Musicians

I've been a musician for nigh on 50 years. My first instrument is electric bass, both fretted and fretless. I also play Bulgarian tamboura, electric and acoustic guitar, and ukulele. I like a bit of everything, although I can't stand the sound of AutoTune, which seems to be used on almost everything these days. I've played in a number of rock bands, as well as punk, folk, and a lot of Eastern European traditional music. Mostly, I play by ear, I can read music, but I'm not very good at it.

A tenor ukulele I made in 2016.

That tenor is BEAUTIFUL! Thank you for sharing!

I have a tenor uke and it is by far my favorite instrument. Such a lovely sound.

I’m kind of the opposite of you, lol. I’m awful at performing, but really excellent with reading/writing down music. Unfortunately for me, performing pays better (or at least, more consistently) than writing music or teaching theory.

Thank you! I would like to build more one of these days. Maybe when I retire, which, hopefully, will be sort of soon. The list of things under “ Maybe when I retire” keeps getting longer.

I also like the sound of a tenor uke. It’s a little fuller than a soprano or concert while still sounding like a uke.

I wish I could read music better. The notes look like a bunch of squashed bugs to me. I can decipher and memorize, but can’t sight read. However, not being able to sight read forced me to learn how to play by ear, which I think is a useful skill.

I often chat with musicians in the folk world, many of whom can't sight read and find it really helps in this area.  I've come across more classically trained musicians struggling in the folk world having spent so much time in orchestras etc.  For me I can read music but struggle with playing by ear.

TemporarilyNotSoil said:

However, not being able to sight read forced me to learn how to play by ear, which I think is a useful skill.

It totally is! I feel like in higher education we strongly discourage that skill (I, as a music theory instructor, was definitely guilty of that), but it is so very valuable. Especially if you do jazz, then you are definitely a step above your peers if you have an excellent ear.

TemporarilyNotSoil said:

I wish I could read music better.

I’d say don’t give up! And if you want a unique way to learn how to read music notation, try writing music. I know that sounds backwards - how can you write music without understanding notation well - but I swear it’s a valid approach. Get a composition software like MuseScore (which is free) and dabble with just writing music for one or two instruments. The software will give you immediate feedback on how it sounds, so you’ll know if you wrote something that doesn’t sound right.

Weirdly enough, that’s exactly how I learned how to play bass guitar. I spent so much time writing bass licks for a disco band using a software that visualized the bass strings, that I actually memorized where the bulk of the notes lay on the fingerboard. Of course I’m terrible and can only play a few minutes before my fingers get raw, but it’s kind of freaky picking up a bass and just intuitively knowing where the right notes are lol.

TemporarilyNotSoil said:

However, not being able to sight read forced me to learn how to play by ear, which I think is a useful skill.

It totally is! I feel like in higher education we strongly discourage that skill (I, as a music theory instructor, was definitely guilty of that), but it is so very valuable. Especially if you do jazz, then you are definitely a step above your peers if you have an excellent ear.

TemporarilyNotSoil said:

I wish I could read music better.

I’d say don’t give up! And if you want a unique way to learn how to read music notation, try writing music. I know that sounds backwards - how can you write music without understanding notation well - but I swear it’s a valid approach. Get a composition software like MuseScore (which is free) and dabble with just writing music for one or two instruments. The software will give you immediate feedback on how it sounds, so you’ll know if you wrote something that doesn’t sound right.

Weirdly enough, that’s exactly how I learned how to play bass guitar. I spent so much time writing bass licks for a disco band using a software that visualized the bass strings, that I actually memorized where the bulk of the notes lay on the fingerboard. Of course I’m terrible and can only play a few minutes before my fingers get raw, but it’s kind of freaky picking up a bass and just intuitively knowing where the right notes are lol.

I often chat with musicians in the folk world, many of whom can't sight read and find it really helps in this area.  I've come across more classically trained musicians struggling in the folk world having spent so much time in orchestras etc.  For me I can read music but struggle with playing by ear.