For musicians who grew up playing from printed music, the process of learning tunes by ear can seem intimidating. (On the other hand, if you've grown up playing by ear, the process of reading and writing down music can be just as intimidating!) Personally, I believe that playing by ear AND reading music are skills that no well-rounded musician should be without.
The problems start to arise when a musician achieves a certain level of facility and comfort with ONE of these skills and ignores the other. Unfortunately, it's just human nature to be defensive about what we don't do well, and that defensiveness is what keeps us from exploring new territory. So, for example, as you get better and better at playing from written music, it seems like more and more of a risk to go back to being a "beginner" at playing by ear. This is just your ego getting the way, folks, and your ego is never your friend when it comes to making music. Cut yourself some slack, and jump in.
When you learn a phrase by ear, you are basically asking yourself a series of questions. You hear one note, then another note. You say to yourself "are those notes the same pitch?" If they're not, you say to yourself "that second note...... is it higher or lower?" Let's say you decide it's higher. Next question is "is it a LOT higher or a little higher?" Let's say it's a little higher. Now you can start hunting. Match the first pitch, then start playing up the scale until you find your second note. Go back and listen to the phrase again. Now you ask your questions again...that third note....is it the same?....is it higher, lower?.....how far?
That's it. Really.
Before you turn on me, let me explain that the more you go through this process the less time it takes, and you start to recognize whole patterns of notes- bits of scales, arpeggios of chords- so you're not having to ask these questions systematically about every single note. Sometimes, though, you'll get stumped and you'll go back to these simple questions. I still do!
You can use this process to learn tunes from others, or from recordings. You can also use this to improvise- in that case, the tune you're "learning" is the one you're hearing in your head. There are some great technological aids to learning by ear these days. Look around on the web for programs that will let you play back recorded music at a much slower tempo. There is one that's been around for awhile called the Amazing Slowdowner that I think comes for both Mac and Windows. I'm sure there are other free/shareware options out there.
A great way to proceed is to find a patient musician friend and play this game:
Start with a few agreed upon notes next to each other in the scale (A,B,C,D for example) Have your friend play a few of these notes, then try to copy them. Have your friend vary the rhythm and the order of the notes. Keep it simple at first. When you're getting quite accurate with those few notes expand to a few more notes in the scale, and then a few more.
Once you get comfortable with this game, pick out simple tunes that you know well enough to sing (Mary had a Little Lamb, familiar Christmas carols-- that sort of thing) and use the same process to pick out the notes.
Don't expect to be great at this overnight, but know that it does get easier with practice. So now you're off and running. Enjoy the process, and enjoy the freedom that this will bring to your music making. Be sure not to yell at yourself for the wrong notes, but celebrate the right notes!
Jean Bolger plays traditional Irish music with the band Colcannon http://www.colcannon.com/ and has a website devoted to teaching Irish fiddle tunes (by ear!) at http://www.irishfiddlecoach.com/
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