The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
  1. #1

    User Info Menu

    Hi,

    I have been practicing ear training every day for the last couple of months. Mostly using TonedEar and i have managed to get very accurate with ascending and descending intervals up to M9s. I have also made progress on identifying scale degrees.

    But i have a lot of trouble hearing the individual notes of diads and chords. I don't hear these chords as individual notes played together but as a single sound. I can sing the individual notes most of the time, but i couldn't tell you whether i'm singing the top or bottom note. While I can identify these "simultaneous" intervals pretty well by their sound (i.e. can tell you whether someone played a m6 or M3 or P4) i have trouble identifying the 4 basic triads (minor, major, aug, dim) because it's hard for me to hear the outer interval (ie. P5 vs dim 5th vs aug 5th).

    As with most things, repetition usually wins. Is the answer to just keep listening to the intervals and chords and sing the individual notes and eventually my brain will start to hear the individual notes?

    I feel like this skill will be a major improvement in my playing so i think it's worth working on.

    Any advice on how to start hearing these individual notes more accurately would be appreciated.

    Thanks,

    Josh

  2.  

    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

    User Info Menu

    Perhaps away from the app:

    1. sing a given interval followed by playing it on the guitar
    2. play a harmonic interval on the guitar followed by playing it melodically and then singing it.
    Gradually eliminate the middle step and just sing it after playing the harmonic interval on the guitar.

  4. #3

    User Info Menu

    Sing them chords first (edit: and play only to confirm that you're singing it right... and not to "help you out"). Pick some chords you want to dissect and know better. Try not to overwhelm yourself. Pick only as much you can handle.
    I would also recommend to sing their notes with their degree names, not the note names. That'd be much useful.
    Then try the guesswork again. But only with the chords you've sung through.

    edit2: when trying to sing your chord or interval, the most badass would be just thinking about it for a bit and then nailing it the 1st time... not even whispering it before trying to sing 100%.
    Last edited by emanresu; 01-05-2022 at 11:42 AM.

  5. #4

    User Info Menu

    So the idea is, if you want to be able to hear the individual notes of a chords, just keep singing the individual notes until you can hear them when the chord is played?

    I can sing an augmented chord or a P5, or a P4 no problem. I can also recognize the interval when played (asc/dec -- 99% of the time; simultaneous -- 85-90% of the time) but if you ask me to sing the top notes of a chord or the milddle note of a chord, it feels like i'm guessing.

    It's this skill (hearing the bottom and top notes clearly), that i'm trying to master.

  6. #5

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by josh74
    So the idea is, if you want to be able to hear the individual notes of a chords, just keep singing the individual notes until you can hear them when the chord is played?

    I can sing an augmented chord or a P5, or a P4 no problem. I can also recognize the interval when played (asc/dec -- 99% of the time; simultaneous -- 85-90% of the time) but if you ask me to sing the top notes of a chord or the milddle note of a chord, it feels like i'm guessing.

    It's this skill (hearing the bottom and top notes clearly), that i'm trying to master.
    With these kinds of things.. it's better to just "get better". Mastery is always so far ahead and once you'll spend eternity on this particular one, what is it exactly good for?
    Not saying its nonsense or anything like that. It's very good to ask this question always. That's it. Sounds like a good exercise though. Ima try it myself some day

    Even if you know intervals well, can sing and guess them. When they get mixed in some harmonic content, it's possible to mess up with a stupid simple p.8. I have an exercise just for fixing this issue: intervalsLive - in my sig. below.
    Thats why just guessing is never enough. There are way too many strange combinations to... "master" them by guessing only.
    Learning individual important chords by singing them gives so much more.. eh. closer connection. And feelings.

  7. #6

    User Info Menu

    It's hard to tell from the info provided exactly what skills you're trying to build. For jazz combo playing here's a list of things that come to mind.

    1. Hear a melody (or imagine one) and be able to play it without mistakes the first time.

    2. Be able to do the same thing with chords. So, that, if you can hear a tune in your mind, you can play the melody (#1 above) and also be able to play the chords.

    3. When another player in the group plays, you can recognize what you're hearing. That could be copying a line, hearing an alteration (so that you can adjust your comping) or making sure you play the same chords if, say, the pianist, is playing the tune differently.

    It may be important to recognize that being able to instantly play something you hear is not the same as being able to instantly name all the notes or intervals. These are separable skills, at least for some people.

    The traditional way of developing these skills is copying stuff from records. An ear training app which focuses on cadences of chords would be better, I think, than single chords in isolation. For melody, I think you can sit in front of the TV and copy all the music you hear. It's just time on the instrument.

  8. #7

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by rpjazzguitar
    It's just time on the instrument.

    That's the hard truth about all this stuff isn't it.