Training your Ear

[Raynier]

Well Talkbass Community as the Post Titles reads. Training your Ear I'm wondering myself how do I train my ear. Where do I start out at and Does anyone have any tips on how they did it or any advice on how to do it.

Tips Tricks Suggestions anything taken
Thanks

[Ed Fuqua]

Try this.

[TripleDouble]

wow, a thread actually about music...refreshing.

-Transcribing music. Figure out (and write down notation if possible) some bass lines, horn parts, vocal melodies by ear. You can always consult sheet music to see how close you came by ear, and then learn from the transcribed music where you went wrong. Don't jump right in to Matt Garrison/Malmsteen/Coltrane solos, something simple but relevant like U2 or The Meters basslines are a great place to start, or whatever you're digging.

-Solfege. The old Do-Re-Mi. Learn to sing written notaion using this method. There are tons of great books out there on how to learn this. Get some kind of cheapo keyboard or a keyboard app. it'll help.

-Sing. Sing what you play. I find this always helps me internalize any line, lick, or riff, and to own it as music rather than just a series of hand movements. And for the record, my singing voice sounds pretty awful, but that's not really the point, just try to sing it accurately and in tune.

-Listen. Take time to just listen very carefully to music, and not immediately try to figure it out. Take entire passes of listening to a song and focus on one instrument all the way through. Focus on the the contour of melodies, different uses of rhyhtm in the instruments, and the chords and arrangement. Really "go micro" on the piece of music.

[mambo4]

Besides the melodic intervals, it is also valuable to learn the sound of common chord progressions. It can help you quickly establish the structure of a bass line.

[Already In Use]

I have been playing along to random music off of radioparadise.com. Its a lot of fun..Play along to anything you like. You'll be forced to locate the roots of each chord and identify the chord progression or you can noodle along in key to gain solo'ing material. The site I mention above plays a wide variety of music...you never know what you will get next.

[MattP]

Definitely learn to sing or hum along to tunes when you listen to them. Your voice is just a different instrument. The music you play on your bass or via your voice comes from the same source.

Sometimes when I have real difficulty translating what I'm humming to what my bass, I'll hum it into my tuner. That generally gets me very close to the right notes.

There is one other way I make use of my tuner. When I'm practicing intervals, I play them and sing them. I use the tuner to make sure I'm singing the notes I'm playing and singing the correct interval.

[Raynier]

Any songs that would be easy to start transcribing with?

[Already In Use]

The tuner! What a cool tip!

[Raynier]

Thanks for all the help guys I've gotten to the point where I can find the Key, I think just gotta figure out the Chord Changes

Time for a Wootenism Never let finding the key ruin the groove

[BillyIVbass]

Tune your bass up, put on a familiar song, pause it, hum it and try to find that note with your bass. Go slow. Any progress is progress. If you can sound out a note a day you're better than before!

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by Raynier

Thanks for all the help guys I've gotten to the point where I can find the Key, I think just gotta figure out the Chord Changes

Time for a Wootenism Never let finding the key ruin the groove

Vic didn't say that, I don't believe. I'm pretty sure the quote was "never let finding a NOTE ruin the groove." Trust me...if you can't find the key, you're going to ruin the groove

[Raynier]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

Vic didn't say that, I don't believe. I'm pretty sure the quote was "never let finding a NOTE ruin the groove." Trust me...if you can't find the key, you're going to ruin the groove

I Reserve the right to make Mistakes when Im tired

[JimmyM]

Right on!

[Chris K]

Except for formal exercises or playing along with just about everything, which are all very good, a starting point for ear training is to play simple melodies, of children's songs f.e. You should be able to play stuff you can sing on your bass as well. But some people will find out they just can't. That is a bad sign for creativity, since they will have to limit themselves to play from written music or from memory. The challenge is (as shown in Ed Fuqua's exercise as well) to be able to play any note you hear on your bass, at least if you have one other singe note as reference, through hearing the interval between them.