For example: we had some guests over while my dad was playing guitar, one of the guests just picked up a spare guitar and started playing with him.
Or [that one video of the two sax players.](https://youtu.be/1_9IMZcbKHQ)
They hadn’t spoke before and they just started making music with each other.
I’m sorry I’m not very good at describing it but how can a musician just start a duet without talking. It seems like magic.
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It awed me too when I learned to play instruments a while back, that in order to play along with anyone, really you mostly need to abide by 2 things:
• The rhythm. This one is the easiest and most intuitive to understand; if you play out of rhythm, you will just sound like a mess.
• The key and scale. You may be familiar with the key which is the height of a sound (A, B, C, …, G); well they each have a number of scales (major scale, minor scale) that describe sets of keys that sound harmonious together. For instance, the major scale of C is made of C, E, and G. If you play on another key or scale than your friend, that too will sound like a mess.
How to find out? Well, when I play with someone playing an instrument I don’t play (for instance a cello), I’m unable to look at their fingers and recognize the notes they’re playing, therefore I can’t deduct the key and scale; so I would typically ask them “what key and scale should I play”, and they tell me, so that’s enough for me to play along.
However, your friend was a guitar player himself, so he probably looked at what chords the other guitar player was playing, and deduced the key and scale without needing to ask.
How did he recognize the notes being played? How did he deduct the key and scale? How did he know what would sound good with it? Years of learning and practice. Music is fairly technical and there’s a fair amount that there is no choice but to learn by heart. All the while training your body at operating those instruments with decreasing effort, thereby eventually having tons of fun jamming with friends and strangers on a whim. 😉
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