My ear is crap, HELP!!!

[labgnat]

I really want to get rid of my dependency on tab. I need some lessons and tips on improving my ear. Should i be doing arpeggios? if so what kinds? my wife is good at it and she doesn't even play music. she learned in school about the whole do re me fa so deal, and can hear a melody of a song, and mess about on her harmonica for a minute and figure it out by thinking in terms of the do re me thing.

and would it be easier for me to train my ear using the keyboard as opposed to my bass?

[Correlli]

Look into Sight Singing. Here's a good article on ear training as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear_training

[DaemonBass]

Trial and error method worked for me. I don't (and probably never will) sing. But as far as developing your ear I suggest listening to some tracks you want to learn the basslines for and spend many hours working out the parts for yourself. At first it seems impossible but with practice it gets much easier as you learn to recognize certain notes and where they are found on the bass guitar. Theory can help also, but also can be confusing. What I mean is don't try to force what your hearing to fit into a certain scale pattern.

Oh most important thing: have fun!

P.S. Yes you should def. practice the arpeggio patterns including major/major 7, minor/minor 7 and diminished. These patterns appear very frequently in all types of basslines once you begin to recognize them.

[The BurgerMeister]

in addition to arpeggios, learn the scales! here's a good exercise:
sing through a C scale (slowly-make sure every pitch is in tune!) and then sing the C major triad (C-E-G) up and back down. do this with every scale once a day, major, minor...... if you can practice with a keyboard, then do... the keyboard will help you visualize what you're singing.