Re: Instantly absorbing tunes
Learning tunes by ear on the fly--either phrase by phrase or entire parts/whole tunes--requires two broad skill sets: (1) knowing your way around your instrument and (2) being able to hear and remember the melody accurately. The more skilled you are at both, the easier it is. If you're technically adept at playing mandolin (particularly at the hand-to-ear coordination of placing fingers on the notes you want to hear), then it's perhaps best to focus on the specifics of following new tunes by ear.
It helps to spend some time listening closely to the intervals between different pitches. You can start in a common key/mode, say, D major, and play the open D string, then pick the next note up the scale (E), then back to the D, then up a third (F#), back to D, and so on through the whole octave (or more), and then back down, really paying attention to how each interval sounds in relation to the home note (D) and also how the intervals sound different to one another. Then do this in other keys/modes, listening to the intervals again, but also paying attention to how D major, say, sounds different on a mandolin from, say, C major. Is one "brighter" or "more open and ringing" than the other? This will help you more quickly determine what key a tune is being played in.
The next step might be to play some common note sequences. Many fiddle tunes or trad music feature phrases built around (1) linear scale runs, (2) "folded" scale patterns (e.g., |DEFD EFGE|FGAF GABG|), (3) arpeggios, and (4) pentatonic patterns (e.g., |DEF#A BAF#E|). You'll want to have those on autopilot in all the keys/modes common to the genre(s) of music you play.
While you're focused on all this, spend lots of time listening to the tunes you'd like to learn. Listen especially to how good players phrase the melody. Learn to hear in phrases, rather than simply random strings of notes. Where are the pauses? Where are the linking runs from one phrase to the next? How do good players change the sense of phrasing as they repeat a tune? How do the phrases build together to form each larger part of a tune? Do the larger parts share (repeat) some phrases? Or turn them inside out? Or alter just one note or two?
When I teach a tune by ear, I try to remember to first say what type of tune it is (reel, jig, etc.), what key and mode it is, and what the starting note is. That can go a long way to getting people oriented instead of fishing all over the fingerboard just to find the starting point. If you're learning a tune by ear from someone face to face, ask them for this info upfront. Especially in group situations, I guarantee that some of your fellow learners will appreciate it too.
Oops! Did I say that out loud?
Once upon a time: fiddle, mandolin, OM, banjo, guitar, flute, whistle, beer
Bookmarks