Ear Training
- Charley Sabatino
- Apr 11
- 2 min read
Today on @yamahamusicusa #silentbass and @laklandbasses Friday, we continue out talk on "What to Practice". Today "Ear Training". This is a rather complex skill, IMO because it needs to go beyond just recognizing intervals and chords by ear. It needs to be correlated with the board so u can more effectively transfer your ideas. The goal is for music to come from the brain to the hands...NOT the other way around. U dig? The key here is the voice. Now, calm down. This is not a singing class. We are just using voice as a carrier. Understand, ur voice was ur first musical instrument and help your hands to be more musical. Many players can be seen singing when playing...me included. The goal is to play what u sing.(again, not the other way around). Ok, how. First, if you feel comfortable, you can find countless apps for traditional ear training to get ur brain in the right place. Next, try to sing everything you play...singing what ur playing, while not the ultimate goal, is a way to "get on the bus". When ur comfortable, start omitting some of the played notes and just sing them. Continue until ur just singing. Lastly, try transcription (if u cannot read music, use tabs or just write letters...whatever works). START SIMPLE. Try to listen to the line, sing it, and then write it down. Then check urself. It will be very difficult at first, but believe me, you will improve quickly. You will find urself correlating everything u play...everything u hear to the board as if u have a little person in ur head coaching u. It will change the way u listen to and play music. Ideas will be more accurate and interesting. You will have 'breath" and dynamics in ur playing..both in basslines and solos. You will respond to other players better...and generally play more interestingly. I have seen it in my playing and in countless students. As always, I invite your insights. #yamahamusicusa #makewaves #pirastro #glasserny #uptonbassstringinstrumentcompany #laklandbasses #sitstrings #tsunamicables #philjonesbass #basslessons #remotelesssons
The beauty of a virtual guitar with no downloads needed is its immediate accessibility. You can just open your browser and start strumming or picking out notes. This is perfect for those moments when inspiration strikes and you want to quickly try out a melody or chord progression. It’s also a great, low-pressure way for absolute beginners to get acquainted with the guitar layout before committing to an instrument. Many of these tools are surprisingly feature-rich, offering different guitar sounds and playing modes to explore.