Playing by Ear

[sunshinesarah]

Hi. Anyone knows where I can pick up the how-tos and techniques of playing by ear?

I've had 8 years of ABRSM and playing by score is about all I know how to do at the moment. Any playing by ear is by a lot of plinking and plonking errors, hoping I got the notes right!

I read one of your threads on trashing keyboardists for only knowing how to play with scores with much interest....

That said though, I think playing by ear is a necessity especially when I'm really dying to pick my music up again for the purposes of self-expression, and I don't want to have to read notes all the time (or struggle to recall chords, phrases, notes etc from memory!)

Any ideas? Are books a good reference point?

 

[Nefianz]

8 years is like grade wad already 6+ ?.. wow.. shld be able to paly by ear abit no?

 

[sunshinesarah]

Haha, like I said, with lots of plinking and plonking errors, and lots of hard work. Am wondering if there's a better way. I left the piano for more than 10 yrs - gee, no, 12 years! - not long after my grade 8 when I left for studies. It only recently occurred to me that I don't need a fully upright acoustic piano to actually play the piano. Yes, yes. The revelation took a while. I've been living in rented places for the past 6 yrs, and will still be in the immediate future so I'm finally seeking deliverance in the form of a digital piano

 

[sunshinesarah]

And oh ya....haha. I went back to read my examiners' comments....I had very poor aural scores. In fact, I failed my Gr 8 aural....would that put me in very poor standing for wanting to pick up playing by ear? Sigh. I did so loathe aural at the time!! Never figured out why I needed to be able to tell whether a chord played was augmented or minor or diminished, not to mention whether it was a third, fourth, fifth or etc!! :smt110

 

[Nefianz]

at least u got ur grade 8.. 8)

 

[iansoh]

the best way is to just PRACTICE. develop your own way of identifying the notes by ear. just keep at it until one day it becomes naturally accurate.

 

[bongman]

normally it's a problem for classical pianist to switch to pop music
after years playing by scores.
however, the techniques and skill acquired from the classical regimen
gives you a solid foundation to play any fast melodies and difficult rhythms.

myself is fortunate becos I had 2 years plus of organ lessons
before switching to classical piano. and beside I picked up acoustic
guitar in school, so have some knowlegde of rock and roll.

playing by ear takes some practice,
try learning piano ballads by ear figuring out the chords
and the piano accompaniment.

eg:
Let It Be - The Beatles
this is a piano anthem for beginners
good hearing execrise and of course good music!

Right Now - Van Halen
try figuring out the piano riff in the begining of this rock song,
if you can, your hearing is pretty good.

Endless Rain - X Japan
a good piece to play, especially the middle piano solo

Tian Hei Hei (Cloudy Day) - Stephanie Sun
try to figure the chords in the intro,
a good piano solo in the middle.


enjoy! just my little experience

 

[Cheez]

I've had 8 years of ABRSM and playing by score is about all I know how to do at the moment. Any playing by ear is by a lot of plinking and plonking errors, hoping I got the notes right!

Plinking and plonking errors are good! That's the way to start. That's how I started. I still remember rewinding my walkman every few seconds to figure out chords - not surprised my walkman didn't last very long (after all the rewind-stop-play-stop-rewind-stop-play-stop...).

 

[sunshinesarah]

not to mention the cassette tape........

 

[Indigo_blues]

i did the same switch over from classical to rock/pop piano playing by ear some years back also. Just takes a lot of practice. After a while you find most pop songs have pretty standard chords and transitions and you can pick them out quite easily. The next challenge is to start figuring out the jazz and blues. haha..

 

[bongman]

classical trained

I bet all of us classical trained went through this phase,
but indeed the classical training give us a good music
foundation.

 

[nixflames]

Finishing up to grade 8 is top stuff. I stopped at the end of grade 7 (have no idea why), and from then on I've just been taking things at my liking. Love the piano though. Anyhoo, yeah, plinking and plonking is the way to do it. Your ears will eventually be sensitive to the notes you hear and you'll be able to recite them and play them in no time. Just requires a lot of exposure, and practice.

Try the Piano Duet from The Corpse Bride soundtrack. The first part of it is extremely easy, and develops later on in the song. It's quite beautiful to master though. Good luck in your playing by ear-ness! =p Hehe.

 

[qfactor]

In one word, "Transcribe"
That's listening to CDs and copying what you hear. That's "ear training" in its "cheapest" form!!


QF

Hi. Anyone knows where I can pick up the how-tos and techniques of playing by ear?

 

[LocrianMode]

Playing By Ear

http://www.musictheory.net/

Check out the "Trainers" menu esp. the "Ear Trainers"
I had fun trying out those
Hope it helps somewhat.