Members captain average Posted October 21, 2006 Members Posted October 21, 2006 i can figure out some simple songs by ear, and if i really play it to death, i can figure slightly more complicated songs by ear through brute force of repetition, but it's not fun at all, and after a while, i lose focus and motivation. learning a fast, complicated solo, or a jazz piece is nearly impossible.are there any tips to speeding up the process?
Members rm100tubehead Posted October 21, 2006 Members Posted October 21, 2006 Ear training is what you want. Sit down with your guitar or a piano and play two note intervals. Listen to them and learn to recognise them together and seperate. PG music has a program called band in a box that has some ear training tools. Recognising intervals is only the beginning then train to hear triads.
Members Jeremy3 Posted October 21, 2006 Members Posted October 21, 2006 I like doing an improv solo over a backing track, and then trying to write it out after. Start slow and easy, and stay in the same scale position, and when you can do that easily get faster and use all scale positions. This can help you figure out songs by ear.
Members red|dragon Posted October 21, 2006 Members Posted October 21, 2006 playing by ear is the best way to approach things. in the end, what you hear in your head and play is the best music you will ever create. BUT......BUT....... Learning by ear is fine, but I still recommend you learn to read music. You won't have (you will have a tremendously better) a good sense of rhythm unless you can read music. No point in getting into a discussion about accomplished musicians (artists) who have great rhythm and can't read music. Some people are born with it. If you're posting on HC in this day of age, you probably weren't born with it. So for all of us who weren't born with it, LEARN TO READ MUSIC SO YOU CAN DEVELOP A GOOD SENSE OF RHYTHM.
Members captain average Posted October 21, 2006 Author Members Posted October 21, 2006 yeah, this thread ain't about that. i can read music fine, and my rhythms get heads bobbin like hookers on payday.
Members Terje Posted October 22, 2006 Members Posted October 22, 2006 Originally posted by captain average i can figure out some simple songs by ear, and if i really play it to death, i can figure slightly more complicated songs by ear through brute force of repetition, but it's not fun at all, and after a while, i lose focus and motivation. learning a fast, complicated solo, or a jazz piece is nearly impossible.are there any tips to speeding up the process? Maybe I'm the wrong guy to tell you this... or maybe I'm the right guy becasue I have the same problem. But... I have recently found something that might be a solution. Her'es the thing, IMO... you need to be able to slow things down enough for it to be easy to pick out by ear. You also need to learn to divide songs and phrases into small enough segments. Taking it slowly, taking only one step at a time, is the fastest way to get there I think. Get some software or whatever that can loop and slow things down, preferably gradually down to half speed. Make it easy for yourself and it will be more fun. I will sometimes split just one phrase up in several small segments with just a few notes in each. Basically I'd be willing to loop just one note if I had to. Also, it will help to learn to sing the phrases first. This is the way my teacher thinks it "should" be done but I don't do it like that all the time. When I do it I notice that it helps though. You get a better idea of what's going on if you can sing it. Finally, none of this is in conflict with learning to read. You can do both.
Members captain average Posted October 22, 2006 Author Members Posted October 22, 2006 where did i say i can't read music? i have a book of classical music sitting 3 feet from me.
Members red|dragon Posted October 22, 2006 Members Posted October 22, 2006 Originally posted by captain average where did i say i can't read music? i have a book of classical music sitting 3 feet from me. because most people who learn to play by ear can't read music, or end up reading music later. you can do both? cheers.
Members captain average Posted October 22, 2006 Author Members Posted October 22, 2006 well, i'm learning to play by ear, or at least trying. thus the thread. i read the music that i have, but there's a whole lot of music that noone's done up or i don't own scores to.
Members BlueStrat Posted October 23, 2006 Members Posted October 23, 2006 are there any tips to speeding up the process? ca, I don't know of any, but I do know that while it's monotonous and time consuming at first, it gets easier the more you do it. When I was a kid, we used turntables and vinyl records, and played them over and over, and on hard parts we could slow the record down to half speed if you had an older record player. What happend over time is you learn to "see" in your mind what someone is playing just by hearing it, because you've spent so much time applying what you heard. I'm envious that you can read music, I tried to learn, but I am so bad at transferring information from reading to doing. I seem to do better by figuring things out, and the understanding comes later. I'm also an auditory learner; some people are more visual learners. Anyway, I suppose you probably already use tabs, so I don't know what else to tell you except that ear training takes time, but it does get easier.
Members bubbamc119 Posted October 23, 2006 Members Posted October 23, 2006 'Tonic Solfa' aka 'Movable Doh' Solfege is the secret to playing guitar by ear. Look it up and study it with a few simple melodies. You'll thank me later.
Members Terje Posted October 23, 2006 Members Posted October 23, 2006 Originally posted by captain average well, i'm learning to play by ear, or at least trying. thus the thread.i read the music that i have, but there's a whole lot of music that noone's done up or i don't own scores to. I really recognise your situation as it is very similar to mine. I just think the two of us should plunge right in. This is the way to learn music, by listening to it and trying to repeat what you've just heard.
Members The Bard Posted October 24, 2006 Members Posted October 24, 2006 One of the first things you do in life is LISTEN. Learning by ear is a natural progression. Reading music FIRST fundamentally turns you into a technical player. Learning by listening requires more use of the imagination. Both have advantages/disadvantages. As an 'ear' player who can read music, my playing style has nothing to do with specific scales, appegios and riffs. However it is based on them. Technically what I play makes no sense at all....but it comes from the heart and can be very emotive. Listen first, then read!
Members GuitarPLayer61990 Posted October 29, 2006 Members Posted October 29, 2006 You can't speed up anything that you never completely can master. I've been doing ear training for 6 years [i can pick out things like ii-V-I, ii-V to the IV, subtonic, all that crap, and I can pick out chords by ear] but I'm still going through an ongoing battle. Honestly, just start transcribing like crazy.
Members Terje Posted October 29, 2006 Members Posted October 29, 2006 Originally posted by GuitarPLayer61990 Honestly, just start transcribing like crazy. How important is to actually write the stuff down, from an eartraining point of view?
Members rg3000 Posted November 3, 2006 Members Posted November 3, 2006 As others have mentioned, there is no shortcut to ear training. Depending upon your skill level, it can take several years to develop the ability to play well by ear. Here are some free online ear training tools that include exercises for intervals, chords, random melodies, and playing simple songs by ear:http://www.iwasdoingallright.com/tools/ear_training/ Cheers, -Rick
Members nylon rock Posted November 3, 2006 Members Posted November 3, 2006 When you get a lot of years of ear training under your belt, you can actually tell where on the guitar a riff takes place. The very strings, the popping of just missed note bends, the whole lifting of your entire left hand to drop down a few frets where the next riff kicks in, even at times the correct up down of the right hand picking. It gets this good with ever constant, daily practice.b
Members GuitarPLayer61990 Posted November 4, 2006 Members Posted November 4, 2006 Originally posted by Terje How important is to actually write the stuff down, from an eartraining point of view? It depends, if it's really long, then I'll write it down. Usually, I just try and memorize it though. If you do it right (listen to it a couple times), then you should be able to audiate it in your head. Sometimes I'll write weird passages down too, but honestly, just get into it. Learn the solo on Freddie Freeloader (miles davis) on kind of blue, for some good jazz.
Members SixStringAxis Posted November 4, 2006 Members Posted November 4, 2006 One of the most important things of learning a piece by ear is memorization. A great quote I once read said "Learning music(by ear) is 90% listening 10% playing." In other words you should spend 90% of the time learning a song by just listening, not touching your instrument as the song plays. What that really means is you should always have the part your trying to play memorized perfectly before you even touch your instrument. You should be able to play the part in your head or sing it without the music. This sounds like a lot of work but trust me there is no way around it. Start with songs you have heard all your life, songs that you can sing along perfectly without ever had actually trying memorize, songs you have heard a bzillion times. I guarantee you learn those by ear very quickly. Also after you start to get a little better don't be afraid to just through your hands anywhere without even thinking. A lot of times I find that if I dont think at all where the note should be my hands magically find the right note first try.
Members bubbamc119 Posted November 4, 2006 Members Posted November 4, 2006 Originally posted by SixStringAxis One of the most important things of learning a piece by ear is memorization. A great quote I once read said "Learning music(by ear) is 90% listening 10% playing."In other words you should spend 90% of the time learning a song by just listening, not touching your instrument as the song plays.What that really means is you should always have the part your trying to play memorized perfectly before you even touch your instrument. You should be able to play the part in your head or sing it without the music. This sounds like a lot of work but trust me there is no way around it. Start with songs you have heard all your life, songs that you can sing along perfectly without ever had actually trying memorize, songs you have heard a bzillion times. I guarantee you learn those by ear very quickly.Also after you start to get a little better don't be afraid to just through your hands anywhere without even thinking. A lot of times I find that if I dont think at all where the note should be my hands magically find the right note first try. +1 Great advice. Memorization is key.
Members Terje Posted November 4, 2006 Members Posted November 4, 2006 Originally posted by GuitarPLayer61990 Learn the solo on Freddie Freeloader (miles davis) on kind of blue, for some good jazz. I sorta knew that one about two years ago. Maybe I should go and relearn it, huh?
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