How To Play By Ear

[StevenF]

Hi folks,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbS7iMjaL8A

Above is a link to a song which I would love to learn play. It has a personal and strong meaning to myself and someone close to me and would love if I could play it.

I can't find the chords/tabs anywhere on the internet, so I'm looking for some tips on how to learn by ear.

I'm aware that this sort of skill takes years to develop and requires a good understanding of guitar chords. I know all my basic open chords and can play basic barre chords too (F, Bm, F# etc), but find it difficult to pick them out and identify them when they're played in a song.

I'm guessing the best way is to start with an easy song involving a couple of chords and going from there? I think I would be ok if I knew which chords were in the song and then tried to arrange them myself, but I don't know what they are!

[jackcooper]

Hi Steve.

One easy way to improve your ear is to take a bunch of the most common open chords and record yourself playing them in groups of say four chords at a time.

Record enough variations so that you can't remember what you did (or leave it a few days)

Go back and work them out. Rinse and repeat.


It takes time to improve the ear but i'm positive that anyone can do it (if they work at it) and it's the single most important thing when learning music.


Eventually you'll get used to the way each shape sounds. I often tell my students to describe the sounds of the chord shapes as we run through them. When its time to work them out the descriptions they gave often help to quicken the process.

Try putting a capo on for some of the recording exercises and remember to say into the recorder what fret your on.

[unimogbert]

..................

[Scorgie]

I'm not sure the rules for advertising other websites here but if you're allowed too then I'd highly recommend going to JustinGuitar and going to his beginner course here:

http://www.justinguitar.com/en/BC-00...nersCourse.php

and doing all of the JUSTIN Exercises in each stage.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by StevenF

...I can't find the chords/tabs anywhere on the internet, so I'm looking for some tips on how to learn by ear.

Hi StevenF...
None of this is instant, of course, but some points of playing by ear are quicker to learn than the finer points.

Using this video you can at least get the right chords (not all the inversions) easily. He's playing in key of D and there are few exotic chords in the piece (a couple in the instrumental bridge). He uses a D/F# quite a bit in what I'd call the chorus...


Some overall play by ear tips are:

• Figure out the key a song is being played in
• See it they are using capos
• Learn to read hands...
• Watch full-screen on YouTube for key chords/fingerings. Our 21'' iMac is great for this use
• Freeze-frame (pause) and find the chord
• Learn to recognize common open chords which are revealing - G, A, D, C, E, Am, Em, Bm played in common fingerings will give you clues to other chords. Learn to recognize how they sound, not just how they look.

Hope these hints help...

[mc1]

the best and easiest way is to ask JonPR.

[mr. beaumont]

Listen for the lowest note in chords, or the bass note if there's a bass player...these can be a hint at the root.

Train your ear to identify major or minor chords...there's obviously more chord "qualities" than that, but it's a good start.

Ear training takes time...but it's one of the best things you can do for yourself.

[jackcooper]

Blow this up a bit in size, print it out and stick it on your practice room wall.

The Circle on the outside is Major.
The Circle on the inside is Minor.

If a song is in the key of G Major call it the centre. The most likely chords in the song will be those closest to G in the circle. C major, D major, A minor, B minor, E minor.

In the case of the song you linked which is in D Major, the chords are likely to include G major, A major, E minor, B minor, F# minor.

There will often be chords that don't sit so close in the circle and you will find these chords to sound more surprising and possibly jarring to your ear. Hunt around until you find them.

[Hotspur]

Originally Posted by StevenF

I'm aware that this sort of skill takes years to develop and requires a good understanding of guitar chords. I know all my basic open chords and can play basic barre chords too (F, Bm, F# etc), but find it difficult to pick them out and identify them when they're played in a song.

I would start with just the root. That song's going to be tricky because there are some unusual chord voicings in it.

That being said, learning to play by ear is like learning a language: you need to practice a lot, the more often the better.

Start by downloading the functional ear trainer from miles.be. This will seem crazy difficult when you first start, but it really does get a lot easier with practice. It's easy to use for 5-10 minutes a day, every day ... do this and you will see results.

Then I'd recommend that you get a good book on ear training. I like Keith Wyatt's "Ear Training for the Contemporary Musician" which is basically a course in transcription: it starts you with very simple melodies, and gradually makes things more complex. One takeaway from this is NOT to start by transcribing chords.

Rather, transcribe simple melodies. Right now, play twinkle twinkle little star on your guitar. Is it hard? Easy? If it's not trivially easy, you'll probably be lost trying to transcribe chords.

[KHH]

When trying to learn a new song by ear, I imagine myself playihg bass, and figure out the chords after finding the bass note.