Before you can master an instrument like the guitar, students need to first learn the art of listening. When you can quickly recognize certain things like intervals, chords and scales, your playing ability will greatly improve. Read on for a great ear training exercise from Elk Grove, CA teacher Loren R…
Do your ears ever feel like they need a workout? Have you ever wanted to be able to identify chords and scales more quickly? If so, then ear training exercises are just the thing you need!
Ear training exercises help to strengthen your understanding of music theory by improving your aural skills. Let’s take a closer look at how chords and scales can help you become a better musician – and we’ll give you some of the best ear training exercises to try, too.
How Do You Effectively Train Your Ears?
Developing your ear for music can be a difficult task, but it is one that pays off in the long run:
- One of the most effective ways to train your ears is to practice with intervals and recognize the connections between different chords or notes.
- This could involve playing two different notes and trying to determine how many semitones there are between them, or listening to a set of notes and recognizing which scale they fall into.
- Another important aspect of ear training is occasional dictation exercises, where you learn to hear musical phrasing and musical notation changes.
- By focusing on both relative pitch as well as recognizing simple melodies by sight, you can make great strides in improving your overall ability as a musician.
It’s important not to get discouraged though, because remember: practice makes perfect!
Are you ready to become better at playing music and learn some daily exercises in ear training? If so, you should sign up for guitar lessons. With guitar lessons, you’ll learn both beginner and advanced ear training exercises, plus some of the fun skills like the ones you see in the video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tKEkV7bB1E
Types of Ear Training Exercises for Beginners
Ear training exercises are an essential part of any musician’s practice routine. Whether you’re a beginner or a professional, developing your ear can help you unlock new potential in your music.
But if the word “ear training” brings to mind visions of complex musical theory and confusing exercises, fear not! We’ll explore some of the types of ear training exercises that are perfect for beginners.
Harmonic Ear Training Exercises
Harmonic ear training exercises involve learning to identify chords and progressions by listening. This type of exercise is great for expanding awareness of harmonic relationships between chords and keys. To do these exercises, try playing simple chord progressions on an instrument or using online tools like Chordify or BandLab’s Harmonic Ear Trainer. Once you’ve mastered the basics, you can move on to more complex progressions and even jazz standards!
Interval Ear Training Exercises
Interval ear training is all about listening to two notes (or more!) and identifying their relationship with one another. To practice interval ear training, try playing two notes together on an instrument or use online tools like BandLab’s Interval Ear Trainer. As you get more comfortable with intervals, you can move on to melodic patterns and even full songs!
Free Ear Training Exercises
If money is tight but you want to get started with ear training right away, no problem! There are plenty of free resources available online that can help you get started with your ear training journey. Websites like MusicTheoryExams provide free assessment tests that allow you to track your progress as well as helpful tutorials and tips. Other websites offer free interactive tools like BandLab’s Pitch Finder which allow users to test their pitch recognition skills with real-time feedback from a virtual piano keyboard.
Ear Training Exercises Online
If you’re looking for convenient ways to practice your ear training without having access to a real instrument, don’t worry—there are plenty of options available online! Websites like Theta Music Trainer offer comprehensive collections of interactive games designed specifically for improving your music skills (including ear training!).
Alternatively, apps like BandLab are great for learning how to play by ear—simply ask the app to play something from a songbook or record audio directly into the app while it listens along with you in real time!
Daily Exercises in Ear Training to Try
When music students first hear of “ear training,” they might not understand what it means. It sounds important and basic, but what is it? When we hear music, we know that it’s our ears that need to be “trained,” because music is only for ears, not for the eyes.
We also know that hearing is not just hearing. There’s hearing and then there’s knowing what we’re hearing. If we learn to know what we’re hearing well enough, we will have the skill to go to our instrument and reproduce the music, either in part, or with an arrangement that is manageable by our single effort on our instrument. We can learn to hear how to represent the various instruments in the band playing the music. When people see these skills in action they say, “That musician plays well by ear.” This is a high compliment among musicians.
But how does one develop a good ear?
Match the Pitch
One important part is simply being able to match the pitch one hears in the music to a pitch one plays on their instrument. Ask your teacher to let you give that a try if you haven’t done that. Many people can do that already, but don’t know how to go beyond that to recognize more of the music than just the one note at a time.
The trick is to find a way to play the sounds you need to learn the most. They are called chords and scales. Also, we need a few recognizable bits of melody that are common in music. I call these “moves.” In real music, chords, scales and moves always occur in the context of rhythmic patterns, too. Even in the music where there are lots of repetitions, and we can add even more repetitions to give ourselves a certain picture of what our ears are hearing.
Recognize Common Elements in Music
If we can find a way to play the most common chords, scales and melody fragments, and make direct comparisons one after another in repetition, we’ll begin to recognize the most common elements in music. That’s ear training. Once a musician knows a good portion of the most common chord progressions, scales and moves in their favorite genre of music, they’ll be “ear-trained” in that genre.
Start With Scales and Chords
For guitarists, the key of A is a common key to start with. Here are the chords derived from the A scale: A, Bm, C#m, D, E7, F#m and G#dim. Set yourself up to do chord comparisons by using chords that set up the key in four-square phrasing first (loops of chord changes once per measure in four measures lengths, measures being four beats on one chord).
Play through the chords in the pattern you’ve chosen, setting the key up clearly by using lots of A, D and E7. Then have your guitar teacher help you to “audition” each chord by changing only one chord at the beginning of a new loop of 8 measures of the progression, beginning a new progression with just one substitution chord at the beginning of the loop. Audition chords borrowed from the parallel minor scale to find some really pretty or interesting ones. Like these: F, G, C (borrowed from A minor). Prettier, but less common chords are the “add 9” chords. They work even better, but you might need some help finding them with your teacher.
How Long Does it Take to Develop Ear Training?
Developing solid ear training skills can take many months of dedicated daily practice, especially if you are starting from the beginning.
To help develop a solid foundation of musical listening, it is important to begin with the fundamentals that include learning how to recognize intervals, chords and basic melodies. This can start with simple exercises that lay a foundation for further skill development. In addition to daily ear training practice, it is beneficial to also spend time listening to music actively trying to pick out chords and melodies as a type of independent study.
Along with keeping diligent track of your progress in order to stay motivated, it can be reasonable to assume that it could take around 6 months or so of consistent work in order for an individual’s ear training level to significantly improve.
How Long Should I Practice Ear Training a Day?
This is a difficult question to answer because everyone has different learning styles and different levels of proficiency when it comes to ear training. Generally speaking, if you are just starting out with ear training then 20 minutes per day should suffice for starters.
As your skills improve, then you may want to increase your practice time accordingly up to one hour per day or more depending on what level of mastery you desire. Just make sure that whatever amount of practice time you set for yourself each day is achievable so that it doesn’t become overwhelming or discouraging!
Do Ear Training Exercises Work?
Ear training exercises are a fun way for musicians of all levels—from beginners all the way up through experienced professionals—to sharpen their ears when it comes to recognizing chords and scales.
Whether you’re looking for some extra practice or just want something fun that will help you become an even better musician, these exercises are perfect for anyone who wants to get better at recognizing musical elements quickly!
So why not give them a try today? You’ll be surprised at how much sharper your ears become after just one session! Ask your music instructor for tips on how to best get started ASAP.
You might also like…
– Ear Training Exercises: Recognizing Intervals
– Music Transcription: How to Transcribe Your Favorite Song
– 5 Things That Challenge Even the Best Guitar Newbies
Loren R. teaches guitar, piano, bass guitar, music theory, and songwriting lessons to students of all ages in Elk Grove, CA. Loren joined the TakeLessons team in October 2012, with two music degrees and several years of teaching experience. His specialties include country, rock and classical styles. Learn more about Loren, or visit TakeLessons to find a teacher near you!
Photo by stephcarter
Suzy S.