Why you STILL can't play songs by EAR

[@michaelbarker6460]

Yes!! As someone that has gone from beginner to part time professional gig jazz pianist basically entirely by ear I'm amazed at how many people tell me that it's a "gift I was born with." They tell me they've tried ear training and it just hasn't worked out for them. So I basically try my best to convince them there really is nothing special about me, I don't have perfect pitch and I was always a pretty average student but what I have done has now probably amounted to thousands of hours of just listening to music and figuring it out on the piano. Doing that you realize whats easy to figure out and whats hard and you slowly make progress. I say I'm not doing any one specific thing but is a combination of using my ears and having a lot of knowledge about FUNCTION, just like you say. In the background of my mind is the harmonic movement and from playing similar movements so many times I know what I can and can't do. There's also a felt sense of knowing when a diatonic chord has been changed to include something outside of the key. Like a minor chord being changed to major. Secondary dominants for instance have very distinct sounds that you just know when you hear them. Like a I-III is such an incredibly distinct sound to me that I know it exactly when I hear it. I also know I can usually treat it like a 2-5-1 and knowing that its a 2-5-1 I can do all of the stuff that can be added to 2-5-1's like approach chords, tritone substitutions, where I can resolve to, and that it becomes a matter of what sound is appropriate for what you're trying to do. Which of course you already know all of this, but its just to say that we speak this similar language and that its not some innate magical gift that just comes out of nothing. So all of that to say its interesting to see how many ear training apps and courses (the ones that I've seen at least) rely on identifying chords out of context of any function they might have. If someone can identify a major chord for instance that's great but at any given time there are 12 major chords you can potentially move to as the next chord in the harmony and each of those options, although its the same type of chord, have a very distinct sound and its own personality. Like I said the I chord going to the III as an example, or to the IV, or the II or the bII, or bVI. Same major chord but VERY different sound that, most importantly, can be recognized with enough practice. If I were to create an ear training app a big part of it would be a long list of songs that are generally categorized by level of difficulty or that emphasize a particular harmonic function. In theory someone could start at the first song, figure it out, then move onto the next one which would be just a tiny bit trickier than the one before so there is constant and obvious progress. This seems like exactly what people want to do anyways with ear training. I think people take up ear training not because they want to identify a minor 7 or whatever chord out of the blue but because they hope it will eventually lead to them just being able to play by ear music that they actually like and listen to. I don't think I would put much focus on what the names of the chords are nearly as much as "this is a specific sound in music and this is how you imitate it." Or another thing that I think would be cool is an ai generator that can come up with unique short melodies and harmony that slowly becomes progressively harder and tracks what you need work on. I think this would also be super cool if theres something like that but for jazz that imitates authentic lines for soloing, especially with an emphasis on authentic groove. You don't just play the right notes but you have to get the swung rhythm right as well. Sorry its all just a long ramble but it got me thinking!

[@JoshWalshMusic]

Are we best friends? Because I think I found my new best friend.

[@BrianCalabro]

Improvise for real kind of does exactly what your talking about

[@dannuttle9005]

More seriously, I have worked on lots and lots of chord progressions, and trying to learn them in different keys. Also playing different scales and listening for what defines them from other scales. Recently I saw "Fiddler on the Roof" and recognized the Phrygian dominant scale. I was in a restaurant and the 6-2-5-1 leaped out of a jukebox and smacked me upside the head. So a turning point for me (not that I'm done turning) was to spend time trying to really hear what a progression or a scale sounds like as I play, and then listening closely to music for things I recognize. I have made a habit of replaying bits of movies that have music I like. Sometimes I fail completely, but other times I pick it right up.

[@JoshWalshMusic]

Exactly! Sounds like the same moment I had with that Christmas song in the car.

[@DuncanCustomAirbrush]

Oohh I want to hear more "Enter Sandman"! Or even the guitar solo part of "One" translated to your piano.🤘

[@dannuttle9005]

Now I'm picturing a bride in her dress leaping into the air, shouting YABBA DABBA DOO, and sliding down the back of a brontosaurus.

[@francisrichard5282]

Long time didn’t heard such a smart thing about ear training. Maybe you need to make progress on various areas ( harmony, function, movement ) to help you with ear training. Thanks Josh, this is confirming my direction in learning progressions & movements. Is this what real musicians are referring to as their language?

[@JoshWalshMusic]

So glad you are back! Hope you are well.

[@martynramsden]

Hi Josh, great advice and vid. Love the Flinstone moment and Sandman! :)

[@dwdei8815]

This was a sweet tutorial - thanks! I have always had enormous trouble identifying (more so than playing) by ear and I too made up my own list of song references. I didn't know it was a recognised technique. But it's so clunky. If I use it at all, it's to get a handle on the first two notes only - and then I try to under-hum what the base note would be. I find that once I've got that settled (and have stopped being confused between the dominant and tonic), much of the rest of the tune falls into place - the extended pattern becomes much clearer, until I'm tripped up by some nifty modulation in the piece.

[@luismrguimaraes]

Good stuff!

[@mudbone7706]

Nice description of your transcribing/hearing process, Josh. I agree the functional ear training approach is much more useful than intervals out of context. However, where I think the functional ear training approach seems underdeveloped is when the music modulates/tonicizes. Would be interested to see how you approach it on a tune like Giant Steps or maybe, less ambitiously, How High The Moon. It's always seemed to me that people with perfect pitch have a huge advantage over relative pitch for handling frequent modulations. Time to get that David Lucas Burge super course out of the closet I guess 😀

[@JoshWalshMusic]

Good insights. This works just fine for How High The Moon for me, but I've spent a lot of time playing jazz standards with moving tonics. Definitely an acquired skill over time. And no, the closet is staying shut :)

[@strat1227]

To me the value of the song "reference" isnt to use it, its more of a first exercise in transcription. I obviously had no idea how to recognize intervals early on, and being able to hear the tritone in the simpsons theme was a new experience, like going from black and white to having just one hue of red. That gave me the ability to recognize that hue in other places. I agree that the exercise is too often presented as if you'll "use" those references moving forward, when really its just the first step. Its like how counting on your fingers is the first step to learning addition. You dont "use" it forever, but its forever your first step to learning it well enough to not need the crutch

[@organist1982]

Great video! Just a little correction, though: at 9:15, you actually sang Do-Fa instead of Sol-Do.

[@dhodges00]

Great stuff as always, Josh. It made me immediately - by ear - realize that the George Costanza ‘by Mennen’ jingle is actually SOL- DO - DO! (I believe your post will also help me in more ways than that!)

[@JoshWalshMusic]

Hilarious

[@GizzyDillespee]

The song references are like training wheels on a bicycle - they're only there to help you learn the basics in the very beginning. You're expected to remove them by the time you're transcribing, or playing by ear, professionally.

[@JoshWalshMusic]

Sure, I get the potential mnemonic device value of it. Though, IMHO, it's just as beneficial to learn the intervals with their actual name as well. Whatever works best for the specific person. Appreciate the comment.

[@Number8z]

that's a really cool approach that does sound useful, but where does one even start training or learning that?

[@JoshWalshMusic]

The thing that works best for me is to play along with your favorite songs. The ones you know inside and out, backwards and forwards. Figure out those songs by ear… cheat by using tabs or whatever if you need. Do this for 10-15 more songs, but pay very close attention to the common patterns. See if you can hear those patterns by playing them back to back. Ad you drive around town with the radio on, actively listen for those patterns there too. And if you think you heard one, check it when you get home. The more you focus on the pattern recognition, confirm you hear patterns, and correct when you don’t, the faster you’ll pick it up. Here’s a list of the patterns I suggest starting with… I call them microprogressions. jazz-library.com/articles/chord-progressions/