There are many different ways to pick up new repertiore, including reading sheet music, reading tablature, and learning by ear. Many musicians have one primary way of picking up new music, while others can do all three. Learning music by ear can be an intimidating skill for many musicians, especially those who have spent their entire muscial career reading music. Today, I will discuss a process you can use to learn your favorite music by ear. The first and most important step for learning a new song by ear is to listen to it. A lot. It's important to have the music bouncing around in your brain a little bit before picking up an instrument. I would recommend listening to the song on repeat for a day or two in your free time. While you're driving to and from work, cooking dinner, and before you go to sleep. Once you feel like the you've worn out the song a little bit, try humming it without listening to the recording. If you can do that successfully, you're on the right track.
It's finally time to pick up your instrument. The first thing you need to figure out is the key of the song. If you don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry too much. You don't need to dive too deep into music theory to figure out the key of the song. All you need to do is determine what the "home" note of the song is. Try playing around a little bit on your instrument to find what that note is on your instrument. As a hint, the home note is often the last note of the song, and it's the note that makes the song feel resolved. This note is the name of the key. After you figure out the key, practice the scale for that key. For example, if you found out that the note that your song resolves to is G, and this song is major, then it would be helpful to practice a G major scale. This will be valuable, because it will show you what the possible notes are in the song, making it a lot easier to pick out the melody. Now it's time to learn the melody. Start at the beginning and pick out a few notes at a time. Keep the key in mind, so you know what notes you're looking for. After you feel like you picked out one phrase, practice it a lot. Make sure you know it really well. Then, go ahead and figure out the second phrase. At first, it may be tricky to figure out the melody and you might find yourself spending a lot of time on each note or phrase. Don't worry too much about it, because the more you do it, the easier it will get. The goal isn't to learn a song really fast, it's to learn a new skill of playing music by ear. As you go through the song, start listening for repetition. Most songs have only a couple of parts, each being made up of only a few phrases. You might make it through that 3 minute song a lot faster than you think!
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Alani SugarAlani Sugar is a young fiddle and mandolin player from Maryland. She has been involved in the region's music scene since she was 15 years old, and has the attention of musicians and music lovers alike in the area. She currently works as a professional musician and teaches fiddle and mandolin lessons online via Skype Archives
January 2024
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