How to play a song by ear?

zhwen

Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2016
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Location
Singapore
Hi everybody,

I am trying to learn how to play a song by ear without chord sheets or tabs. I think play by ear is an amazing skill to have, especially when the song you want to play is not that well known and the chord sheets/tabs are difficult to find.

Are there any tips and resources (eg. books, videos) that will help learn how to play by ear?

Thanks!
 
It's not a book but this article is helpful.
https://liveukulele.com/tabs/figuring-out-songs/

I would just say practice and jam with others as often as possible. Plus take opportunities to find the chords or tabs yourself for a song. If you get stuck you can 'cheat' with an app like chordify. Certain chords just 'go together' and learning music theory could help you.
 
I use Ultimate Guitar and Chordify a lot. Ultimate Guitar will give you the basic chords and allow you to transpose the key. Chordify helps if you aren't familiar with the song. I just started playing with my church band and Chordify is a huge help when it's a song I don't know.

There are several songs that I have the chords for and I know pretty well that I've worked out the chord melody for by ear. A chord melody is a combination of chords and tabs. I can usually sit down and figure it out fairly quickly, then I print a blank ukulele tab sheet and write it down so I can remember it later on. I am not a good singer, so chord melodies allow me to play the melody for friends without torturing them with my voice.
 
Perhaps learning the basics of the circle of fifths or chord wheel so you know if you are playing in a key, which chords will give the sound, rise and fall, you want. Also become familiar with your fretboard so you can easily peck out a melody.
The hardest part for me is memorising lyrics.
 
Something that I've been working on for many years, and still working on. My thoughts on it, play lots of songs, listen to what you are playing, learn to recognize common chord progressions, learn to recognize common melody runs, and play more songs, and always look for anomalies. Song writers don't always stick to the formula. Chord progressions have names, so when you learn a Doo Wop, you learn hundreds of songs, when you learn a 12 bar blues progression, you learn a thousands more. The salty dog progression is one you find in a lot of songs. Then the trick is hearing them. Listen to music, like a record, or a youtube video, identify the progressions, the key, and then try to play along. A lot of trial and error. Keep in mind that there may be more than one common progression in a song.

And memorize songs. I can't even express how much that has helped me. When you memorize songs you have to listen to them. You have to anticipate and hear the chord changes, you don't just change them when a sheet of paper tells you to. You have to engage your brain. I think that helps a lot. Anyway, for me this is something that I think I will always have to work on to get better at it. Just when I think that I have it down, I realize that I have a long way to go, so not getting discouraged helps a lot too. R
 
Last edited:
One of the UU members mentioned in a different thread that there is software that slows music down. Also, YouTube can slow songs down to half speed. I learned guitar songs mostly from cds in the early 90s. It would have been a tremendous help to be able to slow songs down.

Learning a bit of theory so that you understand what is conceptually going on will help you predict where the song will likely go. Certain genres often use similar progressions.

If this is a bit too much to start with, you can learn songs from videos. You will see roughly where the hands are going and listen for the correct notes within that area. I love the ukulele site videos for this and especially the ones that Corey plays.

Adam
 
If you know the melody well, sing the song through to the last note. Then identify that last note (by finding it's pitch on a keyboard, ukelele or other instrument). With many songs, the last note will indicate what key the song is in. For example, if the melody ends on the note C, then the song is probably in the Key of C [or the Key of C's relative minor (Am), if the last note is an A].
 
Forgot to mention ...
Once you identify the key the song is in, then you will have a better idea of what chords to expect popping up in the song.
 
I’m curious as to what you are trying to do....play chords, play the melody, or play chord melody or a tablature type chord and melody of a song?

There is a natural challenge in that many songs are written by guitarists and are in less friendly keys for ukulele (like E, which is an awesome open string key for guitar). So if you are playing chords by ear, you may find yourself using a lot of barre chords and moveable chords.
 
I’m curious as to what you are trying to do....play chords, play the melody, or play chord melody or a tablature type chord and melody of a song?

There is a natural challenge in that many songs are written by guitarists and are in less friendly keys for ukulele (like E, which is an awesome open string key for guitar). So if you are playing chords by ear, you may find yourself using a lot of barre chords and moveable chords.

That explains it. So far in just month of playing with my church band, I've noticed that many of the songs are in the key of E. Not so easy on a uke, but it's forcing me to learn new things.
 
For me it was repetition and PRACTICE, lots of it, but my inception of these habits were over 30 yrs ago.

I've had music lessons since I was about 8 yrs old so lots of this stuff has been ingrained and hard for me to explain.

Back in the old days, I'd put on the radio and just noodle along to whatever song was playing (with my guitar). Of course, I'm no savant, so lots of the noodling was rubbish, but over time I was able to play along with what I heard.

A few yrs later, I really wanted to learn 'Message In A Bottle' by The Police, but my guitar teacher refused (idiot! how DARE he deny me!) saying it was 'too complicated'. So adamant in proving him wrong, I recorded the song from the vinyl to a 90 min cassette tape, over and over on both sides, yes 90 mins of 'Message In A Bottle' - it was glorious...

After about a week of 2 hrs per day, I was able to get the whole song, note for note, by ear.

I showed my parents, some friends, and were amazed. Next lesson, I showed my guitar teacher. He was amazed but also angry because I had not only leapfrogged his lessons, but had taught myself m9, Add9 and 13th chords, which he seemed not to be prepared to understand, but 3 yrs of piano and music theory I was already well acquainted.

After that session, I ended my lessons with that teacher.

Moral of the story, there is lots of merit to knowing music theory, but you have to develop your own EAR, by training it, and this takes repetition, practice and time.

Nowadays, 30+ yrs later I can still play 'Message In A Bottle' note-for-note on piano, guitar, bass, ukulele and 5ths-tuned instruments, but with a baritone vocal range, I will never canary like Sting, so that dream will never be..../sigh/
 
For me it was repetition and PRACTICE, lots of it, but my inception of these habits were over 30 yrs ago.

I've had music lessons since I was about 8 yrs old so lots of this stuff has been ingrained and hard for me to explain.

Back in the old days, I'd put on the radio and just noodle along to whatever song was playing (with my guitar). Of course, I'm no savant, so lots of the noodling was rubbish, but over time I was able to play along with what I heard.

A few yrs later, I really wanted to learn 'Message In A Bottle' by The Police, but my guitar teacher refused (idiot! how DARE he deny me!) saying it was 'too complicated'. So adamant in proving him wrong, I recorded the song from the vinyl to a 90 min cassette tape, over and over on both sides, yes 90 mins of 'Message In A Bottle' - it was glorious...

After about a week of 2 hrs per day, I was able to get the whole song, note for note, by ear.

I showed my parents, some friends, and were amazed. Next lesson, I showed my guitar teacher. He was amazed but also angry because I had not only leapfrogged his lessons, but had taught myself m9, Add9 and 13th chords, which he seemed not to be prepared to understand, but 3 yrs of piano and music theory I was already well acquainted.

After that session, I ended my lessons with that teacher.

Moral of the story, there is lots of merit to knowing music theory, but you have to develop your own EAR, by training it, and this takes repetition, practice and time.

Nowadays, 30+ yrs later I can still play 'Message In A Bottle' note-for-note on piano, guitar, bass, ukulele and 5ths-tuned instruments, but with a baritone vocal range, I will never canary like Sting, so that dream will never be..../sigh/

I wonder why I hear so many stories about guitar instructors being jerks? If I had a student, I would love to have her jump ahead successfully!
 
A few yrs later, I really wanted to learn 'Message In A Bottle' by The Police, but my guitar teacher refused (idiot! how DARE he deny me!) saying it was 'too complicated'...He was amazed but also angry because I had not only leapfrogged his lessons, but had taught myself m9, Add9 and 13th chords, which he seemed not to be prepared to understand, but 3 yrs of piano and music theory I was already well acquainted.

I try to not be that teacher. We all fail as teachers...but hopefully in different ways. I’m all for challenging a student that cannot do something to do it...and if the personality is right, to actually tell them they can’t so they will. I do this regularly with my five year old and it always works. He gets great joy in coming back to me and saying, “See...I can do it.”

But the getting angry about learning more and leapfrogging lessons is the sign of a lazy teacher. If the leapfrogging surpasses the teacher’s ability, I can see a teacher responding that it might be time to move to a new teacher. There is great strength in a teacher who knows they have taught you all they can and that it is time for you to have a new voice.

And related to all this, I watched a YouTube video about the Concorde the other day, and who was prominent in the video? Sting.

This whole world is connected one way or another.

Chris
 
I took one of Jim D'Ville's Play By Ear sessions, and it reinforced what I had already been doing.

I can't read music (or follow tab)- but with a guitar or piano, I can pick out the notes on the strings; I will never have the rhythm, unless I know the melody. (Oddly enough, while I can look at a page of sheet music, and know what string/key on guitar/piano corresponds with which note, I still can't do that with a ukulele, sfter 6 years of playing...)

For me, that's the key. If I know the melody, I can play it. Maybe not well, but I can play it, and improve, and then I start noodling around with chords until I start to get it.

Many times when I'm sitting with a group, and they play something I'm not familiar with, I'll just start noodling on a single string, until I get a note that fits. Then I try and find another, and another, and pretty soon, I've got a few chords figured out, and I can play along. Sometimes, I suddenly realize I know the song, and others I'm still clueless. Once I get the first note/chord, however, I usually try and apply the I IV V rules, then devolve into my bastardization of the circle of fifths, and just go with the flow, playing whatever I hear in my head.

While I do not use one, I would suggest getting a capo, especially if most of the things your church group plays is in E.

Good luck! Watch a lot of videos, and try to play along with them. It helps.

-Kurt
 
Last edited:
Pretty much the only way to become proficient at playing any instrument by ear is to become obsessed with the endeavor for a matter of years or decades.

You must practice your technique, study your theory, and apply those lessons to endless noodling around until you slowly find yourself noodling with greater purpose and direction.

When you make a discovery in your noodling, study how it fits into your theoretical understanding of things, and then incorporate it into your practice plan until you have internalized it. In this way your discovery will become accessible to you in your future noodles.

I don't know of any other way to describe the process, but I will say this: the guidance of a good instructor can be an enormous boon, especially to one without a pre-existing understanding of musical theory.
 
I try to not be that teacher. But the getting angry about learning more and leapfrogging lessons is the sign of a lazy teacher. If the leapfrogging surpasses the teacher’s ability, I can see a teacher responding that it might be time to move to a new teacher. There is great strength in a teacher who knows they have taught you all they can and that it is time for you to have a new voice.
Chris

I love it when I see a student that was one of my beginners later playing chords and singing in open mic like a pro. I don't care if they do it better than I! It just means they worked better and harder.


You also printed....
This whole world is connected one way or another.

Yep, we are all one, absolutely. I've begun studying A Course In Miracles, which bears that out. I feel most "at one" when I'm out in Nature, alone, in the quiet away from the city.
 
I love it when I see a student that was one of my beginners later playing chords and singing in open mic like a pro. I don't care if they do it better than I! It just means they worked better and harder.


You also printed....
This whole world is connected one way or another.

Yep, we are all one, absolutely. I've begun studying A Course In Miracles, which bears that out. I feel most "at one" when I'm out in Nature, alone, in the quiet away from the city.

It's a compliment to have a student who shines. Isn't that the best kind of teacher? If you don't have a student who exceeds you, you kinda suck as a teacher or you just pick up mediocre students tbh. :D
 
Hi everybody,

I am trying to learn how to play a song by ear without chord sheets or tabs. I think play by ear is an amazing skill to have, especially when the song you want to play is not that well known and the chord sheets/tabs are difficult to find.

Are there any tips and resources (eg. books, videos) that will help learn how to play by ear?

Thanks!

Personally, I use an app called SmartChord. It is a Swiss Knife of apps. It has an ear trainer. So many options to help you learn from major tones, chords, minors, diatonics, speed training, etc.... You can select octave range, type of instrument sounds, etc...
 
Top Bottom