Use your EARS!!

[4 stringed fury]

All my friends tell to use my ears when playing but I can't pick the bass line out of a song and play it for the life of me.

Is there something I can practice or is there something I am completely missing?

Any other advice would be much obliged

Thanks in Advance.

[Mr_Sore_Fingerz]

Originally Posted by 4 stringed fury

All my friends tell to use my ears when playing but I can't pick the bass line out of a song and play it for the life of me.

Is there something I can practice or is there something I am completely missing?

Any other advice would be much obliged

Thanks in Advance.

Some people can, some people can't...it doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you.

A lot of people learn to play themself by playing by ear while other people go by tablature or sheet music. Doesn't mean one is better than the other, you just learn different ways. Developing an ear might be USEFUL but it doesn't mean you suck because you can't just pick stuff out by ear.

But hey....just my $0.02 =/

[4 stringed fury]

I hope your right.

[MrBorisSpider]

To be honest, it depends on the music you listen to and how it's mixed. I can't hear the bass on most Pantera songs, but I can on a lot of Bob Marley stuff, for example.

One thing I really reccomend is purchasing or torrenting Gary Willis' Ear Training Book. You learn to sing the scales, so you memorize what the different intervals of major and minor scales sound like. That will be a big help.

One more tip is to not nessecarily listen for a bassline at first, but for wether or not the song is major or minor-sounding. Listen to the vocals especially. Then divide the song up into it's different parts (chorus, verse, solo if there's one etc).

Listen to it a couple times and try to hum or sing the melody. Then figure out the bass part, bit by bit. It might take a while; I read somewhere your first transcription might take up to 20 hours.

Lastly, don't try to figure it all out at once if it's a complicated peice like Rush. You'll end up frustrated and probably with a headache.

[lukaville]

Ear training is a funny thing. Most of the muscians that i have worked with all claimed that they were just borned with perfect pitch. I think some of them are lying. For me it took some time to develope----years to get good----and still not perfect....You need to start with something really simple. Maybe try a kids cd with simple songs. Listen to bass line and try to pick out the intervals first. Then try to play it. If you cant seem to get the starting note just pick a note and try to play it from that reference note. Interval recognition is important to those of us that dont have perfect pitch. Remember to try first with really simple songs. Also try one where the bass is more promident in the mix. Another thing to remember is that some bands use alot of effects which can make it hard to detect the right note when first trying to learn. A guitar with alot of distortion can drown a bass sometimes making it hard to really hear the bass. Another thing you should do everyday is play and hum scales together. Pay close attention to the intervals. After awhile you should be able to hum two notes and then play them because you recognize the interval. There is also a couple of websites that offer free programs to help with interval training. Its called solfage i think. I have never used it but have heard about it on this website before. I didnt have a comp when i learned to play so i can not tell you how good it works. But just keep on playing it will come. The scale playing/singing and learning the intervals will work. Piano players learn melodic intervals by playing two notes together and naming it 2nd 3rd...so forth too.
Hope this helps........im not a expert just know what you are going through because i have been there too.

[rythmicillusion]

Some tips that may help...

1) Find a recording you like of an "easy" song. This is subjective for sure, but take "Iron Man" for example. The main riff is repeated throughout the song many times.

After you pick a tune, you have to be able to zone in on the specific "slice" of the mix. If you use iTunes or another computer audio thing, great. Most have a built in EQ...experiment and try to zone in on what's going on down low in the mix. It's really going to vary song to song (part of the beauty of it), but I usually end up boosting around 4-5db @ 50hz-200hz, and cutting 6 or more db@1500 hz (1.5khz) and up. This way, you will be really only shining the proverbial light on the low end.

There will be kick drums and other things down there. Now that you can here the bottom in some sort of isolation, first try to pick up the rhythm and say it out loud, or plucking muted strings. When you got that figured out, finding the pitches comes along. Here, its going to be a lot of guess and check at first. Try and find just the first two pitches. Ask if certain sounds appear to repeat, ascend up or down a little bit, ascend up or down a lot. It's gonna be hard at first, but the more you do it the more natural and intuitive the process becomes.

2) Try to play the vocal melody of a tune on the bass. Again, keep it simple. This way, you approach the problem for the opposite sonic angle, which may be easier for your ear. By learning the melody on the bass, it may help to open up other sonic territory (cymbals and toms, keys, BASS!)

3) If you have any competent and patient musician friends (piano/keys especially), you could have them help you out. Ask them to play a simple, 2 or 3 note major melody. Then sing it out loud or to yourself. Then find it on the bass. Another thing that gets easier in practice. This will help with recorded music as well.

Hope this helps in some way!

[4 stringed fury]

Thanks for the help. When I play to songs I can sort of make up bass lines with notes that match the song's original notes ( they aren't the same ones though... well, I think they aren't...) but when I play them separate from the song it seems like what I have made came from some other song.

[fretlessman71]

Here's a neat trick for being able to pick out bass lines in a song:

Put the song on your stereo (meaning anything other than headphones), leave for the next room in your house, and close the door.

You may have to experiment with getting the right volume on the stereo, but you'll find that at a certain point all you can hear is the bass line coming through, albeit a bit muffled.

If you focus on the sound for a while, and then go back and listen for that part you just heard while being in the same room as the stereo, you'll get used to what the bass line sounds like mixed in with the other instruments.

I used this technique in picking out Black Sabbath bass lines and getting them note-for-note. I had old cassette tape recordings of the songs with some pretty blurry mixes, and with a lot of effort I was able to make it work. Bet it works for you too.

[D.Don]

Originally Posted by fretlessman71

Here's a neat trick for being able to pick out bass lines in a song:

Put the song on your stereo (meaning anything other than headphones), leave for the next room in your house, and close the door.

You may have to experiment with getting the right volume on the stereo, but you'll find that at a certain point all you can hear is the bass line coming through, albeit a bit muffled.

If you focus on the sound for a while, and then go back and listen for that part you just heard while being in the same room as the stereo, you'll get used to what the bass line sounds like mixed in with the other instruments.

I used this technique in picking out Black Sabbath bass lines and getting them note-for-note. I had old cassette tape recordings of the songs with some pretty blurry mixes, and with a lot of effort I was able to make it work. Bet it works for you too.

Or just use an EQ to filter some frequencies out...

Find a good method for ear training, as many peeps mention here it's fully possible to develop and get to a level where you actually can use it. I know many musicians who has done that and are really good at it now. (I can't tell how to do, I am one of those born with it, ear hears something, fingers play, don't ask me how it works.)

Good luck dude!

D.Don

[4 stringed fury]

^^^ Wow, thats pretty smart right there.

[fretlessman71]

EQing freqs isn't quite the same; leaving the room actually filters out the higher notes completely (so many of us are used to hearing the singer or the sax or the guitarist that it's hard NOT to focus on it if you can hear it even a little bit). In a pinch, however, it's another good option.

AFA Ear Training goes, here's a tip: LEARN YOUR MAJOR SCALES INSIDE AND OUT. Tune up every time you pick up your bass and play those scales. Play them slow and really listen to every note. It sounds corny, but you're learning what those notes SOUND like, not just how to get through them fast so you can say you practiced as you toss in a Primus disc. Everything you're hearing can be identified in terms of the Major Scale (i.e.; "Lessee, we're in A, and he's playing a D; so that's the 4th note of the scale). It's a great "sonic measuring stick" to use.

[black_labb]

i have a friend who is somewhat deaf, but can figure things out (guitar, not bass) really quickly. im slowly gettint there. i cant sing in tune at all, which may be holding me back a bit.

[funkydanbass]

Originally Posted by Mr_Sore_Fingerz

Some people can, some people can't...it doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you.

A lot of people learn to play themself by playing by ear while other people go by tablature or sheet music. =/

This is absolute rubbish. 99% of musicians have worked hard at developing an ear. Through transcription, sight-singing, interval identification and singing etc etc. Most musicians are NOT born with an innate ability to identify pitches. Even people possesing perfect pitch need to develop there relative pitch...

Music isn't a matter of being a reader OR being an ear player. We all have to work at all aspects of musicianship. And for most of us mere mortals it taks lots of practice.

Don't be disheartened that you can't transcribe basslines from record perfectly yet... If you work at it you will get better. Hook up with a teacher that can guide your transcription and help develop your ear.

[KRSplat]

If someone seems like they naturally have great relative pitch, it's most likely because they grew up with music and have been ear-trained in the same way that a toddler learns English.

[D.Don]

Originally Posted by fretlessman71

EQing freqs isn't quite the same; leaving the room actually filters out the higher notes completely (so many of us are used to hearing the singer or the sax or the guitarist that it's hard NOT to focus on it if you can hear it even a little bit). In a pinch, however, it's another good option.

Not meaning to start a rant, or being a smartass, but you can do that with a nice eq (plugin) as well.



D.Don

[MarkTAW]

If you want to filter the high frequencies out entirely, you can use a lowpass filter, which does just what it says - it only lets the low frequencies pass through.

If you want to improve your ear, sing what you play. It also wouldn't hurt if what you played was singing exercises based on Solfege. Do Mi So Mi Do.

[fretlessman71]

Originally Posted by D.Don

Not meaning to start a rant, or being a smartass, but you can do that with a nice eq (plugin) as well.



D.Don

No worries - I'm just oldschool I guess. I know what worked for me, and I went that way. It was easy to hear what notes were rattling the hollowcore door between me and the stereo, and I parlayed that into an ability to hear through the guitar. As per normal, ymmv, right?

[fretlessman71]

Originally Posted by MarkTAW

If you want to improve your ear, sing what you play. It also wouldn't hurt if what you played was singing exercises based on Solfege. Do Mi So Mi Do.

Do mi so mi do mi so mi fa la So it goes!
While you sing your scales And your arpeeee-ggios.

[Deacon_Blues]

It takes years of hard work to develop a good ear.

I have a guitarist friend who 8-10 years ago when we were playing a lot together had severe problems figuring out songs and riffs by ear. It was easier for me. I think the reason is that I grew up in a very musical environment, and he didn't. Anyway, nowadays he's pretty fluent at it.

So, it was easier to me, but it didn't come without hard work for many years and I'm still learning. Back then, I wrote down the chords for lots and lots of songs which gradually built up a musical memory of how certain chord progressions and intervals sounded. I also learned a lot of theory while transcribing. Nowadays, I hardly ever write down the chords anymore, as my ears tell me what to play. Exceptions are if the song is full of strange harmonies I still have difficulties with, or if it is a new song I bring to a rehearsal.

It takes years to develop a good ear, but if you do it every day you will eventually get it quicker than you otherwise would. What's sure is that it pays off in the end when you're not depending on someone else telling you the chords anymore. Music becomes much more fun when you can freely express yourself musically.

+1 to sing melodies and play them at the same time. Very helpful.

[Stumbo]

You can use some "slow-downer" software to learn also. Some have e.q. to filter unwanted frequencies. Check out: MP3 Slow down software?

Also, learning to play melodies on the piano from memory is a great ear trainer.

Get the tab for a song, learn the tab, then play along with the song, e.q. the bass out of the song, you play the bass along with the song from memory.....Rinse and repeat a couple of thousand times.