scales & ear training

General · 4 replies · 509 views · 6 followers

Thomas

about 3 years ago

Having troubles with my 'daily scales & ear training routine'

The last 6 months I've been especially braking my head on scales/ear training yet stil I haven't managed to find myself a decent daily routine where I feel I'm benefiting from.

My 30' block for scales/ear training looks like:
Interval comparison/identification
Chord identification/progressions
Scale identification/cycle through scale in several ways

Perhaps you could share your thoughts on this, maybe share your 'daily routine' with us?

🙏

Roger Carson

about 3 years ago

Can you explain what you do in each category? I’d be interested to know. Are you singing the scale tones like Tomo suggests?

Thomas

about 3 years ago

Yes ofcourse, I almost always try to hum along, for interval/chord I starded using EarMaster.
Scales is all on the guitar, mostly i stick a few days at 1 scale.
For 'Identification' I do basic horizontal movement on one string. (focus on sound)
Than several ways: vertical 1 octave/cycle back to root/play in 3rd's/four in a line etc..

Brian

about 3 years ago

I also think that working along one string is particularly useful if you want to hear the intervals. I reference notes back to the C scale because it's easy to understand. Keep working with it and you should start to hear what note needs to occur next. I think it's very helpful that you are singing the notes. For me, it's just taking time to listen and learn, and I find it to be a slow process. Repetition seems to be a key element and I try find ways of making the tedious stuff enjoyable! I like doing the simple fingering exercise daily. it's easy to understand and Tomo says he does it everyday, so that tells me something.

1 Like

Roger Carson

about 3 years ago

What is EarMaster?

Brian

about 3 years ago

I haven't used it but it's an app that they advertise can help train your ear to hear intervals. For me, I think it would just be a distraction All we need to get started is to understand the intervals in a C major scale and be able to hear them. Perfect pitch is another thing and unless you learned it as a baby, it's unlikely you can develop it. But ear training is in fact something that can be developed, says Tomo, and perfect pitch is unnecessary!

George Mattingly Mod

about 3 years ago

Here is Tomo's comment:

"Thanks for sharing. Try this daily routine.

"1) Basic Ear Training with singing Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do . . .
against C chord, A chord and Eb chord. You should be able to sing any degree!

"2) Practice Basic Scales on one string.
2nd String C, 3rd String G, 1st String E… You can do all modes. Always think about each interval.

"3) Learn more Triads.
Especially on the top 3 strings. Then add chords and chord progressions. The ideas are endless!

"4) R 3 7 Swing Grove (I practice this every day).
You can use so many ideas from Guitar Wisdom lessons: Bb Blues, Bb Jazz Blues, etc.

"5) Chromatic scale.
1212 3212 3432 1234 & 4343 2343 2123 4321 from 1st fret to 9th fret.
Super slowly. No string or finger noises.

"Make a lot of effort and be creative! Enjoy every moment. Be thankful for what you already have. Believe in yourself!"

3 Likes