Anybody have any great ear training methods?

[ThomasG]

I need to start working on my ear, hearing basslines and chords. Doe any of you fellow bassist's have any recomend methods,books, or websites. Also how are those ear training cd's that have been in various magaizines over the years (the real happy dude, you know the ones) ? Thanks and peace to the bottom line.

[Dave Muscato]

The Perfect Pitch ear-training method (David Lucas Burge, right?) does work, but not nearly as well as he says it does. Mostly what it did for me was force me to spend a lot of time really closely listening to my instrument and to music, which of course will improve your ear, with or without the course. I'm not saying I didn't get anything out of it, but I don't think it was worth it.

The best thing you can do for your ear is to transcribe parts. Figure stuff out on your bass, and not just basslines - horn parts, guitar parts, vocal parts, etc. The more you transcribe, the easier it will get.

A great website for ear-training is teoria.com. It's in Castellano, but there is an English version, too. I highly recommend the interval, etc training Flash programs he has on there. Great stuff.

Good luck,

Dave

[Lonnybass]

Learning to CDs and the radio is a quick and cheap way to get your ear in shape quick! Put on your favorite station and try to play along with as few flubs as possible - it will force you to "hear" changes and how they translate into notes on the fingerboard. Over time you'll start to recognize common note combination patterns and what they sound like together. Given enough time, this will start to become second-nature for you.

Lonnybass

[Correlli]

Learn and understand dissonant and conssonant tones. In other words, tones that sound good together (I-V), and tones that clash or sound unresolved (I-bV). Also, for each key in music, associate that key with a song or tune that has the same key.

[Correlli]

There's also Sight Singing. Used way before the Internet, CD's and other such media.

[bottomzone]

Absolute Pitch Power-IT REALLY WORKS!!!!!

http://www.absolutepitchpower.com/fr...FQmIhgodUQrCJw



A Groove is a Terrible Thing to Waste!

[chicagodoubler]

You don't need to buy anything if you have a keyboard.

If you can sing all 12 of your basic intervals ascending and descending, naming them (minor second, etc...) you will have ears sharper than a scalpel.

Transcribing helps too... so do lessons.

Don't buy into the hype. Jaco didn't have ear training courses...

[benthughes]

Playing with albums is a great way to work on your ear IMO. It's already been said so not to beat a dead horse

Learn your scales. Major minor ect. and all he positions. When playing a major scale for instance play the root and whistle, hum or sing the second then play the pitch on your bass. Play the second and whistle,hum or sing the third then play the pitch. Get familiar with how the different intervals sound. After a little practice try whistling diminished or augmented chords.

I like to whistle or hum theme songs or easy diddies and try to play them on my bass. This will help you bring out that noise in your head.

[Deacon_Blues]

+1 to playing along to records/radio/whatever.
+1 also to transcribing as Dave Muscato suggested.

Forget the hype about perfect pitch and start developing a good relative pitch instead. It might be that something reminding of perfect pitch can be achieved by training, but I don't think it will be like a natural perfect pitch. Most of the professional musicians I know don't have absolute pitch and they can all play almost anything by ear.

Finally a very important thing to point out: Perfect pitch alone doesn't make anyone a good musician. Practicing does.

[jweiss]

Check out the GNU Solfege software - good stuff and free. Nice complement to the methods already suggested.

http://www.solfege.org/