Developing my Ear

[Minusfunkd]

Hello I been playing bass for about 6 months with no prior musical experience and have developing decent dexterity, however my ear is basically nonexistent. I been playing mostly tabs and other people transcibations, but when I try to learn a song by ear I am completely lost. Should I wait until I have more musical experience or does this skill take a very long time to develop.

Please help if you have tips or advice
thank you

[Incognitus]

It just takes time and practice. Listen to the radio and try to play along with some of the songs. Don't expect your ear to get trained as soon as you pick up the bass. Just practice so that when you hear something like oh say a 'B' being played you know it's a B or at least near the general vicinity. Also try to learn songs that you regularly listen too. Even if it is just the root notes.

So basically all that boils down to: Practice Practice Practice.

[adisu]

I would recommend to use an mp3 songs on the computer and not radio songthat way you can control the song position and go back and forward on the player at any part till you find the played line. (don't givw up till you find it)

I would also recommend you to start with easy songs and even better if you start with melodies and not basslines.
Melodies like guitar riff and a singing vocal is always upfront, unlike bass lines that in some mixes sits really behind(depends on the band and the song) so it would be easier to hear for beginers.

When you want to take it a little bit further you can use this EAR TRAINER , this connect the ear training with theory like earing chords, intervals and scales.

I will support Incognitus and say "practice practice practice".

Salute and good luck
Adi

[mkettner]

Originally Posted by adisu

When you want to take it a little bit further you can use this EAR TRAINER , this connect the ear training with theory like earing chords, intervals and scales.

Adi

Thanks for the ear trainer link. I think it will be helpful.

[scourge]

Ditch the tabs. I started playing by ear in the 80s and was pretty good at learning songs this way. Then the internet came along and I started using tabs to learn difficult parts or to boost my confidence in what I heard. they quickly became a crutch and my ear suffered a bit for it.

Not to mention most tabs are wrong.

[paulodumb]

I think tabs can be a good starting point. Learn a ton of songs and you'll start seeing how many songs are similiar, and how notes sound in relation to each other. Most songs follow the same handful of chord progressions, and you'll start recognizing those, and if you've been learning a lot of basslines, you'll start recognizing what the bass player is doing under the chords.

When I first started, I couldn't play by ear at all, but I learned a lot of songs, mostly through tab. One day my girlfriend was listening to some music, and I sat there trying to figure them out, and I was shocked to find out that I was able to in a lot of cases. It may come to you slowly, subconsciously, but if you play all the time you should improve as a musician, even if you're just starting with tabs.

But yeah, be careful, some tabs are so horribly off it's not funny.