Playing with a droning pitch(a different question)

[bassistpatrick]

When I practice scales or songs, I'll first record it on my digital keyboard, and play along with that to see if the notes are in tune.
I hear people all the time talk about practicing with the root note of the scale sustaining. It would be obvious when the root, fifth, or octave are out of tune, but what about the other notes? How can you tell if the M2 is sharp or flat by listen to the root while you play? Can someone explain what it is they listen for when doing this, if that's possible.

[Thomas Stone]

playing a scale against a drone will help you pitch all notes. You sense the different resonances and dissonances in the relationship between any two notes as you ascend (or descend).

A drone wont make you play in tune, but it will help improve your ear and perception of intervals.

Try it.

You'll begin to see not just when you are "in tune", but also how microtonal intervals can sound good too.

I use this technique to practice with a lot.
I will also play drones of other notes whilst going through the same scale.

Again this is to help me remember resonances and dissonances (both of which I explore a lot in the muic I make) and the perception of the interval between them.

Thomas

[endorka]

I agree with all that Thomas said, that you get to hear a "rightness" when the note is in tune with the drone, even if it is a b5 interval or what have you that is in itself inherently dissonant. I'd say it is not something that can be explained as such, just something that you will begin to hear with practice.

Jennifer

[Jason Sypher]

You are on the right track with your excercises however you need to approach ALL intervals as you would the ones you mentioned. A major sixth should be as easy to intonate as a perfect fifth. I would take a new interval and concentrate on it solely for a few days then move on to another. Sing the interval out loud and in your head as you walk around, drive, whatever. Find a melody that uses that interval and sing that as well. Also use the keyboard to focus your ear. You will find that in a very short time a major 7th is as easy to tune as a perfect fifth and, as someone stated, you will also find how these intervals react and interact along the way.

[jonn_]

This may or may not be the help you are looking for.

When playing unison notes against a keyboard instrument, what you are getting is a reference that is, hopefully, equal tempered- there is an equal amount of space between each of the twelve half steps.

Tuning intervals against a drone will open your ear up to the sound of justly tuned intervals. Just intervals are "derived from the natural harmonic series that have simple whole number ratios: 2:1 (octave), 3:2 (fifth), 5:4(major third) etc. Just intervals have no beats."
This definition comes from a handout from a class I took a couple years back. It also includes a useful chart to help understand the difference between each interval in just and equal temperaments.
measurements in cents approx. (hundredths of and equal tempered half step)
intr equal just diff
m2 100 112 +12
M2 200 204 +4
m3 300 316 +16
M3 400 385 -14
P4 500 498 -2
+4 600 590 -10
o5 600 610 +10
P5 700 702 +4
m6 800 814 +14
M6 900 884 -16
m7 1000 996 -4
M7 1100 1088 -12
8 1200 1200 0

notice how the intervals are mirrored around the tritone... the intervals are inverted. It might seem complicated at first, but you can learn to hear the differences

[thedbassist]

My teacher has this really cool electronic indian device where it produces a drone of the notes in a certain scale making you not really have to worry about playing intune(if you're not a beginner). I forgot what it was called.