I would think we all play by ear, at least to some extent. But that’s stating the obvious, I guess. 😯

I know a little theory, and am learning more as I go. Surprsingly, it’s not as hard as I thought. Don’t get me wrong, it still makes me want to douce my eyes with gasoline sometimes (but that’d cost too much!), but as I slowly wade through the murky water, parts of the bottom become visible, if you catch my drift. Hehe. Sorry, that was cheesy.

But learning your modes is a good place to start, anyways. It’s helped me understand how and why some songs are the way they are, and certainly has helped me understand chord formations better, as well as why certain chords & certain structures work together.

A good song doesn’t sound good by mistake – it sounds good because it fits in a certain type of mathmatical formula, and we as humans recognize this audible formula, whether we know how to explain it or not. You don’t need theory to know a good song – that type of ability is built inside all of us. Music is a very primal instinct we all have; unfortunately it’s not stressed as much as it should be (or at least it’s not conveyed as well as it could be) when we are younger.

Take the major scale, for example. This is where these 7 “starter” modes (or whatever you call them) are derived from. Everybody I’ve ever met, musically inclinded or not, can hum “doe rae me fa so la tee doe” – VIOLA! The Major Scale. Once you can break that down into Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian, the music simplifies itself tenfold.

Sorry for the sort of “off topic” rant….time for me to go to bed!

Welcome in, Blooz. I know that being able to read helps get a lot more work as a session depper, and is pretty much essential for working in the pit, but neither of those were things I wanted to do. HST, I wish I had more technical background if only so I didn’t feel so inferior.

Theory is aptly named. I used to know (have a) theory. I no longer have a clue. I don’t seem to need it anyway. Like Miles said, I’ll play it now and explain it later.

Hello new guy here.I say it’s whatever works for you.I’ve been playing for 30+ yrs.&had about 6mos. lessons{counting time,reading&theory all beginner level}that was half the lesson then it was time to learn riffs&current popular songs.I think,for me Ipick up more the old fashioned way,listen&play,then repeat.I got pretty fast w/my ear&usually learned songs faster than readers or tab readers.By listening I think yiu can pick up more feeling&style,Just my opinion.
THANX MUCH 😉 bloozplyr57

I’m sure I replied to this last night? I even remember proof-reading as I misspelt rythmn, rythum, rhythmn…

Anyhoo, here goes again:

I’ve always played by ear but trying to write bass, rhythm and lead parts is pushing me towards some theory (bass being my native instrument) Which bass/lead scales work with the more adventurous chords isn’t always obvious (to me!)

My preference is to write by ear though, I like the more organic approach (Hippy parents 😆 )

I have always played by ear. I would like to study theory some day, I tend to be lazy that way

I’m terribly shoddy, Guy. I play bass “through the fingers”; they practically just land there and do things without me thinking. We hired an ex-bassist as our new vocalist and I was wondering what he’d think. The guitarist just pre-warned him that I do strange things that look odd but work. Mind you, when I just can’t “get it”, I don’t have the theory to fall back on. It’s very annoying to have the guitarist play suggested lines but I’m meagre enough to take them if I’m suffering a blank.