Ear Training Games with Adam Neely and Ben Levin

Adam and I play some fun and challenging ear training games! Try making your own and practice with a friend!
Adam's Channel: / adamneely
Interval Songs: bit.ly/2l7oJ6i
My Patreon - / benlevin
My music - www.benlevingro...
www.BentKneeMus...

[@meep1577]

2 bros Sitting in a studio 1 feet apart Coz they're musicians

[@jccanizal6410]

hah! XD

[@randylahey1410]

3:34 adam picks up mug only to put it back down without drinking

[@pereztube2]

someones embarrassed

[@franklongman8937]

I came down to comment that well done

[@gatesgardensguitars8871]

He may have realised that the mug had been used as an ashtray since finishing his coffee.

[@guitashamilele]

I think he was freaked out by having made a mistake (intentionally)

[@TheCompleteGuitarist]

Here's my favourite game that also helps your voice. Play a given note, then try to sing a given interval above (or below). Really strengthens inner ear.

[@BIitzkrieg]

are you guys ever gonna make an album together? wish i could say you'd get millions but i wish to ear it, pls i love both of you

[@BenLevin]

It's certainly possible, but we don't have any plans at the moment. Thank you!

[@JPPWB]

Definitely sounds like something I wanna hear.

[@pereztube2]

I need that.

[@themoochman3867]

They just did it lol, also how's life after all this time?

[@sixmonthssleep3057]

The cartoon of Adam looks so wrecked :D Good job Ben!

[@BenLevin]

Thank you!

[@philnewton3096]

As a violinist I was brought up with a piano at home and benefited because listening to such "games" as above set it all in my imagination in a linear spectrum -just like a seen piano keyboard - and therefore playing chamber music with cellists and pianists was /easy to associate their range to each other and my violin. I suggest both discarding their instruments and sitting at a keyboard might achieve more efficient listening habits than 2 guitars.

[@boaminikam2]

Its amazing to see how you guys dissect everything

[@andreyutiamco9201]

Its so cool that both of them + me had three different ways of identifying the Bb D G. Ben said he heard a fourth from D to G. Adam said he heard the Bb6 chord relation in Bb to G. I never thought of those ways because for me the more obvious route was hearing a Gminor first inversion. Perhaps it’s because of my background primarily in piano or something. So cool how one thing can be heard in so many different ways.

[@davestarns]

I found it really comforting that the answers came to me more quickly than they did these two ear monsters. I suspect that they were faking their confusion in order to slow the games down, making them more accessible, like the guy on the children’s show Blue’s Clues used to.

[@GreenPointMedia]

I had two years of university music theory, complete with ear training, and hear the intervals very much like Adam. Thanks for the fun video, guys!

[@Adrimixmi]

I just wish I had a buddy to play ear training games with... 😢

[@elamiri858]

Me too! I sent this to my only musician friend who happens to play the violin, saying we should try it... it's gonna sound pretty weird but you do what you gotta do😂

[@JacobDFerguson]

That's the spirit! XD

[@anaccountmadetoreply9205]

Turn this comment into a hookup thread

[@Adrimixmi]

El Amiri What instrument do you play ? It could make an interesting combination ☺️

[@Adrimixmi]

An Account Made To Reply Sure, feel free to ! Anyone in Japan ?

[@narkotikniklas6368]

Can you do THIS for 5 hours? That would actually be very helpful!

[@BenLevin]

If Adam wants to, I will gladly do this for 5 hours. That's a cool idea, maybe I'll do this with someone as a live stream. I'll think on it!

[@Sorc47]

I would love to see that!

[@danardalin]

Seconded! This would be a cool livestream with the two of you and possibly more... almost like an ear training party. But seriously... good idea!

[@davidkrepel1604]

I want more videos of you guys playing these games. It's a fun way to test and build my ear training.

[@Mr_Kirk_]

This was sooooooooo dope! I LOVED how you said what you were thinking. Please do more stuff like this on ear training where you think out loud. It's super helpful to compare your process to the way I'm trying to learn. Thanks for this!

[@Jeremy-hx7zj]

you guys are the most dynamic duo of the century

[@oletrenner]

Thanks for these games. I think the third game is much harder than one and two, but arpeggiating really helps. Anyway, Merry Christmas to both of you :)

[@LionelAlbert]

Oh my God ! I've always thought that people as deaf as I am couldn't be good musicians, that's not true. Thanks guys !

[@iansalinas412]

It's really helpful when you guys explain how you figured out the interval or chord. Great games thanks

[@adriancruz2822]

I love seeing you guys together. You have such great chemistry.

[@stern9838]

Nice ideas, interesting to see two different approaches. I've mostly thought in the same way as Ben, relating each interval to the last, partly because I've mainly been interested in atonal music (plus stuff like Zappa, where the music doesn't always function diatonically, and often uses less common changes). Having focused a lot more specifically on playing jazz over the last year or so, I noticed I thought of things a lot more like Adam when I watched this video, probably due to being more conscientious of diatonic relationships than I have been previously. Interesting that someone's approach to these games might be fluid depending on what your most recent focus has been.

[@philyk.illagan3161]

Since I have absolute pitch, finding the intervals and chord names are the real challenge. Interval songs are very helpful for finding the intervals. As for chords, I try to identify the root and build up from there. When I was little, I would cover my eyes and hit a random note on the piano. Then I would look at the piano and try to hit the same note.

[@charlesgaskell5899]

Just because you have absolute pitch doesn't mean you can't also acquire good relative pitch. Practice helps...

[@pocketdialmusic]

Damn you guys have impressive ears

[@soltbitch]

and june lee.

[@SherKhan-ku9oq]

I thought they'd be much stronger tbh

[@sethdavid7476]

same. I wonder if they "dumbed it down".

[@musicwithmatt6531]

Seth Allen yep definitely or at least when Adam was struggling to recognise the perfect 4th

[@miamonteverdi]

You're joking, right?

[@davejanssenmusic]

I love these videos guys, thank you for making great, accessible content that inspires awesome musical shenanigans

[@GeorgesMayrink]

You guys know so much music it's scary! Thanks again for a great video.

[@zionjaymes4415]

I definitely hear intervals more like Ben. I'm fascinated by Adam's functional ear though

[@lordofnesss]

I loved this one, more ear training games !!

[@5up5up]

I LOVE YOU BOTH

[@jimmyalderson1639]

I do the thing Ben does. But i suppose that's risky because if you get the first interval wrong, then your second interval will also be wrong. Whereas with Adam's method, if you can do it, then even if your first note's wrong, your second note can still be right. What i like to do is enaudiate (that's a word now) the two notes going back and forth in my head. So with a fourth you can hear the distinctive sound of Mozart that you wouldn't necessarily notice just hearing it played once. With semitones and tones you can hear it clearly if you trill them. And with thirds, you can speed up the trilling in your head and eventually hear a harmonic. That's how i do it at least

[@taopagan]

Love the cartooon! Made me think of Goofus and Gallant a little bit.

[@denogowli]

Great video! How would you go about this if you don't have friends?

[@BenLevin]

MusicTheory.net has a great interval ear trainer!

[@Mezurashii5]

How would you go about this if you can't tell a major third apart from a minor third?

[@denogowli]

Ben Levin OMG! I love you Ben i want to be your fretboard ;)

[@denogowli]

Mezurashii5 Well i think that’s the reason you need to do it...

[@ColdBang]

Mezurashii5 Try using songs. Minor 3rd sounds like (is) the first interval of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the water". Major 3rd sounds like Vivaldi's "Spring". Try playing those songs in your head and see if they fit in the interval. Sooner or later, you'll be able to identify them pretty quickly. I personally have trouble differentiating Major/minor 6th's and 7th's.

[@MegaEmmanuel09]

7:55 The sound you will hear when the world is ending

[@paulski7307]

Great learning tools! Much love and fortuitous vibes ❤️🤓

[@JamieHarka]

more game videos from you two please!

[@LogansRunnersVideo]

Please make a longer version of this game. I enjoyed playing along at home but realistically am not gonna play this game in rehearsal times

[@HoggerKiller]

Happy holidays and much love to you both. :)

[@BenLevin]

Thank you and same to you!

[@dorothyrittenger2602]

When you both sound the Fmaj7/A with the 7th at 8:45, it reminds me of the opening of The Edge by David McCallum.

[@sammy3212321]

Chord Boy is my new preferred title

[@cryolith]

You guys need to hang out more. Always fun when you guys do a collaboration.

[@eljestLiv]

That Eb-F-Bb thing that Ben played at 2:58 are the first three notes to Intermission by Kraftwerk

[@No-pm4ss]

4:51, interesting. I just heard the minor triad and that the first two notes were the same, so it had to be a G minor triad (in 2nd position)

[@ajadrew]

Good video....Just got the POLITONUS app (as mentioned below as I've no ear training buddy..;-))

[@scottgreen132]

9:18 Spaghetti 😘🤣😂🤣😂😂😂 i love it lel

[@Vectif]

The cartoon looks like a lot like the one in Young Folks by Peter, Bjorn and John! What a throwback

[@mr.z9609]

Personally, my way of hearing intervals is closer to Adam's, in that I hear intervals in relation to an imaginary tonic, but I also believe that this approach is limiting. Hearing a perfect 5th in relation to an imaginary tonic (most likely the bottom note - like Adam, I am much better with ascending intervals) is great and all, but the bottom note of the 5th isn't always the tonic. A 5th can be do to so, it can also be re to la, mi to ti, fa to do, so to re, or la to mi. So I think we should try to expand how we hear intervals so that we can hear them in all their possible diatonic functions, and ALSO in non-diatonic or atonal contexts. This is something I'm working on. It's hard to deprogram though!

[@addisonshinedown]

Gorilla Expressions HAHAHAHAHA, I thought re to la was a triad and was completely baffled as to what “to (toe)” was. I was like... flat ti is ta silly, and even then it made no sense

[@wairton]

7:55 :)

[@62falconizer]

Love this

[@AmericanDiplomat]

The first exercise is really easy for people who have a background in woodwinds because they have a one-to-one mapping of fingerings to notes. So if I hear an F and then I hear a minor third above, then from playing those instruments I instinctually finger an Ab. Imagining the interval shape on a guitar (two frets to the left and one string down, except for G/B strings) wouldn't help you because there is no specific fingering shape associated with an Ab

[@addisonshinedown]

asd eh, if you’re familiar enough with the fretboard, you know the 2 closes versions of the next note to the one you play and can just finger one of them. I have a background in sax but also bass and usually think of playing them on bass

[@OasisCherryjuice182]

8:55 watch Adam make the sound of a rooster

[@messyties]

What a chicken

[@LukeBeadles]

It made me laugh really hard for some reason

[@micheller3251]

Definitely going to use these with my students!

[@falmingz]

awesome pls do more like this video

[@AidanMmusic96]

I like the third game a lot!

[@forgetfuldon1136]

I use chords to identify intervals because I started hearing chords first and then intervals. I'm wondering if anybody else does this?

[@stardust-reverie]

GOD i am in love with that thinline tele.

[@janminor1172]

I am getting to the point where I wouldn't suck completely at game #1, game 2 would be a challenge and game 3 really heavy...

[@LukeBeadles]

Jan Minor same

[@geovaniraffaelli4508]

It's been 2 years, if you kept at it consistently you should be a God at intervals nowadays

[@ShortMan_123]

7:28 was like the beginning of the track 'At the mercy of Myth' by BATHYPHYSA

[@james.randorff]

This was great! I'm using this soon. Thanks!

[@monstahouse]

where is the list of interval songs? super keen to train my ear!

[@BenLevin]

That's right, thanks for clarifying. It's also in the description.

[@samujacintho]

At 8:58 Adam makes the perfect impression of a rooster precisely 3km away.

[@themuffinman751]

"We won't look at each other at all... just like my first date with... everyone." Same Ben, same.

[@zeepier33]

03:33 Adam introduces an interesting variation: drink when you get it wrong :D

[@vorm7510]

S P I C Y 7:06

[@hanzsantos]

you forgot the "OO-HOO-OOH, s p i c y !"

[@vorm7510]

T O O M U C H S P I C E

[@RCAvhstape]

I'm the only guy in my band who could think about doing this, so it won't happen.

[@yastaban]

Helium Road Get some students, and get paid to do it!

[@fliccilf4715]

I know that feel bro

[@MrSrponyboy]

Change your bandmates then

[@RCAvhstape]

I like my band and my bandmates, warts and all. Lack of formal training does not automatically equal bad.

[@MrSrponyboy]

Not saying they were bad at all. But if they can't try to get better, then something might go wrong at some point.

[@mattordiway1955]

I'm loving these

[@nurik]

Ben Levin would be great voice acting in cartoons. Or for instance as the narrator in 'Music Theory for Kids', a series teaching kids valuable theory through games.

[@vaibhavjoshi9141]

@Ben Levin: Funnily candid as you explain your 1st date routine

[@jorgelopez9620]

VERY ENTERTAINING

[@junwuwang5701]

personally, I think in terms of chords. 4:30 or so Adam played Bb D Ab and Bb D G, which sounds like dominant 7th and dominant 13th chords for me.

[@thetree7403]

I love how Ben always covers his ears at first instead of the eyes xD

[@thesamarawaters]

The drawing of Dadam is terrifying in the thumbnail

[@suburbanindie]

3:31 Adam is such a perfectionist he can't even pretend to get something wrong lol. I'm the same way.

[@Sywyn01]

Best bromance ever.

[@KiranManoharan]

Very cool guys very helpful

[@ErickthesickEmO]

I love when you collaborate!!! Nice games, I'm not ar rusted as I thought hahaa

[@AloneStarShip2001]

this ain't game this is actual training

[@Me-tuber]

haha, I love this, somebody got high and thought "let's make a video about ear training"

[@patlina59]

Adam & Ben, you are both truly gifted & talented musicians, but in real life - been part of a social band ( play weekends etc )- where does ear training come into play if for ex. you know your modes , fretboard and chord charts, notation are available ? Or have I lost the PLOT ?

[@mattkline3431]

It’s like these guys hobbies is just explaining shit in the most clear way possible

[@AmandaKaymusic]

Thank you. Descending is much harder for me too. Do as the tonic rather than the note 'C' also works in my mind. Do you think immovable Do='C' has any benefits in learning intervals? In Mexico it seemed the usual way.

[@dasaggropop1244]

when i want to play with my friends. they are all like: stop playing fucking notes. and i am like, i don't need you phonies, youtube is my friend now

[@mcblahflooper94]

The bromance is so real here

[@masterchain3335]

Games 1 & 2 not as hard (I found myself being about as fast as you guys), Game 3 definitely a little harder. Awesome ideas!

[@EleazarOctavioRuizSpreafico]

this is great!

[@practician5730]

i remember perfect 4th with soviet anthem

[@toprak3479]

The notes at 7:09 sound like the motif from Mello's theme from Death Note.

[@eliassimon666]

For the P4 I always just use the polka bass line (1, 5, 1, 5, 1, 5, 1 5 6 7 in scale degrees)

[@Beninator10]

Hey Ben i see you wearing the soundbrenner pulse. do you recommend it to learn and practice music?

[@gabriellove4361]

For the Bb - D - Ab interval I just heard a dominant 7 chord, therefore I knew that the last note was a minor 7. So it was Ab

[@AndrewHelbig]

Love the rooster at 8:56

[@ChocolateJesii]

Did Adam really have to use an interval song to figure out Ab to Eb? Must not play much country bass haha!

[@philnewton3096]

and another thing -discarding the fingers / strings pathway to the auditory cortex might give some rigour to acute analytic listening that singers do all the time without and instrument -do they not ? and as Paul Tortellier said "If you can`t hum it you cant play it"?!

[@philnewton3096]

excuse me but whats the Gent on the left talking about "A" for at 0;36?

[@hamiltonmays4256]

7:06 "Oh, spicy!" XD

[@dkali2207]

Hey Ben, would you consider adding a Patreon reward where you give feedback about how to improve or make more interesting a piece written by the Patreon himself? Sry for my crappy english and thanks for your videos!

[@poiewhfopiewhf]

for the perfect fourth or "fifth below" I think of the song from Carmen

[@klontjespap]

i like these, 3rd one seems hard as shit, relation of a note against a chord seems daunting. it's easiest for me to hear the difference between a regular minor and major chord so usually the way i do relationships in my head, is i try hum a minor or a major scale from the root to find whether it's the 2nd or the 3rd or whatever, if it isn't in there, it must a different type of chord and i may be in trouble (unless its a 7th chord i can pretty much hear those instantly too, majors more easily than minors though) 4th and 5th intervals are really easy to hear for me without having to use the scales though, and yeah descending is way harder for me too because i use the ascending scale humming technique, if you could call it that. the biggest problem i do have: i think in sharps rather than flats, i started music on the computer impulse tracker in MS-dos where the notes were shown as a textual representation with # when was a sharp (I.E. C#-4), and only learned to play instruments later due to that i'm so conditioned to think in sharps i actaully get confused and take way longer than i need to especially when someone says something like B-flat, which is A# to me, my brain short cicuits like WTF?!? B-sharp doesn't exist, that can't be right. and obviously the same goes for E aswell. chord notation is using flats, so i kind of fucked myself over there. absolutely shit at reading music, but i'm pretty quick at finding a lead melody, and the basic underlying root notes by ear, then just trying out some chords that could work between those notes, so i usually don't even bother with tabs or chords since they actaully take wayy more time. now i just need to get my friends to care about what notes they're actually playing xD

[@jacksonpage47]

Hey Ben! I saw your video on the Zelda Modes for Lydian, I was wondering why it was in F Lydian instead of C Ionian. Are the chords different? Would F be the 1 chord or would C be the 1 chord still?

[@masterchain3335]

Haven't seen this video but in general terms, yes, F lydian implies that F is the I chord. The actual chords contained in both scales are, of course, the same, but the role they have in functional harmony is different. F is the tonic in F lydian and C is the tonic in C ionian and the dominant (V chord) in F lydian.

[@jacksonpage47]

Thank you!

[@tobisteindl951]

Wow Adam's actually incredible at this. Does any of you have perfect pitch?

[@ianzempel]

7:11 - Adam, your low E is hella sharp

[@dantevelardemusic]

What was that at 10:02? That bass playing was awesome and then he stopped. :(

[@Link-ji7kx]

3:31 that fake out sip!