Playing what you feel instead of what you know

Stuart Legg · Posted 14 Jun 2018 2:16 pm

The correlation between how much you read or consume and what you can do or who you become begins to even off after a certain point, and more isnâ€™t always better.
I ask my father Bo why he never plays all those things he has learned through the years in Music Theory?
Bo "I apply music theory subconsciously and not aware of it while I play but even in the simplest of renditions instrumentally I recognize it. However I notice it because I know it but others should not be aware of it in my playing" I love and enjoyed the study of Music Theory but it makes me very impatiently irritable when communicating with folks who have no clue about theory"
Bo just plays what he wants and how he feels and could give a crap.
This is the style he plays most of the time in a 3 pc band setting. Simple (nothing special) but it fills the 3pc band up and yes there is theory there.
Click Here

Barry Blackwood · Posted 15 Jun 2018 6:59 am

How about playing what you know, "with feeling?" Winking

Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

robert kramer · From: Nashville TN

This might help your answer. Here is a Hal Galper master class: "Attitude is Everything." This lesson has helped my playing a lot - helping me have more fun and be less self critical. I actually will watch this before leaving a gig and it helps a lot to get on the good foot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9TavIO6PYU

Damir Besic · From: Nashville,TN.

I just play what, and how I feel, I don’t care about impressing anyone, I do it for myself and my own enjoyment... I fell in love with music first, didn’t even know what Steel guitar was at first, and through the music I fell in love with steel guitar... I enjoy tremendously what I do, and don’t care much about what anybody else thinks 😊
_________________
www.steelguitarsonline.com

Charlie McDonald · From: out of the blue

Bo is right, "I apply music theory subconsciously and not aware of it while I play but even in the simplest of renditions instrumentally I recognize it. However I notice it because I know it but others should not be aware of it in my playing."
It's always there. When it's in use, it can't be communicated. So you blow.

You really blow, Jim!

Randy Beavers · From: Lebanon,TN 37090

Sometimes I feel like I know more than I do. (Quite often actually) Does that count? Confused

Charlie McDonald · From: out of the blue

I think so!

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

I think we have several issues. One is that a lot of players who play pretty well don't seem to know a lot about theory. Another is that a lot of players who seem to know a lot about theory don't really play all that well. That's a conundrum we can't get around. And another is that young players don't like like the more traditional music played on the thing, and older players don't care for the new music that young people seem to want to play on it. The instrument itself is daunting, let alone that applying theory to it and learning to play by music makes playing it well even more difficult. It's also not like many other instruments, where we see 5 to 10 year-old prodigies reading and playing stuff that would confound many older players. Those young prodigies actually embrace the classical music and traditional stylings of their instrument.

Randy Beavers · From: Lebanon,TN 37090

I know the feeling!
Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself.

“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”

Kevin Fix · From: Michigan, USA

Same here as Damir. I feel the same way. Loved music before I knew what Steel Guitar was. I play what I feel.

Kevin Fix · From: Michigan, USA

Same here as Damir. I feel the same way. Loved music before I knew what Steel Guitar was. I play what I feel.

Stuart Legg · Posted 15 Jun 2018 7:18 pm

Part of the definition of Music Theory is that "it describes how musicians make music"
So it follows a good musician plays Music Theory regardless whether he or she knows it or not!
I suspect a good musician knows more about Music Theory than he or she for whatever reason will admit.

Stuart Legg · Posted 15 Jun 2018 7:56 pm

This was the first time I tried to url to a Facebook video in my opening post. It appears it didn't work so I edited it to youtube. Let me know if it showed up. I put it here again.
I'm not fishing for compliments on Bo's picking but I would like to say I love the tone of that little Basic 3 pedals 4 knee levers E9 Stage One through a Peavey Tube Fex and a Peavey 1000. It always amazes me how fat it sounds!
Click Here

Charlie McDonald · From: out of the blue

I don't have a lot of luck with Fbook, and this link is no exception, a black screen.

Bill L. Wilson · From: Oklahoma, USA

I listen to a song and think these particular licks or chords will fit here or there. Some songs with signature licks are hard for me to figure out, so I do what I do, and most of the time it sounds fine. I just make it up as I go along and always with feeling. Knowing your fret board, pedals, knee levers and what key you’re in, is most important when you’re playing in the moment. Some of my best licks were mistakes that happened in a moment of trying something new. As far as music theory, or notes in a chord, it’s not something I think about while playing.

Stuart Legg · Posted 15 Jun 2018 9:27 pm

Charlie McDonald · From: out of the blue

There it is.

I can tell, Bo uses theory as he goes along. Smile

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Admittedly, I don't know much about theory. I don't even know what notes make up a "C" unison. Maybe I need this: Question

Fred Treece · From: California, USA

I agree with Bo and Barry.

There seems to be a certain pride in the comment “I play what I feel”, as if a player who knows the theoretical concept of what he is playing is less capable of feeling. Pure expression is the illusion we all try to create. Whether you know it or not, music theory is being applied to everything you play.

Pat Chong · From: New Mexico, USA

I don't think that is what he meant, but sometimes that does happen. There are people who can play an instrument well, but do not have any music theory.

It all depends on how your abilities (for lack of better explanation) are filled. Let me explain. All of us have these musical abilities:

Music Theory,(MT)
Playing Experience,(PE)
Ad-Lib Ability, to play how you feel (ALA)
Etc.

I am sure there are other abilities some may think of to add to the list.
One with a high rating of MT but a low rating on PE and ALA would not play too well. But someone with a high rating on PE and ALA but low on MT would still sound good.

All of us have different ratings in our abilities and that is how it turns out, some can, some can't play as well as another. I guess what I am trying to say is that:
One can play what they "feel" even if they don't know theory, because the "feelings" usually agree with theory.
.................................Pat

Fred Treece · From: California, USA

I know what Bo and Barry meant. I agree with them 100%. I also agree that theory without ability is useless at curtain time.

I am challenging the comment “I play what I feel” made by others. I think it is a way of selling their own instinct short and dismissing the theoretical concepts they are applying and have obviously learned somehow. Not being able to explain it is not the same as not knowing it.

Also, it seems as if there is an implication that if you do have an understanding of the music theory in your own playing, then you are not playing what you “feel”

From my own perspective, I felt the need to understand music theory as much as I wanted the ability to play my instrument, and when I did finally get a better grip on it, I found a new love for music. It certainly helped me to play better and with more “feeling”, because I felt more confident.

Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

Cameron Fulp · From: Lindale Texas, USA

Just today I was listening to a YouTube video of a very prominent player. For sake of the discussion I will not mention his name. I was amazed and overcome with emotion when I heard him finish out a song. The band stopped about three measures before the steel player did. He finished out the song with some big jazz chords and Nothing but soul and feeling. Needless to say I think that music theory is a wonderful thing, we all need it, to make the” big picture”. BUT some of the pure gold that is in each and everyone of us comes from the SOUL , and without having The liberty to play what is in our spirit it will not come out. That’s why I believe that there’s definitely a good balance, but everyone of us needs to Play what is inside of us. Not to get religious, but creativity is a big part of God’s heart. We are vessels of what he puts in our mind and our spirit. I believe we have to play what is inside of us.

Brint Hannay · From: Maryland, USA

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