JAZZGUITARHARDBALL
JIM BASTIAN
It’s All Relative, Pt. II
Last month we discussed the differences
between perfect pitch and relative pitch.
Today, we are going to look at concrete
things players can do to develop a sense
of relative pitch, without which we would
be lost in situations where we are playing
by ear.
Once we let go of the idea that perfect
pitch can be learned, we can get down
to the hard work of developing relative
pitch and produce tangible results that will
transfer to the bandstand. As I asserted
in my last column, with the support of
scientific studies, perfect pitch cannot be
learned as an adult. Guitarist Jack Grassel
states that “Neither I nor anyone I know
have ever seen any evidence... that the
[perfect pitch] development courses for
sale in magazines produce any results.
Don’t waste your time and money trying to develop it. Work on relative pitch
instead.”[ 1] We may be making some
progress, as we are now starting to see
many online companies selling programs
that are intended to develop relative pitch
rather than perfect pitch.
The goal of developing relative pitch is
to advance ear-to-hand skills. This means
that ideas first heard in one’s head – or
heard on the bandstand – can then be
reproduced on one’s musical instrument.
A player might think to himself, “I hear an
idea, and knowing where that idea sounds
on the fretboard, I can then play it, or use
it as a basis for further improvisation.”
Many guitarists suffer from the malady of
playing something on the guitar and then
hearing it – wrong order!
The level of sophistication of ear-to-hand
skills is on a continuum, and these skills
can be further advanced over one’s
career. An example of the use of relative
pitch, or ear-to-hand skills, would be two
guitarists trading licks back and forth. The
second guitarist is able to repeat note-
for-note what the first guitarist played,
after only one hearing. This function of
relative pitch assumes that the player has
already determined what key they are in.
Functional use of relative pitch means you
can execute such ear-to-hand tasks once
you already know the reference pitch, or
key – hence “relative,” meaning
relationships between pitches.
This brings us to the primary area of
study for developing relative pitch: intervals. (There are many free online programs
that teach the intervals [ 2].) For fully
internalizing intervallic relationships, the
intervals must be sung as well as located
(in their many positions) on the guitar. In
fact, for serious advancement of this skill
set, everything you are going to perform
on the guitar, the songs you are learning
and the solos that you work out should
be sung as well as located on the fretboard. Playing by ear and learning solos
or songs by ear from recordings note-for-note are tasks that help advance relative
pitch since they deal on many levels with
intervallic ear training. Singing everything
you practice is central to the development
of relative pitch and internalizes the process in a deeper way. The ultimate goal
is to be able to reproduce on the guitar
anything that you hear once you are given
the initial reference pitch or key.
Once the intervals are learned and internalized, more complex ear-training studies
can be undertaken. Singing the notated
solos of the masters and using the guitar
as a reference point to check yourself
helps deepen both a stylistic concept and
one’s ability to hear intervals.
Memorization of one’s repertoire is vital
for developing relative pitch. After all, this
is how the masters learned to play in
the first place, through both copying and
memorizing the material they wanted
to perform. Developing one’s ear, which
is the same as saying intervallic ear
training, is central to developing one’s
own unique style – it’s a more internal
approach rather than an intellectual one.
I have found that the things I am singing and truly hearing have more depth
of feeling attached to them than if I am
simply playing complex mechanical scale
patterns. As a result, this connects my
playing to things that are more expressive
and uniquely me. Many programs focus
on learning scales as the key to developing improvisation skills, but I feel this
approach misses the mark. Scales and
knowledge of the fretboard are, of course,
important to knowing the instrument, but
they serve no musical purpose unless
practiced within the context of intervallic
ear training.
Studying and singing intervals, copying by
ear the material I want to integrate, memorizing repertoire and singing the works of
others (e.g., Charlie Parker solos) is what
big ears are made of.
[ 1] http://www.jackgrassel.com/pages/
perfect_pitch.html
[ 2] Here’s a good basic interval ear training web site for beginners:
http://www.musictheory.net/trainers/
html/ id90_en.html
Jim Bastian
A clinician and jazz educator, Jim Bastian is a ten year veteran
of teaching guitar in higher education. Jim holds two masters
degrees and has published six jazz studies texts, including
the best-selling HowtoPlayChordalBebopLines, for Guitar
(available from Jamey Aebersold). He actively performs on both
guitar and bass on the East Coast. An avid collector and trader
in the vintage market, you can visit Jim’s store in Gear Search at
premierguitar.com (dealer: IslandFunhouse).
