Why Is It So Hard to Learn To Play By Ear? PLEASE HELP

[rut]

i would like to start off stating that i really thank God for each and every person on Learngospel music.my question is Why Is it so hard to lean to play by ear?  I've learn to read music (i haven taken five years of  piano lessons and going back on wednesday to contiune) i was on a long year break. What Are the steps?
 I really want to learn, i'm tierd of seeing musicians playing like an band on the keys and i sound like sheet music intermidate level. I want my piano playing to go to another level.

What ever it takes i'm willing to learn?
Please take me step by step.

[chevonee]

I'm pretty sure that some of my fellow LGMer's will help you even further than I can but to me learning to play by ear is a matter of time, patience, diligence, and effort. I learned how to develop my ears by practicing alot while listening to music. I learned even more about how to develop my ear by learning music theory. There is alot more information in the General Music Hangout. As I said before, I am certain that others will chime in and give their insight, in the meantime hang in there. If you can learn how to read music, you are more than capable of developing the skills that you desire. God bless you!!

[BroAllan]

 I believe that you have been trained to look at the song and play it through the notes.  Playing by ear however, uses the ear and not the eyes to play a song ... In fact, when you're good enough, you can play with your eyes closed. (Still practicing!  )

After all the years of learning to play by ear, I'll try and break it down to the basic necessary ingredients ...

1.  Learn to play the melody line.

2.  Learn the bass line, but don't get to carried away with all the bass runs, after all, you probably have a
    bass player to do all that.

3.  Learn the chords that go with the song.  This is where the music theory part really helps; circle of 4ths,
     circle of 5ths, relative minors, scales, and keys are just some of the ways that knowing music theory
     makes it easier to find and play the chords in a song.

4.  Listen to songs and learn to play them as best as you can, then move on to other new songs.

5.  Playing by ear develops the ability to hear the chord progressions, and the movement of the song.  These
     chord progressions will eventually become a regular part of your playing.

I encourage you to learn to develop your ability to play by ear, it will greatly enhance your playing.
Also, continue working on your sight reading skills.  Your playing will soar to new heights when you are
proficient in both.

Lastly, I'd like to leave you with this illustration ... (my way of comparing sight reading to playing by ear).

When a person types a document, each word must be spelled out, letter by letter (sight reading). 

When a person takes shorthand, symbols (which represent a word or a phrase), are recorded (playing by ear). 

In music, the symbols or chords represent a combination or set of notes that are to be played.
Continue to listen and try to hear the chords in the songs you play ...

                         God bless you ... BroAllan 

[karendj]

Rut you are not alone in your struggle. What is helping me develop my ear is prayer, just listening and not giving up. I don't sound real good right now, but everyone agrees I sound better than I use to and when I play a song they know what it is. 

BroAllan your steps are great, but you lost me at step 3.

1. How do you use the circle of 4th and 5ths to decide what chords go with a songs?

2. How do you use progressions using your steps?

Right now, I'm learning to hear basic progressions. I use the progressions, the turns, runs and etc. that I know to play the songs that I hear. They don't sound exactly, like the cd, but I figure that as I learn, more basslines, turns and runs it will sound better.

Am I just using a different technique or am i doing something wrong?

 
 

[karendj]

I just found this website. Basically he says on the circle that the two chords on either side of the chord you are playing will most likey be the next chord you play.

http://www.playpiano.com/101-tips/20-circle-of-keys.htm

[BroAllan]

I just found this website. Basically he says on the circle that the two chords on either side of the chord you are playing will most likey be the next chord you play.

http://www.playpiano.com/101-tips/20-circle-of-keys.htm

Greetings Karendj,

One of the simplest progressions but very popular, is the 1-4-5 progression. 
Basically, the numeric system in relationship to the scale is "1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8"
or in the key of "C" would be, "C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C".

Therefore, a song in the key of "C" would most likely use the "C", "F" and the "G" (1-4-5) chords as Major,  chords, while the D, E and A chords would probably be Minor chords. 

This is what I was referring to in point #3 ...  That by knowing the numeric system, (you can apply it to any key), it would help you in following the progression or movement of the song, and give you a pretty good idea what chords would most likely be played.

Remember, this is just a general rule, and a good place to start.  There's so much more to share, but we'll save it for later.

                               God bless, and keep up the good work ...     BroAllan

[karendj]

I'm numbering the chords of some songs right now to see how this rules applies!

Thanks BroAllan

[T-Block]

i would like to start off stating that i really thank God for each and every person on Learngospel music.my question is Why Is it so hard to lean to play by ear?  I've learn to read music (i haven taken five years of  piano lessons and going back on wednesday to contiune) i was on a long year break. What Are the steps?
 I really want to learn, i'm tierd of seeing musicians playing like an band on the keys and i sound like sheet music intermidate level. I want my piano playing to go to another level.

What ever it takes i'm willing to learn?
Please take me step by step.

Playing by ear is all about using your ear to recognize music patterns and then play them accordingly in whatever order and key they are found.  Basically, the music knowledge has to be in your head then transferred down to your fingers.  Here your ears are the primary source of processing information rather than your eyes like reading sheet music.  Here's the link that will help you to learn to play by ear:  http://www.learngospelmusic.com/forums/index.php/topic,42768.0.html

Go through each topic and learn as much as you can.  You can pm me with any questions u have!!!

[musallio]

Critical question & great responses.

[stonegk]

Hey guys and gals, I'm new here, and this is my first post... how exciting.. hehe.

Anyway, the very first thing I learned when trying to play by ear is to follow the base line, because it is most likely playing the chords of the song. For example... if you hear a baseline that goes c-c-c-c-f-f-f-f-g-g-g-g-, chances are, the chords of the song are C-F-G (a I-IV-V progression). The easiest way to figure out what the bass is playing is to sit by your keyboard and listen to the song slowly, trying to find that first note on your keyboard, then the second, then the next.

If you find the root note, and then play the corresponding chord, and it doesn't sound right, try playing a variation of the chord using the same root, for example, if C doesn't sound right, try a C7, or Cm, or Cb until you find the correct chord. Usually, this method will work to find the correct chord. Try simple songs at first, because doing this will take a little time and practice. After a while, you'll get better at this, and can try more complex songs as you train your ear to recognize the sounds of specific chords.


I am by no means an advanced piano player, I just started teaching myself piano last summer, so if I am saying anything incorrect, I am sure some of the more advanced musicians will correct me.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

[musallio]

Welcome to the RLGM Stonegk

Thanx 4 your useful input.

[T-Block]

Hey guys and gals, I'm new here, and this is my first post... how exciting.. hehe.

Anyway, the very first thing I learned when trying to play by ear is to follow the base line, because it is most likely playing the chords of the song. For example... if you hear a baseline that goes c-c-c-c-f-f-f-f-g-g-g-g-, chances are, the chords of the song are C-F-G (a I-IV-V progression). The easiest way to figure out what the bass is playing is to sit by your keyboard and listen to the song slowly, trying to find that first note on your keyboard, then the second, then the next.

If you find the root note, and then play the corresponding chord, and it doesn't sound right, try playing a variation of the chord using the same root, for example, if C doesn't sound right, try a C7, or Cm, or Cb until you find the correct chord. Usually, this method will work to find the correct chord. Try simple songs at first, because doing this will take a little time and practice. After a while, you'll get better at this, and can try more complex songs as you train your ear to recognize the sounds of specific chords.


I am by no means an advanced piano player, I just started teaching myself piano last summer, so if I am saying anything incorrect, I am sure some of the more advanced musicians will correct me.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

This is indeed a great response.  It pretty much sums up what I been trying teach for the last 3 years on this site, LOL.  Maybe some more people will get it now.

[stonegk]

This is indeed a great response.  It pretty much sums up what I been trying teach for the last 3 years on this site, LOL.  Maybe some more people will get it now.

Haha. I think that there is so much good stuff on this site, such a wealth of information, that it may sometimes overwhelm the beginning piano player. It's easy to see how really important stuff can fall through the cracks.

I came here after a search to learn Gospel chords. I don't even like gospel music, and can't even name you a single gospel song or a single artist. But man, I love that sound! Hopefully, if I hang out here long enough, I'll learn how to play in that style of music.

[Rjthakid]

Learning to play by ear starts in your head.

Knowing that a 2-5-1 will often end a chorus or verse will help you.

Knowing that many hymns use 1-4-5 progressions will help you.

Knowing your 7-3-6-2-5-1 progression will help you, because as soon as you hear the bass go to the 7, you know it's either walking downward and the next bass note is the 6, or it's going to the 3.

A movement I can hear in my sleep is when the bass walks down from 6-5-b5. On that b5 bass you're playing the Major 2 in your right hand.  It's VERY common when repeating the end of a song.

Why can I hear it so well?  Because I've done it a thousand times. 
But it STARTED in my head.

[musallio]

HEHEHEHE
Well said RJ...

(altho' U'n not amused, I found that lil sleep story amusing )

[organman88]

it gonna sound confusing at first but this is the most productive way to learn its not as hard as you think you have to know basic thoery like intervals major and minor scales and basic chords major minor diminished and augmented. The are two ways to play by ear relative pitch and perfect pitch. Relative pitch is the relation of notes from the tonic which is the key of a song like c major. Perfect pitch is being able to tell a G from a Db. Its hard but its possible to learn perfect pitch but most people just have it but relative pitch can be learned. I have relative pitch and perfect pitch. This is were interals come in example in the key of c there are 8 notes in the major scale but there are tweleve notes to get back to the key of c but this goes for every key.

 c, c#,d ,d#,e ,f ,f#, g, g# ,a ,a#, b, c the intervals are unison, minor 2, major 2, minor 3 ,major3 ,perfect 4, perfect 5, minor 6, major 6, minor 7, major7, octave

the only way u can tell the interval is by playing the key first and then hit another note for example in the key of c major the first note you hit is c always and then hit g thats a perfect fifth interval. Its a lot of stuff im throwing at you but take your time, start small and dont expect it to come overnight but if you work hard it will come but practice everyday and you will notice the difference download this free trail edition the student version that will help you the websites is www.earmaster.com


once you can tell the different intervals you can start to hear them in songs and then you will start to hear patterns not just in gospel songs but in all types all the songs will start to song alike.

[musallio]

Thanx 4 the helpful input organman.
I enjoyed reading the post.

[Kendall1]

I personally don't think it's hard to play by ear, it's just that it takes time. One of the main things I do when playing by ear is get a collection of songs that I want to learn and play them right before I go to sleep. That way the song is stuck in my head and I can began to break down different chords and things throughout each day. It also helps me to listen to the same song on different stereo systems, because on cerain stereo systems I hear parts that I didn't hear before. So I hope this is of any help.

God Bless,
Mr. Keyz AKA REV

[BBoy]

Also, playing by ear is usually not playing the melody. It is most often supporting the melody with a series of chord progressions.

I have played I guess professionally (at least I have been paid) for a bit over a year, and I am just now getting to the point where I am not playing the melody but letting the choir sing that while I play supporting chords.

It just takes some time.

Be prayerful and patient and persistent, and it will come.

Be Blessed,

BBoy

[T-Block]

Also, playing by ear is usually not playing the melody. It is most often supporting the melody with a series of chord progressions.

I have played I guess professionally (at least I have been paid) for a bit over a year, and I am just now getting to the point where I am not playing the melody but letting the choir sing that while I play supporting chords.

It just takes some time.

Be prayerful and patient and persistent, and it will come.

Be Blessed,

BBoy

Man, that's a whole other level of music right there:  accompaniment