Playing by ear vs Sight Reading, and trying to improve.

[motorhead9999]

I've been told by many people throughout my life that I have really excellent sight reading abilities, and that I tend to be able to pick up on that very quickly. Many have also said that they would gladly trade being able to play by ear in order to read.

However, I find myself desperately wanting to be better able to play by ear. I was attempting the other day to figure out a song just on ear, and just to make out a few chords took a tremendous amount of effort and time, to be quite honest, was extremely frustrating. I know this is probably a case of 'the grass being greener on the other side', but I would like to be able to listen to a song, and be able to make my own arrangement of it rather than get so frustrated trying to figure it out that I just go out and find either sheet music or guitar tabs (which I can then blaze through pretty quickly).

Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions as to how to get better by ear?

[mmichaelc]

Try singing a note in your head and then going to your piano/keyboard and getting that note in three or four tries. Eventually you should be able to do it with less tries as you hear the intervals better.

Also when listening to a song try to guess the chord changes by number. That would probably need some theory knowledge and practice on your own first though.

[Maximus]

Join an 80's Cover band ?

[motorhead9999]

That would require a keytar though ;-)

[Tiko]

And tight leather pants...

[SoulFire]

You've delved into some deep shit right there motorhead9999....

It's generally accepted that a musician is either good at one or the other: reading or playing by ear. These talents generally come naturally. That is, if you're good at reading, you'll find you'll have a natural knack for reading music and playing it to perfection. On the other hand, if you have a natural ear ability, it's very easy for you to pick up a song just by listening to it. It's only in VERY rare circumstances that you'll find someone naturally good at both.

Of course you can become good at both, I'm not saying you can't, it just takes training.

Now I myself am one of the aural people. I can pick up things by ear in an instant. When I was first learning guitar in grade 7, I used to work out guitar solos by ear by listening to them over and over again and then just playing them, which is a technique I still use today. Chord progressions come very easily to me, and I've always had a pretty good sense of pitch (not quite perfect, but depending on the note I can tell the difference from one to the other).

Some of this may have come from my musical education. My piano education (since I was four years old) was always very contemporary-music based, with more emphasis on a holistic approach, teaching a variety of musicianship skills. One of these was a big focus on aural learning. Now of course there was a big reading element involved too, i just never caught on to this as much.

From the people I know anyway, it seems a trend that someone with a contemporary music-based education tends to be more into aural learning, while a classical based person is better at reading. I know a BRILLIANT classical piano player at school who performs Rachs and Chopins for all of her assessments, and she's got the most AMAZING reading ability and technique. However, tell her to play a 12 bar blues in C, improvise around a D minor scale, or pick up a chord progression in a jam, and she'll freak out. It just doesn't seem to compute.

On the flipside, my reading ability, (in my opinion) is SHITHOUSE. I swear sometimes it'll take me like 10 minutes to work out 2 bars of music i've never heard before. I am getting better with training, but its still not something that comes naturally to me.

So as you can see, there does seem to be a natural element involved. However, I do know a few tricks that can improve your listening ear if you want to work on it:

1) Sing.

Singing develops your own natural ability to pitch a note. If you can do that, your playing ear will improve as well. Try singing along to things as you're playing as well.

2) Listen for common elements

When listening to a piece of music to work out by ear, firstly, go for something simple. Don't jump straight into try and work out The Dark Eternal Night by ear lol. You want something with a repetitive, simple chord progression, a steady time signature and limited melody. Once your work out the chord progression, scale and root note of the piece, the melody isn't too hard to work out. From there of course, you can move up to more difficult pieces when you're ready.

3) Practice Tonality, Intervals and Cadences

One of the most common aural exercises in the AMEB syllabus is identifying intervals, tonality of chords and chord progressions, and cadences. Have someone play an interval to you, and see if you can work it out by ear. Do the same thing with chords and cadences. Try and identify common memory tricks with intervals and cadences, and eventually you'll end up remembering them easier.

4) Practice WHENEVER YOU LISTEN TO MUSIC!

Whenever you hear a piece of music, just do a simple analysis of it. Try and work out the scale/root note/chord progression whatever, and then if you wanted to, try and apply it to your instrument.

Well I hope some of those tips are helpful. Try watching Jordan's old Keyboard Wizardry videos too, he does some stuff about ear training there too.

Good luck!

Regards,

Soulfire

[JBCollinet]

I've been told by many people throughout my life that I have really excellent sight reading abilities, and that I tend to be able to pick up on that very quickly. Many have also said that they would gladly trade being able to play by ear in order to read.

However, I find myself desperately wanting to be better able to play by ear. I was attempting the other day to figure out a song just on ear, and just to make out a few chords took a tremendous amount of effort and time, to be quite honest, was extremely frustrating. I know this is probably a case of 'the grass being greener on the other side', but I would like to be able to listen to a song, and be able to make my own arrangement of it rather than get so frustrated trying to figure it out that I just go out and find either sheet music or guitar tabs (which I can then blaze through pretty quickly).

Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions as to how to get better by ear?

I'm not a professional musician with a huge list of credentials to say that, but only practice can help. Your hands have muscle memory, that's a thing we all know.

However, the brain is slow at processing some information. The slowest being...Audition, unfortunately. I'm deaf in one ear and I'm over 28. I am not going nuts anywhere near, even if I wish I had stereo! :wink:

Shameless plug: go try a cool software called Earmaster. Just google it. Free 30-day trial, no strings attached. This thing is merciless. You either love it for it kicks your ass or hate it because it punches you straight in the face.

You're right or wrong when it comes to ear training. There is no "Oh, I knew it!". No guesswork.

Work with intervals and tunes containing those intervals. Internalize them. It's a body- musical pitch connection.

Start really easy, then transpose. Challenge yourself slowly and progressively.

If it works for a half deaf man, it will work for you! :smile:

[WillDub]

One thing I can say about that is getting a TEACHER in Solfège. Thats the french name and I don't know what it is in english, but basically, you learn how to hear the sounds in your head and sing it. This process will eventually give you the ability to play by ear, because you'll relate the sounds you hear while listening to a song, a piece with the piano in a certain interval. I mean, if you are extremely gifted, you'll be able to do it by your self with ease but without the support of a professional. In my case, I suck at sight reading and this helped be pretty much for sight reading, but this actually helps you in many ways.

What Soulfire said is brilliant, but way too difficult in my opinion. I tip that I can give you is playing a scale(usally C major cause its the easiest one and all the other major scales comes from this one). While playing single notes, try and sing with it one time or if you feel that you can hear it in your head.

The second thing you must do is to try singing it. if you feel you don't have the right picht and believe me you'll know when you don't have the right picht, play the note while continuing singing the note and your voice will adjust by itself. Its a pretty wierd thing to feel it change by it self.:tongue: The goal of this is to manage and hear the notes in your head clearly, like making an image of the sounds in your head and sing it without playing the notes on the piano.

After that, play appergios(don't know if it spells like that) and try to sing it. Then try to isolate the notes(by this i mean not singing them consecutively but sperate from each other). play this--C E G. its basic. When you manage to isolate them try and sing the B. this will start to open the range of your singing.

Hope this helps,

P.S. If something is not clear, please tell me.


Will

[SoulFire]

One thing I can say about that is getting a TEACHER in Solfège. Thats the french name and I don't know what it is in english, but basically, you learn how to hear the sounds in your head and sing it.

As far as I know, in English, Solfege refers to the kiddy names for notes: Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do. Perhaps that differs by country, but I've always learnt that that's what Solfege is. I think the core idea behind Solfege for us is similar to what you were saying.

[JBCollinet]

The fundamental mistake made by everyone, but which is not a biggie, is to NOT connect senses.

If you can hear and sing what you read, you've got it all.

Your issue being not able to play by ear, the advice given here is really relevant. Sing. Sing what you hear.

Jordan himself recommends to sing what you practice while practicing.

So, it narrows down to the triangle of Music:

Hear, Read(+write), sing/play.