Ear Training and Reading sheet music + chords

[c4lvint1me]

Hi..its been a little while since i've posted on TB. i've been using tabs for around 7 months and i feel like i haven't improved. how do you train your ear so you could just hear a song and copy it? Also, i don't know how to play bass reading sheet music and chords. Help Please! Thanks

[PopehappycatXIV]

Practice for ear training. Listen to a song, probably something with a basic chord progression and have your bass with you and keep groping around on your fretboard until you find the first note in the song. Unless your deaf or something you can usually figure out if you're playing the right note or not (there's only twelve so it shouldn't take too long). Keep going from there. Its starts out mostly as guess work and can be time consuming but you'll get better the more you do it.

[waleross]

You could get a keyboard/theory teacher. Somebody that is experienced in rock and jazz. By sitting with your bass and at the piano most of it could be shown and explained in a sort time. Its just a matter of putting in the effort. Good luck .

[MalcolmAmos]

Originally Posted by c4lvint1me

Hi..its been a little while since i've posted on TB. i've been using tabs for around 7 months and i feel like i haven't improved.

Tabs are OK to get you started, however, I like to play from fake chord or lead sheet music which have the chord names shown. I then play the chord's notes in time with the lyrics of the song. How to do that - keep reading......

....how do you train your ear so you could just hear a song and copy it?

Buy one of the ear training videos and get started. Good Luck, I've been playing music for a long time and I can not hear a song and copy it note for note. But, If I know what key the song is to be played in, and that is not hard to find, I can lay down a groove to a song I have never heard before. How? I assume the chord progression and then play specific notes of the chords I assumed are being used. If I assume wrong I adjust. No, you are not going to be able to do that right now, you have to have played a lot of songs before you can assume stuff - so for now use fake chord or lead sheet music.

Also, i don't know how to play bass reading sheet music and chords. Help Please! Thanks

OK - for now forget about reading standard notation - the fly specks - and concentrate of finding sheet music that has the chord names shown on the paper. Google can usually find them for free. Just Google ---- Guitar chords, "name of the song" The comma and quote marks help in the search. In your spare time start learning how to play using standard notation - you will need it sooner or later.

Once you have the fake chord in front of you how should you use it to play the song? Here is fake chord on Happy Birthday. http://www.guitarchordsmagic.com/gui...ar-chords.html Print this and the next item.
http://www.guitarhangout.com/wp-cont...itar-notes.jpg

Looking at both. The song is using the C F & G chords. Find a C note on your 3rd string. Where is the F and G notes? Yep right above and right below the C. Knowing where the notes are on your fretboard is something you need to get into your bag of tricks. Just ask - in another thread........

Let's just concentrate on root notes right now. One C note per lyric word. Happy and Birthday take two notes each as they are two syllable words. The words To and You only get one note per word. Notice on "you" the chords change to a G. OK start using G notes - one note per lyric word. Yes, you need to sing the song under your breath so you know when to change root notes and play your notes in time with the lyrics. This is step one. When you can play with a song using only the root note and not have the song go off and leave you - then we can start using more than just the root. But, gotta start somewhere.

See what you can do with this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUK5pE5x_6A Find an A note on the 3rd string. How about at the nut 3rd string. Where is the D & E? Yep same place; above and below the A. Is this a pattern? Yep. Something you can count on? Yep.

Keep going, ask specific questions. Welcome to the bottom end.

[pedroims]

You may want to try this app, is free, nothing to lose
Play By Ear - iPhone ear training with intervals, chords, melodies, and jazz licks

[raynman68]

Originally Posted by pedroims

You may want to try this app, is free, nothing to lose
Play By Ear - iPhone ear training with intervals, chords, melodies, and jazz licks

Thanks for the link, I have been looking for something like this.

[jsbarber]

One thing that will help you resolve pitch is to play scales and sing along with the notes. Depending on how good your hear/voice are this may come easily to you, or it may be very difficult - but YOU CAN DO IT if you practice. Here's what I would suggest: play a C major scale starting on C2 (C on A string), ascending and descending one octave. Do not worry about tempo. Take as long as you need to try to sing the right pitch, up to about 5 seconds. Then go to the next note. Then play to F major starting on F1 (F on E string), repeat, then B, then E (alternate by going down by a 5th and up by a fourth.)

When you get comfortable with this, switch to other major scale harmony modes: Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, ... And then when you're good with all those, switch to melodic minor.

By doing this you are teaching your ear to be able to resolve pitch. This will help you to hear the pitch of notes.

You can also try singing along with bass lines or melodies while you play, but again don't worry about tempo. You are trying to improve your pitch resolution. It's not about your voice, it's about your brain. Each person has a natural voice range, and your voice can hit every pitch between its lower and upper limits. Work within your range, but improve your pitch resolution.

You only need to to this 10-15 minutes per day. It will take a few months, but you're pitch resolution will definitely improve. Don't give up.

Other ear training excercises are very useful, but I find this one to be very fundamental to the whole thing.

You might even consider some vocal training, using solfege. This type of training is extremely useful.

Hope this helps.

Jim

[c4lvint1me]

easy beginner songs to train your ear please i kinda got the hang of it though ^^

[miltslackford]

Hi

I would second the 'scales' idea.

Although I wouldn't worry about modes - too complicated and you're unlikely to hear modes happening.

I would focus on major scale and minor scale, then chord arpeggios for Major, Minor, Major 7, Minor 7, Dominant 7. These are sounds you are more likely to hear in tunes.

Then if you really want to make it more complicated I would recommend triad exercises. To do this you do as follows.

If you're doing the triad 135 then you would play the following scale tones

135
246
357
461
572
613 etc -

Then you can mix the order of the notes in each triad up to to play 531, 315, 351, 153, 513.

This is a great exercise.

Really easy songs would be:

You really got me (the kinks)
The Chain (Fleetwood Mac)
The Passenger (Iggy Pop)