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Double Bass Question about Ear training

#21
There's also Karajan on the iPhone as an app.

Not that my opinion is worth that much on teaching things but...

I'm experimenting with simply taking exercises I used to do in Voice classes and playing them in playing them of my bass. It was a speech level singing class. Most of the exercises revolved around playing 1st inversion arpeggios (no 7th) going up chromatically, and then descending after some point. I'm just paying attention to how much spread the hand needs to match the right intonation. 1-3-5-1 is pretty easy to hear and sing in your head. Seems pretty effective so far.

Of course you can vary the exercise and expand on it so that it's more than just a simple arpeggio but it's probably worth nailing that down cold before moving on. If it works for singers, why won't it work for bass players?
 
#22
hdiddy said:
1-3-5-1 is pretty easy to hear and sing in your head. Seems pretty effective so far.

Of course you can vary the exercise and expand on it so that it's more than just a simple arpeggio but it's probably worth nailing that down cold before moving on. If it works for singers, why won't it work for bass players?
Click to expand...

Simandl is full of arpeggios from the get-go in half position.

-S-
 
#23
That'll work. Take an short exerpt that is arpeggio based, run them chromatically up and down the next so you get a sense of the differences in spacing between one arp and the next. Simandl alone doesn't do this - it just tells you which finger to use where.

EDIT: BTW I'm also toying around using open strings to generate drones. As opposed to using a device for the drones, you feel the vibrations and oscilations physically on the instrument. It's quite nice.
 
#26
SteveFreides said:
A good ear is a good ear - you'll figure out how to be in tune by yourself. . . without having to think about it much, if at all.

I totally agree with the above (excuse my edit) which leads me to ask, How do you feel about mnemonic devices as learning tools?
It's always puzzled me as to why chords and intervals are so easy to sing if they are considered "melodies" rather than cold hyphenated numbers of a scale. For instance: Ask some one to sing (playing is simple) a major seventh chord (1-3-5-7). Often you'll get a puzzled look. But if you ask them to sing the first four notes of a familiar tune ("Morning of the Carnival") they'll hit it right on. Or, more difficult, a note and its sharp an octave below (1'-1 or c'-c) will earn a blank stare until you ask them to sing the first three notes of "I Love You."
To me it is proof that its all in there. Its just a matter on making it accessible at will. I earnestly think it can be learned.
Unfortunately, in my opinion and experience this is not true of time feel. I have never known anyone to "learn" time. To rephrase your quote," Bad time is bad time.
Click to expand...
 
#27
gerry grable said:
I totally agree with the above (excuse my edit) which leads me to ask, How do you feel about mnemonic devices as learning tools?
It's always puzzled me as to why chords and intervals are so easy to sing if they are considered "melodies" rather than cold hyphenated numbers of a scale. For instance: Ask some one to sing (playing is simple) a major seventh chord (1-3-5-7). Often you'll get a puzzled look. But if you ask them to sing the first four notes of a familiar tune ("Morning of the Carnival") they'll hit it right on. Or, more difficult, a note and its sharp an octave below (1'-1 or c'-c) will earn a blank stare until you ask them to sing the first three notes of "I Love You."
To me it is proof that its all in there. Its just a matter on making it accessible at will. I earnestly think it can be learned.
Click to expand...
My philosophy has always been "whatever works for you" is good. I agree that it's all in there, at least in most musicians, to be good enough at the basics, to be able to sight-sing diatonic melodies, etc.

There are, of course, some things, e.g., the ability to sight-sing atonal music, that reside only in relatively few of us.

The problem, such as it is, is finding what works in a variety of situations, e.g., sometimes the tonal context of a chord is so different than the song you used to learn it that the song isn't of much use.

For most people, the old-fashioned approach - breaking things up into their component parts and approaching each with progressive material - is the sure route to improvement.

I will, when my life slows down a bit in a couple of weeks, post some things in a new thread on this forum that I've found to be helpful to almost everyone and that I teach to my students regardless of instrument once they reach a certain level. And if I forget, anyone is welcomed to remind me. I swamped until June 15.

-S-
 
#28
im starting to learn by ear ive been playing bass for 10 months and having been using mostly tab and a little of standard notations. can you give me some examples of easy beginner songs to learn by ear? i just started.
 
#29
IMO if you must do it on your own.

1) Get a teacher--even a friend who can play.
2) Be sure your bass is always in tune!!!
3) Forget the tabs! Use standard notations; they are just as easy to learn and infinitely more useful.
4) Get a beginner's bass book. ( ex., Simandl for DB, Mary Kaye for BG)
4) Anything simple that you can sing or hum.
5) Learn to sing and play a simple blues progression:
|C E G A|C A G E| and so forth.
6) Check out Youtube!
 

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