Jump to content
HAPPY NEW YEAR, TO ALL OUR HARMONY CENTRAL FORUMITES AND GUESTS!! ×

Few questions about trianing my ears...


asgdrew

Recommended Posts

  • Members
Posted

Okay, so I've been noodling on guitar as a hobby since i was 13...i'm fairly good and can play my own songs and learn tab fairly easily. Know the basics, know some scales and I'm just starting to dip into the deeper waters with the book Fret Board Logic SE which i've heard great reviews about.

 

Now one thing that I think has been hindering my learning over the pats 9 years is that I have no ear for music. I can't even sing on key and my girlfriend (who graduated with a degree in music and performs in a group) has helped me hone it and she's noticed my one problem when it comes to music is that I learned like most kids now adays...learned tab, learned the basic but didn't learn music.

 

She also was suprised that I couldn't play a song just from hearing....aparantley this is normal for most musicians but being a TAB junkie I never thought of it to much.

 

Well now I've finaly decided to change that and train my ears and learn some music. She suggested that to train my ear I should look into purchasing a keyboard or using some free programs online. She couldn't remember any of them and I was wondering if perhaps any of you might know of any.

 

Anyway, she and several others have told me that using a keyboard and practicing intervals is one of the best ways to train your ear. She said she would help me but I was wondering what advice you guys can give me or if you might know any material that helps train the ear.

 

 

Also, my goal is to be able to improvise. That's the one thing I've alwways been amazed at when I see other friends who have trained their ears...they can just sit down with their bass/harmonica/guitar and jam away with other musicians with litle effort. Is improvising a skill reserved only for skilled musicians or is this something that I can some day achieve?

  • Members
Posted

Try self hypnosis. Make sure you get qualified medical assistance though. Unless you live in a very supportive environment, softening your brain can cause problems.
Downside aside, once you are able to reach those missing connections - could be as simple as ear training in a suggestive state.

  • Members
Posted

hmm...can't tell if this is a joke as is this an approach I've never heard of before... No disrespect intended it just seems like an unusual method but if it has worked for others and is a true method then I'd give it a shot. Any more info?

  • Members
Posted

Not kidding. For example, Transcendental Meditation is a form of self hypnosis - millions swear by it. You can get all kinds of material at popular book stores - like I said though, ask a qualified medical professional. Your brain is always willing to learn and modify itself but it's not a toy.

  • Members
Posted

that, or you could sit down with a cd or mp3s and a guitar and just start working on it. shouldn't take long before you notice results.

 

 

Sounds good...I just thought there was a way to practice it...guess I gotta follow the footsteps of the greats from back in the day. No tuners, no cd's, no books or keyboards. Just lots of records and a willingness to learn.

  • Members
Posted

There is a way to practice it, and it's called Solfege. See here for more info;

http://www.jsguitarforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56336

 

And make sure your guitar is tuned and intonated correctly. Otherwise your ear will be off.

 

Solfege is taught thoroughly to music students at college level and any decent piano course, because it trains the ear. My article basically shows you how to apply the method to guitar but you should seek additional resources. Do an amazon search for ear training and sight reading for guitar.

 

edit: get your girlfriend to help you. She'll would have done solfege before.

ask her for her college notes and study them from the beginning.

Wow you've got a good resource there man ;)

  • Members
Posted
There is a way to practice it, and it's called Solfege. See here for more info;

http://www.jsguitarforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56336


And make sure your guitar is tuned and intonated correctly. Otherwise your ear will be off.


Solfege is taught thoroughly to music students at college level and any decent piano course, because it trains the ear. My article basically shows you how to apply the method to guitar but you should seek additional resources. Do an amazon search for ear training and sight reading for guitar.


edit: get your girlfriend to help you. She'll would have done solfege before.

ask her for her college notes and study them from the beginning.

Wow you've got a good resource there man
;)



Thanks alot for the info, I'm gonna be printing that out....seems like on of the only truly musical explanations (not methods) that I've seen out there that don't seem to baffle and confuse me...most seem to treat MUSIC and GUITAR as two different entities and attempt to combine them...Did you write that yourself? If so good job man.

  • Members
Posted

solfege never helped me, but it might work for you. and i'm not saying you have to go back in time. you can use modern technology. anyway, at first i usually just tried to find a riff or a chord or even just a note that repeated a lot in the song, and sort of built on that. the more time i spent, the easier it got. now i can usually pick up simpler guitar songs in one go around.

if you want to learn a song note for note, using winamp and software that slows it down without changing pitch works really nicely.

  • Members
Posted

Note that the article I wrote talks about movable do solfege. Eventually, if you want to get into playing jazz or other music that doesn't hold a key for more than 2 bars, you should think about using fixed do solfege.

  • Members
Posted

Its funny you posted this. Its just hard work. you gotta practice it. I've been playing drums for almost 20 years and noodled on guitar for almost that long. Ever since I was a kid I've alway analized every detail of the music I was into and I think that really helped. But I've never had any fromal training other than on the drums. I've taken up guitar more serioulsy in the last year. So has a friend of mine, but he has no experience. Now my girlfriend is a professional singing teacher and graduated from Juliard. With her helping I realized that while I was good at hearing intervals, melodies, etc...she is friggin wicked at it! My friend on the other hand is terrible. ie not being able to hear the differnce between simple notes and not being able to hum the same note he strums on the guitar. So much so he has kind of given up on learning. He thinks he's "tone def" and doesn't "have the music in him." Now my girlfriend doesn't believe that there is such a thing as "tone def" It's just bloody practice and hard damn work. And I agree with that. Of course you can achieve it.

To make a long story longer try the earpro program. I think it will be just what your looking for.

  • Members
Posted

When I was studying music in college, my ear training professor required that we practice our assignments away from our instrument-singing only (with a piano for help). It is important that you be able to sing a melody before you actually play on the guitar. You don't have to be a "singer" but you should be able to sing correct pitches and rhythms. Here are some things to try:

-Sing major and natural minor scales
-Sing arpeggios. Start with major and minor and move to Dom. 7 and diminished
-Sing arpeggios in a simple chord progression. Start with I V7 I, and then add a pre-dominant chord ie I ii V7 I.

If you work on this even just 10 or 15 min. a day, you will be astounded by the results. Pretty soon, all you will need is your starting note you will be amazing your family and friends. (Well, probably not but you will be a better musician for it-I promise.)

  • Members
Posted

When I was studying music in college, my ear training professor required that we practice our assignments away from our instrument-singing only (with a piano for help). It is important that you be able to sing a melody before you actually play on the guitar. You don't have to be a "singer" but you should be able to sing correct pitches and rhythms. Here are some things to try:


-Sing major and natural minor scales

-Sing arpeggios. Start with major and minor and move to Dom. 7 and diminished

-Sing arpeggios in a simple chord progression. Start with I V7 I, and then add a pre-dominant chord ie I ii V7 I.


If you work on this even just 10 or 15 min. a day, you will be astounded by the results. Pretty soon, all you will need is your starting note you will be amazing your family and friends. (Well, probably not but you will be a better musician for it-I promise.)

 

 

 

This is pretty much what my GF told me...if you can't sing a song or sing the melody then chances are you can't play it. She was suprsied to hear that I couldn't even hum properly lol..

 

Thanks alot everyone..i appreciate all of your advice. Hopefully within a years time I can pick up a tune on the radio without having to look at tabs.

  • Members
Posted

You should consider buying "Easy Pop Melodies" or "Hooked on Easy Guitar". Then just use the CD to figure everything out by ear. You could use the book to figure out what key the song is in. Then practice playing and singing the scale for that key.

 

Between the two, I prefer "Hooked", but it is more traditional. There are a few MP3 samples on the website.

 

www.mayfairmusic.com/music/guitar.html

 

www.musicdispatch.com/item_detail.jsp?itemid=697268&order=1&catcode=01&refer=search&type=product&keywords=easy+pop+melodies

 

www.musicdispatch.com/item_detail.jsp?itemid=697269&order=4&catcode=01&refer=search&type=product&keywords=easy+pop+melodies

  • Members
Posted

So let's say i studied an hour a day, studying intervals, singing, solfage, whatever it is that I choose to use. If i study about 1 hour-2 hours a day is it reasonable to suggest that I can improve my playing and ear sufficiently within a years time or is this something that takes years to improve?

  • Members
Posted

I realized some time ago that I wasn't a great singer. But I also realized the along with the my guitar I could stat along with it all night long (the singing scat, not the Internet scat).

 

So, when you do whatever you do as REGULAR practice, sing along with your guitar. Sure you'll find your range is limited to certain areas of the fretboard but that's NO REASON not to working in your range on the fretboard.

 

It will not only help your ear, but once you get to the point of your ear and singing taking the lead, you'll find a "voice" on the guitar that's not relying on Patterns and preconceived thought, but more like "singing".

 

You will never be able to train your ear until you start opening your mouth. Music is an internal thing, by singing you start to feel (maybe be vibration) the notes. You will also find many of the really sweet notes don't lie directly between two fretwires but somewhere in between. You may never find those until you start opening your mouth.

 

Actually look/play though the Intervals Series at my lesson site, and sing it while learning it. Half-steps, Whole-step, Maj and Min 3rds and ALL great voice exercises.

 

All of this will improve your ear as well as your voice...it's called practice.

  • Moderators
Posted

So let's say i studied an hour a day, studying intervals, singing, solfage, whatever it is that I choose to use. If i study about 1 hour-2 hours a day is it reasonable to suggest that I can improve my playing and ear sufficiently within a years time or is this something that takes years to improve?

 

 

If you practice ear training for an hour a day over the course of a year, your ear should improve dramatically. Buy one of those chromatic pitch-pipes (like they use to give the starting note to choruses) and start singing scales, intervals, triads and such. Learn "movable-do" solfege (very few people use fixed-do). The key to learning anything is consistant practice and a gradual increase in complexity.

 

cheers,

  • Moderators
Posted

It will not only help your ear, but once you get to the point of your ear and singing taking the lead, you'll find a "voice" on the guitar that's not relying on Patterns and preconceived thought, but more like "singing".


You will never be able to train your ear until you start opening your mouth. Music is an internal thing, by singing you start to feel (maybe be vibration) the notes. You will also find many of the really sweet notes don't lie directly between two fretwires but somewhere in between. You may never find those until you start opening your mouth.

 

 

There was bound to be something we could agree on completely. Good advise above!

 

cheers,

  • Members
Posted

This is pretty much what my GF told me...if you can't sing a song or sing the melody then chances are you can't play it. She was suprsied to hear that I couldn't even hum properly lol..

 

 

In India, singing is the basis for all musical instruction. Musicians are expected to be able to sing anything before they attempt it on an instrument (even percussionists). Beginners don't even touch an instrument for at least a year, and lessons are given without the instrument-everything is sung.

 

BTW, as I said before just a little time every day will yield results, if you want to sing for 2 hours a day, go ahead but ya might be a bit hoarse. Also, start out just singing the "easier" intervals-5ths and octaves. Then move to M3rds, P4ths, and M2nds. Once you have these down that's a good start for scales, arpeggios, etc.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...