If you can't, please just avoid answering the question. I'm interested in how musicians experience the ability to hear and reproduce (and make variations on) patterns of music that they hear. How do you imagine the intervals between notes? How do you decide which chords to use? Is your musical memory analogous to any of the other ways you remember things (as far as you can tell)?  Thanks for your help.
211600
Interesting question. I started playing by ear on classical guitar and piano when I was six. I was always composing my own music and songs rather than learning other people's music. It wasn't until I was fourteen that I learnt that there was even such a thing as chords or musical notation so I basically started learning the names for the things I was already doing.\n\nPlaying by ear was always trial and error. The more you do it, the easier it gets to distinguish sounds and their relationship to each other...especially in European and American music...which tend to be pretty simple in structure.\n\nBut for me, playing by ear, or improvising, ....(and this might sound really flaky but it's true)....has always been a matter of being led on a journey by the emotional reaction I have to each sound made. That's for creating music.\n\nWhen it comes to learning someone else's music by ear, I just break it up with how I listen to it....listen to the bass line and figure that out,....listen to the melody...figure that out...listen to the harmony...figure that out...then I play them all together and somewhere between what my fingers are trying to do and all the music  I have already played in the past, all the technical details sort of just work themselves out.
221995
Listen to the masters.  Listen, listen, listen.  It drills a lot of good technique into your head.  Practice your scales in all different orders, play them along to music to get a feel for the best notes.  Then, just improvise as much as you can.  It's amazing how much improvising in a group can help with your quality.  Oh yeah, that's another thing, no matter what you're playing, keep your sound quality up.  Good breathing and a strong sound will stand out no matter what notes you're playing.
616622
Just play the notes that are there.  If you know chords, you can add them with your left hand and improvise.  Add harmony notes to the single notes for riffs or variety. \nA single note tabulature can be a starting point using that melody to create your own music.
572121
Even when I was a child I liked the 'incidental' music of shows and movies.  Why is it we can all recognize music that accompanies scary scenes, romantic scenes, fight scenes, weird/bizarre, etc.  I also think the person who's responsible for designing a set (what pictures do you have on the wall?  What kind of telephone, television, or CDs would the character have?  If the setting is furturistic, the choices become even more fun to play with.
618398
It's completely possible. There are some people who are born with an aptitude for it, but those people are few and far between.  Most professional musicians aren't "born with it" per se, but work very hard and become better at what they do.  These people will never be looked upon as the greatest musicians of our time, but a living they will make.  Some people (Mozart, Beathoven, Lennon, Clapton, etc.) have undeniable God given abilities, but if you committ yourself to it, anything is possible.
60230
This isn't really a wonderfully helpful answer, but there is a free program called Psycle that lets you use your computer as a virtual bank of synthesizers to create whatever music you want. Should be fairly easy to google it up.
245434
www.mxtabs.com \n\nI play drums and I just play along with my cd player...i have never read sheet music...i always thought it was easiest just to listen to the beat and remember it.
328856
Good grief - that's a bit of a broad question isn't it?  In one sense music is merely frequency - vibrations that our ears pick up and our brain converts to the sounds we call music.  In historical terms in 'classical' music it comes in a number of categories - roughly speaking it goes Mediaeval music - sort 1200s-1500s, Rennaisance Music, about 1500s, Baroque music, 1600s, Classical Music, 1700s, Romantic Music, 1800s, 20th Century Music and contemporary music.  OK, very rough dates, there are overlaps.  What do you want to know?  There's all kinds of stuff about musical analysis, notation, composing, conducting, performing etc etc
246034
Mostly trail and error.  Find something you really like, modify it so you can get a taste of what it would be like, and then try something of your own.  My husband has tab writing software that he writes his riffs on.  It is kind of annoying, sounds like old school nintendo, but gives you the basic idea of how it may sound.  Also helps you find the beat and speed of what you want, plus you can add bass, drums, etc.  The software is Tabledit.  I know they have a demo of it, but you are limited as to what you can save if I remember correctly.
36457
Look up the "Mozart effect" on the internet, and you should find enough to keep you busy for a while.\n\nI also found the following review articles on pubmed, you may want to look at. Ask your teacher to help you to find the articles. \n\n2:  Schellenberg EG.  Music and nonmusical abilities.\nAnn N Y Acad Sci. 2001 Jun;930:355-71. Review. \n\n3:  Jenkins JS.  The Mozart effect.\nJ R Soc Med. 2001 Apr;94(4):170-2. \n\n4:  Thompson BM, Andrews SR. An historical commentary on the physiological effects of music: Tomatis, Mozart and neuropsychology.\nIntegr Physiol Behav Sci. 2000 Jul-Sep;35(3):174-88. Review.
219849
It takes lots of practice. Jazz is a very unique style to play and it seems like you either have it or you don't. I watched Neil Peart (an awesome drummer, with Rush) try to play jazz once and it was kinda funny. He's just not cut out for it. \n\nThe key to mainstream jazz is the Ride. Just concentrate on the quarter note; the other two notes are almost like grace notes. Play them very softly and maybe even skip them occasionally. When you play, loosen up and think like a person who has no job and nothing to do, he's just sitting around with a couple friends staring at the clouds. The Ride on the downbeat and Hi-Hat on the upbeat are the talkative guy who leads the conversation. The snare is the guy who occasionally has something to say, but is reserved and passive most of the time. Jazz is about feeling, not notes so relax and take it slow. If you've only been playing 2 years it will take some time and a lot of practice. Just keep the ride going and throw some snare in a little at a time and it will become more natural after a while. It takes years to get fairly good, and like I mentioned, even some of the worlds greatest drummers can't play jazz.
646853
I have a number of melodies that have come about through playing around with the guitar or piano. then I'll be going through my day, and a topic or phrase will catch my attention. I'll build up a lyrical chorus, then start thinking about which melody it might fit into. Eventually I'll start filling out the backstory (almost all my songs are anecdotal) and the lyrics round themselves out.\n\nThe easiest part: writing the music that plays underneath the lyrics, between choruses. As long as you don't mess with the key too much, almost anything simple will do.\n\nThe hardest part: The bridge! The bridge! The bridge! A great bridge can make or break a great song. Most beginning songwriters don't even think about it. Pearl Jam writes great bridges. Led Zeppelin used to take the bridges out of earlier songs and form entirely new songs from them. ("Whole Lotta Love" started as a bridge from "Dazed and Confused.") A lot of the softer rock bands from the 70's, such as Ambrosia and The Little River Band, wrote great bridges.\n\nThere's no right or wrong way. As you probably know, it's a very personal process, and each songwriter finds there own way. Good luck, hope to hear some of your music someday!
315781
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Neil_Hawes/theory.htm\nhttp://www.musictheory.net/\nhttp://musiced.about.com/od/musictheory/
363473
It's kind of a backwards response to your question, but here's a story about creating music using chaos theory:\nhttp://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1200/is_n26-27_v146/ai_16280947\n\nAnd a study explaining how music theory works to explain metaphor in science:\nhttp://www.faculty.english.ttu.edu/baake/baakeharmonics.htm
212548
You're off to a great start. I've written a few in the past also; before I start writing, I listen to a few songs in the same catagory as the song I'm writing to get scenarios and detail ideas. I also use personal experiences to infuence my songs.
636690
1st off, I want to say that it is not easy (for most of us).\n\nBut since you love music so much, it will be much easier.\n\nIt would REALLY help if you learned about music theory (chords, intervals, etc...) Just search "music theory lessons" on yahoo and you should be able to find some good sites.\n\nWhy learn music theory? It's like the grammar of music. When you write an essay, knowing grammar will really help. It's the same in music; knowing music theory will really help you.\n\nBut if you don't want to, you could just use your ear. If it sounds right, then... use it! If not, then don't.\n\nStart by writing short pieces. Don't be discouraged if your first pieces don't sound satisfactory at all. It is hard, remember.\n\nHaving an instrument next to you while composing will help you check out what notes to use, what chords to use etc...\n\nDon't be afraid to do something different. There's no real rules in art, only traditions.\n\nStudy the music of composers or singers you like.  (what chords they use, how they structure the song, etc.)\n\nThere are many composing tips on  the internet as well. \n\nTry writing using sections with the number of measures divisible by 4.
182371
in a jam session you usually just follow along with what the others are playing. you have to have good improv skills. just work on some riffs and start playing them and the others should just fall in behind you. when they play something you just fall in with them and play along. it helps if you know the songs the other people play, so if they start playing something, then you can play along. get an idea of the songs they usually play.  goodluck!!