Identifying Chords in a Contemporary Song by Ear

[Fuzzy125]

Identifying Chords in a Contemporary Song by Ear

I can identify melodic and harmonic intervals fairly accurately by ear, and I've done Justinguitar's exercises for naming chords by ear. I do all my ear training on the guitar and using an app on my cell phone.

Now although I can identify full chords strummed on an acoustic guitar, I find when I listen to a contemporary pop song, I can't do the same, because there is a lot of sonic information going on: multiple electric guitars, synthesizer, drums, drum loops, even an entire orchestra. What does this mean about my "musical ear"? Does this mean I haven't done enough chord ear training, or analyzing contemporary pop songs by ear is just plain hard?

What I can do though, is figure out the melody and the key on my guitar, and with that information work out the chords on paper and on guitar, which is kind of half aural, half academic. Can I ever get to a stage where I just listen to a non-acoustic song and name the chords without my guitar?

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy125

Identifying Chords in a Contemporary Song by Ear

I can identify melodic and harmonic intervals fairly accurately by ear, and I've done Justinguitar's exercises for naming chords by ear. I do all my ear training on the guitar and using an app on my cell phone.

Now although I can identify full chords strummed on an acoustic guitar, I find when I listen to a contemporary pop song, I can't do the same, because there is a lot of sonic information going on: multiple electric guitars, synthesizer, drums, drum loops, even an entire orchestra. What does this mean about my "musical ear"? Does this mean I haven't done enough chord ear training, or analyzing contemporary pop songs by ear is just plain hard?

What I can do though, is figure out the melody and the key on my guitar, and with that information work out the chords on paper and on guitar, which is kind of half aural, half academic.

I'd say that's good enough. Bear in mind being able to hear the bass is a good clue to chords.
After all, in a band - even with a full orchestra - everyone is playing the same chord at the same time - so being able to separate out the guitar is rarely important.
What you should be able to hear (or at least work towards hearing, if you can't already) is chord function and chord changes. I.e., being able to hear that a sequence is I-vi-IV-V, or I-V-IV-I, or whatever.
From what you say, your ear should already be able to do that. Naturally (assuming you don't have perfect pitch ), you can use guitar to figure out the key (the "I"), which will then tell you what all the other chords are.

Details can always be ironed out (and your guesses confirmed) using transcription software, such as http://www.seventhstring.com/xscribe/screenshots.html (free for a month, and cheap after that)

I've been transcribing songs myself for nearly 50 years - using reel tape recorders at first - and I still wouldn't attempt to do it without technical assistance of that kind, even now my ear has improved considerably over that time. (You can raise the octave, which makes the bass a lot more audible.)

Being able to identify a chord as "G" is not that useful. Being able to identify it as IV in a sequence in D is much more useful.
The only problem with that kind of "academic" assistance is that it can prejudice your ears. But then so can years of hearing common chord changes: you can predict what kind of chords a song will have, and think you hear something familiar, which on closer examination turns out to be something slightly different. Hence my reason for using software, even when I think I hear it fine without. (The software doesn't give you the answers, btw; it just helps you listen more closely - like an aural microscope.)

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy125

…Can I ever get to a stage where I just listen to a non-acoustic song and name the chords without my guitar?

Hi Fuzzy…

Probably. I find using headphones helps me isolate elements of the music too, and singing the bass line etc.

Some of the tough ones are Leonard Bernstein orchestral arrangements for things like "There's A Place For Us" (West Side Story) or orchestra parts for the original Porgy & Bess (songs like Summertime) which don't have definitive chords being played.

The parts just drift and morph behind the singers - who are the focus of the pieces.

When I'm thinking/analyzing songs in my head, I think in chord progressions and scale degree (a combination of Arabic numerals with figured bass), and almost always have a guitar in hand while I'm doing so - or at least very near the computer where I'm working and listening from. While I can do a lot without an instrument in my hands, it takes longer, and there is no need to do it that way since I have my guitars around when I'm arranging or devising music.

[Fuzzy125]

Thanks, Jon and Larry, for taking the time to answer my question at this busy time of the year. Merry Christmas to you two!

If being able to hear the chord progression and think in terms of scale degrees is good enough, especially for an amateur player, then I suppose I'm already there. After becoming a father of a pair of twins, I found my practice time cut by half, and more than ever, I try to focus tightly on practical skills, practical theory, practical whatever, dispensing with anything that's academic or purely theoretical. Sure, it would be nice to be able to decipher parts of a song without a guitar on my lap, but I guess that part of my ear training will have to wait till the kids go off to college. For now, I'm just gonna enjoy the music, enjoy the ride.

Oh yeah, I gotta get around to the software that Jon keeps talking about.

Merry Christmas!

[TomiPaldanius]

Hi Fuzzy125,

Try to hear the bass and after you get the key and basic bass movements right, you can start learning patterns. You can also try to develop the skill to hear pitch right. That is the skill only few have but you can live without it also.

I had a dinner with Tommy Emmanuel a month a go here in Bangkok. He asked how was my ear training programs going. Restaurant had a live band and Tommy was able to tell the exact pitch and chord progression of the song. He was naming the chords at the same time when band was playing.

We talked quite a lot about ear training and sang different bass lines and how to develop the ability to play by ear. Tommy also said that he is pleased to know that there is good teachers in Berklee and other top schools but most are behind the natural development in my opinion.

I believe learning will chance more and more to the aural and logical direction. Haven't used written notation myself in several years and it takes actually longer to learn and especially memorize songs if you have paper in front of you. You don't need for example to write down to paper "that is a white door". It is obvious. Chord progressions and music learning should go to same direction but it takes time until the teachers in music schools are in a level that this is possible.