Originally Posted by Bob Calver
Nobody has pointed out that on a guitar you learn chords which is a start towards understanding scales and harmony. A friend and I who are both guitarists were trying to bring a pianist into the line up and they were lost without 'the dots'. Guitarists can shout chords at each other but this fairly well trained pianist had no idea what an 'F chord' was. They could play any sheet music in front of them but were lost without it.
A lot of that comes from how one learned or was taught to play. I think lots of formal teaching begins with reading and playing notes and doesn't focus much, if at all, or playing chords except in the case of, e.g., guitar and ukulele. Even with piano teaching, chords 'happen' when one plays the lines of dots. How often do non-chording instrument players learn or get get taught about chords? When they are it's as likely as not, I think, to be as part of music theory, rather than as part of actually playing their instrument(s). Do challenge me if I'm wrong, because this is just my limited exposure.

There is an "easy" entry to guitar with so many songs being just three or four chords and with a capo to normalise the fingering. In quotes because I know even that isn't as easy as it appears. On a piano all the notes over all the octaves are laid out logically and consistently. It's "easy" to learn where the notes are (same disclaimer) and with electronic pianos there's even a capo-like option available.

Personally I think chords and the ability to play by ear should be much more commonly taught than they are. I find it silly that they're often not, because most reasonably accomplished will know the sound, but sometimes don't know how the chord names and notes relate. Perhaps worse still is that I think often that they don't know becomes a barrier in and of itself.

As a child I asked my grandfather, who was a pretty reasonable pianist, to teach me. He declined because "I only play by ear and that's not the correct way to learn; you should learn properly". My schools never taught me, I couldn't afford either lessons or a piano, I didn't then learn. I was almost 60 before I started, with virtually zero music education before. It's hard. I wish I'd know as a child what I know now and had pressed my request of my Grandfather. C'est la vie.

I certainly can say though, that at least in jazz circles, calling the chords is not uncommon with any instrument and knowing what types of scale work well over what chords is also pretty usual, as often is the ability to just play in a different key than usual (I definitely still struggle with that unless I have a lead-sheet in the different key). Common also is the ability to recognise when the music has gone in a different direction than expected and to follow it.

One thing I find slightly odd is that pretty much everyone can tell when a piece of music is coming to and end, or when there's about to be a change to another part of the music, e.g., verse-to-bridge or whatever, yet I think that's also not taught as often as it should be (IMHO).

Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful.
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