UPSB v4

Off-topic / Playing by ear help?

  1. ShadowParadox
    Date: Sun, Aug 10 2014 15:39:38

    What's up guys?! I've been playing piano for a long time and recently have wanted to get off playing off sheet and start playing by ear. Are any of you guys able to do this and can give me some tips please. Thanks

  2. hahakumquat
    Date: Sun, Aug 10 2014 18:41:53

    Oh, cool. Improvisation is definitely a lot more fun than sheet music. I started practicing actually by watching people's tutorials on popular songs. Chord progressions are always simple; the harder part is the melody. After learning one or two songs (one in a major key, one in a minor key), you begin noticing patterns of chords that are repeated. Next is the hardest part. You have to really learn a key and how all the sounds go together. For me, I started with A minor/C major since they were easiest. Transposing the songs in my head came naturally (I've heard it's difficult for some people). Finally just keep playing a bunch of songs, be experimental, find things you like and things you don't like, etc etc. Left hand will play chords, right hand will do a simple melody. And then you get this Good luck! disclaimer this is only for crappy improvisation lol

  3. ChainBreak
    Date: Mon, Aug 11 2014 00:49:18

    I think this kind of "free play" requires you to get a feeling for the notes and corresponding keys. Similar to penspinning when you can copy a combo you just saw, because you have a feeling of how the tricks are done and linked. It's not that easy to explain, but I think this kind of feel exists in most things, may it be sports, music or other free time activities. Sicne I dont play the piano I cant give you the best advice, but I think practicing playing singular notes by ear then 3 notes then chords can help you get a feeling for the distance of the different sounds (if that makes sense to you). At least this kinda practice worked for me when learning to sing (though singing is probably a bit easier since the voice is something you use all the time).

  4. tenku069
    Date: Tue, Aug 12 2014 05:44:04

    Breaking your music down into structures will definitely help you technically and help you have a solid understanding of the theory and memorization, but it will help you very little when it comes to your musicianship. If you want to improve your ears ability to recognize chords/melodies (as in be able to write recall and/or write down what you hear) I suggest you google musicianship exercises. Practice easy rhythms (ta ti ti ta ta titi tikitiki ta ta blah blah) and work your way to more challenging rhythms so you can go through lines without having to worry about your timing and position. [B]Be able to sing up and down at least a major and natural minor scale to start[/B]. Like working on the easy rhythms, also start with recognizing easy intervals (Diatonic Major and minor intervals like M2 M3 P4 P5 M6 M7 m3 m6 etc.) incorporate these intervals into random melody exercises you find on the web or in books. As you become more familiar with the intervals and scales, you work on more colorful/chromatic lines and intervals. That is just for rhythm and melodies so far. All this being said, when I say you should be able to sing and recall this stuff, noone is expecting anyone to be a rockstar singer, I have a horrible voice, but I sing lines enough to know what I'm singing. The more you work on these exercises, not just breaking a song down to melodies and chords to memorize, the more you will recognize melodies in "real music" you listen to on the radio, etc. Your aim is to get your ear to say "I know what this melody looks/sounds like on paper." Once you've hit that, you know you're on the right track. Harmonies are another full sack of potatoes. In order to be able to hear and recognize the notes going up and down a chord from bass note to high note requires a little bit of theory knowledge. You need to know different chord progressions and how they fit into one another. You can fiddle around on your piano and find matching chord patterns on the keyboard that fit into many songs, but it doesn't give you any basic knowledge on what your playing and what you can jump to next, or even what possible chord the song can jump to next, and takes a lot more work to find what you "think sounds right." (totally different from what you "think sounds good" don't get me mixed up.) This is all just what I had to go through in college to better my ability to play by ear. If you improve on your ability to learn a song by ear,with exercise, your brain will have the ability to be able to play what you want by ear, by melody, chord, and rhythmic recognition/recall (all musicianship). From that one can change around with what they hear into more chromatic/colorful, and sometimes "better" sounding streams of music. I can only fit so much information onto one post. That's why college have 3+ semesters worth of musicianship classes on top of the theory harmony and counterpoint classes. It is a pretty tough road to conquer, but trust me, it makes your music writing and improv-ing so much smoother in the long run.