Manic Cinq Posted April 2, 2006 Share Posted April 2, 2006 When I'm trying to learn a song by ear, I usually listen to the song and try to play along with an instrument until I get it to sound right. But sometimes I have trouble differentiating notes. For example: when playing along with a song on my bass, I might have trouble telling if I should be playing D# or E. Usually just playing the song by myself helps me figure it out, but not always. Sometimes my two versions sound almost right and I won't be able to tell which one works. I'm not tone deaf, I just need to work on my relative pitch. Sometimes I find humming helps... What do you guys do when there are no midis, tabs or sheets to help you out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kriko Posted April 2, 2006 Share Posted April 2, 2006 Sometimes i record the song i want to transcript to a wav file and run it in slowmotion. If it's low notes you can double the frequency to get the tone up an octave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jens Wulvik Posted April 2, 2006 Share Posted April 2, 2006 Everybody have this problem a while in the begining, just keep playing what you think is right(make sure you got it right if you are performing for people) and you will automatically learn the difference. I got the same problem myself when I started playing the piano, couldn't hear the difference of a major and a minor. I have played the piano in 2 years now and can play anything by ear, the key is practise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jens Wulvik Posted April 2, 2006 Share Posted April 2, 2006 Do you play anything else than bass. Plowing thru the song with a chord playing instrument can help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manic Cinq Posted April 2, 2006 Author Share Posted April 2, 2006 I've been doing music for more than 7 years. I started playing bass over 6 years ago and I can play chords on the bass just fine. There's nothing special about lower frequencies that stops chords from being chords. (but to answer your question: I can sortof play guitar and I'm learning piano) I guess I'll try the slowmo wav trick next time I run into this problem. Thanks guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jens Wulvik Posted April 2, 2006 Share Posted April 2, 2006 I see...but learn the songs (simplified) on the guitar, before you try the bass!! You won't take any D# instead of a E when you're using chords. After learning the chords you can go on with your bass. You'll learn much more this way, than taking it in slow motion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.