Help with playing by ear?

SeanMadd

I've been learning the fiddle for 4 years and I don't know why I haven't been taught how to play by ear yet! My teacher usually gives me songs in letter format but I ask for sheet music because it's much more beneficial. But last september I joined a group of about 15 other teens(I'm 17..), who can all play by ear, and I'm just there looking at the sheet music trying to learn the feckin song whilst they are all playing it

Obviously, I need to keep listening to irish music over and over.. but has anyone got any more tips? And I'm interested to know how long it took til you finally got how to play by ear?

trad

5 years and i'm still playing off ABc's. Have never picked up a tune without the notes. I reckon you either have it or you haven't. Or maybe I haven't tried hard enough. I've seen plenty of musicians who can pick up a tune by ear and I envy them. So I just learn the ABc's and play along.

SeanMadd

Can you at least read sheet music? I'm not giving up on it, I hate relying on notes. I honestly think the only way to get it at first is to listen to the song over and over.. hundreds of times 'til you finally get it... Although I'm not setting a good example :P Or my teacher could play a few notes and I could try and play them back.. hmm..

line6

you could try playing along with recordings - be firm with yourself and don't expect instant results

after a while it will start to come easily

trad

For me, playing along with recordings problem is the pace of a tune played by top class musicians.

A Jig, both parts played twice, has 168 notes without ornamentation, and playtime is usually a couple of seconds either side of 1 minute, thats almost 3 notes per second.

A hornpipe, albeit sometimes played a little slower has 256 notes.

OP A very talented multi instrumentalist I'm acquainted with told me it was all about learning and playing scales on your instrument. The first teachers I went to didn't place much emphasis on scales and concentrated on learning tunes.

I think the secret is in learning to play your instrument, not learning tunes.

SeanMadd

True that. I guess I can't say much since I still have finger markings on my fiddle..Ha

Blade

It takes practice, but if you can hum it you should be able to play it. Start with easy songs (not tunes) that you know how they go, something like dirty ole town etc. Songs are much easier to start with as they barely break out of one octave. Try playing along to these songs on youtube and you'll soon find it'll come to you.

I was the same, I didn't think I'd ever be able to play by ear until I actually tried it. It came to a point that I had to because I either couldn't find sheet music for some of the songs at our session, or the sheet music was way off what was actually being played. People play and sing differently, even in different keys and the only way to handle that is by ear on the fly. You really can't rely on sheet music when there's so many different versions of the same tune. It's all well and good if the people you're playing with all learnt from the same sheet, but if you go to another session you could be left scratching your head thinking "I know this one but why can't I play it?" when it could be a simple case of a reel you know being played as a slide, or just in a different key.

trad

trad wrote: »

I think the secret is in learning to play your instrument, not learning tunes.

That goes for myself as well.

SeanMadd

trad wrote: »

That goes for myself as well.

Out of curiosity what do you play?

trad

Button Accordion B/C, late starter, I'm 52 now. Went to classes, only one in the class without a bus pass.

Futurecrook

trad wrote: »

5 years and i'm still playing off ABc's. Have never picked up a tune without the notes. I reckon you either have it or you haven't. Or maybe I haven't tried hard enough. I've seen plenty of musicians who can pick up a tune by ear and I envy them. So I just learn the ABc's and play along.

This is completely untrue. It's something you can learn. You can train your ear. It just takes patience and practice.

SeanMadd wrote: »

I've been learning the fiddle for 4 years and I don't know why I haven't been taught how to play by ear yet! My teacher usually gives me songs in letter format but I ask for sheet music because it's much more beneficial. But last september I joined a group of about 15 other teens(I'm 17..), who can all play by ear, and I'm just there looking at the sheet music trying to learn the feckin song whilst they are all playing it

Obviously, I need to keep listening to irish music over and over.. but has anyone got any more tips? And I'm interested to know how long it took til you finally got how to play by ear?

I first attempted to learn a tune by ear when I was 12. It didn't work out very well. I thought I was completely untalented and everyone else had this amazing skill that I'd never have. I turned out to be wrong though. The only problem is that it's something you're not used to doing so naturally you find it tough.

If you have a friend who also plays music they could help you out. You look away and get them to play a low D and then one other note (any note at all) after it. (eg. D, G) You then try to match it on your fiddle. Do this with different notes. Then get your friend to add a third note. (eg. D,A,B) and so on. Take your time and only move on when you're deciphering notes with ease.

You need to start off slow with this. That's the important thing. Don't bother listening to whole tracks and trying to get it straight away. It won't happen. Instead, listen to the first 10 seconds of a tune and then hit pause. Try to hum/sing the tune back. Listen again and repeat the process the whole way through the tune, listening to only about 10 seconds at a time. Then try it with your fiddle instead of singing the tune. Take your time and make as many mistakes as you need to. You'll get there eventually.

Seoid

Some people find it comes naturally to them. I also find learning by ear incredibly difficult - I learned the whistle for years and never really got the hang of it.
BUT the main reason for that is that I never really cared enough to try at the time. You can definitely learn (if you're motivated) and the more practice you get the easier it will be.
I've had that experience as well where you go into a group with people who've been playing a shorter time than you have and you feel inadequate but just remember that reading music has advantages as well!

For me my memory is so bad that the only thing that helps is just listening over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over....

There's a few things involved in learning by ear - you have to know how to recognise what you're hearing, you have to know your instrument well enough and you have to be able to remember the damn tune (this is the part I have the most trouble with)
Being able to sing/hum helps - maybe try playing songs or even nursery rhymes you do know very very well to sing and work out how to play the melody on the fiddle. I find this oddly satisfying

Another tip I got from Grainne Hambly was that sometimes it helps to listen to the tune as a whole, especially as trad tunes can be so fast and typically there's a lot of repetition. See if you can figure out a hook (say, the start or end of each line) and you play that each time and slowly figure out the rest and how it fits in with that. Watch other people's fingers as well.

Another thing my teacher used to do was to record all the songs for the term so that we could take it home and listen ahead, then we'd learn it line by line in class and he'd give out the sheet music at the end. He would play the song both slower for learning and then at speed on the recording. Even if you still learn to play it from sheet music this will help. I always find that after listening to it over and over you pick it up from sheet music very easily because you know where it's going.
Maybe you could talk to your teacher about this?

seachto7

I used to put on tapes/cds, and play along with them. At the start I would play what I knew, and leave out the bits I couldn't. Then I would eventually figure out other bits.

They say that if you can hum it, then you can play it. It's just a case of slowing it down.

There is a great piece of free software called "audacity" where you can slow down tunes slightly, and keep the pitch. I found it great for learning tunes...

tradmusicdub

Get the waltons 110 fiddle tunes with CD. Load CD onto computer and download Amazing Slow Downer form the web. It allows you to slow the tune down without changing pitch. It also allows you to put it on a playback loop. Listen dozens of times and then start playing. if really stuck on a particular note look at book. Good luck

tarbolton

Can you sing a song? Any song! Did you learn it by reading the notes or did you learn it by hearing it in school or on the radio or wherever? If the latter then you learned it by ear! So you can do it!

Of course tunes like jigs and reel are much more dense in terms of notes than the average song. But if you have ever picked up a song just be hearing it then you have the basic capability. Its just practice and determination after that!

So take the good advice in the posts above and be confident that you can do it.