Ruud Ouwehand had this urge since he was a young child. He learned how to play by ear out of curiosity. And that undoubtedly played a big role in becoming who he is today – a sought after musician and educator with teaching positions at the conservatories of Amsterdam (NL), Enschede (NL) and Bremen (Germany).

Growing up in a musical household, Ruud was constantly singing and playing guitar or piano. He was learning songs by listening over and over again on the family tape recorder. Genres didn’t matter – classical, jazz, pop, traditional folk music, even jingles – he was soaking up music like a sponge.

Later, Ruud did the same with his brother’s Gypsy Swing and jazz guitar records – playing guitar along with Django Reinhardt, Wes Montgomery and the early George Benson. When the bass player in his brother’s band quit, Ruud took over, first on bass guitar and eventually, at age 16, on upright bass. He continued to learn the same way: “Playing along with recordings of Joe Pass, Jim Hall, Freddy Green in the Count Basie Band, Ray Brown and Oscar Peterson was my only hobby in those days – no written music, only ears.”

After studying at the Hilversum Conservatory with some of the Netherlands’ best jazz musicians and gaining recognition for performances in clubs, on live radio and in the studio, Ruud was offered a teaching position at his alma mater for upright bass and ear training, which is were I had the pleasure to be one of his students.

Showing his students how to play by ear is the most important mission in Ruud Ouwehand’s teaching. He plays piano in his bass lessons, knows many jazz standards and works with his students on becoming adept at playing standards and chord progressions in all keys.

Harmonic context is key, not looking at a chord in isolation: “What is important is where it is coming from and where it is going.” For Ruud voice leading is crucial when playing walking bass, melodies or solos. “Jim Hall called it ‘the inner voice’”.
Regarding playing in challenging keys he says: “The audience doesn’t care how difficult a key is, they want to hear good music. You should practice difficult keys until they sound as good as the ‘easy’ keys.”

Here’s a list of exercises that Ruud’s students work on regularly during lessons:

• play jazz standards in all keys: bass lines, heads (melodies), solos
• modulate in the middle of a song (e.g. play the last A section a half step higher or lower or in a completely different key)
• start the melody of a standard on a random note (without thinking about the key first)
• play a bebop head an octave higher (on upright bass that means a completely different fingering)
• play along with known and unknown recordings
• “write along” with recordings
• play along with music in other genres (including country songs, kids’ songs, Oom-pah or hurdy-gurdy music, often with I-IV-V harmonies)
• find the logic in chord progressions (add or skip chords)
• compose original chord progressions
• quickly memorize songs
• change time signatures in the middle of a song

Of course ample time is devoted to technique and sight reading studies as well.

Some of the tasks in Ruud’s lessons can be challenging for students initially. But working through them always seems to pay off. Here is what some of his former students have to say: