I think the guy is spot on. Don’t even think the title is all that click bait-y.
Don’t get me wrong - I love reading. I love the fantastic shortcut to learning music, that reading provides. And I love all of the short-cuts we have available to us in the form of educational materials - and advice and exercises and processes to utilize to more quickly become functional.
But there just is no mistaking that music is aural. Hearing sounds. Organizing sounds. Then producing similarly functioning sounds.
And I believe we are more than capable of learning entirely aurally - primarily through imitation. Heck - that’s exactly how we learn to speak and understand language.
And sure, just like with language - it’s a lot faster to make use of the resources available, than just trying to figure it all out by ear.
But it would be possible to do it that way.
And more importantly - it would be impossible to learn to play using just the books and exercises - because the technical study and exercises are entirely about HOW to play something - but give ZERO insight into “why?”.
This idea of learning a bunch of technique, a bunch of playing building blocks- along with listening and listening and listening to a bunch of music to attempt to grasp how and why to use those building blocks and then… somehow hoping that when playing with other musicians these two studies will come together - or that the time spent with other players is the time and place to starting working on putting it all together simply makes no sense to me.
Speaking for myself - after having acquired some basic technique (again, I’m not putting doing this the slowest way possible) - Harr 1&2, Chapin, some Stick Control - I primarily used “playing with records” as my guide to what I needed to learn.
If I wasn’t able to fully play something I had set my mind to playing - because it was too fast, or too complex or in a meter I didn’t have a handle on - I would paraphrase, simplify my part into something I could play. And then I would work on what I couldn’t do…. oftentimes by seeking out supplemental material to practice, but sometimes by just working on it day after day along with the music.
From there, it was rinse and repeat - from the time I was about 12 until now… I continue to let the music I want to play lead the way as to what to work on… what to get better at.
But going back to being age 13-14 - this meant, because of playing with a lot of records, when I first played with other players, I wasn’t just starting on playing music (combining technique with musical exposure)… I had done tons of that already. I used playing with players to hone those skills, not create them.
Before ever playing my first rehearsal with the school jazz band, I had logged in 100’s of hours playing alongside the drummers of the Basie, Rich, Ellington, Kenton, and Ellis bands.
Same bit - upon playing with my first rock band, I had again logged countless hours playing with Hendrix, the Fudge, the Doors, the Who, Blue Cheer, the Turtles, the Beatles, the Stones, the Ventures and on and on.
I can’t imagine playing any of those styles having just listened to them and not having extensively played them.
And I’m absolutely not talking about playing songs - early on I played with tons of bands they played songs I didn’t know. But I knew - because of the hours playing with similar records - what a drummer should sound like playing that song’s style. If there was a need to learn the specifics later - great. But first and foremost, it’s about learning the vocabulary of that style’s drumming and having some experiences with actually playing that style. This is how jams are successful and how auditions/try-outs are won. Being “good” overall - not just just in demonstrating the ability to “learn” 5 songs.
And all of this is times 100 when it comes to learning to play jazz - because is is NEVER about “playing it like the record” - the ability to be ever “in the moment” and to be able to work one’s way inside a musical setting is paramount.
Personally I know no other way to learn to do that - to practice doing that - except “playing along to records”. Not passively - but full involvement every time. Committing to really playing with that ensemble - like you were there on stage - on in the studio with them.
Sometimes as though the original drummer isn’t there - sometimes as though, he is - but always learning from him, using him as a source of “this is how I did it - now, figure out what you’re going to do. Copy me exactly. Or do your own thing” Or both. It’s our choice. The whole point is to experience trying a number of things and discerning which ones we think work better or worse.
I can’t recommend enough - that everyone should watch this video.
but the guy messed up with the clickbait title if that isn't what he meant.
