IFR blog > Practice tips > Developing your ear
Hopeless at ear training

I have always had a terrible ear and I feel that it's preventing me from making the most of your method. There seem to be just two sorts of musicians: the ones who can play by ear and the ones who just can't. Can you help me?

Melody Paths with chords 1, 6-, 2-, 5D

This is a practice video for Improvise for Real students who want to understand and internalize the chord progression 1, 6-, 2-, 5D. First, we will understand the role of each chord in the progression, and then we will practice ear training with the Melody Paths exercise.

How to recognize melodies by ear using the key of the music

In this video you'll learn the most important technique for recognizing songs and melodies by ear. The technique is to focus on the path that the melody traces through the overall key of the music.

Should you listen to one particular instrument to recognize chords by ear?

To recognize chords by ear, is it helpful to listen to one particular instrument or should we be listening for something else?

Is singing the tonal numbers a crutch?

I play the guitar and in order to avoid getting lost on the fretboard I say the numbers of the scale out loud. So I literally say "1, 2, 3" etc out loud as I'm playing. Will this be like a crutch in the future where I can't move around unless I count the notes?

Which harmonic environments should an improviser learn first?

Should I study the most important harmonic environments first? Or is it better to study all seven harmonic environments in order?

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?

IFR video lesson: Sound, map and instrument

In this video I illustrate the concept ‘Sound, Map and Instrument’ from my book Improvise for Real. This principle guides our practicing and ensures that as our musical knowledge grows, our ear doesn’t get left behind.

How to recognize a song's tonal center

If I identify a particular note as the tonal center of a song, how can I tell which note of the major scale it is (e.g. note 4)?