Finding chords by watching other players

Subject: Finding chords by watching other players
From: GUEST,Marion
Date: 07 Jan 02 - 05:07 PM

I'd like to know what you all think of the practice of watching another player to see what chords to play. Wyowoman brought the question up in this thread but it didn't get much attention.

On the plus side, this method works great at times, is easier than finding the chords by ear, and can mean the difference between playing the right chords or wrong chords if you can't find them by ear.

However, it seems like a bit a crutch to me - if the goal is to become able to play by ear, then playing by sight won't get any closer, will it? Is there really much difference between reading chords off a page or reading them off somebody else's guitar?

Also, it seems like an undependable crutch at that - if you get used to doing it this way, then you're stuck if you can't sit across from the right person or the person you're watching starts using an alternate tuning or fancy chords.

It also seems a little questionable socially - who likes to be stared at?

Marion

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 07 Jan 02 - 05:15 PM

Well, if I didn't like being stared at, I wouldn't make my living on stage...

LOL!!

Also, watching others play is more or less how I learned a lot of what I do... It was Garnet Rogers showed me 95% of what I do in DADGAD for instance...

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: Justa Picker
Date: 07 Jan 02 - 05:23 PM

You have to already have a good working knowledge of chords and what those chord patterns look like, in order to be able to recognize what someone sitting across from you is doing - and if you have this knowledge, it is very helpful when participating in jams, etc.

The goal should be to become the very best player you can be while maximizng whatever talents and God-given abilities you might have. Whatever "tools" are required to accomplish this, are the right means to this end.

All tools are worth looking at and utilizing if you can derive direct benefit from them. If you start getting too analytical about methods, you'll end up screwing yourself one way or another. Remain open and utilize any and all possibilites. My $0.02

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: Mountain Dog
Date: 07 Jan 02 - 05:24 PM

I've always found it very helpful to watch other players, not just for chords but for other tips and tricks. Can't say that I've ever experienced any negative reactions from the watchees, either.

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 07 Jan 02 - 05:57 PM

I've found watching chords helps when working out accompanyments in jam sessions, or when I'm backing up people on stage. When I was wathcing other guitarists in concert, I always watched what was happening and learned a lot.

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 07 Jan 02 - 05:57 PM

Oops. Guess I'm the culprit here (as Marion well knows)

Yep, it's not only useful as far as I'm concerned, but invaluable to be able to "read" "mirror images" of what someone else is playing chord wise. Every good guitarist or banjoist or mandolinist and especially bassist I know of (those who can play along with others, never having heard the song before) does it. It's a combination of seeing where someone IS, and then anticipating where they're going, using both aural and visual cues.

Cheers

Rick

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: Steve in Idaho
Date: 07 Jan 02 - 06:07 PM

Yes - and if I can't figure it out visually or by ear I find someone to stand behind me and call out the chords until I figure it out (how I finally figured out Blackberry Blossom)!

Now that is just plain good old fashioned back porch pickin and grinnin!!

Steve

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: DonMeixner
Date: 07 Jan 02 - 06:13 PM

Playing guitar isn't meant to be a secret. The best way to learn how to perform is by watching others. Notice I said "perform" and not "play". If you are at a level where you are watching fingers then you are probably already playing.

An individual style is the end result of watching others work and mixing that stew into your own musical gumbo. Figure out sometime the degrees of separation between Riley Puckett and Thom Bresh. Of course Riley didn't watch anyone but he heard pretty good. :-)

Wanna learn stage craft, watch Peter Paul and Mary, John Denver, U. Utah Phillips, Roy Book Binder, Faith Petric, Sally Rogers, Michael Doucette, the Coories, Tommy Makem, et al. Ask them all where they learned and they'll name someone else. Dig a little deeper and they'll tell you that it all started while they were stealing chords.

Don

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: SharonA
Date: 07 Jan 02 - 06:53 PM

It's part and parcel of the way I learned to play guitar, too. in fact, I think that playing by watching and hearing someone else play is part and parcel of "playing by ear", since you learn to associate chord patterns and playing techniques with the way they sound when played. For this reason, I think that instructional videos are more effective than instructional tapes or CD's.

Also, as has been pointed out, it's easier to follow the lead player in a jam session if you can visually recognize the chords (s)he's playing, since it may be difficult to hear him or her over another player standing or sitting closer to you in the circle.

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: wysiwyg
Date: 07 Jan 02 - 06:54 PM

I was at a jam recently where if I had not been able to watch guitar-playing hands, I'd have been totally lost. Since we HAVE no regular guitar player HERE, at first I didn't even know what the damn chords LOOK like-- I play autoharp.

But now I found Guitar Chords where you can click on a chord for tips and photos on how it is formed!!!!!!!!!! (Thanks to Sorcha, the wonderhelper...)

I feel like Helen Keller discovering water! I'm gonna make flash cards and stick them in my case till I GET it!

~Susan

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: John Hardly
Date: 07 Jan 02 - 07:58 PM

alright. I'll be the dissenting voice here...
...not really, but...

I've had a few instances where that "crutch" got knocked right out from under me. My first "playing partner" learned guitar tuned the wrong way. Self-taught country-boy-will-survive that he was, he knew that there was a step-down on the six string somewhere...he just didn't know where. Thus his fingering was all screwed up and me already in the habit of watching other's fingers and following....well, I was like a fish up a crick without a paddle to strike while the iron was....

Okay, I got easily confused...as I did when watching a guy playing in alternate tunings.

The short of it. If you can't turn it off and on (be able to concentrate fully on what YOU are playing), then maybe it's a crutch best left in the closet 'til next time yer foot's ailin'.

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: Bobert
Date: 07 Jan 02 - 08:33 PM

I try to learn something from every one I see, even if I feel I'm more advanced. Every guitar player has something to give even if its a reminder of what not to do... But we are all in this pool together, so, take what works.

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: 53
Date: 07 Jan 02 - 08:35 PM

you can always learn something by watching other players, and other players can always learn something from you. chet atkins once said, and i paraphrase, youre never to good or to old to learn,just keep alert and practice, practice, practice. BOB

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: M.Ted
Date: 07 Jan 02 - 09:33 PM

It is perfectly all right to watch the hands--in fact, it is a critical learning tool--and you can learn a lot by watching music videos(especially UNPLUGGED)--the thing about guitar is that there are a lot of different places to play the same thing, so hearing alone is often not enough, you have to know where:what frets, what string, which fingers, which chord inversions--and they are not always obvious from what you hear--

And the goal is not to learn to play something by ear--ear training is an important tool, but it is one of a number of important tools, and ear training alone will only get you so far--

Some of the problems with working things out by ear are that your ear often mis-hears melodic variations and subtle ornaments, that you will often hear notes that are only implied through harmony or as harmonics, and that you will confabulate, which means that you fill in things that you missed with things that could logically be there, without realizing it--

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: Robbyanne
Date: 07 Jan 02 - 10:05 PM

What's the old saying? "Imitation is the highest form of flattery"? - I'm a music educator, as well as a songwriter and performer, and I strongly advocate watching and copying as a way of learning. That's how I learned half the stuff I do - and that's what I encourage for my students - it takes a lot of coordination and a good ear to look at someone and imitate what they are doing - especially afterward, when you sit down by yourself, to see if what you're playing from memory matches what you heard the other guy doing....

I take notes, draw pictures - anything I can do to remember what I see someone doing in a show or a jam session. (Of course, I do it discreetly - usually, I confess that I really admire what someone is doing, ans ask if they'll show me while I draw what they're doing, or try to imitate it.) They're always happy to oblige. Just my two cents! Bye for now - Love, Robin

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: 53
Date: 07 Jan 02 - 10:08 PM

guitar playing is a talent, and you can learn in so many different ways, just keep your eyes, ears open and ask questions, i have learned so much from beatle music, their my idols, and they have had a great influence on my career as a musician. hooray for britian and for the beatles. BOB

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 07 Jan 02 - 11:10 PM

At the Washington Getaway during one of the many jams I watched a young woman desperately trying to keep up. She was really putting an effort into it but was always changing after everyone else....Her timing was good, and she struck me as someone who WANTED to be able to pick with a group, so I disappeared for a while and wrote her out a little chart for the keys of C,F,G,A, and D. with the numbers above the one four and five chords.

She was sitting opposite me about 10 feet away, and after about two minutes she got used to me "mouthing" one, four, or five, before each change. That's REALLY stealin chords,....but it worked. After a short while her natural ability started to take over ('cause she wasn't playin' catch-up) and she started hittin' 'em dead on.

Rick

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: Louie Roy
Date: 07 Jan 02 - 11:30 PM

I've been picking a guitar for 70 years and I'm still learning.Songs I sang many years ago with three chords and made my voice fit the chords I now use seven.Yes I learned he correct chords by watching someone else at a jam seesion.It's just one more tool we can use to make music sound better.Louie

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 07 Jan 02 - 11:41 PM

M. Ted ... you bring up an excellent point that has been seldom touched on within the forum...there are a lot of different places to play the same thing

Generally, it is refered to as "voicings." The same chord with different fingerings. It is the rudement of jazz.

I can't imagine how anyone could accompany by visual cues, they would be two beats behind the score. But you are guitar, and I am keyboard. I

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: SeanM
Date: 07 Jan 02 - 11:54 PM

Not precisely on topic, but hey...

I learned most of my mediocre pennywhistle by watching people play - and I ran into a problem I didn't even consider (and honestly don't consider a problem still).

I reversed the 'standard' hand position. I've since been informed that one is SUPPOSED to play a pennywhistle with the left hand over the right.

Of course, my idea is that they can get stuffed and I'll just play. But I do get accused occasionally of being left handed while playing.

I'd hope this isn't a concern when trying to pick things up off of another guitar.

M

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: GUEST,Fingerstyle
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 01:10 AM

If you are playing in a song circle or a jam session and someone minds you checking out their playing then they have missed the point..playing music together is a very interactive kind of thing and very few musicians would care if you steal a chord or a lick.

Bands that play together alot sometimes will kick off songs in different keys to mix things up a bit. I played in a band where we did this to torment the singers ...kind of breaks the monotony of playing the same set list.

I saw a very old tape of the beatles ca. 1963 where John is banging away and you can see George and Paul staring at his fingers and trying to figure out where he is going with expressions of "what in the H...are you doing John...that's the kind of thing that makes playing music together fun.

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 01:25 AM

I was once at a jam at the Fiddle Tunes festival in Port Townsend, Washington, when I was just barely learning how to play backup guitar for old-time fiddle tunes. (Now, ten years later, I've gone from novice to beginner...hooray!) I remember after one tune one of the fiddlers said to me, "Hey, nice work finding that A chord!" I thanked him, and decided not to tell him that I'd been watching the fingers of a really good guitarist across the circle!

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: Cappuccino
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 02:42 AM

Rick said at the beginning of this thread something about other instrumentalists, including bassists, reading chords. When I played regularly as a bassist, I found that I was usually sited behind the guitarists on stage, so had no chance to read the chords... curious as it sounds, after a short while you get used to reading the chords by the position of the back of their hand.

And when you * can * see their chord hand, there are other little clues (I know Rick could think of a hundred technicalities to disprove this, but I think he'll allow me to generalise!) So - if the guitarist is playing C, and you see their little finger rise slightly, that suggests thay're about to hit a C7... and logic suggests that after thast may well come an F. So you can often get credit for mind-reading, when you're just thinking a split-second ahead!

Now I'm old and past it, of course, I can't do that any more...

- Ian B

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: Hamish
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 03:38 AM

There was some old blues guitarist who got so paranoid about his playing being plagiarised that he would play with a handkerchief over his left hand. To stop people stealing my lyrics, I've taken to singing with a handkerchief over my mouth ;^)

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: catspaw49
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 08:03 AM

Several interesting points brought up here. personally, I'm a big fan of watching....on any instrument. In the process you may learn both "good and bad" techniques, but some of both may work for you. I remember watching Paul Desmond play alto and trying to emulate that same embouchure and style.....loved his sound, but it wasn't me. I've always been amazed at watching mando players who manage to get clarity on every note while they appear to be sloppily misfretting. I personally enjoy watching hammered dulcimer players who are really relaxed and seem to play effortlessly.....hammers just flying.

Take what you want and leave the rest..........

Spaw

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: English Jon
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 08:57 AM

Worked out a lot of Carthy's style by sitting at the front and memorising fret numbers. Working out the bloody tuning took a bit longer though!

EJ

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: Raptor
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 08:57 AM

The best thing I ever did for my guitar playing was to start an accustic jam in my home town!
It lasted for five years and I got payed to play and jam with hundreds of players of various levels.
It was great for meeting people, Learning different styles and methods, And Learning different songs, Good for other things too like Timeing, How to emphasize chords, Different tunings, Meter, Nashville numbering... The list goes on.
All you have to do is find a bar that is willing to give you one night a week. And put the word out to the music stores They will do the advertising for you in hope of selling more stuff.
PM me for more details>
Raptor

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: MikeofNorthumbria
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 10:06 AM

Studying the hand movements of more experienced players is a good way to learn guitar backup for standard tunes and songs. But it does have a downside. You can end up with tunnel vision - concentrating so much on what the other picker's hands are doing that you fail to experience the impact of the piece as a whole.

I once heard Stefan Grossman introduce a tune as follows: "Now here's one for all the guitar players in the audience to watch – and for the rest of you to listen to." Having spent most of the evening with my attention focussed on Stefan's left hand, I felt rather guilty. So, I approached him in the bar afterwards and apologised. He said, "Don't worry about it – that's how I learned – that's how everybody learns."

Nevertheless, I think it's a good idea to give your eyes a rest once in a while, and let your ears do some learning for a change.

Wassail!

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: Gary T
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 10:27 AM

While overusing a helpful technique can transform it from a "tool" into a "crutch," I have to concur that watching other's hands to help find the chord is generally beneficial. Not all of us are able to nail chord sequences in unfamiliar songs by hearing alone. One would hope, of course, that in time one could find the chords without watching--sometimes even before the end of playing a song for the first time!

As a guitar player who doesn't play other instruments, I find that I can even watch banjo or mandolin players and see what they're doing. Not that I could tell what chord that was, but in a three-chorder, I can see differences among the I, IV, & V chords by watching the general location of the fingers. Watching a guitarist, I can usually identify the specific chord.

As one who plays left-handed, I occasionally run across someone who finds it odd watching me, usually because it hasn't hit them yet that I am left-handed. Watch yourself in a mirror, and that's what I look like.

In the circles I play with, watching each other's hands is the norm, and I've never heard any disparaging comments about it.

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: JedMarum
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 10:37 AM

I agree that watching other players to learn the tune is common pratcice and a good one. But you also can learn so much from watching other players; some people use slightly different fingering for the same chords and that fingering may be helpful to you - some people add or drop a note from the chord resulting in a slight 'coloring' of the sound - some people use bass runs and short melodic lines along with their accompaniment and you can learn how to do these by watching and practicing later on your own - some people finger pick while others strum - some people use their right hand to mute strings (some or all) to enhance the rythyms of strumming chords - all of these things you can pick up by watching others players, thinking about what they've done, and taking those ideas home and practicng them yourself. Watching other players is a good thing.

I have found that I even watch players of other instruments for musical clues - When I'm playing banjo I can watch the guitar player and figure out where I am - when I'm on guitar I can watch the bouzouki player to see when he is actually changing chords (in some of the modal tunes it is sometimes hard to tell if we've actually changed a chord or just moved a bass line or added color). While I'm less adept at knowing precisely what's going on when watching other instruments - there are clues.

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: 53
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 10:39 AM

REMEMBER AS MUSICIANS IT'S OUR DUTY TO HELP ONE ANOTHER. BOB

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: Cappuccino
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 12:37 PM

That's true, mate, but it's also true that a little competitiveness slips in as well... we've all got one flashy little fast run which we play during the sound check, just to frighten others and establish our territory.

Having said that, I'm not entirely sure I can now remember mine....!

- IanB

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 12:43 PM

Note to Ian B:

I'll bet when you were playing bass a lot, folks said you had "Big Ears". (unless that's strictly a North American term)
That's about the biggest compliment that one musician can pay another. It's hard to teach someone how to 'anticipate' where the music's going, but you CAN teach them what clues to look and listen for.

As an example (simple, but not always obvious to an inexperienced player) the moment your ear hears a seventh in the one chord, you prepare to play the four chord. Spending half an hour with a student, getting them to recognise the sound of a seventh instantly, is a start, in the 'big ears' department.

Just thought of something though, that might make 'watching other players' difficult. If a person is naturally shy, they may find that whole procedure awkward and a bit scary or intrusive. All I'd be able to suggest there is that OTHERS (good musicians) don't, so do your best, and it'll probably get easier.

Rick

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: Grab
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 01:09 PM

Yours may be a run, Ian - mine's more of a slow afternoon stroll... ;-)

Our band at work decided they wanted to play "Pinball Wizard" a little while back. Now _there's_ one that's a bitch to follow - by the time you've found the chord, it's gone and changed again!

Graham.

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: M.Ted
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 01:14 PM

Gargoyle,

A lot of times, it isn't just chord voicings that differ--the e above middle C can be played in six different positions on the guitar--the fingering for the scale in each position is different, so that a melody may flow more easily when played in one position than another--and certain h ornaments and accompaniments that fall naturally in one position are impossible in another--

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: 53
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 02:34 PM

i hope that i can find my one good lick, but until then i'll just keep on pickin, and by the way rick i'm now working on all my major scales and when i have them down, i'll start on the minor scales. BOB

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 05:19 PM

Bob, scales are ONE DAMN BIG DRAG....but if ya wanna play more than Kumbaya at a campfire ya gotta practice 'em.

By the way, one of the most common "folksy" sayings I remember reading and hearing in my youth was "Learning to read music will hurt your creativity". Balderdash! If you CHOOSE to be "creative", reading will help immensely. Pete Seeger kind of underplays it, but he is an EXCELLENT sight reader.

Cheers

Rick

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: wysiwyg
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 05:35 PM

Then there are the players who can't follow my hymn arrangements or are just starting to learn the fiddle tunes Hardi and I play. They love my tabletop autoharping cuz if they sit close by they can see me reach for the chord bars by name! (Sometimes I mix 'em up on purpose just for a laugh! Fake to the left, fake to the right!) That's why whenever we play I sit in the middle, with people to either side, plus behind me looking down over my shoulder!

~Susan

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: 53
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 09:25 PM

susan, you shouldn't try to confuse those players, shame on you, ha,ha,ha, BOB

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: GUEST,frankie
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 10:41 PM

Shortly after I started playing the guitar I saw Doc Watson at the Cellar Door in D.C. and sat at a stage side table just a few feet from his left hand. He plays mostly the first position chords I was then struggling with so I soaked it all in and my playing took a quantam leap after that night. I notice that at jam sessions when you introduce songs that people are unfamiliar with that almost everyone who's interested in playing along will maneuver themselves into postion to watch the changes, including the better players. f

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: WyoWoman
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 11:04 PM

Gary T is one I watch to figure out the chords -- I find the mirror image of his lefty fingering works really well. Besides the fact that as soon as he sees me watching, he'll mouth the chords until I either get it or put my guitar down and decide to just sing this one or go to the bathroom.

As a beginner, it does make me feel embarrassed when I see people watching what I'm doing, because i'm so afraid I'm going to screw it up. You all wouldn't beLIEVE what a great guitarist I'm getting to be here in the privacy of my own home.

Rick, REALLY? I really have to practice scales? Yuckoid.

This may be another thread, but ... has anyone watched videos that taught them to play the scales? My brain seems to glaze over when I look at the drawings and diagrams in the Mel Bay books, and I live too far out in the boonies to have an actual teacher ...

Glad you revived this thread, Marion.

ww

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: Les B
Date: 08 Jan 02 - 11:27 PM

Marion - I think you're seeing by the general direction of all these great postings that watching someone else's fingers is not a bad thing.

As you get more seasoned you'll learn little tricks like WHO to watch. If you know, for instance, that a certain fiddler, or singer, or banjo player regularly practices or plays with a certain guitarist, then its a good bet that's the fingers to watch, not the new kid on the block who has only played with the lead musician once before !

Also, if you're embarassed about watching the fingers, develop your "stealth" skills, where you nonchalantly skim your eagle eye past those important chord formations oh-so-casually just once in a while.

And you can develop your memory skills by memorizing the progression - G -C - G - D - G, or whatever, on the 1st or 2nd time through, and then work on counting the amount of time you spend in each chord on the 3rd or 4th time through 1-chuck, 2- chuck, etc. Pretty soon you won't have to watch the hands much at all.

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: Banjo-Flower
Date: 09 Jan 02 - 10:40 AM

You can also learn the chord changes by watching the left hand of any good accordian player by looking for the button with a dimple on it this is the C row the four rows reading up from this are G D A and E which just happens to be standard tuning for Irish tenor banjo/mandolin/fiddle as a memory aid

Gerry

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: 53
Date: 09 Jan 02 - 10:00 PM

I LOVE TO WATCH ANYBODY PLAY GUITAR, FROM THE 3 CHORDER, TO THE GENIUS. BOB

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: GUEST,SlickerBill
Date: 09 Jan 02 - 11:36 PM

This brings to mind a pet peeve I have about watching great guitarists on television. Have you ever noticed that 9 times out of ten the bloody camera is pointed at the WRONG BLOODY HAND? It drives me absolutely bugshit. Here you've got Clapton or somebody playing a beautiful acoustic country blues and you're dying to find "that chord" that you can't quite figure out, and the camera is fixed on his right hand. Absolutely incredible.

In terms of learning the chords, I think watching is especially great for the jazz and blues tunes so you can watch how a great player chooses the voicings that'll offer the right bass notes as well as the chords themselves. I guess this is as true with folk, come to think about it. When you start learning jazz, you find yourself jumping up and down the neck alot until you see a voicing much closer to the preceeding chord, and much more pleasing to boot.

I've got this friend who's amazing at the chord thing. But this guy is walking proof of why theory is ultimately so important to improve your chord knowledge. You ask this guy "Hey where do I find a cm7#5?", and his theory is so down, he goes, "Well lets see; if you play this chord shape and just drop this note and put your finger here, that'll work. OR you can go with this other shape over here..." and on and on. What he showed me was how there are all these recognizable shapes, but all the chords have structure, and if you get your theory down, then you begin to realize that there is a logic to all these wierd sounding chords. You eventually get to the place where you can figure out chords based on that theory.

So, yeah watching is great, especially for voicings and general inspiration, but sooner or later, depending on the kind of music you want to play I suppose, you're going to have to look at theory to help you make sense of the whole mess. SB

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: WyoWoman
Date: 09 Jan 02 - 11:50 PM

This whole idea of 'voicings' is new to me. Until just recently, I sort of thought there were maybe two ways to do the G chord -- Rick Fielding's way and the other way -- and other than that there were the barre chords and just ordinary open chords up in the first three or four frets at the top of the neck. Now I'm discovering there's lots more room to roam around on the guitar neck. I'm getting agorophobic! ww

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: marty D
Date: 10 Jan 02 - 12:50 AM

I've been getting into voicings over the last six months. I can see why some become obsessive about their playing. It's fun!

I can't for the life of me figure out why watching someone else's hands to pick up the changes would be uncomfortable. Just remember, if they're good, they're used to it.

marty

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: Cappuccino
Date: 10 Jan 02 - 02:43 AM

I've just remembered that in the introduction to some 'how to play guitar' book I was reading about thirty years back, the writer said, quite conversationally, that one of the things he enjoyed doing was watching other players in pubs. He said (and this was a real expert talking) that whoever he was watching, what always fascinated him was that everybody could do some little run or styling of their own which made him, the expert, think: 'how the hell did he do that????'!

- Ian B

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: 53
Date: 10 Jan 02 - 10:57 AM

watching is fun, and you are right about the players they show on t v they always show the wrong shots and it drives me bugshit too. BOB

Subject: RE: Finding chords by watching other players
From: Marion
Date: 10 Jan 02 - 01:30 PM

Thanks for the replies everyone, this was interesting. Sounds like there's not many people who share my reservations.

I think that many of you were talking about using your eyes to learn new chord fingerings or voicings or general tricks, which is fair enough, but wasn't exactly what I meant. I'm just talking about knowing when to play the I, IV, and V chords in an unfamiliar I-IV-V song.

Is the ability to do so by ear not a reasonable thing to expect from myself after playing for a few years?

I was also thinking that if I want to be able to play not just in a big jam but in a group where I'm the only guitar (hey, it could happen) or in performance where everyone's sideways to each other then a habit of chord-watching wouldn't serve me well.

That's pretty cool, Ian, about being able to read the back of the other's players hands - is that how you do it too, Phil?

M.Ted, you said: "Some of the problems with working things out by ear are that your ear often mis-hears melodic variations and subtle ornaments, that you will often hear notes that are only implied through harmony or as harmonics, and that you will confabulate, which means that you fill in things that you missed with things that could logically be there, without realizing it-- "

True, but is that really a problem?

Marion