Steve Baker's last comment in the Movement Exercises Study 2 - Essential Scales
Hi David,
In the last comment of the Steve Baker's interview in the Movement Exercises Study - Essential Scales, he says that when he plays, his mind is completely blank and that it is not an intellectual exercise.
I realize that with practice, selecting the next melodic note becomes easier, but it is hard to believe that he doesn't really think ahead when he plays. Especially after 8 minutes of the theory he went through (I barely understood every 3rd word of what he was talking about). Did I understand correctly his last comment? Could you please expand on what he really means as it did not correlate to what he said before that, at least to me.
Thank you.
Best,
Anton
Thank you David, it does make a lot of sense.
One more question, Steve and Jason pointed out that they notice when a player makes a mistake in scales. I thought that as long is it sounds good, it is a good piece. But they notice something that is out of order or doesn't follow the common pattern. Was it because they do believe that it does not sound good or it is just because it doesn't follow the order that they do not like?
Thank you for conducting these interviews. They are inspiring and have a lot of valuable information.
Best,
Anton
Hello Anton. I'm glad you're enjoying the interviews.
They're more referencing when the player goes outside of the scale, when it is clearly not a good idea to slip outside of the scale. The best, and most common, example of this is when a player is in minor.
When in major, minor notes (such as the flat-3rd and flat-7th) are okay to use... they build tension, creating movement in a melody. The funny thing is that the opposite is not true. When in minor, using major notes (like the 3rd and 7th) do not sound good... they're heard as mistakes (the untrained ear can commonly hear this too, though is very much heard to the trained ear). The minor pentatonic or blues scale is the appropriate scale, and if you step outside of that scale, its not good.
In the end, it's all about making stronger musical decisions. Though a note outside of a scale may sound okay to the listener, and even the player... if there's a better option out there... one that sounds better... we want it, and that's why we train our ear/mind, so that we can choose stronger musical notes.
The last paragraph was key "if there is a better option [], we want it." They can hear something more melodic is there and they know what is it.
Did I understand correctly the rest: there are scales we can step outside and scales we can't.
For example, Chord V has the notes G, F#,A. F# is not in the C major scale, but it may be ok. How do we know when we can step outside and what is the best choice then?
Thank you David,
Anton
The V Chord in 2nd Position (C Harmonica, key of G) is D F# A (D F# A C if you've gotten to 7th chords in your studies). The notes of a chord match the most. The notes not of the chord, but in the scale of the chord, match the second most. You will learn all about this in your Music Theory and Improvising Studies. If you're really interested in this, you can dive into those studies now... deeper than what the LOA is saying for you to do now.
Thank you David, this was very helpful.
kind regards,
Anton
Hello Anton.
The focus of studying music theory is to understand the music you're playing over so that you can make stronger musical choices.
As soloists, we use licks that we've copied from the masters, and ideas of our own. Some players rely on that alone.
Some players, like Steve and I, also spent/spend a lot of time studying how chords work, and which scales work with these chords (this is taught in the music theory and improvising lessons). We've practice this so much, that it becomes subconscious.
In the highest levels of an art, like music or sports, the focus is on doing so many drills and having so much experience, that you purposely shut off the conscious mind so that the faster, subconscious mind, can make the decisions for you.
Steve IS thinking, but not with his conscious mind... he goes into a flow state. This is all scientifically proven to happen, but only at the higher levels of an art (if you're interested in reading more about this, check out the works of Anders Ericsson).
YOUR focus right now IS to be conscious, to help guide you through this new, and complex, realm of soloing. What Steve has stated is a nice glimpse into the future of what you'll be doing.
Does this make sense?