Hearing Chords

[yellowfever]

@ groovesys - I see you're in Los Angeles

Does living in LA make me an "elitist"? Would it make you happier if I lived in Boise?

tell me where the f*** it is and I'll let you know. And who mentioned elitist? ah, that would have been you

[groovesys]

@ groovesys - I see you're in Los Angeles

Does living in LA make me an "elitist"? Would it make you happier if I lived in Boise?

tell me where the f*** it is and I'll let you know. And who mentioned elitist? ah, that would have been you

Check Google Maps.

[kbaccki]

... and a belated to this thread...

Musicians hear music differently than non-musicians. A non-musician can learn theory and, perhaps, learn an instrument, but he'll never really "get it" like a musician.

Did you arise from your mommy's crotch with your first Platinum album in hand? This sounds like a bunch of crap. Everybody has to learn to be a musician, whether you're copying it from what you see/hear or somebody explicitly shows you. There was/is nobody who was/is a musician just by random happenstance. Some people have natural ability to learn to be a musician more quickly than others, but it still has to be shown to them, it has to be learned. There are also people who are naturally gifted athletes, mathmeticians, linguists, whatever... but the skills have to be learned.

And as far as the looking down your nose at "theory versus doing it the muuuusical way"... I've known many a musician who were decent but otherwise severely limited by their lack of music theory knowledge. And those that did put in the time to extend their knowledge advanced their playing considerably.

But hey, if you wanna jam on a major scale over a dom7 chord that's your business.

[LauraMichelJarre]

There are several ways to develop your ears.

The first is to simply play along with the radio, or your favourite albums. In time you'll stumble onto the correct chords and be able to pick the melodies. Be patient, because this can take some time to develop as a skill. It is OK to use sheet music as an aid. I have some Beatles CDs and some sheet music to go along with them.

There are very few people who have 'perfect pitch' (which is memory for frequencies). But it is possible to develop this for some people. This tends to be a genetic skill or developed best when very young.

'Relative pitch' is when you can judge the next chord from the current one in a song by listening to the cadence. So given a starting point (or key of the song) you can judge the series of chords. First you may be able to pick one, then two or three, and so on.

Start playing along with simple tunes. Nursery rhymes, hymns, and 3-chord rock and roll songs are all OK. Sing the melody, and each note within a chord. Learn some basic blues tunes, and play along with recordings.

There is no simple way to develop the ear except by repetition and practice.

[rp314]

There's already plenty of good suggestions in this thread, but as pertains to the theories regarding the relaltionship between 'natural' abilities and actual achievement in music, I think one can easily reject most of the generalizations that are made. Nicholas Slonimsky had perfect pitch yet who would consider him more important than the long list of great 20th century composers who apparently did not? According to Slonimsky, Schoenberg was a bit sensitive regarding his quite modest keyboard skills, yet who composed more important piano works in the 20th century, let alone his impact on music as a whole?

So, you've got an area where you're not as strong as in some others. The craft can be learned, in my opinion, given enough love and devotion. Creative inspiration, well, now there's the rub. That I think one can only hope for and just do one's best.

[deastman]

I think people are making a lot of assumptions about the original poster- that he can't tell the difference between major and minor, that he isn't a "real musician", and that maybe he should just give up and find a new creative outlet.

All he actually stated was that he was engaging in a specific excercise to focus on the individual notes of a triad, and he wondered if that was worthwhile. As others have already stated, I think the answer is "no." Just practice identifying the different chords as a whole.

I also have to agree with Tony about what what a bummer it is to realize that your "original" progressions have been done to death thousands of times by other composers. That Mozart was a greedy bastard... using up all those notes and not saving any for the rest of us!

[Ogg Vorbis]

As others have already stated, I think the answer is "no." Just practice identifying the different chords as a whole.

Not EVERYONE said "no." It's good to be able to hear the quality of chords. But I still think that it's well worth the effort to try to hear "into" triads and harmonies, to try to pick out the intervals inside of them.

Some day you'll hear something that is stacked on top of a triad and you'll be able to use those skills to figure out what it is.

Plus some day you'll hear a melody that is built up on an arpeggiated triad and you'll be able to better recogize that too. So just for the record, my vote stays "yes."

[jancivil]

My point is simply that you're going to get it by learning songs which have these features in them, figure out how to play the things for real in a song. Rather than belaboring the idea by abstracting it.

If one, and that isn't to point to the OP and laugh, or directed in particular at all, but if one *is* finding it a challenge to hear the difference between say major and minor quality, in a real world situation - say figuring out the chords to a Beatles song off a record - one *is* finding it a challenge to 'pick out the intervals'.

Seriously, if you pick some things off records for a while, if you go into the 'theory' class at UNI or Community College, you're probably going to be way ahead of the class as a whole.

[deastman]

Plus some day you'll hear a melody that is built up on an arpeggiated triad and you'll be able to better recogize that too. So just for the record, my vote stays "yes."

Fair enough. I probably overstated my "no" as well.

[denekawa]

I took 4 semesters of classes called "Aural Skills" which focussed on hearing rhythms, intervals, melodies and harmonies. These are lifelong skills and one should never stop practicing them, I think. So you are doing the right stuff.

In that class the prof would play a triad with all notes simultaneously, then separately (one after the other from the bottom up). What I learned to do is to sing them just under my breath. I still do this to the present day - when I hear something I will sing it mentally or just under my breath to figure out what it is.

I recommend trying to sing the intervals within a harmony that you hear. It trains you so that you can isolate different intervals one at a time.

There are a lot of software packages out there that will help you train your ear. I think it would be good to look for one that plays a harmony one note at a time and then simultaneously.

Someone might recommend a website that doesn't charge money too or you can Google some of them.

After a while you'll be able to hear a harmony with all notes played together and you will be able to mentally separate the individual notes. Learning to sing them is somehow key to this ability. I'm not sure how that works, but singing the notes is an important part of learning to hear.

Best advice given

[KayZeeDanvers]

1st up, focus on the 3rd.

Listen to CMaj and then Cm.

Soon you can hear the 3rd "sandwiched" between C and G.
It wont be long before you can easily hear if its E or Eb.

Do this with all keys.

Then compare C with Csus4

Its soon easy to hear that 3rd moving up.

Comparison with the Major Triad is your ticket.


Exhaust all the possibilities between 1 and 5 (ie compare sus2,dim etc etc with Major) and then move on to comparing 7ths once you have mastered this.


Also, practise hearing intervals, both melodic and harmonic.
It goes hand and hand with this.

Good luck

+1 !! this is good advice and just how i started as a kid learning to play piano. if you will do this you will have strong foundation in music theory that is missing for many weekend warriors.

[Optomadic]

I also played piano since a kid (church). The weird thing is I could listen to what the choir was singing and just start playing along with them. I found out recently, that my great grandma was exactly the same way..

So on some levels it could be genetic ? Alls I know is I hear something and I can just play it..

[Schoorstijn]

I recommend using Earmaster Pro 5, a great programme for training your ear. Your able to train intervals, chords, progressions, rhythms and so on. Great application, don't know anything else quite like it!

[deastman]

I recommend using Earmaster Pro 5, a great programme for training your ear. Your able to train intervals, chords, progressions, rhythms and so on. Great application, don't know anything else quite like it!

Perhaps its just sleep deprivation talking, but the image that comes to mind is a Thighmaster for your ears.