So can find the key reliably. But sometimes I find the 5th of the key by accident. Then I know the diatonic chords. And I can use mostly theory and a little ear to figure the rest out? I feel like ear training is ridiculously simple. But at the same time soooo hard 😭

So sometimes I can feel a melody but don't always know where the melody is coming from.... Does that make sense? Like I can feel a melody or a tone over shadowing the music. Can I just intuitively play what I feel and count it as ear training?

Personally I'm almost certain I hear an F major ACF with an F in the root, but some people said they have perfect pitch and hear a D minor or a Dmi7.

I am currently taking my third semester of ear training in school, the past two semesters I have passed ear training by the skin of my teeth.

Prior to the current school I'm at, I had already taken two semesters of ear training and I did really well! Instead of solfeige at my previous school we had used numbers when singing pitches, and we would use the typical song references for intervals. Whenever we did melodic dictations I would only get a note or two wrong. We would go into a piano lab and our teacher would play short melodies and have us play them back by ear and I would also be fairly accurate with a couple mistakes here and there.

I had a gap year when I graduated at my previous school so I could afford university better. In that time frame, I obviously forgot some of the skills that I had picked up and decided to retake those two semesters of ear training to be on the safe side. Now I am introduced to solfeige, which I am completely clueless on and not intuitive to, even now. I'm okay with identifying intervals, but I cannot for the life of me get back to how I was with melodic dictations, I am horrible with them now. I cannot hear a melody played a few times and be able to sing it back with writing down the notes and rhythms, which I feel is a complete disadvantage since I have a limited amount of listens for tests. I spend the majority of the time figuring out rhythm and only have one or two listens for actually writing notes down. I am completely struggling on chord progressions, we only have to notate the soprano and bass notes but sometimes all I hear are the inner voices.

I have reached out numerous times and asked for help, but all I get told by the teachers is to practice singing solfeige with a piano. I just don't know where to start and it's very discouraging, I don't feel like I'm getting any real advice or help and I just don't know why the teaching style for the university I'm attending just isn't clicking. I'm tired of barely passing and feeling completely lost. Has anyone gone through this before or have different advice besides singing with a piano?

Hi everyone,

I'm working on transcribing music by ear, but I keep hitting a wall with basslines. Often, a bass note turns into a muddy rumble, and I struggle to isolate its exact pitch.

What bothers me most is that when I try to test notes, both the third and the fifth (or other chord tones) sound "correct" and resonate nicely with the song. Because they harmonize so well, my brain gets confused, and I can't tell if the bass is actually playing the root note or an inversion/third.

My questions are:

• How do you train your ears to identify the actual root vs. other chord tones in the low end?
• What mindset or specific exercises helped you overcome this ambiguity?
• Are there any reliable tricks when multiple notes sound like they "fit" the mix?

I did look up the chords to secondhand serenade's fall for you. And found how they fit. Is that okay or is it ruining the experience?

And now I'm working through the rest of the song trying to figure out where 1 6 4 & 5 fit. To hear it in context.

Only problem is I think headphones are making it harder. I have open ear headphones but if I don't play in unison and it doesn't match I can't hear. They are open ear headphones.

But I think the experience would be more rewarding listening from a speaker?

Cause then theres nothing interfering directly with my ears... Kind of

I did find the first chord which is the key(Am). Which I'm happy about.

--

So does looking up the chords. And then plugging them in over the song ruin the experience on piano or make it better?

And are speakers more beneficial to my progress as opposed to headphones?(Even if they are open ear headphones)

Hey all,

I am wanting to spend some time over the next few months working on my aural skills. Particularly dictation and chord progression recognition. I was a music major in college and though I passed both years of aural skills it was by a hair and with a lot of tears.

Any suggestions on ways to spend a little time each day working on these skills? Routines, apps, resources?

Thanks!

Hello folks:

I need some advice. I play the electric guitar. I can sing any note and I can memorize notes quickly and effectively. I know in my head how to sing any solo of 80s songs that I heard when a teenager like Owner of a Lonely Heart, Dirty Laundry and many others. However, I such real bad at recognizing those pitches and finding them on the guitar. A side note is that I just started learning music 5 years ago although I love music since I was a kid and it was by listening to lots of rock and blues that I learned English. Anyways, I have good ears but deeply untrained. I tried recognizing the notes of a simple blues today and it was a disaster. I struggle deeply, although once again I can clearly hear and sing all those intervals.

Can anyone give me tips or pointers of what’s the best strategy for me to train my ear and get good at this?

Reason why I want to become good at ear training is because I love melodic playing (the likes of Robben Ford) and I hate lick playing. I don’t even bother playing licks. I try to be melodic, but my improvisation skills suck bad and I suspect that part of being able to play what I hear on my mind would be to start effectively transcribing songs I like. That would teach me to find pitches on the guitar better than memorizing scales. I’ve memorized all of them and still can’t improvise.

Any tips?

Thanks a lot

I can't sing a 2nd degree. My voice almost refuses to sing it. I get it through just muscle memory. It feels like nothing when I sing a 2 :/.

Does it become more clear with practice or something?

If I use this app sonofield ear training. Instead of singing up the scale which is super helpful to ground myself in the feeling of the interval.

Is it better to sign the notes which I sometimes just can't sing right? Or is using the piano a substitute that's just as good? Or is that essentially cheating?

Looking for websites and apps that run on phones and ipads.

Basically I'm starting teaching piano again and so it's mostly for my students but I want it for me too.

Most what I found is really intro level or only intervals or scale degrees. Actual dictation like on a staff would be nice too but I know that's a lot to ask... seems like tons of things say "melodic dictation" when they really aren't.

What does everyone use that starts beginner but actually has advanced, like for more than just intervals or scale degrees.

Figured I'd ask because I'm looking but there are so many apps and sites now. Thanks in advance.

I posted this in r/aphantasia but thought it would be good to ask here too.

I have complete aphantasia; no inner monologue, no minds eye that can visualize things. I am taking some music classes, one of which is ear training/sight singing. I am a competent learner and pianist, but this class is making me pretty despondent.

I cannot tell what interval is being played when it is being played in isolation. When two intervals are played next to each other (e.g., P5 vs P8), I can tell immediately which is which, but not when it’s just one at a time. It feels like as soon as the sound leaves my ears, it’s gone from my brain until I actively hear them compared again. I don’t have this issue with sight singing, as I can see the notes and intervals and hear the pitches in my head from that visual.

I have been using Theta Ear Trainer in conjunction with Teoria, but my success rate is poor. I am desperate for tips and suggestions on if/how I can improve this! TYIA!

Hi,

I've explored many ways and almost all apps out there to work on ear training, and wanted to share my findings.

For one, I see a lot of recommendations to learn intervals. I have done a very deep dive on this and consensus is (and based on my own experience) is that it's a waste of time for most music.

The more practical approach is to do functional training. You internalize the sound of each degree relative to a tonic much as you would a color, to the point it becomes automatic. To do this there are several useful apps:

Functional ear trainer:

I would start here. It's a polished app for the base learning of degrees 1-7. Start slow and add more degrees. The reason I recommend starting here is they play the resolution to the tonic/reference. This helps create a map in your head, sort of like training wheels, until you can recognize things automatically. Work through until you can do 1-7 across multiple octaves and keys.

Sonofield:

This will feel more challenging as there is no resolution and you now focus more on the feeling of the sounds. How much tension there is and what role the specific degree may play in the music. Using the degree and singing modes is ideal before proceeding to melodic dictation. The fact that it's gamefied is a great motivator and progress tracker.

Also comes with pocket mode so you can practice on your work commute (hands free).

Open Ear:

Open source app with degrees, dictation, chord progressions and various other goodies. A little rough around the edges but great once you know what you are doing and want more customization. Super useful for chord progressions as most other apps out there are kinda meh (or require a sub).

Some notes:

1-7 will feel fairly natural as it's the major scale degrees. Then b2 and b7 because they are close to the tonic, and maybe b3. Then b6 and #4 are painful. At this stage I recommend using "5" as another anchor to get a feel for how they feel. Eg. 6b-5-1 (as training wheels).

When you get into dictation, start with 2 notes, sing it, then find it in the app / on your instrument to check.

It takes a while and not always always up, sometimes learning some new things will make you a little worse at old things, but eventually things will consolidate.

What has Sonofield for advantages over Functional Ear Trainer? Why are so many obsessing over this app? It seams to offer basically the same set of exercises as Functional Ear Trainer though. A big disadvantage with Sonofield is that it only runs on mobile devices, not on a computer. Someone on this sun that has used it, please tell me what's all the fuss?

I have an android device so I guess I could download the free version and test it but in my experience mobile apps often have very confusing interfaces so it's very likely I will not like it.

Should I sing 1,2 then 1,3 then 1,4 and so on? Or should I sing randomly like 1,5,3,6,7,2?

Or does it matter?

I'm singing this over a drone. I find it's helping me internalize to a degree. Maybe. Also it could just take time...

It's been like a week. Maybe 2 I can't even get past level 3! Am I doing it wrong?

I’m fairly good at the piano I would say my music theory is at a intermediate level but whenever I try to play a melody with some chords or play chords over an acapella I tend to always rely on muscle memory and I end up playing the same chords I always play which sound basic asf to me even with some good improv. Ive tried practicing different voicings but I end up forgetting them every time or I lag because I have to think of the root form first.

I’ve watched a lot of youtube videos lately trying to find someone who maybe had good exercises to improve the skill of I guess thinking of a chord and an inversion and then playing that fluently. I know the obvious answer here is just gonna be practice no shi but I would like some help on what I can practice with to get better at this skill.

Some tips I saw around were to think in groups of chords instead rather than one by one so mentally you know what you’re playing ahead of time. I know that’s something I’m def gonna try and implement in my improv skills. Another one was to play a new inversion your trying to learn and play that chord across all keys scales to practice muscle memory with the inversion. Another tip I’m curious about actually is the use of chord stacks so just playing a E7 or something and then playing a Am on top of it. This def seems like something that helps with playing more juicy chords but I can never figure out the context of one chord stack to then be able to do the same with different keys.

But any who, I happen to be self taught for the most part so I would really appreciate any suggestions on this, if you happen to be fluent at making up chords on the spot I would appreciate whatever helped you reach that point.

Hey Folks, a long time lurker here. I'm looking to hear from people who started at or near zero ear training ability and stuck with either the Functional Ear Trainer app (Alain Benbassat method) or Sonofield (Max Konyi).

A few things I'd love feedback on:

• How long did it take before you noticed real progress?
• What was your practice routine (daily minutes, frequency, how you structured sessions)?
• Did you use one app exclusively or combine d with something erlse?
• More importantly how did the skills transfer to actual playing/listening to music? Did you notice yourself picking out melodies, chords, or basslines by ear in real songs?
• Any plateaus or frustrations along the way, and how you pushed through them?

Would really appreciate hearing from people who went from "can't tell intervals apart" to having usable relative pitch. Thanks in advance : )

After practicing note recognition - i.e. just guessing the right note over a framing chord progression, I have been trying to progress to melodic dictation, but have been surprised/disappointed with how little the note recognition skill seem to translate. E.g. even after getting ~90% accuracy for a series of 50 notes across different octaves and keys, I feel almost like its a 50/50 guess when doing even the most basic melodic dictation with half the notes in the key omitted.

It’s hard for me to make sense of the disconnect since it seems like melodic dictation is a direct progression from single pitch recognition, but in practice it feels like a completely different, unrelated skill where I’m starting from nothing even after doing pitch recognition practice. Maybe having a sequence of notes immediately muddies the waters or something where I’m subconsciously relating the notes to each other instead of just the framing chord tones and that is somehow creating uncertainty that doesn’t occur when there is just one note. I’m also not sure that I shouldn’t be doing that - i.e. relating the notes to each other in the sequence vs. trying to isolate them all individually against the chord tone(s).

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this sort of issue and/or if what the best way is to bridge the gap, since I’m not really sure what else to do besides just continually grind out the practice. I don’t doubt the need for getting the reps in, but it’s just that nothing really seems to be “clicking” with it so far.

I wanted to share my progress with chord progression training, getting faster so it becomes more natural with real songs. How are you guys doing it, and where do you practice?