How to Learn Music By Ear

There are two ways to really learn music - by ear or by reading. If you want to be a really well rounded musician, training your ear to pick up the notes can be priceless, especially for things such as jazz, improvisation and just jamming with your friends. With these tips, you'll be sure to hit the notes you want to next.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• An instrument / your voice
• a song you want to learn - recorded is best

1. Listen to the song once through. Get an idea for the feel of the song as well as how it 'moves,' especially with the melody.
2. Listen to the pitch of the very first note that is played and try to find it on the instrument. This is going to give you the key signature of your song and the rest of the notes will move around this one. Once you have this, it will be easier to move freely through the melody and instrument.
3. Go back to the first line of the melody. Play only that line then pause the song. Sing it back in your head so that you can hear how everything moves. You want to pay attention to how each note moves from one to the other. Ask yourself things like:
   - is it a step or a jump?
   - does the note move up or down from the last note?
   - is it moving fast or slow from the last note?
4. Make sure that you repeat the first line a couple of times to get the feel of it so that you don't loose how the melody goes. You can then keep repeating this process of repeating the way that the notes move from one to the other.

Tips & Warnings

• Pay attention to repeating lines. Songs typically have patterns that you can listen to that will help to cut down on how many steps and jumps you should find.
• If you get stuck, always go back to the last note that you hit and listen to how it moves to the next one, especially with moving up or down or with the steps to jumps.
• Do some research on intervals, the space from one note to the next. That will help you to learn where the exact step or jump is.
• Take your time and have fun with it! The more you do it, the easier it will become.