Can we eventually know what key to play just by hearing?

Hello,

Can we eventually know what chord to play just by hearing? I saw a video of Ryan Imamura jamming with Jake, and to me, it seems that Jake only hear & see what Ryan played at that moment and he could follow Ryan immediately.
Is there any special process / technique to help? Or that will happen with time (just like driving a car, a skill that develop with experience) ?

I want to be able to play along someone who sing by just hearing the melody.

rgds,
Zhuke

I've been at it for just over a year. I can tell be ear when my uke is out of tune, but can not tell what string is out. I use an electronic tuner to make it right.

When someone else is playing, I can hear the changes, but am clueless as to what chords they are playing. Which of course means I am clueless as to the key.

I am fully capable of strumming out a 12-bar progression. With that, I am confident enough to ask the guy playing nearby what he is playing, then jump in at the appropriate time. Chances are, he's happy to have someone to join in the game. Also, he'll be happy to know that someone recognizes he is playing in a recognizable pattern.

The boat ain't nearly so empty as you think.

Aloha Harold,

thanks for your sharing. I use electronic tuner too (on my handphone). To be as good as you is very good for me .
Btw, what's the meaning of 12-bar progression? Can I find reading material to learn about it? I googled it, but what I found was 12-bar blues progression, are they the same?

Twelve Bar Blues (at it's simplest, in C ) goes as follows:
C \ \ \ C \ \ \ C \ \ \ C \ \ \
F \ \ \ F \ \ \ C \ \ \ C \ \ \
G \ \ \ F \ \ \ C \ \ \ C \ \ \

Play that and you will probably recognize it immediately, if you have listened to much blues. They don't usually do it in C though. If you know someone is playing a 12 bar blues and you can guess what key it is in it becomes really easy to play along. The last 4 measures is the most recognizeable part, if you wait for that it becomes easy to jump in.

Hello Zhuke,

I had the same question as you for years, and I think that a video I just posted to YouTube might help you in your quest. I think that this is one of the most important things you can learn in music, and unfortunately, I think it gets way too little discussion in lessons. The video is called Key to Finding a Song's Key. Please let me know if this helps at all. (This video was done on guitar, but the idea is the same for ukulele- and you could see how the same idea applies to ukulele if you check out the video I put out on building ukulele chords: Free Ukulele Chord-Building Lesson

Hope this helps!

Scott

You might be able to recognize chords and work from there, but that isn't quite "just by hearing". That can only be done with perfect pitch.

The easiest and surest way to hear the key is:
ask what key and listen closely to the answer.

Sometimes, at least for major keys, if you can find a single note that fits with the chord changes, that will be the key.

What you start to hear are the relationships. I couldn't tell you what key you are in, but I could tell what chord is the root, 4th, 5th, etc... Same with notes.

It will take much practice to figure out what key somebody is singing in. That is harder than when the whole band is playing along like on a record. Plus the person singing might be singing in between the keys F# and G without a reference note and it will sound out of tune regardless.

Yeah, there's a big difference between knowing what key a song is in by just listening, and being able to quickly pick up a song in a "jam" situation.

The first trick requires perfect pitch which only a few people have. The second trick can be learned by most people, with time and experience. As HippieGuy said, it's all about hearing the relationships of the chords to the key. Those relationships are independent of the key of the song.

JJ