Cloth ears

[CliffR]

I've always been bad at picking up tunes and playing or singing them. I was an extra in my school's production of Pirates Of Penzance and the teacher told me Io just mouth the words .

But since taking lessons I've been encouraged to learn bebop heads by ear, and I find that the skill is slowly improving with practice. But a funny thing happened yesterday.

While noodling on my guitar I stumbled on part of the theme from TV show Dallas. Pretty soon, I had the rest of it worked out. Now, I haven't heard that tune in many years, so the only conclusion I can draw is that old, near-tone-deaf me remembered the tune with the correct pitch, which I think is really interesting.

[AllanAllen]

You should be proud of yourself. This stuff doesn't come fast or easy

[emanresu]

When you imagine a song played from tv or something.. like you would HEAR it.. not doing that humming in your head, you can get pretty close to original key.

[CliffR]

You should be proud of yourself. This stuff doesn't come fast or easy

Thanks! Yeah, it still feels like hard work, but definitely easier than it once was.

[fep]

Starting learning by ear with bebop? I'd start with something a lot easier. But, good on you that you've made progress.

I've struggled with ear training and have done quite a bit, including the 4 quarter college ear training classes.

I like first to sing what I'm trying to learn and then learn it on guitar or piano or bass. Of course, I can't sing a chord, for chords I just sing the lowest note of the chord and work from there. (In the college tests you can't sing the lines though).

[Laurence Finston]

If you can whistle, hum or sing to yourself, you can learn to do the same thing on any instrument. It's trial-and-error, it doesn't need to be perfect, you can correct yourself. It's not like a class where you're supposed to be able to hear something and reproduce it without error. There's no test.

I personally think this is the single most important musical skill, i.e., to be able hear something in your head (or imagine, if you prefer) and be able to realize it on your chosen instrument. First of all, just the melody. Working out chords is also trial-by-error (for most people) and for this, a knowledge of theory is helpful. It helps a lot to know, for example, what a tonic is, what a cadence is, how modulation works, etc. Not theory for the sake of theory, but theory for the purpose of practical application. It's not difficult to do this for three chord songs, of which there are many.

However, even leaving chords aside, if you do this just for melodies, you will surely get better at it and it will improve your playing.

I had very traditional music lessons when I was a child and then I had some alleged jazz piano lessons according to a system based on recognizing visual patterns on the keyboard, which led to my giving up music entirely for a few years. I was therefore never encouraged to develop my ability to play by ear. I started consciously working on this much later, but it's the best thing I've ever done as far as learning to play musical instruments is concerned.

Bebop would not necessarily be my first choice for this, just whatever piece of music pops into your mind, exactly like with whistling, humming or singing to yourself.