> That's a case where a music education was a hindrance rather than an > advantage. Had the bassist learned the tune aurally it would not have > occurred to him to question whether it was in a minor key or dorian; it > should just have sounded "right." If it didn't, the further education > he'd need would be with his ears rather than his intellect. In my > opinion.
Sometimes even when learnt aurally, problems arise: I played before in a band where the guitar player hadn't a traditional/folk music background but a pop/bossa/blues one and he used to play minor chords to dorian or even mixolydian tunes (we played a jig set, Scarce o'tatties/Slieve Russell/Calliope House, and until we reach the final Dmajor all the chords were minor, well, he actually thought that the set was made of two tunes!) I think that knowledge of modes help, it's not particularly difficult to understand and put in practice (here Jack's tutorial helped me a lot, thanks Jack); I agree with Nigel in that there's no need to know them to play them, the same that there's no need to know that a jig is in 6/8 to play it in good time nor to be able to read music to play a tune, but I also agree with Matt in the idea of one thing complementing the other. I've played many years with almost no theory knowledge, and the fact of learning a little of practical theory maybe didn't make me a better musician, but it helped me to understand some whys and hows of my playing. Cheers, Manuel Waldesco Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
