If wind can find a key, so can you!
Sep 09 '00
Before people go crying and saying, "But you already wrote a review on this!" allow me to justify my reasons for writing this one. In the last review I wrote regarding ear training, I focused primarily on the differences of formal training vs. informal training. I don't intend to do that here. Hopefully I will be able to offer a short, concise, yet helpful review for a person looking towards, or interested in musical education. For reference sake, I'll use a guitar for most of this review, although many of the pointers I give can be applied to any other instrument as well.
I can never hear notes. I even have trouble tuning!
Ah yes, this famous line. I must have heard this from anyone who tried playing an instrument and wasn't good at it. I'd like to point out for a minute that everything in nature has a "key". This is a simple law of physics. After all, how do you think tuning forks work?
Years ago (1940's or 50's I believe) there was a famous extension bridge built. Pardon me for forgetting the name of it, but there's footage of this bridge available on almost any educational video. This bridge was long and narrow, and was built spanning a windy valley. The wind, although not being especially strong, started to shake the bridge violently on several occasions. The bridge, being built to "give" under pressure would undulate much like a wave. Eventually one day, the wind caused the bridge to shake with such force that it crumbled. The cause for this wasn't an incredibly strong wind. The cause for this was the wind finding the "key" of the bridge.
You see, keys are simply wave patterns. When two wave patterns are the same, they line up perfectly, when they're different, they don't. The wind, cutting through the girders of the bridge, tuned itself to the key of the bridge which is what caused an otherwise strong suspension bridge to ripple like a Slinky. The actual motion of the bridge was a physical representation of the wave patterns.
Now, with that said, back to instruments. Since it's nearly impossible to look at the strings and coordinate the vibrations, the next best thing is to listen to the strings and tune them accordingly. Ideally, on a guitar at least, you would pluck one string and then the other directly below it and listen for the two to sound the same. This seems to be difficult for several people I've known. In fact, it's quite easy. When you hit the first note, wait. After a little while you should be able to hear a distinct pattern HI low HI low HI low HI low, all within that one single note. Although faint, it will be there. The goal from here is to then play both strings and tune the other one to match this same undulating pattern you hear in the first.
A few helpful tips on hearing that pattern:
• Lock yourself in a room filled with dead silence.
• Play the one note and let it fade out completely, until the room is once again filled with silence.
• Play this same note over and over again until it fades out completely every time.
After a while of being able to hear this "wave" pattern you should be able to hear it in a room with background noise as well. It's just a matter of teaching your ear what to listen for initially.
Congratulations, you've now learned the basics in playing by ear. Honestly, if you can tune your instrument, there's absolutely no reason you shouldn't be able to learn a song by listening to it. You can simply use these same techniques for learning a song by ear. Sit down in silence, play a recording of the song one section at a time (5 seconds, 5 minutes, whichever you feel comfortable with). Then pick out each individual note and play it. Repeat this over and over and over and over and.... you get the point. Repeat it until you can hear in your own head EXACTLY what the note you're going to play sounds like. Now all you have to do is line up the wave patterns... or play different notes until you hit the right one.
Watch and learn
Many great musicians used this technique and there's no reason you shouldn't either. Not only will watching other musicians play, guide you in the right direction as to what position their fingers are in and what notes give out what sounds, but watching other musicians is also beneficial in learning different techniques. Ever wonder how some guitarists are able to get a muted tone out of their instruments while playing on any fret? How about guitarists that are able to create false harmonics (A harmonic that's achieved by means other than gently touching the corresponding frets with one hand and plucking the string with the other). It's techniques like these that watching other people do can help you improve your own playing ability.
Well, I hope that was short enough. More importantly, I hope you may have gained something out of that. I know that people I've given lessons to on guitar always walk away feeling a little better about their playing ability once they realize they really can hear notes.
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Epinions.com ID:
Taishan
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Location: Arizona
Reviews written: 104
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About Me:
Tree hugging geek.
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