well.. i'm not sure if its the same for bass.. but i do know its hell a lot easier to play by ear compare to guitar and keyboard

but i'm not really good at it too all depends on your experience and how much time and concentration u put into ur music

try practicing everytime when u r listening to a song i do that sometimes.. then try it with ur guitar or anything.. then check the tab from the internet.. see whether its the same or not..

Well apparently at some music conservatories (eg Julliard) they do 'teach' absolute pitching - I don't know whether it works or not.

Anyway, just remember that perfect pitch does not equal better musician.

yeah agree but it will help a lot when u found some new songs u like and cant get the tabs.. like me i cant find marcus miller's tabs not in the internet.. not in the music stores.. cant find the books.. even if can find.. would cost at least 100bucks

Well, i did joined last year, but i dont post in those forums. I only post at forums like these, that dont count post counts.

anyways, i learned fast because i had the interest. 1st 3 months i was literally stuck on to my guitar, everyday, just pracitse 3 chords. Haha, after that, all songs that i wanted to play, i learn by ear. So i guess it takes quite a bit of experience before u can tell what tuning is he playing in and what chord is he playing. Nonetheless, relatively easy to do =)


*edit, hey 2 posts

This post has been edited by XaVieRGizmo: May 30 2006, 09:36 PM

hmm im not good or even close to playin by ear..but at times i get luck finding the right sounding chords...some1 once told me about family chords or something ...like C goes with Am n etc..im not sure either...

but lets says its a rock song or something with distortion n weird effects...how u differentiate it then?to me...its weird..i know how a C sounds...lets say la..then if u play it with distortion its gonna be abit diff?what more if its a bar chord or open chord or power chord...how do u pick up the pitches in these..

Wthell's a tab? I'm no guitarist.

Nyways, I found that electone peoples seem to be better than pianist in Yamaha music school as far as their ability to play impromptu AKA freestyle. No script, no preparation, no sheets, etc.

I envy them. Wish my mom sent me to electone instead of piano.

Hehe... I always have an impression that people who can play electone, can play piano too. Perhaps it's because of Norah Jones?

Anyway, impromtu playing/improvisation is a skill itself that can be practised and perfected.

Which is the point of this thread. Any pointers?

i wish my parents send me to a music class.. but they wont ... they think its a waste of time


get back to topic....
How do you play by ear?

u mean tab the song by ear? it takes time to develope that, because you need to be used to listening to those chord or note sounds. You need time to recognize their sounds. Your friends probably had played those chords or notes before a few times or over and over and remember their sounds, that's why they are able to figure out what chords or notes they should play on the piano to match the song.

This post has been edited by Xero: Jun 8 2006, 03:25 PM

sight reading is very important. Too bad i just realised it now after my reading deteriorated practically back to 0.

Use reading to train your hearing. It works. Before you play a note on the guitar, try humming it and see if you are right. That also helps abit.

1. Pitching
2. Know your chords

The chords are very important and should be stressed enough. With a strong base chord knowledge and listening, you should able to breeze through most modern pop asily.

hmm.. haha.. not quite sure bout bass.. but keyboard i can still manage..
get to come out with the songs through playin the song repeatedly..

wat i did was get it part by part.. after got the 1st 1 part then move on.. while not forgeting the 1st part.. by then u can remember the whole song once its done without having to note down in the manuscript..

Same for me too.
I guess everyone does the same.

another pointer that i found some time ago on adam nitti's website (for bassists in general but can be applied to musicians as well). It worked for me quite well.

Play and practice intervals and remember how they sound like. With time you will get to learn the sound of each interval and be able to shift them around and transpose them as well. Of course for me i still miss once in a while and play wrong notes, but it's not noticable really.

Adam Nitti intervallic study (learn to read notes...they're good for you ...and me too)

practicing appregios are good to. I can't find a website for guitar, but for bass there is a diagram with appregios for some major 7th chord or something. it's just an example of appregio practice and not really a study of it. But i still find it useful.

Anthony Wellington appregio example

i thot it's called talent?

Yes.... it's talent...... but it can be debated if it's more towards educational talent or in-built talent.....

well put it this way....talented people learn faster

hemm.. for my experience, i'd been playing piano for 10 year plus ( i started learning when i was standard 1) yeah i agree with chaim-ace. u need to have strong base of chord knowledge.. you'll realise as u practise, most of the songs they have a fix sequence (especially to those modern pop songs).. for example for a G major songs, it's either going like G - Aminor - C - D, or some other combination.. but as u proceed in your practising, u'l notice that there's some so called 'fix pattern' there, bcos they normally come in combination.. ( im talking about those modern songs, not those musics from classical or baroque period, those u really need the music scores ) yeah, by practising u'l master it, or i should say u can predict the coming chords after every chords..

after you have mastered it, u can just enhance ur playing by adding in those skills such as appregios mentioned by Bassix.. anyway, i still believe "practise makes perfect"

This post has been edited by nicholas_1213: Aug 31 2006, 03:16 PM

Well yeah..... That's true....... but try telling that to Dragonforce.....