Thanks, PgFantastic!

Shastastan - you may be right about learning a chording instrument before (or simultaneously with) a melodic instrument. I came from a musical family. My mom played a Lowery organ at our house back in the '60s, when I started on the clarinet (I was 10). The Lowery was a two-tiered keyboard with a bass pedalboard. She was no Lenny Dee on it, but she could read and play fairly well. So I became familiar with the basics of chords (and hearing how the bass lines fit in) at about the same time I started my music studies. Plus, music was played often on the stereo. My dad didn't play an instrument, but he was an avid listener. He had a couple of Pete Fountain records which I would play along with, trying to copy his phrases note-for-note. I particularly remember Pete's album "At the Bateau Lounge", on Coral Records (1960). I played it so many times that I can still hear most of it in my head. I think that the practice of relying on my ear from the very beginning, as well as hearing and seeing a chording instrument being played, helped me to pick up the bass guitar and other instruments without too much effort, in my adult life.

I've heard that learning additional languages works in a similar way to learning additional musical instruments- we've heard of people who can speak 4 or 8 or 15 languages fluently, and it seems like a miracle. But they say that the first additional language is the most difficult, the second is a bit easier, and subsequent languages can be picked up even more easily. Because all human languages have many things in common- verbs, nouns, adjectives, syntax similarities. The same thing is true of musical instruments- the elements of music are common among all instruments. So if you become really familiar with the commonalities, the particulars can be picked up without too much trouble.

As far as arranging goes, yes, that's a special skill, but I think it relies upon familiarity with the commonalities of music, mainly. As well as creative aspects of musical expression similar to how a painter chooses to mix the colors in his palette. I haven't really tried my hand at traditional arranging, so I will have to defer to the experts in this area. But I do believe that knowing several instruments (melodic, chordal, and percussive instruments) can be a help in arranging (and mixing, and producing), because you become familiar with how all the instruments fit together to form a particular sonic texture.

Regards,
Doug

Last edited by protostar; 06/05/09 09:37 AM.