Ear Training Methods

[Big Heavy Bass]

Learning the sound of chord progressions is important. If your dealing with melodic music there are certain progressions and common variations that occur very frequently. Once you can hear a I-vi-IV-V it doesn't matter what key it's in, they will sound the same. You'll start to notice just how often these progressions appear in music. This is also where some knowledge of theory comes into play.

It's also a good ear training exercise to people to take a simple melody, like a child's song and figure out the chords that would go underneath it...for example "The Wheels on the Bus" or "Mary Had A Little Lamb"

 

[928cat]

If you want to know how good your ear is, select all intervals, ascending and descending, random starting note.

I sucked when i started. I can get 95% on a good day now. I need to practice more when i can find the time.

Nice. I'm sure I'll get crushed the first time I select all intervals. My initial score with just major 3rd, perfect 5th and octave selected was in line with what I've been working on in my studies. I have nothing but respect for musicians with well trained ears.

 

[onda'bass]

Ear training: grab favorite cd,Learn every note on it. Rinse and repeat...ear will follow

 

[928cat]

No better ear-training exercise than transcribing songs, in my experience/opinion.

An advantage of transcribing songs is learning to recognize entire melodic patterns, not just single intervals. For example, you hear a pattern in the first measure and you identify which notes are being played. Every time you hear that pattern, you recognize it. Even when you hear on the IV chord or the V chord. Even when you hear it in a different song in a different key. Keep doing this and you eventually have a library of ideas that you recognize even without a bass in hand and that you can hear in your head and play on your bass. When you hear a slight variation of the pattern, you can just focus on the variation, and then the variation becomes part of the library.

I like all approaches to ear training.

Good points. Thank you. Transcribing is in my first year plan to get the skills to hear patterns along with chord recognition.

Much of the music I want to play doesn't have available notation or scores that I've been able to find. Old country stuff like Tammy Wynette, Lynn Anderson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, etc. My primary goal that I'm working on is to get to the point where I can just play along with that stuff. That's where I see my playing foundation. It's my motivation.

 

[IamGroot]

There's a simple app called "functional ear training" that takes exactly that approach. I recommend it.

I like the Roberta Radley book a lot. It focuses on hearing chord progressions, and I seem to recall it assumes you can already transcribe a simple melody, so it might be better as a second book? But, I don't know, may be worth a try.

If you have the chance to take a class, at a local college or whatever, take it. That should give you some structure and a good mixture of theory and singing and listening exercises.

But, looking back I think one mistake I made as a student was thinking that I couldn't do what I really wanted to until I'd done a bunch of classes and exercises first. The exercises are worthwhile, but it's also good to keep your eye on the real goal. If there's a bass line you want to learn from a recording, for example, just go for it. It'll take some trial and error but it's doable without any special training. Start with something simple if you can, but don't put off working with real music.

Good recommendation on taking it in college. Maybe not because its hard, but it forces you to stick to a training regimen.

I think a lot of colleges require at least 2 semesters of ear training / sight singing concurrent with 4 semesters of theory.

 

[MalcolmAmos]

Coming in late --- ear training and sight reading need to be done every day or rust develops.

Both require some of your time each day. Once you get the basics down its just a matter of using them....

 

[didgeribass]

I am currently working through the first book ("Ear training for the contemporary musician"), and I'm really glad I bought it. After trying different apps (Eartrainer, Earmaster Pro), the method in this book seems a lot more comprehensive and relevant. It provides a systematic approach that I can understand (e.g. first learn to match pitch with your voice, then start transcribing simple melodies, then learn to recognize simple chords, then combine simple melodies with simple chords, then add rhythm, etc... in increasing complexity). Also, the exercises are varied, i.e. the book has you sing, sight-sing, transcribe melodies, chords and rhythm, using the Nashville number system and Solfege, etc as opposed to just ticking answer-boxes in an app. And finally, the examples are actually recorded instruments, not midi-generated sounds.

The individual chapters in this book are not too long. The concepts are introduced and you get a couple of exercises to get started, but then it's up to you to dive deeper into each topic. After you understand the concept, it is quite easy to create additional exercises on your own. For me, chords inversions are a stumbling block, so after I'd do the exercises in the chapter I would continue singing different inversions of different chords in different keys and coming up with further exercises on my own, until I get the sound into my head.

As it has been mentioned in this thread already, you should also be working on actual music, e.g. learning songs by ear, transcribing bass lines, solos etc. This book provides a comprehensive and systematic approach to supplement your ear training.

 

[928cat]

I am currently working through the first book ("Ear training for the contemporary musician"), and I'm really glad I bought it. After trying different apps (Eartrainer, Earmaster Pro), the method in this book seems a lot more comprehensive and relevant. It provides a systematic approach that I can understand (e.g. first learn to match pitch with your voice, then start transcribing simple melodies, then learn to recognize simple chords, then combine simple melodies with simple chords, then add rhythm, etc... in increasing complexity). Also, the exercises are varied, i.e. the book has you sing, sight-sing, transcribe melodies, chords and rhythm, using the Nashville number system and Solfege, etc as opposed to just ticking answer-boxes in an app. And finally, the examples are actually recorded instruments, not midi-generated sounds.

The individual chapters in this book are not too long. The concepts are introduced and you get a couple of exercises to get started, but then it's up to you to dive deeper into each topic. After you understand the concept, it is quite easy to create additional exercises on your own. For me, chords inversions are a stumbling block, so after I'd do the exercises in the chapter I would continue singing different inversions of different chords in different keys and coming up with further exercises on my own, until I get the sound into my head.

As it has been mentioned in this thread already, you should also be working on actual music, e.g. learning songs by ear, transcribing bass lines, solos etc. This book provides a comprehensive and systematic approach to supplement your ear training.

Thank you for laying out a detailed information on the book. Very helpful. I've been floundering a bit and tend to do better with a systematic, small step approach to subjects that are new to me and challenging to my existing abilities. This method sounds like it might be the one that matches my learning preference.

 

[Scoops]

I did 4 years of ear training via solfege and the Zoltan Kodaly method for my music degree.

It took alot of work, but by the end I was able to sight sing just about any thing, and sing A=440 on command. We were challenged that daily. It takes practice to do that so those skills are rusty.

What it did give me was a sense of listening to what other people are playing, and jump in on bass to play the tune, with a "correct" bass line.

One of my BL's gets frustrated with me as sometimes I initiate a Stump the Band dialog with the audience. I know the BL (who does the sining) Has a hugh repertoire, and if doesn't know it he'll fake it. I'm always right there with the bass line