Harmony and theory

[b0b]

My practice time is typically divided into 3 segments: technique exercises, theory exercises (scales and chords), and a current project. The first two are what makes the third possible.

I know people who only practice songs. They never seem to learn how to play very well.

[Dayna Wills]

I am NOT a musician! It is my understanding that "perfect pitch" is something one is born with. I don't know of anyone who has "developed it or learned it". I taught myself to carry a tune, I was considered tone deaf in grammar school, and it may be that I was wasn't tone deaf, but was listening to the outside source and not to what I was singing.
Vance Terry said that Noel Boggs made him learn scales. That was his advice, to learn the scales inside and out and then you could "play" anything.
My neighbor is a classical violinist. She says that you play only what is written and there is no improv except in a certain situation and I can't think of the term she used. That's why I think WS and jazz would be so much more fun to play because of the creative freedom it allows the player. There are rules in all music and once you know the basics, you can make "new rules". Burt Bacarach is a good example of "time". Remember that song "Promises, Promises? That thing was out there, time-wise. And Haggard sometimes stretches or shortens verses so that the song ends up in uneven bars. Remember the song My Coloring Book? It had two sections in the bridge that were uneven. And, to me, harmony either is or it ain't. Theory: Back to those rules again.
This is my perception of it from a non-musician, but one who has had a few, very few, classes on singing.
And those rules apply there, too.

[Doug Beaumier]

Modal playing can be Very useful. In a recent recording session I was asked to come up with a solo on a fast 2-beat tune in the key of G. The song was based around a G7 chord, and there were a lot of chord changes. The G major scale sounded too sweet. Gm pentatonic scale too bluesy. G Mixolydian… perfect! It’s a G scale with a flatted 7th. AND it has the same notes as a C major scale. So I played some familiar speed patterns in "the key of C", and voilà! Instant solo over G7 and it’s relative chord changes.

[b0b]

So I played some familiar speed patterns in "the key of C", and voilà! Instant solo over G7 and it’s relative chord changes.

I play G licks for rock/blues jams in E all the time.

[Bill McCloskey]

"Music Theory for practical people" is a very good book and provides an excellant grounding.

[Bob Ritter]

Well my son is involved in music theroy classes in college. They go beyond just being able to recognize the sound of a G chord or an A chord on guitar... They we do training for example ... Play a G note...then play a aug 5th or a major third ect.. and you are suposed to be able to tell what the interval is..That is what I think might be meant by the term having "perfect pitch"...where you can recognise these things with reletive ease...Sometimes I cant recognize the interval notes played solo..but I am good at recognizing the chord voicing...you know major..minor dim, aug, ect...knowing the sound of a A chord or a d chord played open is not all that tough for most of here I imagine.

[Mike Perlowin RIP]

Play a G note...then play a aug 5th or a major third ect.. and you are suposed to be able to tell what the interval is..That is what I think might be meant by the term having "perfect pitch"...where you can recognise these things with reletive ease.

Bob, that's relative pitch, and it is something we can learn. Perfect pitch is the ability to recognize a note just by hearing it, and it's something some people are born with, but most people agree it cannot be taught or learned.

One of the tricks used to teach people to recognize and indentify intervals is to illustrate their use in familiar children's songs. For example, the first 2 notes of "Here Come The Bride" is a perfect 4th ascending. "I've been Working On The Railroad" is also a perfect 4th, descending. The first 2 notes of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" are a perfect fifth, while the first 2 notes of "My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean" is a major 6th.