How should I go about playing by ear.

[Brick137]

I'm new to this forum,

I've been playing bass since June 2009 and I've learned a lot of

techniques (Finger Triplets, Slap, Ect) that can be practiced but

how do I go about practicing my ear.

Thanks in Advance.

[Ric5]

Get your bass plug it into a small amp. Then sit in front of your computer and play stuff on youtube and then try to play along with it on bass.

Also go to an open jam at a local bar and put yourself in situations where you have to learn songs on the fly.

[basmartin]

This is a useful ear training site http://www.good-ear.com/

[greekorican]

Prepare yourself for a long frustrating process. Picking, slap, fingering, etc. are just the technical side of music, the first hurdle to jump while learning an instrument. Learning to play by ear is MUCH harder than learning to produce clean notes. Don't be discouraged if you don't even notice progress. It's over long periods of time that you really notice improvement. Usually I notice that my ear has improved when I play a song that I couldn't transcribe several months ago. Just because it's hard doesn't mean it can't be fun though. When you figure out a song by ear, you own it. I find it much easier to remember songs that I learned by ear rather than from a tab. You will also realize how inaccurate most bass tabs on the internet are.

My advice:

1) Start with easy songs and work your way up gradually. Your technique is probably much more developed than your ear, so these songs may seem boring. But if you pick music that matches your level of technique, you will probably never transcribe it right. That was the case with me for a long time.

2) Try not to hunt around for notes. Learn your theory and try to figure out the song without touching your instrument. Learn to sing all 12 intervals and be able to recognize them (I can't but I'm working on it).

3) Also, sing the part you are trying to play. If you can't sing it, you aren't hearing all the notes properly.

4) Just transcribe something every day. Just like anything else on the bass, you need to practice to become proficient at transcribing by ear. Also, it doesn't have to be a bassline. Try transcribing some horn parts or something a little more melodic once in a while.

Good luck, hope that helps.

[Skitch it!]

To do this away from a computer or instrument, associate intervals with familiar tunes, e.g. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (don't laugh ; ), the first two notes in the melody are a perfect 5th apart, Zeps Whole lotta Love, the first 2 notes of the riff are a minor 3rd apart, My Way, the first 2 notes of the vocal melody are a major 6th and so on.

Keep a root (note) reference in mind and practice intervals from it, there is a familiar song melody for all the intervals within major/minor tonality that you can associate with, but I can't remember them all, it was a while back and I've internalised the intervals.

Recognizing intervals means you can pick-up the drift of a track just by a couple of listening's without an instrument over time, the aural aspect is very important, fast listening will get you out of trouble better than fast fingers will every time ; )

[Stumbo]

It helps to be able to slow down a song and isolate the bass line.

Also, to increase the bass line clarity, sometimes increasing the pitch an octave after slowing the song down helps.

Then try singing/humming the bass line and transfer it your bass.

Learning the blues is a good way to hear how progressions fit together and how to link them.

Check out the link in my sig. for lots of info on the topic.

[MalcolmAmos]

Originally Posted by Brick137

I'm new to this forum, I've been playing bass since June 2009 and I've learned a lot of techniques (Finger Triplets, Slap, Ect) that can be practiced but, how do I go about practicing my ear.
Thanks in Advance.

By playing by ear --- which, the bass line, the melody, finding what key? Finding the key is a good first step.

Finding the key - helps if someone calls out the key. If not walk your G string till what is happening on the song and what is happening on the G string come into sync. When that happens you've found the tonal center. look down at what note that happened on - that's your key.

Which bass line - once you know the key you can assume what chords will be used. Listen for the chord changes - identifying the chords I find easier than identifying the intervals of the chord. Once I've identified the chords I do what I normally do when playing from fake chord. It's my bass line now I do not worry with being exactly like the original. Up to you.

The melody - start with Happy Birthday, yes Twinkle Twinkle, Some Where Over The Rainbow, When The Saints Go Marching In, things like that. Set a goal of one new tune by ear each day (3 within the week). Do not expect miracles.

Good luck.

[Drifta]

Get off talkbass. (i'm serious, when you get back and read this, go get your bass and turn on the radio/cd/mp3, listen, play, listen some more, play some more etc.). I need to do it too.

oh and did I say Listen? Yeah, you should listen. then sing! yes sing! singing and listening have advanced my bass playing more than anything.

[mambo4]

Learn to recognize the sound of common chord progressions:
I - IV -V
ii - V - I
I - vi - ii-V
Etc. When you can recognize the harmonic form of a song, filling in the blanks can be easy.

[rythman6969]

Originally Posted by mambo4

Learn to recognize the sound of common chord progressions:
I - IV -V
ii - V - I
I - vi - ii-V
Etc. When you can recognize the harmonic form of a song, filling in the blanks can be easy.

this ^ BIG TIME. play, play ,play. get familiar with the positions and you can start to hear where your fingers need to/can go. the more familiar you get with the positions and fretboard in general the more it starts to become like second nature.

I find blues tunes are great practice for this.

[Chowowbus]

I learned to play by ear. For some folks it comes very naturally. For others, the only way they can play is by reading. Its best to learn both I think. All the advice so far given is a viable path to learning bass. You need to find which method works best for you by trying them all out.
Even if nothing comes easy, persistence can overcome a lack of natural talent. Good luck to you.