FREE ONLINE LESSONS (Learning to Play by Ear)
Learning to play a tune by ear goes with learning how to
1) Improvise a tune with a given chord progression.
Having done so, you will be naturally more experience in learning how to
And at a later stage, you will be able to
And lastly, to
Remember, the entire learning stage can take some time. Experiences and experimentations are needed. You must be courageous to try out anything yourself, even if you think it is not nice.
Lets look into 1) Improvise a tune with a given chord progression. The more you try to make up a tune of your own, the easier for you to pick up a tune. To improvise means to create something in a free and spontaneous way. When you improvise a melody, you are literally composing a melody the way you want it to be. A melody is a tune, which is formed when a series of note pitches is added to rhythm. There are only two elements needed to improvise a melody:
Pitch
Rhythm
Simply, if you have a set of notes, for example:
E, C, D, G, C, D, E, C, D
Combined with a rhythmic pattern, for example:
You have an improvised melody!
Although improvisation is spontaneous, it does not mean that it is random. You still have to understand what you are doing, and ultimately be able to improvise any melody that comes to your mind. Here are some procedures for a quick start:
STEP 1: Pick a 4 bars chord progression in a C key
For example:
|
C |
G |
Am |
G |
STEP 2: Compose a simple 4 bars rhythm consisting of only quarter & quaver notes. Use a different rhythm for every bar to create variations.
For example:
STEP 3: Improvise notes with these guidelines:
You have two choices of notes for improvising.
2) Non-harmony notes
Harmony notes refer to the notes in a chord. For instance, to improvise in C chord, the harmony notes are basically: C, E & G. Non-harmony notes (also known as passing notes) refer to the other notes in the scale of the key EXCEPT the harmony notes.
Example:
To improvise C chord in C key, the non-harmony notes D, F, A, B
To improvise in G chord in C key, the non-harmony notes are C, E, F, A
To improvise in Am chord in C key, the non-harmony notes are D, F, G, B
Use harmony notes generally more on stronger beats.
And using non-harmony notes generally more on weaker beats.
Use non-harmony notes to link or join between the notes to create some sort of continuation along the melody line.
For example:
These are some examples of melody improvisations:
A factor to consider:
The general rule of harmony notes being emphasized on the stronger beats does not apply in all situations. You can choose to use some non-harmony notes on stronger beats, but the non-harmony mode will usually resolve back to harmony within the bar or the next bar or so.
Now, try creating your own chord progression and start improvising yourself. For a start, do attempt to follow the guidelines. Later, ignore all rules, and start playing anything that somehow makes sense to your ear.
Important - You will never learn if you dont try. Do not feel stupid if your tune sounds stupid. And from my experiences, students never like to try because it makes them sound amateurish and ultimately embarrassing. Students generally like to only play stuffs that sounds good on them. If you like to play by ear, you have to try (not just once).
Now, lets look into 2) Catching a tune by ear
When you are able to improvise a tune of your own, picking up a tune becomes much easier. And this usually goes with singing. Being able to sing while you try to get the right notes does help a lot. It is phenomenal that virtually every one can sing by ear without any training. If you can sing by ear, translating your singing to playing isnt that an impossible thing to do like you always thought.
Think of a simple melody and play it on the keyboard.
Try a simple song.
Song example: 3 blind mice
Using your perception of relative pitch singing, you know that the song goes something like this
This chart tells you the estimated relative interval between each note, whether it goes up or down. It doesnt tell us the exact notes. So your job is to identify these notes and play them on the keyboard.
Step 1: Identify key of the song. It is either major or minor key, and since 3 blind mice sounds more like a happy song, you can be certain that the song is in a major key. (C key)
Step 2: Identify starting note. If you know that the song is in C key, you can assume that the starting chord is usually C chord, and the starting note is either one of the 3 chord notes in C chord.
Step 3: Identify other notes. You know that since the song is in C key, it should also be using C major scale, which is basically the set of all 7 white keys.
This is a trial & error process. Start with the assumption that the starting note is G and try working out the other notes using only the white keys. Take into consideration that the interval between each note is usually only one or maybe two white keys apart. (.e.g. from C to D, D to E, E to F, etc)
The biggest advice I will probably give is to ALWAYS SING WHAT YOU PLAY & PLAY WHAT YOU SING! Because, it is only when you sing, you will understand what you are actually playing.
Try playing and singing along with it. Does it sound correct this time? If you answer 'yes', congratulations!
As you can see, there are lots of trial and error, and practice to be done. The more you practice, the more you experiment, the more you will make up some sort of relationship between your singing skills and playing skills. By the time you become experience with this, there will be less trial and error, and everything will come effortlessly.
Now try another song.
Song example: Greensleeves
Step 1: Identify key of the song. You know that Greensleeves sounds sad. It has to be on a minor key. (Am key)
Step 2: Identify the starting note. If you know that the song is in Am key, you can assume that the starting chord is usually Am chord, and the starting note is either one of the 3 chord notes in Am chord.
However, notice that the song does not start on the first beat. If you count in 3 / 4, 3 beats in a bar (1.2.3.), first note of the song starts on the 3rd beat, which the note will only be considered as a leading note to the actual starting note. The starting note is the 2nd note starting on the 2nd bar, which falls on the 1.
Step 3: Identify other notes. You know that since the song is in Am key, it should also be using Am major scale.
This time it sounds closer, but some notes are still out of place. Try singing what you played and identify the wrong notes. You can try using two white notes intervals instead.
Example G:
Try singing it again. Does it sound better this time?
The more you practice, the more your confidence is built up. Anyone including you will be able to judge instantly whether a tune is right or wrong.
Important - You will never learn if you don't sing.
Other than using a given chord progression to improvise a melody, you can also use a given melody to predict the chord progression. They both work the same way.
Here are some guidelines to predicting chord progressions in a song:
Considerations:
1) Most songs use only primary & secondary chords. (primary chords are used more often)
2) Most happy songs usually start with I chord and end with I chord.
3) Most sad songs usually start with VI chord and end with VI chord.
4) V chord is usually the last chord of a 4 bars or 8 bars progression. (before returning to I chord.) However, if the last chord is I chord, then the chord before is usually V chord.
5) ii and V usually goes together
6) iii and vi usually goes together
7) The starting note (first beat) of every bar usually indicates the chord for the bar. However, sometimes the starting note is only a passing note, thus the next following note or so (which usually falls on a strong or downbeat) should be taken for consideration as the harmony note used in the chord.
This is the chord prediction chart:
If both 1st or 2nd priority chord does not sound right for the bar, try the remaining family chord(s). If it still doesnt sound right, try other possible chords (other than family chords) that contain that particular melody note. Remember, there can be more than 1 chord that fits into a bar. It boils down to preference to how you want it to sound. There is no right or wrong, however unless it sounds really out of place.
Take Auld Lang Syne for example, and analyze the starting note of every bar.
This is a suggestion of a chord progression for Auld Lang Syne.
Sometimes even when the 1st priority chord seems to fit in quite comfortably in a bar, you may also consider substituting it using the 2nd priority chord to give a variation in the chord progression. For example, Am is used in place of C chord in bar 4 since there is already C chord in bar 2.
For practice, while figuring out the chords for any song, play the chords on your left hand to support the melody. Very important- when you determine the chords for a song,
It is a good practice to write down your suggested chords on a piece of paper, and later possibly changing the chords from time to time if there may be better choices. Secondly, when you are stuck with a particular bar, not knowing what chord it is, - it is NEVER a good practice to repeatedly play only that particular bar while trying different chords. It works better if you would play at least a few bars before that particular bar while trying different chords for that particular bar. This way, only you will hear if the chord progression sounds correct.
You have heard about the amazing gift of perfect pitch. It is simply the ability to identify notes by ear. For example, a tune is played on a piano; someone with perfect pitch will be able to know instantly what notes are being played, all without looking at the keyboard. It might seem essential for professional musicians to possess this ability. On the contrary, not all professionals have perfect pitch. It is good to have it, but not absolutely necessary. So do not give up just yet, there is hope for many of you out there. However, it is tremendously useful for you to develop a skill called relative-pitch hearing.
Relative pitch hearing is different from perfect pitch hearing. It is regarded as two separate skills. A person with relative pitch hearing will need the help of a reference note from a musical instrument in order to identify the subsequent notes he or she hears. The advantage is that it allows the person to understand a piece of music by ear. It tells the relative interval between notes, and hence the relative colours between the chords in a chord progression. In other words, any person with relative hearing is able to
1) Identify the key of the song, 2) Identify the notes in the melody, 3) Identify the chord progressions in roman numerals and eventually in actual chord names
Whereas a person having ONLY perfect pitch hearing is unable to do so.
In my opinion, relative pitch hearing is easier to achieve as compared to perfect pitch hearing. Besides, relative pitch hearing is more essential when comes to playing by ear. The best way and probably about the only way to achieve relative pitch hearing is to: practice improvisation.
|
In the key of C major |
||
|
If the starting note of the bar is... |
1st priority probable chord for the bar |
2nd priority probable chord for the bar |
|
C |
C, F |
Am |
|
D |
G |
Dm |
|
E |
C |
Am, Em |
|
F |
F |
Dm |
|
G |
C, G |
Am, Em |
|
A |
F |
Am, Dm |
|
B |
G |
Em |
|
In the key of A minor |
||
|
C |
Am |
C, F |
|
D |
Dm |
G |
|
E |
Am, Em |
C, E |
|
F |
Dm |
F |
|
G |
Em |
C, G |
|
A |
Am, Dm |
F |
|
B |
Em |
G |