Playing by ear

  • Thread starter Thread starter grh
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ear training comes with feeling of notes as much u play u get confident in this genre

u have to hear find notes and then repeat until u differentiate between different colors of sound and notes
 
grh said:
How rare is the ability to play music by ear? I wan't to pay someone to help me learn how to play my own songs/compositions from a long time ago. (I can not play by ear, so I have no way to remember the music.) Is it difficult to find someone in this area?
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I always remember the basic structure like the chord progressions etc...and keep improvising with the fills and leads till i find the most appropriate ones...which if good gets hard to be forgotten
 
If you can't play by ear now then study some music theory and sooner or later your ear will know what to listen for and you will play by ear (you will also have names for what you are playing)
 
I didn't read all the responses, but the short answer is yes. There are tons of people who will be able to listen to your songs and tell you what's being played. It's basically called "transcribing," and lots and lots of people do it.
 
What exactly is meant by "playing by ear?" I think people have different definitions for that.
 
Playing by ear means you hear it and play along without any music. You might get the key given to you and then on you go.
 
grimtraveller said:
Playing by ear means you hear it and play along without any music. You might get the key given to you and then on you go.
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But again, though... that's kind of vague. Do you mean you improvise to the music? Or do you mean you figure something out (transcribe) off a recording without sheet music? Or ... all of the above ... none of the above?
 
Practice playing by ear.

Just jam to song you like and get used to it.
 
grh said:
How rare is the ability to play music by ear?
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When you say the ability to play music by ear? Could you be refering to someone who is born with perfect pitch? I know relative pitch can be taught.
 
famous beagle said:
But again, though... that's kind of vague. Do you mean you improvise to the music? Or do you mean you figure something out (transcribe) off a recording without sheet music? Or ... all of the above ... none of the above?
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B o t h.
 
I play by ear and that's the only way I do it; I know little about music theory and am not classically trained. I just hum or sing the song or piece and fool around with some chords or notes until something matches, and from there I have an idea what the next chord or note will be and then experiment with that, etc, until I have the whole structure figured out. Usually only takes a few minutes and is not difficult. It is something you can be born with (like me) and I also think it's something a person can learn, but I don't think everyone can necessarily do it, just like some people can learn to sing better but not everyone can learn to sing. You have to have SOME inborn ability, a foundation already there. imo
Edited to add: if there were any way I could hear your compositions I'm sure I could figure them out for you; otherwise the earlier suggestion about using songsmith sounded like a great idea too. Hope all works out well!
 
RJMJ87 said:
It is something you can be born with (like me) and I also think it's something a person can learn, but I don't think everyone can necessarily do it, just like some people can learn to sing better but not everyone can learn to sing. You have to have SOME inborn ability, a foundation already there.
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I wholeheartedly agree with this.
There are people out there who just cannot differentiate between one note and another.
In those cases, I don't think relative pitch or anything like it can be taught.

Mechanical performances can be taught, but hearing difference requires some kind of 'built in' foundation, IMO.
 
Steenamaroo said:
I wholeheartedly agree with this.
There are people out there who just cannot differentiate between one note and another.
In those cases, I don't think relative pitch or anything like it can be taught.

Mechanical performances can be taught, but hearing difference requires some kind of 'built in' foundation, IMO.
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Hmmm ... I'm not so sure about this. I think the percentage of people who are genuinely "tone deaf" --- i.e., incapable of determining one note from another --- is extremely low. Sure, some people are born with much more natural ability than others, but I would say that probably 99% of people (or maybe more) can learn to sing or play by ear if they just work at it.

I started playing guitar at 15, and there's a hideous video of myself and my friend playing "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" (it was the 80s!). Not only were neither of our guitars in tune very well, but they were probably about 1/4 step away from each other as well. On top of that, I was "singing" the song in pitches that didn't come anywhere near the melody. I think many people would have certainly labeled me as tone deaf if they heard that.

I went to UNT in 1990, and the first day of school, at 8:00 in the morning, I had to sight-sing a solfege exercise in front of a class full of music majors, a capella. I still remember the teacher's exact words: "Well ... um ... the one thing I can say about that is that you kind of remembered where DO (the tonic) was." Needless to say, it was awful.

Fast forward five years, many ear-training classes, semesters in men's chorus, and playing experiences later, and I began to actually be able to carry a tune. It's now twenty or so years later, and I'm a professional musician and author. I won't claim to be a Frank Sinatra or anything, but I can certainly "sing," and I have a highly-developed sense of relative pitch. By this I mean that, if I first hit a note on the piano, say C, then I can turn my back to it and easily name any note that you may hit after that.

Again, I'm not arguing that some people have more natural ability than others, but I think people go too far with the "some people are just tone deaf" thing. IMO
 
famous beagle said:
Again, I'm not arguing that some people have more natural ability than others, but I think people go too far with the "some people are just tone deaf" thing. IMO
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Aside from my old mate Chandra, I agree.
I find that most people can sing but are naturally lazy singers. Not through any other reason than this; there's no need for most people to practice singing.
I don't know if most people can learn to play or highlight notes by ear, but most people never will for the same reason ~ there's no need.
 
grimtraveller said:
Aside from my old mate Chandra, I agree.
I find that most people can sing but are naturally lazy singers. Not through any other reason than this; there's no need for most people to practice singing.
I don't know if most people can learn to play or highlight notes by ear, but most people never will for the same reason ~ there's no need.
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That's true; most people won't learn how. It does take work for most people, and, like you said, most won't do that because they don't want to/need to. I just think some people go a little too far with their proclamations about people being tone deaf. A poorly trained ear and being truly tone deaf are two different things, though they may seem similar on the surface.
 
Yeah sight reading is for concert band. Playing by ear is where it's at.
 
defeasible said:
Yeah sight reading is for concert band. Playing by ear is where it's at.
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Sight reading is an incredibly helpful skill to have---sight singing even more so. Nothing will train your ear faster/better in my opinion.
 
famous beagle said:
But again, though... that's kind of vague. Do you mean you improvise to the music? Or do you mean you figure something out (transcribe) off a recording without sheet music? Or ... all of the above ... none of the above?
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although I majored in music, I mostly do the 'hired gun' thing and find being able to earball things is by far the easiest was for me to work.
yes ...... I can easily do 'all of the above'. I think that the ability to play by ear can range over a wide area.
Some folks can improv over any chord changes but might not be able to exactly duplicate a specific line as easily.
Some folks are the opposite .... as long as they hear what they should play they can do that easily but can't readily make up their own improvs.

I would say either of these skills are fairly widespread among better musicians. I run into fewer that can do both well but they're out there too. I have no doubt that there are a few in your area. You're gonna want to look at the local working musicians and especially the hired guns in your area. It's a skill that really needs regular use to keep it going so the guys that work a lot are gonna be your best bet.
 
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