As a musician, one of your greatest mentors will be the music you listen to. It’s shaped the way I write, lead, and arrange music.
Many people have said to me, “You’ve been gifted with a great ear for music. You can just hear it.” I happen to think that’s a bunch of baloney.
Of course I don’t tell this to people after they compliment me. That’s the fast track to being a jerk.
But I don’t believe I have much natural “talent”. My parents are gifted in many ways but music definitely isn’t one of them. The reason I have a good ear is because of specific types of practice. I was borderline obsessive with my musical habits.
My Start With Worship Music
When my brother and I were kids, we were forced to listen to only worship music. I know, can you imagine a worse punishment for an 11 year old?
We were entering that phase of teenage angst and my parents, naturally, wanted to guard us from making bad choices.They saw the attitudes we were carrying and the Jnco jeans we were sagging. They needed to intervene before we were homeless, hopeless drug addicts.
In all seriousness, more than anything, they wanted us to love Jesus with all our hearts. So, worship music was it.
At first, the thought of listening to only stupid worship music was enough for me to bang my head against the wall for the rest of my life. In those days, cutting edge music was “Change My Heart Oh, God” by Vineyard. Not what I would call an anthem for my eleven year old generation.
But now I see it as part of God’s plan for me. Not only did I listen to a lot of worship music, I geeked over it. In the process, I improved my musicality.
5 Tips For Developing A Great Musical Ear
I share that story because during that time I did a few things that helped improve my ear for music.
I can naturally determine the keys of songs. I can visualize guitar parts when I hear them. I can flow spontaneously on multiple instruments in any key.
And you can too. All you need to do is practice with intention. Here we go:
1. Listen Intentionally
You can tell a musician from a well, non-musician by how they listen to music. Non-musicians play it in the background at very low volumes. Musicians blast music, sit down, and focus. Even when it’s background noise in a restaurant, real musicians naturally dissect it. You need to do this.
Here’s my challenge for you: grab a new worship album you love. Sit down with a physical notepad and listen to that album. Take notes as you go. Answer these questions:
- What is the drummer’s groove?
- What is the keyboardist playing? Piano, pad, synth, or strings?
- What type of strum is the acoustic guitar rocking?
- How are the background vocalists enhancing the lead?
- What does the production feel like?
- How is the electric guitar tone? What guitar and amp might they be using?
- How is each instrument arranged?
This list could go on for ages. But that’s for another post.
2. Mimic What You Hear
But listening isn’t enough. You need to go copy it. When you hear a guitar riff you love, go figure it out. Challenge yourself to not quit until you’ve got it.
Developing a great ear demands this type of tenacity. I took this to another level. Not only did I create chord charts for songs I loved, I made chord charts for entire albums. All the time. I printed them out, put them in laminated sleeves, and bound them. Please pray for me.
3. Play Games
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done this. This is where you’ll separate yourself from the rest of mankind and be labeled a music nerd for life. Embrace it.
The next time some music is playing, wherever you are, challenge your friends to figure out what key it’s in. The musicians will join in, the girls will be impressed, and everyone else will hate you. But it’s worth it.
The more you practice this way, the better you’ll become.
4. Practice In Weird Keys
Would you call me crazy if I told you my favorite keys are F#, Ab, and C#? I know, I’m starting to sound like a musical snob. But if you want to improve your ear and be able to flow in any key, you need to practice in those weird keys.
For many years now, every time I sit down at my piano I start playing in one of those keys. At first, I just wanted to improve how I navigated all those sharps and flats.
Now, I love the tone. Challenge yourself to practice in keys you’re not currently good at. Don’t just sit down at your instrument and do what you’ve always done. Pick difficult keys. Be weird. Have an “anything is possible” attitude.
Over time, you’ll see your musicality skyrocket.
5. Take Lessons
You know what separates the men from the boys when it comes to musicality? Being humble enough to take lessons. Every time I hear a musician say they were self-taught, I cringe. They could have been twice as good as they are with lessons.
I recently had coffee with a drummer friend of mine who’s been playing for over 20 years. He’s taking lessons right now. He’s 40 years old and still learning. I love that attitude. Sure, be a lifelong learner on your own. But to really hit your stride as a musician, you need a coach.
Let’s continue to list. What would you add? Or, what questions do you have regarding musical ear improvement? Join in the comments!
Thanks again for a great post! I’m finding myself in the midst of training my ear to hear better. You have some wonderful tips here and they are really helpful! Thanks as always David! 🙂
GREAT stuff, as usual. Truly great musicians always keep learning and have an insatiable hunger to get better. One of the things I like to do is spend time learning music that I don’t necessarily love. Applying the 5 tips above to a style that isn’t my favorite can go a long way toward breaking my playing out of well-worn ruts and expanding my appreciation for the great big world of music. Another thing I do, along the lines of making charts for entire albums, is to try to chart songs by ear (without the aid of my instrument) and then check my work. Learning to hear what a I, IV, V, and vi chord sound like really helps to develop the ear!
Loved the comment about “Change My Heart, Oh God,” by the way!!
Joe, that’s a great suggestion to chart songs without an instrument. Challenging!
What music are you currently learning that you don’t love? I try and do the same.
Most CCM. JUST KIDDING! I don’t know- there is a lot of music that I DO like but sometimes I’ll flip the radio on in the car and mentally chart whatever song is on at the time. It’s easiest to start with country music for the most part, for anyone who wants to give this a try!
David,
Thanks for sharing this. Number four, in particular, cannot be stated enough. Having familiarity with all the keys is a vital skill that every musician should strive for. Yes, there are keys that are easier for some instruments, but having the ability to move a song around, or to think about a song in a different way, is equally important. Great tips!
Or, you can just use a capo 🙂
Very cool stuff! Long-story-short, the most valuable thing I learned in college was the stuff in my aural skills (“ear training”) class. Learning to think fluently in solfegg syllables (do-re-mi etc.), and firmly grasping the scale degrees (I, IV, V, etc.) has allowed me to literally make a living in music where others are frustrated. Transcribing pop songs is simple now, writing arrangements is much easier, and transposing to any key from lead sheets is quite simple now. I don’t want that to come off as bragging. It has simply made me a much more flexible musician.
I would recommend listening closely to the bassline of any pop song (worship or not), and from there, recreate the harmonies. The more you do this, the easier it will get. More often than not, each bass note is the root of the chord the rest of the band is playing. When it’s NOT the root of the chord, it’s often the 3rd or the 5th of that chord. Focusing on that one note can unlock many secrets of what’s happening in the arrangement.
And a final parting shot to encourage more study: Knowing the chords and how they interact will also allow you to avoid the much over-used chord progressions in popular worship music. Maybe it’s just me, but there ARE other chords in the scale besides I, V, vi, and IV…
🙂
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Neil, this is super helpful. I agree, my ear training in college was huge. And listening to the bassline – brilliant. That’s usually the most overlooked instrument because it’s more difficult to distinguish.
Listen to classical and jazz music. That’s it. 🙂
I’m partly joking but mostly serious. If you developed a basic ear you can pick out harmonies and chord progressions in rock and pop music fairly easily. But to develop much higher above that you need to start listening to some serious extensions in harmony, and you’re going to find those mostly in jazz and classical. Note, I’m not saying to ONLY listen and play jazz and classical, just that any musician should spend a good amount of time listening to them. 🙂
Also, understand music theory. Having a good ear is one thing, understanding how to discern whether or not a solo is moving up or down a half step or whole step, etc, will help you learn the music much faster.
Great post, man!
Ryan, what jazz music would you recommend as a starter?
I agree, music theory is huge. All that studying has really paid off for me. Can’t neglect the fundamentals.
I am a self-taught pianist, but I have wanted to take lessons to learn the other half of things. One thing that has helped me though, is learning how to transpose and learning the number system (currently doing). These make it easy to find and follow a person when you already know the song in one key, but they are in a completely different key. 🙂
I have a question too, how do you start guessing what keys songs are in, and how do you know if you’re right? I am still learning to hear the one, four and fives in a song.
Kirsten- I have learned to guess keys by “feeling” where they are when I sing the pitch of the root. Knowing my vocal range and where my break is, etc. helps. Kind of weird but somehow it (sort of) works. I’ve also gotten to the point where I have just about memorized the open E of the first guitar string, or can hear G and A and D pretty well from playing in those keys. I’m nowhere near perfect pitch but I think I’m getting a much better relative pitch. As for knowing if I’m right, I use a piano app on my iPhone to check 🙂
Number system rocks as well.
Kirsten, I do the same thing that Joe mentioned. I sing the root and trace the scale. The more you do this, the more you’ll get a certain “feeling” for each key. For example, when I hear the key of D, I can sense it instantly because it associate a certain “feeling” with it.
If I were you, I’d just start practicing it all the time. Guess, test yourself, and try again. You can develop this!
Okay, thanks!! I will start doing that! 😀 And the iphone thing I never actually thought about. That’s a great tactic. 🙂 Thanks again!
No problem!
Learning to hear the key — I bought a course on learning perfect pitch (by David Lucas Burge — if you decide to buy it look around the web for a discount price; you don’t need a course but any ear training program can help speed progress, lots of ear training programs on the web). The intro to the course refers to each of the twelve tones as having a “color.” Not color in the same sense that some people’s brain wiring means each pitch sparks a visual color awareness — but color in the sense used above, each note “feels” different, not just in relation to other notes but on it’s own.
Red looks like red whether or not there are any other colors around it. C sounds like C, in any octave it still sounds like a C. Some notes feel calmer, some feel edgier — I’m talking thew feel of a single pitch, not a chord.
Yes it can be learned, not by trying to analyze but by lots of experience. Sit at a keyboard and listen to a C and feel it, let the experience of a C sink in. Experience a G, a Bb. NOT how it feels physically to sing the pitch, as your range develops the feel of singing a pitch changes; just aural.
Takes a few months but as children we learned to distinguish between and name the visual colors. Notes, like visual colors, are just different wave lengths, we can learn to distinguish and name different wave lengths. Just take lots of paying attention.
I can’t hear music without analyzing it. Then I can let go and just enjoy it.
If you are a good instrumentalist, music flows both directions between you fingers and your brain(ear). Silently touch a fret on your guitar, it should stimulate a sound in your brain, then play it, see if you were correct. Practice until they merge.
As a guitar player, I like to improvise to get ideas for fills and hooks. When I get stumped, I just sing. Then I play what I sang. I will also scat sing (sing and play identical notes). This has a way of showing my fingers places to go they may not normally find. Which means I wasn’t listening, I was playing through my fingers, not my ears. A common problem for guitar players and keyboard players. Your mind is your musical instrument, the rest of the “stuff” is just equipment to bring it to the world. Anyone who studied music history knows that Beethoven wrote his final symphony being stone cold deaf. The music existed only in his mind. He wrote the score, and it was performed to bring it to the rest of the world. Learn to write in music notation what you hear. Try to sing what you see in notation before you try to play it. To a literate musician, music sounds like it looks and looks like it sounds. I have NEVER! met anyone who said they were sorry they learned to read music.
Don
I’ve always had the ability to sort of transcribe songs, leads and all, even as a kid. And now, it’s kinda gotten better probably but i have no clue where my music sense stands. I’m looking for a good coach. I am not able to find what key a song is in simply by listening to it. Usually i have to play the notes on the guitar and then find out. If there is anyway to work on that? And even improving the ability to recognize chords used and find them for all songs. And when i try to create songs, it’s hard to create something absolutely different and beautiful. I don’t often enjoy what i create. even though sometimes, others around me do. i feel the chords i use the sounds monotonous and similar and all. I still don’t use the 7’s and and the add9’s and all other types which I’m gonna learn soon.
nice one @ David Santistevan. I love it. Although my musical ear was opening but all of a sudden it started closing back. Thanks for the nice post.
Thanks for writing this it has really helped not only know how to tune my ear but you have given me some tools to help me develop as a great musician
Stumbled on this website and really enjoyed the dialogue. Stay at it relentless to the end. If you do you learn. 10,000 hours on almost any subject will make you a recognized expert (a rule I heard). As my son once said in his youth, “Do it and it shall be done.” I learned by lessons reading music score then found out that I was a loner as others where playing by ear. So there came the challenge to develop by ear. I am NOT an inherently gifted musician like many I know but I am respected by the people I play with because I have stayed at it and learned by listening. I appreciate YouTube for the prolific availability of others that will teach you songs they know. It has helped for both Christian and general music. I listened to a young man play and sing some songs at a Bible study and was impressed but his chord variation lacked to what the authors of the songs had written so the effect was a bit lacking. I offered to show him the variations but he flatly refused – I felt sorry for him. Don’t settle for the simple general chords when altered chords speak more effectively. It is like a painter with 5 colors compared to 25 colors to paint with. Expression is vast and varied. Psalm 66:2