How to Learn Chord Progressions by Ear (No Sheet Music)

I always preach: learn jazz standards by ear, not sheet music. The benefits are numerous. Many find it easy to learn a melody by ear, but chord progressions are a totally different story.
In this video, we take a look at a "mystery chord progression" and together go through my process for figuring out the chord changes, without my instrument and without sheet music. This is a longer video, but I'm holding nothing back!
I do mention my ear training course at the end that may be helpful to you if you need to work on some of the fundamentals I discuss: www.learnjazzstandards.com/pl...
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[@Mr_Kirk_]

This is great. The "thinking out loud" style of teaching is REALLY impactful. This is the first video I've seen of yours and I hope there are more like this. Diving in now! Thx!

[@MyronChoe]

"i don't know what chord progressions will be..." *plays Autumn Leaves*

[@Power-9Hunnid]

That's what i thought too lol.

[@cjgreen4331]

Lol

[@topiliski1497]

I was like this is a good challenge for me and then it came for the first time and nevermind.

[@kenmorley2339]

No , no dont kick a man when he is down . George Claborn has just shot the chord sequence to pieces .

[@gclaborn]

@@kenmorley2339 I'm actually a bluegrasser; you know, I-IV-I-V with maybe a vi occasionally thrown in. I like Brent's style; he just needs to ... "proof-read" his vids a bit before posting.

[@dwightfrie]

I nailed it!! Exact changes you came up with! First time trying this exercise Awesome video! .

[@taraadcock1503]

Great lesson in ear training and Jazz theory. Thanks. Will be listening more to you.

[@Learnjazzstandards]

Tara Adcock thanks! Glad you found it helpful

[@BlaziNTrades]

This video is so far above where I'm at, but I love it. Beginning to get into learning how to recognize intervals for the first time, and I was never into music as a kid. 32 now, started guitar 3 years ago and piano one year ago. Between your channel and a few others I'm beginning to get a much better picture of this thing.

[@josephwilkinson3416]

31 and 3 years in here too lol. Hearing intervals is such a game changer 👍

[@BlaziNTrades]

@@josephwilkinson3416 congrats! Most people I know think they're too old to learn something new....and they're like 30-35 LOL

[@gclaborn]

Brent, I completely agree with your approach: 1) Listen to the bass to identify the root note of the chord. 2) Determine if the base chord is major or minor 3) Identify the notes comprising the quality or color of the chord. It's this third step you're consistently getting wrong; my guess is that your truly excellent grasp of theory is causing you to make assumptions that over-power what your ears are trying to tell you. Here are two more examples: - Measure 5's key quality/color note on top is clearly a high D; not part of an Am7(b5). Try an F13 (maybe without the F) here. - And finally, the last chord: The two very distinct color notes on top are Eb and Ab which have nothing to do with G7. Abmin is a lot closer to the keyboard's voicing than G7. Then the wonderful Db-D walk up back to Cm7. I don't know jazz, and I didn't know this song before watching the video, so I only had my ears to rely on.

[@stuartlimbrick4187]

Thank you so much! My stage of learning is ready for your direction of teaching here, so it is an eye opener, but at least I can understand what you are saying. I am presently coincidentally studying Autumn Leaves, so it applies there too. Trouble is , that you have said enough in one video, to make me disappear into the study room for a long time!!

[@Learnjazzstandards]

Glad you found it helpful Stuart! Simply take one little thing in this video and put it to work, forgetting the rest. Get that one thing, and then move on to something else that you think will help you in your playing right now.

[@hearpalhere]

I really got a lot out of this video, thank you very much for sharing your approach Brent!

[@1blasserre]

The explanation is very clear. My only difficulty was hearing the base notes

[@Learnjazzstandards]

Thanks Barbara! It's something that takes practice, and sometimes it's a matter of using some of those other skills I was mentioning to fill in the blanks.

[@ipudisciple]

Are you listening on a device with a microphone the size of a pea by any chance, like a phone or a computer? That totally kills the base and that might be the problem.

[@MrFree-vj8qj]

you need a good pair of headphones, audio tecnica, senheiser, 80$ +

[@davidericcoboni92]

You need to sing a lot of chord changes (in standard jazz) and take your time to internalize the colours. You should sing and sing (the bass) trust me and be patience, you'll see the resoult at the end.

[@anonymouse4003]

It's called Bass not base... :( Davie504 would not be proud

[@ashishvivian2224]

This is the simplest progression to teach with regards to Jazz!! But might help a beginner in Jazz!!

[@wes7600]

I find that hearing and knowing the bass notes was easy for me but hearing the full chord quality in the piano voicings was really difficult for me. Particularly on the EbM7 in the fourth bar. I heard the root in the bass but couldn't be totally sure what chord the piano was playing. Thanks for this video. Much appreciated.

[@Lucia-kk4kn]

great stuff! thank you very much!

[@Learnjazzstandards]

My pleasure Ariel!

[@johnmwatrous]

excellent technique. great video

[@canberkturan3436]

this is talent!!

[@georgeschumann3745]

You're a fantastic teacher. Thank you💜🎸

[@Learnjazzstandards]

Thank you!

[@noam6249]

Definitely and eye opener. Only until the last part when Brent disclosed that it was Autumn Leaves did I recognize that. I do need consistent ear training. Love the video.

[@Learnjazzstandards]

Hey, that's no problem! It takes learning a lot of tunes before this stuff becomes second nature.

[@douglasmccarthy4367]

Perfect timing. Just what I'd got the courage up to do next: learning the harmony of key standards by ear. Many thanks!

[@Learnjazzstandards]

Glad you found it helpful Douglas!

[@wimvandeperre4550]

That was nice! A lot of hearing work to do for now...

[@Learnjazzstandards]

Right on, Wim!

[@tahmeng918]

Only witnessed how good you are at listening to chord progression. I dont really "learn" how to do it🙃

[@rodrigobertoa5916]

"you don't have to have any super skills with relative pitch" Say's the guy who have super skills with relative pitch. LOL

[@Learnjazzstandards]

Hey Rodrigo! What I meant was you can easily use your instrument to identify what the root note is that you are hearing. I was just able to deduce the note name by having a relative pitch note. Though sometimes I'm off by a half-step, so not so super after all ;)

[@woodendale]

In the most simplistic way lol I can put it as "Identifying a song by hearing it." or "when you tell yourself 'this sounds like Baby One More Time'"; Identifying chord progressions is just a more profound form of that.

[@MrBobbyspark]

Thank you so much great!

[@Learnjazzstandards]

Glad it was helpful!

[@alfredbellanti3755]

Thanks Brent. I will have to go back to the podcast on intervals and become familiar with them.

[@Learnjazzstandards]

My pleasure, Alfred! Intervals are definitely worth spending some time on as you can see.

[@animalsoverpeople_]

wonderful!

[@Learnjazzstandards]

Many thanks!

[@TommyRarivoson]

Thank you for this video! I was wonddering if you could provide the link to the aime Noltee podcast please?

[@HomuraCooks]

very helpful

[@burhlmao540]

Me every time hearing people humming a note out “ I KNOW, THAT’s A C”

[@frankoi7022]

Very interesting, I'm always trying to start with the first chord, and then to move along. However, sometimes is faster on the fly to recognize some other typical patterns like 4th or 5th from any chord, or some minor/major 3rd from any chord etc. Without any instrument, this is quite a challenge.

[@randlyons7278]

Good teaching. This was way the h*** above my capability. Probably should run off and learn all the chords on my electric piano.

[@enharmonic77]

I just heard Autmn leaves -ish when you played the track at first and knew the chords when you said the Bb

[@alistaircornacchio5727]

what can i train to hear jacob colliers vocal harmony. tryingto understand what hes doing it so i can internalize it and apply it has pretty much been my dream since starting music. it seems such a simple concept, explore the sounds you like, but ive had countless struggles and its quite demoralizing. Anyone with suggestions?

[@dragoivasile1375]

Hello! Do you know how to train the ear in order to hear a lot of notes played simultaneously?

[@batuhandursun1930]

I'm confused about transposing the chords from piano to Eb alto saxophone. I know, there is 1,5 sound difference. But what should be the reference instrument for alto player. While listening should I identify progressions for my Eb instrument, or from piano C and than transpose to Eb ?

[@TrampledReed]

Hi Brent, nice one. Can you let us know the software(or any other convenient ones that might serve the purpose) you were using in the video for typing the chords? Thanks

[@Learnjazzstandards]

Hey Alvin, no problem! For examples sake, I was using Band-in-a-Box: www.learnjazzstandards.com/band-in-a-box/

[@squib9682]

Could anyone suggest something I can do to improve? when im humming the bass note of a song and try playing it on my instrument I think I found it since my humming seems to be synchronizing with the note but it turns out its a whole different note completely. i've been at this for a long time and i've been having the same problem. i'm beginning to think im slightly tone deaf or something

[@vinzgozer]

great!

[@Learnjazzstandards]

Thanks for watching Pat!

[@matteo-ciaramitaro]

When it started playing I could only think that it sounds like Autumn leaves

[@Learnjazzstandards]

That's great! Because if you can recognize those changes, you can recognize major and minor ii-V-I's, and if you can recognize those you are well on your way to hearing chord progressions in jazz standards by ear.

[@matteo-ciaramitaro]

@@Learnjazzstandards Thanks!

[@allanjeong]

I use this method to extemporaneously reconstruct and/or approximate the chord progressions on the fly by using the following four steps (combined with your personal memory/familiarity with each song): 1. The last root note of the basic chord (not inverted chords) of a song is almost always the same note (+1 or more octaves below) as the final note of the song/melody (or final note of the opening stanza/verse). 2. When the melody progresses upward or downward chromatically, the root note of the basic chord is often 3 note intervals below (+1 octave) the melodic notes played on the main down beat (or sometimes immediately after the main down beat if the down beat melodic note is just a passing note). 3. Otherwise, the root note of the basic chord is either 1, 3, or 5 note intervals BELOW the melodic notes played on the main down beats (or immediately after the main down beat). Try playing some traditional Christmas carols on piano in the key of C to easily confirm this simple correspondence between melodic and root notes. 4. Form the chords by playing the root note with left hand pinky along with the notes at 5, 8, and 10 note intervals above the root note by holding your left hand in a fixed claw position. Use these four steps to identify the chords to play with any given song melody (if you’re playing the piano) by simply and literally watching for the melodic notes played on the right hand on the main down beats - a process I’ve come to call “playing by sight” as opposed to “playing be ear”. If you’re not playing the melody and just playing the chords, you’ll need to “play by ear” by identifying the melodic notes as you sing the melody in your head using the solfege (do-re-me) method and apply the steps above to identify the root notes and chords.

[@Learnjazzstandards]

Thanks for sharing your method Allan!

[@falala435]

I have a question. So I’m perfect pitch since pretty young but I struggle to figure out the bass note or bottom ones cause I hear the notes of the higher ones and it like disturb me trying to find the base( it’s kinda like hearing ppl talk loudly over the one ur trying to talk with?} Is there a way to Improve hearing the bass?🥺 I also don’t know chords that much , I just hear notes? But the bass one always give problem.

[@Seetheworldvids]

Hi Brent, I don't comment often but this is excellent and exactly what I needed at the moment, thanks a lot for putting this out there!! Will keep working on it though it can be hard and frustrating at times, but I know it takes loooots of practice to reach your level... Since I don't play a comping instrument, it might be harder as well. Would you say getting a keyboard to work on ear training can help the process? Thanks again and long live LJS!

[@Learnjazzstandards]

So glad to help! Indeed it does take some work, but as I mentioned, the more you do this stuff the more second nature it gets. Each time you do it you level up. I don't think you need a keyboard, though it never hurts. A lot of the fundamentals can be practiced with any instrument or just using your voice.

[@Seetheworldvids]

Thanks for the answer, Brent. Do you mind another question? How do you deal with walking bass lines, since they go fast and sometimes land on other guide tones or passing notes (i.e not the root) whilst the comping might just be soft in the background and hard to hear? Thanks! (big fan of your podcasts btw)

[@GrumpyStormtrooper]

alright. i'll stop watching so i don't know the cadences of autumn leaves before i learn it myself. i'll do it tomorrow! so excited to start learning by ear and avoiding lead sheets

[@Logan_Adrian]

Do I need to practice ear training with chords first? I’m doing the same thing as this but with Cannonballs recording, and I’m able to hear the bass notes but when it comes to piano voicing I’m completely lost

[@rizzone]

Excelente

[@Learnjazzstandards]

Thanks!

[@agsags7598]

Rock on

[@michaelvarney.]

Nice. It would have been interesting if this was from the stand point of functional notation (either Roman numerals or Nashville) so that one does not have to worry about grabbing an instrument to find the reference pitch, or have an internalized pitch to guess from.

[@ddjazz]

what software is he using to enter the chord sheet ?

[@AlexLeafy]

Interesting and informative video. I have a question. You said that you may have heard a #11 on the D7 chord and think I heard it too and I was thinking that the #11 in this chord was the D. That's why I thought it was an Ab7#11. But then you said that the bass was playing D and I heard it too. So I wanted to ask if it's possible for the bass to be playing the #11 in a sub chord? To my knowledge it is highly unlikely, but does it happen sometimes?

[@Learnjazzstandards]

Hi Alex! Thanks for the question. I agree that it would be less likely, because the Tritone sub is Ab7, and if you make it a #11 the only real difference is the bass note. So I think typically a bass player would represent that chromatic downward bass movement. That being said, bass players can and will start on different notes other than the root. That's the beauty of Tritone subs. You probably thought it was Ab at first because the #11 you were hearing on the D is Ab.

[@AlexLeafy]

@@Learnjazzstandards probably, yes hahaha thanks for the response :))

[@cfrito]

@@Learnjazzstandards I like the sound D7b9 (played as D-F#-C-Eb-A) but briefly sharpening that A to A# and quickly falling back to the A before going to the Gm7. It echoes the melody quite nicely.

[@bickydas4471]

Do you recommend using solfege while interval and chord practice? Or just call by its degree( major 3rd, minor7th). Please reply. I'm a self taught person. Really struggling with ear training

[@Learnjazzstandards]

You may use the degrees. We have a course that will help you with ear training: www.learnjazzstandards.com/play-hear-sales-page/

[@manvicuk]

Very useful….

[@Learnjazzstandards]

Glad to hear that. Thanks!

[@SAVIOVSKY]

what programm?

[@duncanwilson2803]

Funny, I've always been the other way around--I can pick up the chords quickly but struggle with the melody.

[@maskkottube]

Hi ! as you mentioned , your friend Aimee Nolte shared this technique for finding your own relative note. i`ve tried this and encountered a problem - i have some songs that i`m comfortable singing and which i know the starting notes for sure. but this works when i start singing these notes "out of nowhere" - without previously listening to anything for at least 2-3 hours, but if theres some tune playing on the radio, or i play a tune myself, then these starting notes kind of slide into the key of that tune)) i dont know what to do to keep them where they belong))

[@Learnjazzstandards]

Hey Tim! I totally get you. I think having your instrument to help guide you will aid in this. And let's not forget, it's okay to check on some sheet music as well.

[@ladislavmertlik]

ok, but there are also inversions of chord? how to recognize them?

[@elmo93111]

Old video. But this 'relative pitch note' you mentioned (which rather is something quite absolute, right? ) , could you eloborate on this? How do I get to know if I have one too? Maybe everyone has it, like 'relax your vocal chords and just breathe out' or something?

[@BluePixelvideos]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/q3-1pISia9OqY6M

[@elmo93111]

@@BluePixelvideos sorry, thats not the topic. If you have relative pitch (which I have more or less) you would just need one note, that is absolute to reference to it, which gives you a kind of absolute pitch.

[@Str8representing]

7:10 no link to Aimee Nolte

[@jerrymcjunior2760]

See suggestion

[@stevenwhaley7368]

Anyone dissapointed that they don't have as good of an ear as this guy should know that he just used Autumn Leaves (easily one of the most well known progressions among jazz musicians) and pretended to figure it out from scratch. The thought process, recognizing intervals and cadences etc is valid but he's not really figuring it out in this case, he obviously could write out the autumn leaves chords without listening.

[@whitewalker608]

I don't understand why you took F7 at 11:30. After C bass line, aren't you hearing G note in the bass. What makes you chose F instead of G there besides knowing the fact that 2-5-1 is very common?

[@sprenzy7936]

I cannot hear the major 7 in 6:19

[@taliesinmusic]

i heard Cm7, cdim7 then BbM7

[@robinstrickler2302]

I'm hearing dm7/G on the 7th bar??

[@gclaborn]

Brent's right that the root note there is G making the root chord Gm, but the color note(s) are A, so I'd say Gm add9.

[@bobwrotenstien315]

Moral of story: sear the sound of ii-V-I into your brain, then go out and identify chord progressions

[@Learnjazzstandards]

I'd have to agree!

[@whatislove4587]

👍

[@gclaborn]

You state very confidetntly that the second chord you figure out at the entrance to bar 7 is Gm7.... except it's not. I agree, the base chord is Gm, but the main note that adds the "quality" is not "F" which would've made it a Gm7, but "A". I actually hear no "F" at all which would've made it a Gm9 (Gm, add F and A), so I'd call the chord a Gm add9. We can quibble whether it's Gm9 or Gm/9, but it's certainly not Gm7. Matter of fact, the keyboard plays TWO "A"s at octaves emphasizing the very distinct voicing of a minor ninth. Very surprised you didn't hear this...

[@villiamaxtelius1170]

The really really sad part about this is that I already know all of this, I just don’t practice enough

[@Learnjazzstandards]

It's all good Villiam! But you're right on the spot. You can know a lot of stuff, but without action, there won't be the desired results

[@chrisl.6113]

4:11

[@s3vva]

"Now, I have a 'suspicion' that the Bb chord is the tonic" NOOOO I WANT TO KNOW WHY YOU HAVE THAT SUSPICION, HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT

[@gclaborn]

Sorry to chime in again, but I continued listening: you got the first chord in the second measure wrong as well. The base chord is correct, Fmaj but again, you get the color notes that add the chord quality wrong. Listen carefully to the keyboard chord following the bass's "F"; there's no Eb, the dominant 7 in F, so it can't be F7. But there is a D and a G making the chord an F6add9... very jazzy. The most prominent note on the keyboard for this chord is G, the nine note for F.

[@subscribetobanbasstabs2599]

this is the video ive been waiting for but can you do harder chord progression next? i instantly recognized the progression and therefore the video did not help to much

[@franklinmedino482]

For some wierd reason I heard a diminished chord in the last bar

[@guitarandgaming1]

You can build a diminished chord off of the 3rd of the Dom7b9. (G)BDFAb B diminished off of G7b9

[@amosemmanuel3691]

Hearing by ear

[@marionsutcliffe1119]

Should I be trying to ignore the piano punch accents? I found them very distracting!

[@fredbarnes196]

That is a good point. I wonder what his internal process for identifying this progression really was. There were too many instances where the piano voicings were implying a chord quality, but not actually playing the notes (distracting!). For example: The Bbmaj7 voicing. All I heard was CDF . There is no Maj7 interval to identify. When it then moved to the Eb in the bass the piano played the same CDF voicing. The Gm7 chord, the piano appears to play FGA to a GAC with a G played by the bass. There is no Bb in the voicing, the minor 3rd is left out. And the defining note in the last voicing (G7) was an Ab All that long windiness is only to point out that identifying the quality of the chords from the intervals in the voicings can be a great distraction. Yet he was able to identify the chord progression easily. I think it boils down to already knowing what a ii-V-1 sounds like and then you can confirm that is what you are hearing when you come across one Mentally recalling what they sound like is pretty easy.

[@Bozemancurtis]

I have a lot of work to do. LOL

[@user-cl1nm5kh6j]

You don't have to do any of this work if you just know it's Autumn Leaves. ;)

[@durn9945]

4:13 mfw the music starts 👁️👄👁️

[@florencialirosi9822]

ll v l..................................minor or major..........

[@asmitrai1035]

Instead of the whole video, you could've just told to Practice