An ear for music

JeffC · #1 08-02-2007, 08:40 AM

Hi everyone,

Recently I have been wanting to work on my ear, mostly by listening to a song then playing it it and even writing out the music.

I was having some trouble trying to decide what to start on but I have found a good vehicle for this in Hootie & the Blowfish's music as the bass lines are nice.

I've been sitting by my sub woofer at my computer and just listening and trying to find the matching notes. Is there any good tips that anyone can give me to make this process a bit easier? sometimes I find it difficult to hear the bass over the higher pitched instruments in a song.

Thanks

smogg · #2 08-02-2007, 08:42 AM

good headphones

WayneS · #3 08-02-2007, 08:45 AM

I never had that problem... I can usually pick out the bass on anything. However, here is something that I do on occasion.

Load the song into an audio editor on your computer (Goldwave, Cool Edit, ect). Then go into whatever menu you have to and double the sampling rate. This will play the song twice as fast. You have to be quick, and it's an octave higher. But, this makes the bass stand out alot more.

JeffC · #4 08-02-2007, 09:11 AM

Interesting, I'll give that a try. Thanks

MysticMichael · #5 08-02-2007, 11:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JeffC

Is there any good tips that anyone can give me to make this process a bit easier? sometimes I find it difficult to hear the bass over the higher pitched instruments in a song.

There are some technical tricks you can use to either isolate the bass parts or make them more audible. But fundamentally, they're no substitute for developing the ability to discern the bass in the full mix. I don't know of any shortcuts to that...

To get yourself off on the right foot, you might seek out recordings with a clean mix, a prominent bass signal, and a catchy bass part - so as to make it easy on yourself. But of course what we speak of as training one's ear is in fact training one's mind to focus on things on which we choose to focus. And that just takes concentration and discipline over time...

MM

JimmyM · #6 08-03-2007, 02:08 AM

All you can do is train yourself to hear it by doing it a lot. Work the song to its finish and don't stop until you get it. Boost the mids around 750 hz if you can. That sometimes makes it easier to hear bass. Listen specifically for the bass when you listen to the radio. There's no shortcuts. You just do it a lot.

DocBop · #7 08-03-2007, 10:43 PM

You should be able to hear the root movement of the song even if the bass is hard to hear. Should be able to hear the melody and chordal instrument and sing the roots.

Now for transcribing the bass then it's good to have a graphic equalizer. I use iTunes and you can popup a graphic EQ and even save settings by name. So I have a could different EQ's saved that emphasize the bass. Another the rolls off the high end.

Also there is computer software called transcribe that is a lot of help in filtering frequencies and slowing down tunes without changing pitch. There is a downloadable demo to check it out.

But as other say you need to listen and listen to be able focus on the bass, same as playing with a drummer and being able to focus on the bass drum. It's all part of developing your ear.

bassist15 · #8 08-04-2007, 01:34 PM

I think its just a trial and error thing. I know you can boost certain things in teh song but after listening to something and playing bass for awhile pretty soon it will just start coming easily. I remember wanting badly to be able to pick out parts of songs. It started slowly with findind the key or picking out a certain riff but slowly but surely I could pick out some songs. I am still working at it and can pick out most lines. Right now Im trying to pick out the lines of Paul McCartney and Aston "Family Man " Barrett and its a real good challenge.

MysticMichael · #9 08-04-2007, 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassist15

Right now Im trying to pick out the lines of Paul McCartney and Aston "Family Man " Barrett and its a real good challenge.

No doubt. A lot of Family Man's stuff is like subterranean deep - you almost "hear" it better through the vibrations it makes in your skull, than you can through your actual eardrums...

MM

MacNilly · #10 08-07-2007, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassist15

I think its just a trial and error thing. I know you can boost certain things in teh song but after listening to something and playing bass for awhile pretty soon it will just start coming easily. I remember wanting badly to be able to pick out parts of songs. It started slowly with findind the key or picking out a certain riff but slowly but surely I could pick out some songs. I am still working at it and can pick out most lines. Right now Im trying to pick out the lines of Paul McCartney and Aston "Family Man " Barrett and its a real good challenge.

Yeah, it's trial and error at first. Then, you learn some scales and modes and how they sound. Eventually you can recognize a tonality and know what scale to play in to be in key. Even if you're not playing the exact notes, it still sounds good. Most of the time this works for me. I use scales to get me in the ballpark then pick out the exact notes to get the bassline note for note correct.

lowphatbass · #11 08-08-2007, 03:30 AM

A lot of PC speaker systems lack any sort of mid-bass frequencies and if that's the case it can't be helping as much as it could. Learning the basslines and developing your ear is great but much can also be gained by hearing the music played back faithfully. When you listen to music you are not only learning bass parts, you are learning tones and sounds and the way the bass relates with the other instruments. To learn what good tone is we have to hear good tone first, IMHO anyway. A good set of headphones will go along way!
Keep up the good work!

Mountain Sun · #12 08-09-2007, 09:11 PM

Try green day, try to pick out the basslines from their songs. they have very prominent bass so you shouldnt have any problem working it out. Dookie is a good place to start.

kipsus · #13 08-12-2007, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WayneS

Load the song into an audio editor on your computer (Goldwave, Cool Edit, ect). Then go into whatever menu you have to and double the sampling rate. This will play the song twice as fast. You have to be quick, and it's an octave higher. But, this makes the bass stand out alot more.

Very interesting, it really works