Ear Training

[Robert Spencer]

What can a beginner like myself do to facilitate ear training? I seem to be severely challenged in this area. There is a huge hearing deficit to be overcome but even before this occured I never had what could be considered a good ear for music.
I am playing bass in a newly formed ( in process of forming ) church band and want to do my best. At this point I am mostly filling in with root notes behind the guitars. I know my fretboard well and have a fair understanding of chord progression. The others are tolerant of my (dis) abilities but still as I have stated I desire to be the best I can be and at this point I am encountering difficulty in staying with the others. The difficulty seems to be in hearing much more than in timing or rhythm. I have not reached the point of being close enough to being in time to fine tune that with rhythm as I see it. Thanks & take care. Bob

[blakelock]

couple of suggestions (these are basically assembled from my own reading of this forum)

- you say you're still struggling to keep in time. this is a big deal. practice with a metronome (here's a free one). go slowly at first. also, practice playing along with songs on the radio/CD (this will probably also help your ear)

- you say you know chord progressions well. do you know the chord notes for a major chord vs minor? how about a dominant 7? these chord tones (sometimes called "triads") will be what you use when you're tired of sticking with the root. you can find all these online.

- other than that....practice. a little every day. practice your weaknesses, not just your strengths. keep playing with your band. maybe there's even one band member that'll do an extra practice with just the 2 of you.

good luck!

[XylemBassGuitar]

Hey Bob,

I hope I am interpreting your question properly...I'm assuming you are asking about developing your ear to hear the different intervals that the rest of the band is playing so you can go outside of just playing root notes. Let me know if I've misunderstood.

There are definitely more formal ways of training your ear, but I developed my ear through playing along with lots of recordings. I would play a song I liked (that was also within my abilities) on my CD player, iTunes, etc. and then I would learn the main bass part by listening and trying to play along. In the beginning, sometimes it was a disaster, other times I figured out the line right away. Once I figured out the original bass line, I would try to make my own line while still making sure it grooved with the song. This greatly improved my ability to pick up and improvise with a band who's songs I'd never heard before. One of the best things about playing along with recordings is that no one gets impatient with you when you take a long time to figure out a part. Hope this helps!