add a major seventh, so I can also very quickly ask myself, "What if went with a minor chord here instead" and almost instantly be able to play it. On guitar, there's a tendency to just memorize chords as shapes without knowing where the chord tones are because each shape has them in a different configuration (which is why eyes-closed arpeggio exercises are absolutely vital for guitarists).

[On piano it's also easier to play the same inversions over and over again, which might help you learn the sound. You can play a whole song with Root-3rd-Fifth if you want, but on guitar, the common chord shapes are a kaleidoscope of chord tones. For instance, common chord tones on root chords:

C: O-R-3-5-R-3
F: R-5-R-3-5-R
G: R-3-5-R-3-R
]

I'm curious about violin, too, because I'm betting needing to intonation just right really sharpens your ear.

What's your experience?

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[–] 2 points 1 day ago (1 child)

Hmm, honestly because I learned so much of this as a kid, it’s hard to pinpoint it. A lot of it is probably instinct solidified by repetition. Yes, I absolutely can identify the root of the chord without actively thinking about the intervals, and since inversions were drilled into me during piano lessons and I had to demonstrate them on exams, I didn’t just hear them; I did them. I’m a big believer in learning by doing, and boy did I do a lot of them. So … yeah, it’s probably just a lot of time and a whole lot of exposure.

Same with intervals. Lots of people use tricks, like knowing the beginnings of certain songs are a specific interval (“Here comes the bride” is a fourth, etc.) but I haven’t had to use those tricks for a long, long time. I sure did teach them to undergrads when I was in grad school, though.

For what it’s worth, solfège is essentially learning the scale degrees and using them to hear things. I definitely hear scale degrees and I don’t think that’s a “wrong” way to go about it, either. Far from it! Whatever works for you is great, and don’t let anyone tell you differently.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 20 hours ago

    I think the main thing is that I am getting better and I can see the musical road for myself.

    I think it's also true that different instruments can help unlock different skills, and it can be more fun and direct than abstract ear training (though I'm trying to incorporate a little ear training into the songs I'm working on, mostly singing arpeggios).

    Playing piano more recently, I realized how much I disconnect from thinking about what chords I'm playing on guitar--they're just this shape and that shape, but piano is so delightfully transparent.

    Another bonus is movement is so much more obvious. I'm playing a song with chords that go from Am to F to D to C to E, all major, and the root movement of F to F# (3 of D) to G (5 of C) to G# (3 of E) was just immediately obvious to me on the piano, easy to play, and it sounds beautiful. I'll work it out on guitar later today, but it'll take a lot more effort.

    Great talking with you!

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