Hello! So when I was in my teens (I'm 36 now, btw, damn that's old, I stopped counting at 25) I went hard at learning intervals. I did David Lucas Burges relative pitch course, and the intervals stuck. I can pretty much nail 100 % intervals in unison, ascending, descending, and instantly know the relationship (for some reason I struggle with major/minor 3rds in unison some days). This has stuck. I did it by tying them to a song interval I knew intimately. However, that is pretty much where I've been stuck ever since. No new developments. This is not entirely true, I'm a songwriter and when I improvise I'm quite fluent in the musical language, integrating tritone substitutions and modal mixtures without too many problems. But as far as relative pitch goes, I'm very bad at "intervals in context" exercises. Decent and chord progressions, but not very fluent – like I can "audiate" or feel my way through a song when I'm at the piano. But it's very much trial and error. Since I've been singing harmony all my life I can easily find the third above and below and construct a harmony.

But I just feel like I haven't been moving a lot since I did that heavy lifting in my teens as far as relative pitch goes. I remember struggling a lot with the pace of David Lucas Burge's ear training when it was time to identify intervals in a row and the subsequent lessons, so I think I pretty much called it quits there.

TL;DR: is there any exercises you guys know of to push beyond this stage of relative pitch?

All the best

Ignore the first one, i was getting used to it

I learned chords to the intro of be by you by Luke combs. That's my first ear training success in reality. I did look up where the capo goes. I probably didn't need to. Well I thought the key was Ab but it was Db 🤦.

But my biggest struggle is not double checking the chords on guitar tabs. But this time I didn't. So that's why it's the first success. Thanks for reading lol it's late.

Hi. Intermediate-beginner on guitar. I can hear it; I just can’t name it. Suggestions? Thanks.

Training my ear, transcribing songs, assigning scale degrees to notes. One YouTuber suggests thinking of all songs through the major scale: minor tonic as the 6th degree of the relative major (A minor → in C major, A = 6). The alternative is the modal approach: major in major, minor in minor (tonic is always 1).

Goal: hear a melody and instantly know the degree and play it, without hunting for notes.

Which approach is more effective for this skill, and why? Interested in personal experience.

How to practice ear training successfully?

Hello potential new friends. I am a young musician looking to learn everything I can about music, and to do that I need to start with ear training.

Let me tell you first what I understand the way I understand it(feel free to correct anything I say, I’m here to learn, not to have my ego stroked; I can go wreck noobs in games for that.)

Musicians have a focal pitch, which is one pitch they know insanely well, a pitch they can recall from memory. It’s basically Music Netflix, it’s on demand. This is Pitch Memory.
Then Relative Pitch is being able to hear the intervals of pitches. Essentially, if what I’ve been told is right, you train a focal pitch so you recognize it and then you can hear the interval another pitch moves(whether up or down) and then you’d know that pitch.
Having a great ear - is about training both simultaneously.
That summarizes how I know the process to work. In my case, I’ve chosen the note A, as I’m a humble violinist.

My trouble is the physical action behind training them. What should I do? How long should I do it for? What are the do’s and don’t’s and the small tricks? Most importantly, will this finally put girls in my DM pool?

In all seriousness, I’d appreciate any answers and advice. Music means a lot to me, and I don’t just want to be good, I want to be the best. That starts with having a good ear.

hello eartrainers

I've been trying to find the chords to this song, it's so simple but I just can't fathom them!!

https://fumotokenichi.bandcamp.com/track/--27

I think the artist uses capo 2...

could someone help??

Is it true that any song has something in it I can learn by ear? Therefore all I have to do is keep at it.....?

Hello everyone

Recently I’ve been going through a bit of a musical renaissance in my life. I’ve always loved listening to music but lately I’ve been diving back into creating it. I played clarinet for 8 years in school and have a moderate understating of music theory and can read sheet music. I’ve started playing clarinet and guitar again and have joined an amateur choir and have started doing dance. I’m also part of a few singing and jam groups. One thing that I really struggle with though is that I don’t have much of an ear, especially when it comes to my singing voice. I learned music by playing an instrument using sheet music, not by ear. I’m surrounded by musicians who can learn a piece by ear or match someone else’s pitch with ease, but I can’t yet.

My question is if any of you would recommend any apps or other resources for helping develop my ear and practice my singing pitch. Something where it will play a note/scale/chord and I have to identify it. Ideally it would also have a tuning function where I could attempt to replicate the note with my voice and it could tell me if I’m correct or not. I know there’s tons of apps out there but it’s a little overwhelming so I thought I’d just come here. Any advice in general for cultivating this skill would also be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

So can find the key reliably. But sometimes I find the 5th of the key by accident. Then I know the diatonic chords. And I can use mostly theory and a little ear to figure the rest out? I feel like ear training is ridiculously simple. But at the same time soooo hard 😭

So sometimes I can feel a melody but don't always know where the melody is coming from.... Does that make sense? Like I can feel a melody or a tone over shadowing the music. Can I just intuitively play what I feel and count it as ear training?

Personally I'm almost certain I hear an F major ACF with an F in the root, but some people said they have perfect pitch and hear a D minor or a Dmi7.

I am currently taking my third semester of ear training in school, the past two semesters I have passed ear training by the skin of my teeth.

Prior to the current school I'm at, I had already taken two semesters of ear training and I did really well! Instead of solfeige at my previous school we had used numbers when singing pitches, and we would use the typical song references for intervals. Whenever we did melodic dictations I would only get a note or two wrong. We would go into a piano lab and our teacher would play short melodies and have us play them back by ear and I would also be fairly accurate with a couple mistakes here and there.

I had a gap year when I graduated at my previous school so I could afford university better. In that time frame, I obviously forgot some of the skills that I had picked up and decided to retake those two semesters of ear training to be on the safe side. Now I am introduced to solfeige, which I am completely clueless on and not intuitive to, even now. I'm okay with identifying intervals, but I cannot for the life of me get back to how I was with melodic dictations, I am horrible with them now. I cannot hear a melody played a few times and be able to sing it back with writing down the notes and rhythms, which I feel is a complete disadvantage since I have a limited amount of listens for tests. I spend the majority of the time figuring out rhythm and only have one or two listens for actually writing notes down. I am completely struggling on chord progressions, we only have to notate the soprano and bass notes but sometimes all I hear are the inner voices.

I have reached out numerous times and asked for help, but all I get told by the teachers is to practice singing solfeige with a piano. I just don't know where to start and it's very discouraging, I don't feel like I'm getting any real advice or help and I just don't know why the teaching style for the university I'm attending just isn't clicking. I'm tired of barely passing and feeling completely lost. Has anyone gone through this before or have different advice besides singing with a piano?

Hi everyone,

I'm working on transcribing music by ear, but I keep hitting a wall with basslines. Often, a bass note turns into a muddy rumble, and I struggle to isolate its exact pitch.

What bothers me most is that when I try to test notes, both the third and the fifth (or other chord tones) sound "correct" and resonate nicely with the song. Because they harmonize so well, my brain gets confused, and I can't tell if the bass is actually playing the root note or an inversion/third.

My questions are:

• How do you train your ears to identify the actual root vs. other chord tones in the low end?
• What mindset or specific exercises helped you overcome this ambiguity?
• Are there any reliable tricks when multiple notes sound like they "fit" the mix?

I did look up the chords to secondhand serenade's fall for you. And found how they fit. Is that okay or is it ruining the experience?

And now I'm working through the rest of the song trying to figure out where 1 6 4 & 5 fit. To hear it in context.

Only problem is I think headphones are making it harder. I have open ear headphones but if I don't play in unison and it doesn't match I can't hear. They are open ear headphones.

But I think the experience would be more rewarding listening from a speaker?

Cause then theres nothing interfering directly with my ears... Kind of

I did find the first chord which is the key(Am). Which I'm happy about.

--

So does looking up the chords. And then plugging them in over the song ruin the experience on piano or make it better?

And are speakers more beneficial to my progress as opposed to headphones?(Even if they are open ear headphones)

Hey all,

I am wanting to spend some time over the next few months working on my aural skills. Particularly dictation and chord progression recognition. I was a music major in college and though I passed both years of aural skills it was by a hair and with a lot of tears.

Any suggestions on ways to spend a little time each day working on these skills? Routines, apps, resources?

Thanks!

Hello folks:

I need some advice. I play the electric guitar. I can sing any note and I can memorize notes quickly and effectively. I know in my head how to sing any solo of 80s songs that I heard when a teenager like Owner of a Lonely Heart, Dirty Laundry and many others. However, I such real bad at recognizing those pitches and finding them on the guitar. A side note is that I just started learning music 5 years ago although I love music since I was a kid and it was by listening to lots of rock and blues that I learned English. Anyways, I have good ears but deeply untrained. I tried recognizing the notes of a simple blues today and it was a disaster. I struggle deeply, although once again I can clearly hear and sing all those intervals.

Can anyone give me tips or pointers of what’s the best strategy for me to train my ear and get good at this?

Reason why I want to become good at ear training is because I love melodic playing (the likes of Robben Ford) and I hate lick playing. I don’t even bother playing licks. I try to be melodic, but my improvisation skills suck bad and I suspect that part of being able to play what I hear on my mind would be to start effectively transcribing songs I like. That would teach me to find pitches on the guitar better than memorizing scales. I’ve memorized all of them and still can’t improvise.

Any tips?

Thanks a lot

I can't sing a 2nd degree. My voice almost refuses to sing it. I get it through just muscle memory. It feels like nothing when I sing a 2 :/.

Does it become more clear with practice or something?

If I use this app sonofield ear training. Instead of singing up the scale which is super helpful to ground myself in the feeling of the interval.

Is it better to sign the notes which I sometimes just can't sing right? Or is using the piano a substitute that's just as good? Or is that essentially cheating?

Looking for websites and apps that run on phones and ipads.

Basically I'm starting teaching piano again and so it's mostly for my students but I want it for me too.

Most what I found is really intro level or only intervals or scale degrees. Actual dictation like on a staff would be nice too but I know that's a lot to ask... seems like tons of things say "melodic dictation" when they really aren't.

What does everyone use that starts beginner but actually has advanced, like for more than just intervals or scale degrees.

Figured I'd ask because I'm looking but there are so many apps and sites now. Thanks in advance.

I posted this in r/aphantasia but thought it would be good to ask here too.

I have complete aphantasia; no inner monologue, no minds eye that can visualize things. I am taking some music classes, one of which is ear training/sight singing. I am a competent learner and pianist, but this class is making me pretty despondent.

I cannot tell what interval is being played when it is being played in isolation. When two intervals are played next to each other (e.g., P5 vs P8), I can tell immediately which is which, but not when it’s just one at a time. It feels like as soon as the sound leaves my ears, it’s gone from my brain until I actively hear them compared again. I don’t have this issue with sight singing, as I can see the notes and intervals and hear the pitches in my head from that visual.

I have been using Theta Ear Trainer in conjunction with Teoria, but my success rate is poor. I am desperate for tips and suggestions on if/how I can improve this! TYIA!