Playing In The Present Tense:

Learning To Listen While You Play

by Robert French

In 1979, I thought I had the banjo pretty well under control. At twenty, I had been playing for between six and seven years. I had been playing in bands and teaching for about 5 years. I could get through my solos pretty easily, could play decent enough backup, and could even sing harmony while playing. What was even better, my all-time banjo hero Alan Munde had moved to Norman, Oklahoma - where I live - and was actually giving banjo lessons! Barely able to keep my voice calm, I called Alan up and set an appointment for my first lesson. At the time, he asked what I wanted to gain from studying with him. I told Alan in no uncertain terms that I wanted to learn to get the same sparkling banjo tone out of my playing that I had always heard when he played. It made sense to me.

When we got together, Alan asked me to play a song and tactfully said: "How do you know what your playing sounds like if you don't even listen?" Slowly, it began to dawn on me what his zen question meant: I was so busy executing the rolls, fretting the notes, following the chords, improvising my solos, watching for what was coming next on the set list, thinking of something to say to the crowd in between songs, and generally trying to look cool, that I forgot the most important thing. I was not really listening to my own playing at the time I played!

Over the years, from teaching other beginning and intermediate-level banjo players, I have realized that this is a very common problem for musicians, and perhaps for banjo players in particular. Please - No sarcastic laughter from you fiddle players!

Think about it for a minute: How many times have you had one annoying section of a song which stays rough and awkward long after you are comfortable with every other lick? If you're like me, you always try to blow through that section at full speed - maybe even rush a little bit - hoping that the messy part will be over and you will be back in your comfort zone before anyone else notices. Similarly, my students often leave a note out of a roll without even realizing it. When I ask why they left out the note, they answer "I played it like I always do - just like that!" and point to the page of tab on the music stand in front of them. At that point, the student simplyhas no idea what he has or has not played.

We have probably all had this problem at one time, probably as beginners, but it came as a shock for me when Alan pointed it out in my own playing after I had been playing for several years. In short, we do not actually hear what we are playing; We hear what we think we are playing. I refer to this as The Gap between Intention and Execution. With Alan's help, I was able to develop a crude three-part method to overcome this problem. It can be roughly broken down into the following three components:

1. Practice at several different speeds. Like an Olympic runner doing interval training, you need to be comfortable playing any song or lick at any speed. You should particularly emphasize playing slowly. Oddly enough, the problem for most musicians is not that we can't play fast enough; The problem is that we can't listen fast enough! Like our hands, our ears have to learn to keep up with the demands of bluegrass banjo;
2. Learn to feel each note at the exact moment you pick it. This is a two part exercise: First, you need to concentrate on the right hand. Notice that both of the knuckles on the picking hand are slightly flexed. Watch to make sure you grab each string deliberately, with solid contact between the surface of the pick and the string. Try to feel the pop as the string leaves the pick. Second, you need to feel the vibration of the picked string in your left hand each time you fret a note, or use a hammer-on or a pull-off. The tone of your playing is entirely dependent on the ability to precisely coordinate the timing of your picking hand with your fretting hand. Again, this habit is easier to develop if you practice slowly at first;
3. Learn to sing every note you play in your head as you play it. As banjo players, we do not play just the melody notes. Instead, we usually work the melody into measure-long rolls with an emphasis on those notes which state the melody. Therefore, we need to pay attention to every note we play. Any note left out of a measure causes our timing to fall apart. After a while, you will actually be able to sing every note of every lick you play. If you can do this, you will recognize any mistake instantly, and will be able to know exactly how to correct any chronic problems. Your sense of timing will improve significantly.

With enough effort, each of these three exercises will become second nature. Again, the key is to bring your ears into a partnership with your hands. If you can do this, I guarantee that your playing will improve.

However, the most important thing you will notice is that the entire experience of making music improves when you make it a priority to listen to yourself while you play. For one thing, when we listen to ourselves, we always have an audience! After all, if we are practicing alone, and we are not listening to ourselves, what is the point? Our time spent playing is richer when we combine the joy of playing with the joy of listening Even more important, we need to learn to listen in three (or rather, four) dimensions, listening not only to ourselves but to everyone with whom we are playing. Don't ever forget that music is played by people, with other people, for people!