Have you ever been playing with other musicians and noticed that they are able to pick out certain sounds, chords, notes, keys and more just by listening? This is most likely due to their great musical ear and the fact that they may be training their ears when it comes to music. As you progress as a musician, ear training should be something that you are practicing very frequently. It will allow you to become a better active music listener, as well as help you to become a more successful learner. These are some ear training 101 tips that will help you along the way.
LISTEN TO MUSIC!:
This may seem a bit obvious, but listening to music all day every day when you have the time will help you with starting to recognize certain patterns and progressions in music. By listening to more and more music, you will begin to understand more of how songs are structured and where they will end up. In turn, this will greatly benefit you when learning songs or playing with other skilled musicians.
USE A EAR TRAINING APP:
Another great way to start ear training is to do something as simple as downloading an ear training app to your phone or tablet. There are an abundance of them to choose from and they each have different features for different types of learners. Essentially, these apps have you practice with identifying certain pitches, chords, notes and keys and then test you on them. This may not seem like the most enjoyable activity, but it will definitely help you in the long run.
LEARN SONGS BY EAR:
After you have practiced your ear training and want to start putting it into action, test yourself on the skills you have learned! A great way to do this is to listen to a song and then try to learn it by ear. Doing this over and over will give you a huge grasp on identifying music concepts by ear. Ear training takes some time to grasp and master, but if you work at it every day, you will almost certainly begin to notice some progress.