Posted by Zed Shaw | 2010-04-01 02:41:42.143126 Discuss This Shed

Being rather new at studying guitar I definitely needed to work on my ear quite a lot. In fact, ear training and rhythm are the two hardest things for me. In order to work on my ear training I've been doing a few fun exercises lately that focus on the more "functional" method of hearing notes. The exercise I've been doing for about 2 months now has really given me surprising results so I thought I'd share.

First off, what this one exercise does is train several musical things at once:

1. Singing a particular note within key.
2. Hearing that note, in they key and playing it on the guitar.
3. Being in key on the guitar.
4. Playing a scale and hearing all the roots your playing.
5. Learning the cycle of 4ths and hearing changes that way.
6. Finally, being able to do all of this without looking at your guitar.

It sounds like quite a lot, but it's a fairly simple exercise that's just pretty hard to do at first, but then you get good at it later.

Stage 0: Scales In Cycle Of Fourths

This is pretty simple. Let's say someone taught you 5 scale forms (I learned 5 and also 7, but settled on the 5 simpler forms). These should be major scales, but you could probably do this with just about everything.

You probably practice these either in position, or up and down the neck. I try to do both when I'm working on speed and accuracy, but when I work on my ear I've found this is useless.

Instead, what you want to do is pick a single scale form, say one that starts with the root note on the 5th string with the middle finger. Then, you want to play all the scales on the 5th string in the cycle of 4ths.

For example, you start at C (5th string, 3rd fret), play that scale. Then jump to F (5th string, 8th fret), then Bb (5th string, 1st fret or 13th fret), and so on. Start of very slow, and at first set the metronome really low. And try to keep time as you jump around and keep it clean.

Now, obviously you'll get bored as hell doing this, since part of learning about practice is also learning how to make it meditative rather than a chore. When you get bored and your mind is wandering, it's time to ramp up the difficulty so you have to concentrate.

This is also a nice trick when you're bored and keep losing focus. Just throw in something that makes it difficult and you'll suddenly have to focus.

The goal here is to be able to jump to a key and land on the right one. It will also start training your ear to hear key changes.

Stage 1: Sing The Root Note

You can find most of the notes in the cycle of 4ths and play that scale, or you're just bored. Now what you do is when you jump to the scale, stop and try to sing the root note. If you're off, move around to see what note you're actually singing and then adjust both your voice and guitar up until you're on it.

Then play your scale while still singing that note. Make sure you breathe and try to relax your neck and vocals. In fact, look up at the ceiling and push you check out a bit since, if you're like me, you probably slouch and stare at the guitar. Your hands know how to play the scale, so once you're on the root note and singing just don't look at the guitar.

If you can't sing that note, because maybe it's too deep or too high, find one an octave above or below. In fact, changing up the octave of the note you sing is a good change up for your voice if you can do it.

The goal with this stage is to be able to hold the root note, and then start to hear how it sounds against each of the notes in the scale. At first, you may only hear when you play the exact note you're singing. But, play slower and try to hear how your voice interacts with the guitar.

You may also have a hard time holding the note if you've spent many years singing what you play. Just keep if you get off, stop at each root note and sync back up.

Stage 2: Stop Looking

I sort of just did this on accident. At first I found that I had done the scales in cycle of 4ths so much that I was just doing them without looking. I was maybe 80% accurate but it was showing that my ear was improving.

What helps make this more interesting and useful is if you can sing the note, then switch to it on the guitar, correct whatever is wrong, and try to do it without looking.

There's a kind of "zen archery" process you follow to actually get this to work. In zen archery they can hit targets without looking, sometimes blind folded. They do this by repeatedly doing the exact same motion and process before firing with intense focus such that when they stop focusing their body just knows how to do what it needs. This is the same kind of training used by snipers, and anyone doing any kind of accuracy training.

For our little exercise, we're going to use this "setup":

1. Stop playing, be quiet.
2. Close your eyes, put your head slightly up.
3. Visualize in your mind the root note you'll sing/play. Imagine screaming it "C!".
4. Sing what's in your head as close as you can.
5. Play it on the guitar.
6. If they are wrong, then briefly look down and correct your singing or guitar.
7. Once correct close your eyes with head up again and play the scale and sing.
8. Do it again for the next key in the cycle.

The goal here is to train yourself that when you think "C" your hands right away play it, and your voice right away sings it. By doing this repetitive process you'll eventually train yourself this way.

Of course, this is freaking boring too, so try as much as you can, then take a break. If the process is annoying you then just goof off with it.

Stage 3: Make Chords (3rds, 5ths)

If you can get to reliably sing the root note, or again if this is boring, then ramp it up by singing the 3rds and/or 5ths instead of just the root. What I do is I sing the root, then the 3rd. Then I sing the 3rd while playing the root and 3rd on my guitar and I try to hear the chord. Once I've got it locked in I play the scale and try to hear the 3rd pop up as I play.

Right now I'm at the 3rds, and haven't moved to 5ths yet. So far this is helping me hear chords, sing harmonies, and it's just fun and kinda cool.

What Methods Do You Use?

Everyone's got methods they use, unless they have perfect pitch that is. What's your method for training you ear? Write up some comments here telling us if you have something fun you do, books you liked, or particular software that helps.

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