Playing by Ear

Crafter333 · 03-11-2005, 07:36 AM

Anybody else play the piano/keyboard by ear???

Everyone in my family thinks it's awesome, but I think it hurts me more than helps me. I can pick out any song I've heard more than once, and play the melody, but I'm not very good with accompaniment (the left-hand parts). It's okay for showing off, but not very good to sing along with.

Any other opinions on the subject?

Decency · 03-12-2005, 11:54 AM

Well, if you play guitar or bass, it helps alot with chord switches. Very hard to play by ear if you don't know one, any chords or two when to switch chords. Very hard to do.

Jozeca · 03-12-2005, 02:18 PM

It helps a lot in finding the harmony if you can hear the bass line or the way the bass moves. If you find some online/downloadable ear-training programs, they can also help with hearing the chords that melody notes are in.

**JBanana** · 03-13-2005, 09:32 PM

I play both by theory and ear.

I play guitar so I learned how chord progressions work before then but another thing is that the chord that is supposed to be played, the melody note will be played in that chord. That probably doesn't make any sense. Like if an E and a Gb is in the melody, then the chord will probably be a chord that has E and Gb in it (i.e., an E chord.)

Derek_B85 · 03-14-2005, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JBanana

I play both by theory and ear.

I play guitar so I learned how chord progressions work before then but another thing is that the chord that is supposed to be played, the melody note will be played in that chord. That probably doesn't make any sense. Like if an E and a Gb is in the melody, then the chord will probably be a chord that has E and Gb in it (i.e., an E chord.)

An E Maj. Chord consists of E-G#-B....

nathanc555 · 04-23-2005, 08:41 PM

I often just play off a guitar tab sheet, esp in P & W stuff. I usually don't go nuts in the left hand at all. Just double up in octaves in the left, or arpeggiate a little in the chord.

brainiac2007 · 05-15-2005, 07:49 PM

Yep, I agree.

HG filled · 09-09-2005, 07:51 AM

hey I play at our church and I mostly chord with melody keys right hand. then on the left I play octave to octave so c to c and hit the g like c g c g ect. I also use runs to the next key. Try that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crafter333

Anybody else play the piano/keyboard by ear???

Everyone in my family thinks it's awesome, but I think it hurts me more than helps me. I can pick out any song I've heard more than once, and play the melody, but I'm not very good with accompaniment (the left-hand parts). It's okay for showing off, but not very good to sing along with.

Any other opinions on the subject?

**JBanana** · 09-09-2005, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Derek_B85

An E Maj. Chord consists of E-G#-B....

Oh yeah, my bad

~FreT~ · 09-11-2005, 02:06 AM

MEEEEEEE!!
perfect pitch...

though not good at fast weird modern classical...

s0233425 · 09-19-2005, 06:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crafter333

Anybody else play the piano/keyboard by ear???

I do.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crafter333

but I think it hurts me more than helps me.

How so?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crafter333

but I'm not very good with accompaniment (the left-hand parts)

A yes, the bane of all who play by ear.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crafter333

Any other opinions on the subject?

The key to playing well by ear is to start listening to other pianists, with the intent of figuring out what they do. In particular get some Dino Kartsonakis cds, I've learnt so much just by listening to his arrangements of hymns. It's good that you still read music though. Next time you sit down to play Chopin/whoever, look at how the music is harmonized in the bass clef and see if you can apply it to a hymn.

Practice makes perfect

bloodbought05 · 09-19-2005, 05:27 PM

I play by ear on the keyboard. And I'm able to follow the rhythem, so I don't need anything other instruments to help me out, but its always great to have help playing a song. I love hearing a Piano and Drums, I love hearing Guitars and Vocal Solos/Singers, these 2 combinations stir my spirt up the most.

ChristInMe88 · 09-30-2005, 03:04 PM

I consider playing by ear to be playing w/o sheet music. What I do, and has helped me tremendously is using the number system. For every key you give the notes a number, like for instance, if you are in the key of C (C D E F G A B C), make C 1, D 2, E 3, and so forth. So for the key of D (D E F# G A B C# D), it would be D=1 E=2 F#=3. That works for chords also... though 2 (E in key of D) and 3 (F# in key of D), and 6 (B in key of D) will usually be minored, so just make note of it as 6m, or even 2m7 would be E minor 7, etc...

I hope that helps you, it does for me. In fact, everytime I get chords off of this site, I convert them to number system before printing

.

Have Fun!
Robert

nate95366 · 12-03-2005, 10:03 AM

I play mostly by ear, but my college minor is in music (and so I'm decent - no Nate Straight, but decent) at understanding music theory.

Nate

raised4praise · 12-28-2005, 04:21 PM

I've been able to play the piano by ear for as long as I was listening to songs in my church kindergarten class, but I could only play the right hand (no accompaniment, I didn't even know that word at that time).

My mom (A proffesional at the piano) wanted me to take piano lessons which I suggest to everyone. Piano lessons seriously help. It's worth it. Once you've heard all the chords and all the notes that sound good with it you'll know which chords your suppose to play with your melody.

...And then if you want to just cheat here it is:

-Almost commonly is your note in the melody one of the notes in your chord (e.i. if your playing a E your chord is going to be a C chord because E is in the middle of a C chord -- C >E< G) THIS RULE DOESN'T ALWAYS APPLY!

-If a chord is sad sounding, it's a minor chord that means you take your normal chord and instead of having the middle note what it usually is, you go down the next note (e.i. a C chord is C E G but a C minor chord is C Eb G.)

-The best and easiest sounding chord is only usuing the start and end of the chord (not using the middle) so instead of doing C E G just do C G , it sounds better. And don't worry about minors, your ear will make it minor if it's minor and Major if it's Major, not your fingers!

-Chose the way the bass should go. Not always is it C & G at the same time. Sometimes it's C then G then the C above it (sounds really pretty!) Make up your own style or you can use mine.

-Start with a simple songs (Jesus loves me, This Is the Day That the Lord Has Made).