How to Play by Ear

[justamusican]

I've tried many times to just sit and listen to a song and try to pick out the notes or chords and I can't seem to get it. Does that mean I don't have a "ear" for music or am I doing something wrong?

[MikeGee]

ok, this is something I too struggle with. I bought a device called a tascam Cd trainer. there's several in this group i got the Bass trainer, theres guitar trainer and vocal trainer. but there all the same. theres a fuction called a loop something or another. you hit a button to program the starting point then you hit it again to program in the end point. it will loop those to points. then you can take all the time you want to figure out notes/chords. or you can just wait. heres my story. been playing 2 years September 13th. then i could not even hear a Bass line. then i could hear it. then i can find the key and now i can slowly learn a song by ear bout an hour. there is some songs that i can't do anything with. i hear songs now that i havn't heard for a long time and discover theres a bass line that never existed before. try listening to music thats heavy in what you are into. and sooner or later you'll get it.
hope i helped.

[MikeGee]

Oh and BTW I don't believe this is something that can be taught.

[B3Wannabe]

I'm with Mike. I learned to pickup songs by ear the hard way: without a cd trainer. There weren't cd around much then anyway. Learning to pickup a song by ear and playing by are slightly different things though. One teaches you the patterns, and it's almost as if someone is giving you chords. The other relies on your own recall of what you've learned and improvisational skills.

Now, my ear is relatively good. I can listen to a song and learn it the way the cd plays it, but my improvisational skill on some songs need to be developed.

[bbctrak]

You just have to be still and learn how to play it because it's not going to take over night.


GOD BLESS!!!!!!!!! :wink:

[MikeGee]

another idea is run scales over the song hopely it's a cd or cassette, some how start again. i run scales over the song til i find on that sounds good. then that may be the key, watch out for A# and Bb even though basicly the same someone may look at you funny but learning is learning.

[LilWes]

try to get the chords down in your mind you will get use to it one of these dayz

[thatguyro]

First and Foremost in order to play a song by ear, you must be able to find out what key the song is in...  A trick I did, LEARN YOUR SCALES.......  It will make the process easier, for example if you learn yourself scales and you sit and listen to a song.  I usually find that one note that is basically in harmony with the song, find out what scale fits that song.. Thats something i did until i got used to it, its a growing process.  You start off slow and it a eventually pick up.  Knowing your scales will help broaden the search for the notes and changes, then you will have like 8 notes to play with to see what is next, in a basic like way now, keep in mind there are chords like 7th's that will include notes outside the scale or half stepping, im just giving you basics to work with....If im wrong anyone tell me.....lol, thats what I do from the guitar and I play keys a little

[ShadowPhace]

The easiest way to learn how to play by ear is to everday sit down and play chords repeatedly. For beginners, start with basic chords, like CM and Cm chord. Then move on to harder chords like Cd7. The idea is to train you ear to recognize sound. Just do this a few minutes a day. Then you will begin to hear those same sounds in songs you like.

Another great option is to buy a fake book and just play to chords of your favorite song without having to read music.