Using Ear and becoming better

dean111music

Hey

I thought this might be a good subject for people to talk about there experiences.

I have been playing for about 15 years and where I have either had guitar lessons or studying at music college. Most of which has been reading TAB!

My ear is no where near as good as i like and i still find it amazing how people can hear certain things and work it out straight away. 

I can pick out certain things soon...chords can be a difficulty. It could even be a chord progression that I have learnt before, I sometimes can hear it before i work it out.

For lead playing I know where my "safe notes" are, licks and tricks, what scales to use over certain genres and grooves. But i have spent so much time learning scales up and down, reading tab, melodies don't come out that easily! If i'm playing lead only sometimes i really connect with what i'm doing. Its hard for me to say feel like i meant that solo to come out like that..because thats what i was imagining in my head before playing it. Usually it is a bunch of stuff that doesn't flow as well when i hear other guys solo.

Is this a case of just keep working on developing ear, transcribing solos, imagine and write the chord progression out before picking up the guitar first? 

Am i on my own on this?  

Danny1969

If you learn to recognize your intervals your generally be able to work things out quite quickly by ear. By interval I'm referring to the distance from one note to another in any given scale. These are common examples

Starting on a C note 

C   C     D     C  

Happy - Birthday  ..... That's one tone between the C and D

Hea  vy boots of lead

C     D#   .... that first interval is a tone and a  half or what we call a minor third

You learn to recognize the sound of an interval change and then playing by ear becomes second nature. This applies to single note and chords. Once you know what sound a certain interval creates you can use it artistically in your own solos, you probably know the sound of a minor third already and use it it ... it's probably the most used interval in blues solo'ing 

There are sites and videos that  can help,  search for interval training 

Sambostar

Singing helps too.  Especially if you get confused humming inside your head.  When it comes to ear, hearing the pulse and rhythm of things is another, equally important part of making up solos and stuff especially ascending patterns and the like. Listen to music you usually don't listen to, it'll soon come together with chords, ear is just relative memory after all.

dean111music

Thanks good advice! I might try to sing or hum a melody to backing track then go back and try to work it out on the guitar. That might encourage some melodic interest

richardhomer

I learned the 'old' way - lifting the arm off a record, finding the notes on my guitar and dropping the arm back down to cop the next bit.

I became very much better at 'knowing' what the note was, over time. In other words, I simultaneously 'heard' the interval and knew what it was on the guitar.

As a result, when I improvise a solo, I know what the notes I play are going to sound like - so I'm perfectly capable of improvising melodically, rather than randomly hitting notes which 'should' work, because they are part of the 'right' scale or pattern.

My harmonic knowledge isn't great - I occasionally chance across something which 'shouldn't' work. What I then do is research what scale it is and try to learn it properly.

The other thing which transcribing does is build your awareness of phrasing. All the great players (to my ear) not only make great note choices - they phrase beautifully (Gilmour, Peter Green, Knopfler for example).

Limehouse_Blues

Singing is good advice. Join a choir. Singing in harmony with others is great ear training. I remember doing violin and piano grade exams as a kid and there was always these listening tests that I remember being quite hard. Note played and you'd have to sing a given interval above it etc. You don't have to start piano lessons or anything but I bet you can get the aural tests for the associated boards exams online/on CD to train your ear. It may seem like going off on a tangent but I reckon it could help you. Like a runner doing leg weight work in the gym. Tedious but important for their running performance.

Alnico

Sent you a PM.

Let me know if i can help.

octatonic

Danny1969 said:

Hea  vy boots of lead

C     D#   .... that first interval is a tone and a  half or what we call a minor third

I don't wish to be an arse but C -> D# is a sharp 2, not a minor 3rd.

C->Eb is a minor 3rd.

Yes, I know they are enharmonically the same but still it helps to use the correct terminology, especially for developing players in order they don't confused.

To the OP. Aural training is a skill that needs to be practiced, like playing scales.

When I did music college it was 1/8th of the study and could be, at times, quite frustrating when people with perfect pitch could pull intervals out of the air and you are left struggling with it.

There are a bunch of songs to learn- you probably know many of them (like 'here comes the bride' is a perfect 4th) which is why we use them.

Beyond that  it is practice, practice, practice.

It doesn't come overnight.

dean111music

Great!

I was thinking about buying a looper just to practice with, highly recommended?

When you guys transcribe do you learn and write everything down then learn it note for note?
Or do you pick up phrasing ideas, concepts and harmonic info from it then develop it in your own playing?

Dean