I need help to train my ear

[morris888]

I need help to train my ear, I've played bass for almost two years, and I think that it should be a little more good at this point, and it isnt. Ideas are welcome

[Infern0]

I am searching for the golden solution, but it isnt coming. I will let you know if I manage to find something.

[MysticMichael]

Listening to a lot of music is helpful to musicianship as reading a lot of books is helpful to developing good writing skills - it's the core discipline & substance of which our craft is composed. It helps one to learn "how it's supposed to be done", and offers many valuable lessons & insights to one who can process and internalize what's being presented...

But when you listen to music, listen critically & analytically - don't just listen passively for pleasure, as a non-musician would. And if you've not been doing it already, you really should spend some time picking up songs from recordings - CDs, MP3s, broadcast or Internet radio streams - whatever the source. See how quickly your ear is able to tell you the key signature, for example. See how readily you can pick up the rhythmic structure of the song, and so on...

As with so many things, proficiency comes with repetition. A real musician, IMHO, is always subconsciously thinking about music - it's just constantly flowing in and out of his/her mind & spirit. In such a frame of mind, the ability to deconstruct & to play music by ear should come quite naturally...

MM

[seanm]

Playing with other musicians is the best, but here's something that helped me. Find an oldies country station (I went online). Then play along to the songs.

The advantage to old country is that the basslines are mainly root/fifths and the chord structures tend to run towards four chords I IV V II with the odd VI thrown in. But aren't quite so rigid as the blues.

Once you have this down, you can move on to other genres.

[Lowpro]

Train your ears for what?

If you're trying to learn a song by listening, the root is usually easy to find and just find the key they're playing in.

I dunno I don't understand the question, train your ear to other songs or train your ear to certain 5ths or 4ths?

[jweiss]

If you are talking about what most people think of as ear training, try this:

http://www.solfege.org/

This is also good. It is focused on learning to sight read music but at the same time you train your ears:

full version is $60, trial version is free:
http://www.prolevelguitar.com/SightR...aderMaster.htm

[CJK84]

I'm not a great musician overall, but I'm proud of my ear for picking out details on recordings.

Over the past 20 years, I've played in various groups with approximately 25 other musicians and not one of them has come even close to having the ear that I do.

My secret?

Good genes, perhaps.

But also hundreds of hours (probably thousands) spent figuring out bass, vocal, guitar, keyboard and drum parts from recordings.

MysticMichael is right on when he says that you must listen critically and analytically - and this takes work.

I've used some special tricks such as disconnecting one speaker, panning to one side, cranking the treble, listening on headphones then listening on a big stereo system, etc....

But it comes down to work. Most of the musicians I've worked with simply don't want to listen closely to a recording over and over - many of them have wanted me to tell them the part that's being played/sung on the recording, not realizing that there's little gain, ear-wise, in having a line spoon-fed to you.

There doesn't seem to be a shortcut. If you want strong ears, exercise 'em regularly by figuring parts out from recordings!

[HowLow]

To add my 2cents.. Sing what you want to play.. then play it... repeat... works wonders to help the ear/mind/hands into one connection between you and your bass...

[AsianVoodoo]

Originally Posted by MysticMichael

Listening to a lot of music is helpful to musicianship as reading a lot of books is helpful to developing good writing skills - it's the core discipline & substance of which our craft is composed. It helps one to learn "how it's supposed to be done", and offers many valuable lessons & insights to one who can process and internalize what's being presented...

But when you listen to music, listen critically & analytically - don't just listen passively for pleasure, as a non-musician would. And if you've not been doing it already, you really should spend some time picking up songs from recordings - CDs, MP3s, broadcast or Internet radio streams - whatever the source. See how quickly your ear is able to tell you the key signature, for example. See how readily you can pick up the rhythmic structure of the song, and so on...

As with so many things, proficiency comes with repetition. A real musician, IMHO, is always subconsciously thinking about music - it's just constantly flowing in and out of his/her mind & spirit. In such a frame of mind, the ability to deconstruct & to play music by ear should come quite naturally...

MM

Wow, this is the exact philosophy that I live by! It drives me into having some rather "picky" tastes in music because if I can get the rhythmic and key structure down within the first minute it gets boring. My friends hate me for it but I just see it as necessary to my growth as a musician. My friends don't understand that I don't really have a "picky" taste but rather a taste that is mature. Thanks for recognizing this, I thought I was alone in my obsession...

[DocBop]

The key to ear training is singing and transcribing. Sing all your bass lines either in numbers or solfege. That starts getting the physical relationship between thinking or hearing a line and playing it. A couple sites I go to are:

http://www.good-ear.com/servlet/EarTrainer

http://www.iwasdoingallright.com/

If you can find someone wanting to work on their ear too buddy up with them so you can test each other. Especially another bass player so you can eventually throw bass lines at each other and play them back. Last use a piano for practicing singing and hearing intervals, scales, chords. It works much better with piano. I went to GC and picked up a nice little keyboard with lots of feature for about $150, best investment I've made in a long time.

[Joe P]

Originally Posted by seanm

...Find an oldies country station (I went online). Then play along to the songs.

The advantage to old country is that the basslines are mainly root/fifths and the chord structures tend to run towards four chords I IV V II with the odd VI thrown in. But aren't quite so rigid as the blues.

Once you have this down, you can move on to other genres.

Dang-it! I'd almost forgotten, but an old friend of mine - Ted Lane, who's a pro Musician - told me the same thing!

Joe

[Just J]

My biggest problem is I don't trust my ear. I need to relax and just listen. I think to much sometimes.

[Deacon_Blues]

Originally Posted by seanm

Playing with other musicians is the best, but here's something that helped me. Find an oldies country station (I went online). Then play along to the songs.

The advantage to old country is that the basslines are mainly root/fifths and the chord structures tend to run towards four chords I IV V II with the odd VI thrown in. But aren't quite so rigid as the blues.

Once you have this down, you can move on to other genres.

Good piece of advice there.

I'm quoting this too, because you need to start to transcribe/play along to really simple songs like those country songs with two or three chords (I, IV, V). When you get these easily, increase the difficulty slowly by adding songs with minor chords too (ii, iii, vi, vii). These (but not really vii which mostly is used in minor songs as a m7b5 chord) are sometimes also played as major dominant seventh chords, like in the chord progression I, III7, IV, VI7, II7,V7, I. This might be useful to know.

That was the basics. Then there's also songs in other modes than ionian (major) and aeolian (minor) like mixolydian (example: Sweet Home Alabama) and there's songs with modulations within them (example: The Actor by Michael Learns To Rock).

This should get you started. Remember no-one gets a good ear without ear training. I struggled a lot with the basics about 12 years ago and I've got a pretty good ear by now. Genes might make it an easier/faster process for some people (based on my experiences, I think I below to this group of people), but everyone needs to work on it to become good at it. I've seen people get good at this also with much "worse" genes, so there's no reason to ever give up on it.

[Sarbecue Boss]

Don't just learn bass parts by ear. Learn melodies to all your favorite songs. Learn the themes to your favorite TV shows. Learn sax parts. Learn guitar and piano parts. Learn vocal lines. the more you use something, the better you get at it.

[lowphatbass]

In my "book" there's a difference between ear training and learning to play by ear. Learning to play by ear consists of simply learning to play what you hear. How long this takes varies depending on natural ability(how musical you are based on backround and many feel-genetics) and quality time spent. I know cats who are naturally very gifted and dedicated who have become monsters in 2 or 3 years!
Actual ear training will not only supercharge your ability to "see" and play what you hear but will give you some grounding in music theory.***This takes study and hard a lot of hard work!*** While the theory may not bring instant gratification it will almost surely pay great dividends down the line. Solfege is great, also keep in mind methods that sit you in front of a piano can really help some people "visualize" chord and scale intervals.
It's a good idea to keep trying to learn songs by listening. Listening is so important!! I have had SO many great music educators stress 50% of your practice time should be spent listening. Not just HEARING, but actual listening!
Different styles of music require different skills. Many blues, rock and gospel players know little to no theory, and they work because they don't need to. But it's a limitation, I know a couple blues guitarist's who went back and learned theory so they could teach lessons to supplement their gig income, one of them got interested in jazz and has become quite good. He does more gigs due to his added versatility and has quite a few students.....Two examples of how theory can help you as a musician later on....