Chords Identifying by Listening

I have been playing (or should I say "monkey-see-money-doing") the ukulele for about 7 years now, but it has only been recently (about a year or so) that I have gone to the beginning to start with the basics. (everyone says your nothing without basics.)

My cousin, has been playing for about 3 years, and he also was doing the monkey see monkey do style and has only recently been learning the basics. But during his 3 years, he was able to form an ability to hear a note and know what it is... I have been trying to practice this for a couple of months now and I still cant hear the difference between a G and a G7 if I cannot see the fingering.

Any advice, tips, tricks for this would be most appreciated. This really frustrates me as my cousin is younger... has been playing for a lot less amount time than me, and he is (dont like it, but its the truth) a overall better ukulele player than me. So ya. Any help with Identifying chords by listening would be a tremendous help.

ALoha and Mahalo everyone
-Kanak

Have a look at the DVD review linked from this page on UkeHunt:
http://ukulelehunt.com/2009/08/28/ukulele-prom-dvd-play-ukulele-by-ear/

Sounds great. I wonder where I can get one in the UK.

First, I congratulate you for deciding to work on your ear. It really does make a huge difference in one's musicianship, and too few people take the plunge.

Second, even though you've been working on your ears for a couple of month, your cousin has apparently been focusing on it to some degree for several years.

In music (and elsewhere, for that matter), you shouldn't make the mistake of comparing your progress to others, especially those who have far more practice at something than you!

What kind of test are you using to determine if you can or can't tell the difference between a G and a G7 chord? Try playing a song you know like "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", only replace all the regular major chords with 7 chords. Try to sing along. I bet you'll notice that "something" is different.

Keep at it... you'll get it! And the rewards will be well worth it. :shaka:

JJ

I would imagine that if you worked with this for a while you would pick up the sounds of chords pretty quick:

http://www.musictheory.net/trainers/html/id92_en.html

Ukulele JJ said:

First, I congratulate you for deciding to work on your ear. It really does make a huge difference in one's musicianship, and too few people take the plunge.

Second, even though you've been working on your ears for a couple of month, your cousin has apparently been focusing on it to some degree for several years.

In music (and elsewhere, for that matter), you shouldn't make the mistake of comparing your progress to others, especially those who have far more practice at something than you!

What kind of test are you using to determine if you can or can't tell the difference between a G and a G7 chord? Try playing a song you know like "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", only replace all the regular major chords with 7 chords. Try to sing along. I bet you'll notice that "something" is different.

Keep at it... you'll get it! And the rewards will be well worth it. :shaka:

JJ

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Thanks for the reply. It is not specifically the G and G7 chord, but everything. I can hear minors because they sound sad, I just cant really tell which minor is which. All the other chords that dont sound sad may seem distinguished 1 day, then I go to sleep, and I cant hear/remember the specific sound of a chord.

Today, I was listening to the radio and heard this slow reggae song and was able to, I guess, figure out the chords just by trial and error. If I keep doing this would it help me in my quest to be a good listener of the chords?

hawaiiankanak said:

Today, I was listening to the radio and heard this slow reggae song and was able to, I guess, figure out the chords just by trial and error. If I keep doing this would it help me in my quest to be a good listener of the chords?

Click to expand...

Yes!

Trial and error is key. Half the battle of figuring out the correct chord is figuring out all the incorrect chords.

(Tip: Listen for the bass guitar or other lowest note in the song. It's often playing the root of the chord. If you can pick it out, you're nearly there. So if you can tell the chord is minor, and you can pick out that the bass is playing an "A", then it's probably an Am chord.)

I can hear minors because they sound sad, I just cant really tell which minor is which

Click to expand...

That comes with practice. Few people can just hear a chord, in isolation, and say "that's an Am!". Such a skill requires "perfect pitch".

But lots of people can, with practice, tell that a chord is minor, even if they don't know whether it's Am or Dm. And with more experience, most people can tell what the chord is in relationship to the key of the song, even if they don't know what key that is. That's "relative pitch".

Learning and using the "Nashville Number System" will help immensely with your relative chord recognition. (It sure did help me.)

JJ

I want to encourage you to keep trying, all the methods you can think of, and all the suggestions your fellow UUers are supplying.

One word of "caution"(?) however, as you know we (human beings) are NOT all exactly alike in our basic senses. If you follow "Multiple Intelligences" you may be familiar with the concepts of Auditory, Visual, and Kinesthetic - meaning Hearing, Seeing, and Moving(physically). MI might suggest that some of us will be more Athletic/Kinesthetic, others more Acute visually/Visual, and some more sensitive to Sound variations.

I say all this to say that some of us will be able to do what others of us may not be able to do... as easily or as naturally.

This does NOT mean that we shouldn't or couldn't try to "better" ourselves. It's just that we may be comparing apples and oranges when we compare our abilities with those of other ukers.

Like Dirty Harry once said, "A man's got to know his limitations." We can all aspire and set our ambitions high. And there's no telling how much we can accomplish when we put our minds, hearts, and everything else into it.

However, let's not overly or unduly get down on ourselves if we can't seem to do what someone else seems capable of doing. We may just be "different" individuals.

Remember, You are UNIQUE, ...just like everybody else!

And we all love you just the way you are.

I agree with all that's been posted here so far. Check out this website that is full of audio ear training examples.

http://www.good-ear.com/servlet/EarTrainer

Doing a little bit of ear training each day - even five minutes - will help tremendously. Just like with any instrument it's better to do practice in many small chunks than cramming at the end of the week.

Just like Ukulele JJ said, not many people take the plunge to work on this but it is a skill that is transferable to any instrument.

Good luck!

Thank you all so much for all the help. I will continue to train my listening skills. Mahalo nui

Hippie Guy said:

I would imagine that if you worked with this for a while you would pick up the sounds of chords pretty quick:

http://www.musictheory.net/trainers/html/id92_en.html

Click to expand...

That is awesome! I may never get work done again.

Hippie Guy said:

I would imagine that if you worked with this for a while you would pick up the sounds of chords pretty quick:

http://www.musictheory.net/trainers/html/id92_en.html

Click to expand...

Got them all wrong the first time... got still a lot of work to do