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Figuring out the chords in a song by ear
- Thread starter ics1974
- Start date
ear training over time? i'm not very good at figuring out songs by ear, but what helped me improve was listening to known songs and thinking about the chord progressions. then i would apply that to other songs that sounded similar, and check and correct. rinse and repeat. simple songs with chord progressions like 1-4-5, 1-5-4, 1-6-4-5, and 1-2-5 i can usually identify by ear now.
For starters, it's enormously helpful to know enough basic music theory so that what @yodedude2 said makes sense. Once you know the key, you'll be able to anticipate what chords are mostly likely to show up and (to some extent) where/when. Also, as @yodedude2 said, there are a number of progressions that are very common, and once you become familiar with them you'll recognize them when you hear them.
Starting simple:
1. Learn and know the scales and chords that "classically" belong in a major key. The key of C comprises C, F, G, Am, Dm, Em.
2. Then start thinking of these chords as numbers ("One," "four," "five," "six minor," "two minor," "three minor"). That way you are not constrained to one key.
3. Find a bunch of songs you're familiar with that have only three chords (one, four, five) and play them through - chord roots only - without looking at written music. Hint: You have to know the melody.
4. When you can do this with three-chord songs fairly well, repeat with four- and five-chord songs. Almost all popular music, after you've analyzed enough of it, are pretty predictable.
5. You will hear songs with other chords, e.g., a song in C with a Bb, Eb, or Fm chord, or a major six, two, or five. There are also diminished chords. Again, knowing the melody and ear training over time will help with these.
5. Proceed to minor keys with the same steps.
1. Learn and know the scales and chords that "classically" belong in a major key. The key of C comprises C, F, G, Am, Dm, Em.
2. Then start thinking of these chords as numbers ("One," "four," "five," "six minor," "two minor," "three minor"). That way you are not constrained to one key.
3. Find a bunch of songs you're familiar with that have only three chords (one, four, five) and play them through - chord roots only - without looking at written music. Hint: You have to know the melody.
4. When you can do this with three-chord songs fairly well, repeat with four- and five-chord songs. Almost all popular music, after you've analyzed enough of it, are pretty predictable.
5. You will hear songs with other chords, e.g., a song in C with a Bb, Eb, or Fm chord, or a major six, two, or five. There are also diminished chords. Again, knowing the melody and ear training over time will help with these.
5. Proceed to minor keys with the same steps.
thanks guys, reckon i left out some steps there... 
As has been said a little theory and a good ear help. My ears are tin so I rely on dirt simple theory and google to pull up fake chord sheet music on just about any song I need.
Using these search words, "chords, name of the song" -- normally get me something I can use.
Yes fake chord is just the bare bones and I have to "fake" the rest, but that is a sarting place.
Helps if you can recognize what the rhythm guitar's fretting hand is doing...
Good luck.
Using these search words, "chords, name of the song" -- normally get me something I can use.
Yes fake chord is just the bare bones and I have to "fake" the rest, but that is a sarting place.
Helps if you can recognize what the rhythm guitar's fretting hand is doing...
Good luck.
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There are two required skills to hear songs by ear:
- Interval Ear Training. You’ve got to learn to recognize all the intervals by ear.
- Harmonic Ear Training. You’ve got to learn to recognize the quality (major, minor, diminished, augmented, suspended) of a chord by ear.
I remember learning songs off cassette and records and sometimes the pitch was a little off so we would learn and play in some strange keys! Ha! The good old days!
You could also "cheat" if you have an iPhone and install this App:
Chord Tracker - Downloads - Yamaha - United States
If you set up a DropBox account you can import songs into it for guitar or Piano chords. Not 100% accurate but pretty darn close. Oh yeah...you can transpose songs too! Great little FREE app from Yamaha.
You could also "cheat" if you have an iPhone and install this App:
Chord Tracker - Downloads - Yamaha - United States
If you set up a DropBox account you can import songs into it for guitar or Piano chords. Not 100% accurate but pretty darn close. Oh yeah...you can transpose songs too! Great little FREE app from Yamaha.
Way back in the dark ages, during a jamming session, they told me to grab a 12 bar Blues progression and hang on. Here is why:
Twelve chord (lets stay with triads for now) in a blues progression.
Four measures of the I chord.
Then followed with two measures of the IV chord followed by two measures of the I chord. This completes the first eight bars. Now all we have to do is get ready for the turn-a-round by bringing in the V.
For one measure of the V chord, followed with one measure each of the IV, chord then one measure of the I chord ending back on the V which is used to draw you back into the I chord so you can start the progression over again.
Dirt simple theory. The I, IV and V chord contain every note in the scale/key. So? Any of those chords will sound OK with each other. As long as you stay with the I, IV, V you are good to go.
Little more, the IV likes to go to the V and the V likes to go to the I. If you let them bo this good things happen. That's enough for now.
Good luck.
Twelve chord (lets stay with triads for now) in a blues progression.
Four measures of the I chord.
Then followed with two measures of the IV chord followed by two measures of the I chord. This completes the first eight bars. Now all we have to do is get ready for the turn-a-round by bringing in the V.
For one measure of the V chord, followed with one measure each of the IV, chord then one measure of the I chord ending back on the V which is used to draw you back into the I chord so you can start the progression over again.
Dirt simple theory. The I, IV and V chord contain every note in the scale/key. So? Any of those chords will sound OK with each other. As long as you stay with the I, IV, V you are good to go.
Little more, the IV likes to go to the V and the V likes to go to the I. If you let them bo this good things happen. That's enough for now.
Good luck.
I'm not trained. I start with a note that sounds correct to me then work out the progressions. If it's the wrong key, I'll pick that up later and transpose it all.
Primitive tip: I find it’s a little easier doing the searching on the G string. I run up and down that string until something sounds right. This should help you determine what key the song is in and then you can kind of go from there. There are a lot of resources out there to learn new songs, but you should force yourself to do some the old fashioned way (by ear).
My method.
- Fumble around until you find some notes that fit.
- Figure out the key from these notes. The key will tell you the 6 most likely chords.
- Trial and error with the 6 most likely chords to figure out the progression.
Same for me. Ive usually got it by 2nd verse for most tunes. When you've developed your ear and theory it almost becomes instinctual.
A lot of times I just test out open strings and work out the key depending on dissonance/harmony. From there, I mean most songs aren't heavily based of locrian/Lydian modes so you can figure it out eventually. I don't have perfect pitch so this is my fumbling through it method.
I don't have a lot of musical theory training, but I did take acoustic guitar lessons for a couple of years and have played a lot of acoustic/rhythm guitar so I'm not a total noob with chords. I usually start playing along with a guitar and initially find the root notes. From there it might take a bit of experimenting - I can pretty much pick a major, minor or 7th chord, but once you get to diminished, augmented, suspended, 6th, 9th... I might have to try a couple of variations until I'm happy I've got the right one.
If I'm struggling, I am a fan of @Malcolm35's method: Google "[artist name] [song title] chords". It usually works pretty well.
If I'm struggling, I am a fan of @Malcolm35's method: Google "[artist name] [song title] chords". It usually works pretty well.
A few minutes of ear training everyday goes a very long way
I really like this free online resource Ear Training
There's even a dedicated chord progression exercise
I really like this free online resource Ear Training
There's even a dedicated chord progression exercise
I've always had a good ear so simple chords are easy to hear but some songs have really interesting chord voicings that are not so easy to figure out. One trick I have used for ages has been to loop the song right at the specific chord. Then at a piano keyboard I can pick out each note that I'm hearing in the chord.
For example, I learned this song back in the 80's and the band couldn't figure out the intro chord - so I looped it and picked out what my ears hear which is an F# in the bass with a C#min7 or min9 (Not sure I named that correctly but a F# in the bass and on top E,G#,B,C#) or would you call that a C#min11 with the 11 in the bass? Or leave off the C# and it's an E/F# No idea what to name these things but that's the voicing I hear ... now you may hear something else but to my ears, that sounds a lot closer than the simple E triad the band thought it was or the Esus4 that online chord charts say it is
For example, I learned this song back in the 80's and the band couldn't figure out the intro chord - so I looped it and picked out what my ears hear which is an F# in the bass with a C#min7 or min9 (Not sure I named that correctly but a F# in the bass and on top E,G#,B,C#) or would you call that a C#min11 with the 11 in the bass? Or leave off the C# and it's an E/F# No idea what to name these things but that's the voicing I hear ... now you may hear something else but to my ears, that sounds a lot closer than the simple E triad the band thought it was or the Esus4 that online chord charts say it is
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I very highly recommend an app called Chorprog ear trainer 2...it is by far the best app I have come across for training your ear to hear chord progressions. The app developer has hundreds of chord progressions that he plays on a piano and you identify what the progression is, it progressively gets harder and adds more chords. doing this for just 10 mins a day will sharpen up your ear. It's great because he plays all the most common chord progressions and their variations.
