Whether you are
interested in learning
to play the guitar by
ear, or virtually any
other instrument for
that matter, there are a
number of excellent
learning aids available
to assist you! The
current state of
learning aids for ear
training is quite well
these days (thank you
for asking). With a
variety of books, CDs,
DVDs, and even software,
there's plenty from
which to choose when you
decide to add this
important skill to your
arsenal:
Ear Training Books
- In the musician world,
there are two reknowned
learning institutions,
the Berklee College of
Music in Boston, and
Musicians Institute (MI)
in LA. Both have their
own take on ear
training. For Berklee,
it's Essential Ear
Training for the
Contemporary Musician
and for MI, it's Ear
Training - The Complete
Guide for All Musicians.
Homespun, which makes a
large variety of books,
CDs, and DVDs for all
musicians and styles,
has their take, which is
Ear Training for
Instrumentalists
featuring a whopping 6
CDs full of exercises
and drills. If you're a
guitar or bass player,
you'll definitely want
to check out Ultimate
Eartraining for Guitar
and Bass by Tribal
Tech's Gary Willis. My
friend Chris, who's a
working electric jazz
bassist in NYC,
absolutely loves this
book.
Ear Training Videos
- Playing the guitar by
ear, or nearly any other
instrument for that
matter, is not as hard
as you may think! For
videos, Berklee has
produced Harmonic Ear
Training (DVD). This
73-minute DVD will help
you recognize chord
progressions quickly and
listen to music more
analytically. Bass
players get a real
treat, as jazz bass
great John Patitucci has
released John Patitucci
- Electric Bass 2:
Soloing Ear-Training And
Six-String Technique
Video, which teaches
soloing by stressing the
importance of ear
training.
Ear Training Software
- As you might expect,
software is a natural
choice for teaching ear
training because it's
interactive. The cream
of this crop is Ars Nova
Practica Musica which is
both Windows and
Macintosh compatible,
covers just about every
aspect of ear training,
and features
customizable exercises.
Ear Training Coach is a
more affordable option
and offers a 10-grade
curriculum in ear
training and
sight-reading. However,
the piece de resistance
and the one tool that
should be in everyone's
ear training bag is the
SlowGold CD-ROM. This
nifty piece of software
lets you slow down any
piece of music on CD or
MP3s without changing
the pitch. So if you're
learning to play a
passage from a
recording, and it's too
fast, just run it
through SlowGold to hear
every single note at the
exact pitch it's played.
Ear Training Hardware
- Not surprisingly,
music equipment makers
have gotten into the ear
training game, and not
surprisingly, the
offerings are
particularly good for
electric guitar and bass
guitar. The Tascam
CD-GT1 MKII Guitar
Trainer and the Tascam
CD-BT1 mkII Bass Guitar
Trainer features the
same slowdown technology
of the SlowGold
software, but have
housed it in a
standalone unit with a
built-in CD player,
effects, and a headphone
jack for silent
practicing. Tascam has
even made one the
vocalists, the Tascam
CD-VT1 Portable CD Vocal
& Performance Trainer,
which has a Vocal Cancel
feature that removes the
vocal from the CD during
playback. Karaoke will
never be the same ...
Learning aids aside, one
really useful exercise
is to pick out a
recording of a simple
tune that you like.
Listen to it very
carefully. See if you
can determine when the
band is changing chords.
If you can pick out
where these chord
changes occur, then
you'll know the points
in time when you need to
determine what the next
chord is.
Tune your instrument to
the recording. Take the
first chord in the tune.
As it plays, try to pick
out a low note on your
instrument that best
matches that chord.
There should one note
that resonates with the
recording. Did you find
it? This is the root
note of that chord. If
this note is a C, you
know that the first
chord is a C
(something). It could be
a major chord, a minor
chord, a 7th chord, but
whatever it is, it's a C
version of that chord.
If you're listening to
"Hey Jude", the root
note for the first chord
is an F. If you're
listening to
"Wonderwall", it's an
F#. If it's "Layla",
it's a D ...
Now that you have your
root note, the next step
is determine what the
quality of the chord is.
Is it a major or minor
chord? Is it a power
chord? One surefire way
to determine this is
trial and error. Assume
it's a major chord. Test
out this possibility by
playing the major chord
for your root note along
with the recording. Does
it sound good? Does it
resonate? If so, you've
just figured out what
the first chord is. If
not, try a minor chord.
Play the minor chord for
your root note along
with the recording. Does
this sound good? Does
this resonate? Try a few
different choices. If
you get stumped, look at
the sheet music or
transcription of this
recording. This is your
answer key, so to speak.
If you're just starting
out and need a lot of
easy tunes for practice,
there are some great
3-chord songbooks such
as The Guitar 3 Chord
Songbook and Favorite
Songs With 3 Chords.
After you're figured out
the first chord, go to
the next point in time
where this changes, and
figure out what the
second chord is. Repeat
this process until
you've covered the
entire tune. A lot of
popular music is
cyclical in that the
same 3-4 chord pattern
will often repeat
throughout the tune, so
you may not have to
figure out more than 3-4
chords for the entire
song. Yes, when bands
write great songs using
just "three chords and
an attitude", it makes
your job a lot easier.
So
why would you want to do
this? Well, first of
all, you're improving
your ear. Secondly,
you're improving your
knowledge of chords
because you're forcing
yourself to play a
variety of chords. If
you know your root note
for a particular chord
is an F#, but you don't
know what the quality
is, you may have to test
out an F# major chord,
an F# minor chord, an
F#7 chord, and so on.
This solidifies your
knowledge of chords
throughout the
parameters of your
instrument. The more
tunes you figure out,
the easier it is to find
and play these chords.
The other benefit of
going through this
process is that you're
playing along with
recordings, which is
going to make you're
playing better, because
you're subconsciously
absorbing all the
nuances of the recording
into your playing.
