STILL can't do ear-training!

[polsab78]

Just wanna share something I stumbled upon recently. I was looking for something that will play a random sequence of notes so I could play it back on my bass.

http://www.iwasdoingallright.com/tools/ear_training/

[Fassa Albrecht]

Originally Posted by polsab78

Just wanna share something I stumbled upon recently. I was looking for something that will play a random sequence of notes so I could play it back on my bass.

http://www.iwasdoingallright.com/tools/ear_training/

Great site!

[muthagoose]

Originally Posted by polsab78

Just wanna share something I stumbled upon recently. I was looking for something that will play a random sequence of notes so I could play it back on my bass.

http://www.iwasdoingallright.com/tools/ear_training/

This is awesome, thanks for sharing!

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by Vorago

Damn, for once her thread doesn't turn into a ****throwing fest and now she seems to have disappeared

Too much like hard work.... ?

[MaxRossell]

Originally Posted by Fassa Albrecht

Seriously, this is starting to wind me RIGHT up! For the last year I've been trying to learn by ear, using pretty much all the books/tapes/CDs I can find.

Problem? I STILL can't do it! I can't even pick up simple basslines and I'm getting frustrated.

Does anyone know what I can try now? It's getting annoying.

You may be tone-deaf.

Simple exercise: Have someone play a reference note.

Then have another person play the same note, then another note that's close.

If you can't tell which of the two notes is the same as the reference note, you may be tone-deaf.

Some people say it's a myth, but it isn't. I have a couple of friends who are tone-deaf. One is so tone-deaf that he can't tell the difference between a note and the same note an octave higher. Yet physically he has perfect hearing.

I don't know if it can be fixed or anything. It might be a similar thing to colourblindness.

I'd say keep at it, but if this is something you've been working on for a long time and still made zero progress, it might be worth talking to a professional about it.

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by MaxRossell

You may be tone-deaf.

Simple exercise: Have someone play a reference note.

Then have another person play the same note, then another note that's close.

If you can't tell which of the two notes is the same as the reference note, you may be tone-deaf.

Some people say it's a myth, but it isn't. I have a couple of friends who are tone-deaf. One is so tone-deaf that he can't tell the difference between a note and the same note an octave higher. Yet physically he has perfect hearing.

I don't know if it can be fixed or anything. It might be a similar thing to colourblindness.

Or maybe not suited to being a bass player...?

Seriously when I do Jazz classes, there are a variety of instrumentalists, often of varying levels. Many of them just cannot hear bass or what note the bass is playing.

So the teacher will say - just listen to the bass line and you will hear where we are in the chord sequence and will pick out points in the sequence where it is unambiguous where you are - but some people say they just cannot hear bass notes, while for others in the class it is perfectly clear!

I still believe that you can improve with training - but I know that personally I have always heard bass lines very clearly and that's why I chose to be a bass player! Whereas some people will say they just don't hear that great bass line I am raving about, on a recording that we are both hearing at huge volume!

[fleabee]

I would start with the basics of positive thinking and manifesting what you want{Wayne Dyer comes to mind}. If you're in a constant mind frame of knowing you will achieve something...you will...if doubt is constant and "i cant" is constant...you wont. Sounds hokey but im a firm believer in it from experience.

[Happynoj]

I have always been good at picking out basslines, and working out the notes, while many of my friends are terrible at it - I guess that some people are naturally better at it.

However, there are some things which I have used to help myself. Firstly make sure that you are listening to the music you are trying to figure out through something decent. I was amazed at the difference between different (more expensive...) sets of headphones. I used to have a pair of earphones that came free with my Sony MP3 Walkman, which I realised were awful to start with. I went out and spent £15 on a pair of in-ear headphones, which were infinitely better that the free ones, and I was happy with for a couple of years. Then they broke, and I thought that I might as well get a slightly nicer pair - I was looking in the £25-30 range. In the end, I got a pair of over-ear headphones that were £55 in a sale, reduced from £70. They sounded really odd at first, but after a couple of weeks my ears adjusted to them, and everything is so much more clear now - I tried the old ones not long ago, and it sounded so horrible and muffled! I can hear things in the music which I couldn't hear before, which helps immensely. Also, headphones are much better than speakers, as you can only hear the music - no extra space to distract you.

Secondly, concentration - if you are having trouble picking out a bass line, close your eyes, turn the music up, and concentrate on the line. Imagine it as a physical object - picture exactly where it is in the mix, and pull it towards you. You can focus your brain on just one instrument in a song, and pick out individual instruments and parts, even in a dense mix, for example something like a Britney Spears song, which has lots of subtle things going on that you don't hear normally (or rather you do hear them, but you don't NOTICE them).

Software which slows down music can be useful sometimes - but not all the time. It is worth getting some for those moments when it is really useful. I think that Audacity does it - anyone confirm this? I use Line 6 Gearbox.

The last point I will make has already been said - use common songs as reference points for working out intervals. For example, I use 'Away In A Manger' for a 4th, and the Star Wars theme tune for a 5th.

[SirCanealot]

I've been playing about 3 years now, and I'm only just starting to be able to play by ear now. Keep playing and practicing, it takes time. Just make sure you make the effort to try and play by ear before you pull up the tab, and always use your ear to make sure the tab is right. Playing to a tab with an open ear = much better than JUST using the tab

[Jim Carr]

Fassa, ear training is hard and takes a long time, as many here have said. You are building new neural connections, and these don't happen very quickly. It is easier to grow hair, fat, muscle, bone, and calluses that it is to grown brain richness, i.e. aural skills.

Don't give up, and don't fall into doubt due to the above talk of "tone deaf." You passed the pitch perception test long ago to be able to take cello, so don't worry. That is not to say "don't work."

I advise getting a teacher, if you haven't already. Since you can read music, evening or summer ear training classes at the local music college are a good idea. Do you sing at all? If so, join a local choir of any kind, if you can.

[fdeck]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

Or maybe not suited to being a bass player...?

Seriously when I do Jazz classes, there are a variety of instrumentalists, often of varying levels. Many of them just cannot hear bass or what note the bass is playing.

So the teacher will say - just listen to the bass line and you will hear where we are in the chord sequence and will pick out points in the sequence where it is unambiguous where you are - but some people say they just cannot hear bass notes, while for others in the class it is perfectly clear!

I still believe that you can improve with training - but I know that personally I have always heard bass lines very clearly and that's why I chose to be a bass player! Whereas some people will say they just don't hear that great bass line I am raving about, on a recording that we are both hearing at huge volume!

Interesting. My college roommate put up with me practicing my bass in the dorm. He played guitar pretty well. After a year or so he told me: "Listening to you practice your bass, I am finally beginning to hear the bass parts on records. I never noticed the bass before."

So I wonder if part of ear training is breaking old habits in terms of what you listen to and notice in music.

[Eublet]

Didn't read all the responses here, but do you know how to play a major scale? Can you sing the scale without playing it, note for note? All ear training is dependent on that first. Learn to sing and play a major scale. Do it at the same time for a while if you have to.

Then learn to play and sing it in thirds. For example, in the key of C, you would play C-E-D-F-E-G-F-A-G-B-A-C-B-D-C. Then do the same back down. Do this till you can sing it from memory without your instrument. Use the same fingering EVERY time you play it. This builds muscle memory and attaches the sounds you hear to a shape on the fret board. You can learn to add new shapes to those same sounds later. Just learn one for now.

You can also apply this using 4ths, 5ths, 6ths, etc. But just learn it in 3rds for starters.

If you can't already do this, I think sitting around trying to identify intervals off of some training CD is a waste of time. When you play music, you really aren't thinking about each little interval, even if you could name them if you had to stop and do it. You're playing shapes that sound familiar. Arpegiating the diatonic scale, starting on each scale tone, is another great way to familiarize yourself with the different chords in that key. They start to sound familiar over time, and you recognize a certain color or edge that is unique to each one.

It's all familiarity that makes it happen, which comes from playing them. The playing comes first, and understanding comes much later. Just keep at it.

[Eublet]

Originally Posted by fdeck

Interesting. My college roommate put up with me practicing my bass in the dorm. He played guitar pretty well. After a year or so he told me: "Listening to you practice your bass, I am finally beginning to hear the bass parts on records. I never noticed the bass before."

So I wonder if part of ear training is breaking old habits in terms of what you listen to and notice in music.

Same here happened to me, except I learned from a drummer. I of course always caught the bass kick, and back beat, but he was always tapping away on the subdivisions when we had music playing, and embelishing the high hat nuance with some "hissing" in his voice. I really started noticing how one drummer can make the drums sing, while another just does well to keep time.

[bassflyer19]

its different for every player. playing by ear came naturally to me. others find it very hard. when you learn by ear, focus on just learning a small part before doing the whole song. match notes on the simple lines. soon youll start to move naturally to where the note will be. once you really get to know your bass and notes, you can hit it within the first few notes. i have always learned by ear. in fact, in my 6-7 years of playing, i never really studied the fretboard on what fret is what note. i just new my tones and all. fret notes are still slow to me.

also, if you do not like to learn by tabs like me, use youtube. many people will do a cover of a song on bass. watch their hands a few times and where they are placed. then you will get the general area that the notes you are searching for will be in. learning by ear is either very hard to learn, or it comes naturally. it just takes time.