IFR blog > Practice tips > Developing your ear > Understanding any piece of music by ear
One

One

This song uses one of the coolest sounds in modern pop music which is the movement from the 6- chord to the 2D chord.

Losing My Religion

The melancholy angst captured in this song is a lesson in the incredible diversity of emotions that we can express with just the seven notes of the major scale.

I Won't Back Down

This entire song is made from just the four chords that we study in IFR Jam Tracks Level 2: Pure Harmony Essentials.

High and Dry

If you ever struggle for inspiration in your composing, check out this beautiful song that Radiohead created with just three chords from the major scale.

Free Fallin'

This great song is an incredible example of what powerful songwriting can do with just three chords.

Deep Foundations for Guitar

In this course for guitarists, we start from the very beginning and build a complete approach to improvising on the guitar. If you have always dreamed of truly understanding music and being able to improvise with complete freedom on the guitar, this is the course for you!

Melody Paths with the beautiful b7 chord

In this video we sing Melody Paths over a long chord progression which includes the beautiful b7 chord. All of the chords in this chord progression come directly from the key of the music except for the b7 chord and the 3D chord, which both introduce notes from outside the key.

Q&A - Hear notes relative to key or chord?

To understand music by ear, should we try to hear each note relative to the chord of the moment or relative to the overall key of the song?

Chord Melody Guitar 1

Learn to control both melody and chords at the same time, so that you can play totally unaccompanied solo guitar and create a complete musical experience for your listeners.

Outside playing with Seven Worlds

In this video I show you how you can use the exact same sounds that you're studying in Seven Worlds in a different way to create some of the exotic sounds of “outside playing”.