Beginning Steps
How2PlaybyEar is based on a simple premise: When the sounds that we have played become organized in our minds and ears, and programmed into our muscles, we be able to retrieve them as we improvise and play by ear. Our muscles remember that which we have thoughtfully stored and practiced. Your beginning steps might be a bit slow and hesitant, but you’ll become more and more confident as you continue to grow.
Bigger Steps
Bigger Steps for Playing by Ear Bigger Steps involves learning what I call “Million Dollar” chord progressions. Song writers get a lot of mileage out of progressions like Pachelbel’s “Canon in D”and other predictable chord patterns. When these are programmed into our mind, ears, and fingers, we’ll have a tool that is very useful. You’ve likely played many of these progressions without giving them much thought. If your work involves teaching, these training videos will facilitate your efforts to equip others for use of these chord patterns in different keys and styles
Advanced Chords
In Beginning Steps my words were, “Dare to be simple.” In Bigger Steps our palette of colors was expanded as sequential patterns and secondary dominant chords were studied and applied. In this final session, jazz chords and chords derived from the modes are related to chords we already know. There are new delights to be discovered as we move beyond the world of major and minor to other scales: Dorian, Mixolydian, Lydian, and Phrygian. Modulation, the final session, is filled with simple, then more creative ways of modulating to other keys, an invaluable tool.