How to practice recognizing chord progressions?
This topic contains 1 reply, has 2 voices, and was last updated by 
caylalayman 9 years ago.
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I studied in a college where every musician plays by ear. The bass player, keyboard player, etc. has a good grasp of which chord comes next. I also go to a church where every musician plays by ear. The bass player, keyboard player, and the guitar player knows which chord to play next when the vocalist is singing. Now I am in University, the professors and the student have a good grasp of which chord comes next.
When I was done in the college, I didn’t learn to recognize chord progressions. I use software programs to help me with chord progressions, but it’s far from real music because the sound is artificial in a software program.
My pastor in the church who is a guitar and keyboard player advised me to repeatedly play chord progressions of popular songs and Christian songs on my instrument, but I don’t think this is helping. I go to church barely recognizing the chord progressions.
The bass guitar player in our church told me to rely on the feeling of the music. Which note/chord sounds right in a song and it will fit.
My experience practicing chord progressions is that I don’t know the sound of a chord (for example a subdominant chord) very well.
I like the advise of the bass guitar player, but if there’s some advice on Easy Ear Training that will be great.
I need advice on how to practice chord progressions. I believe this skill is attainable. I just need to start somewhere.
Thanks for the help.
@blanche_minim-2: Welcome! We offer an entire section and knowledge base revolving around chord progression ear training. Here you’ll find almost 2 dozen articles on the subject as well as some FAQ including “How do guitar players memorize songs to play?” here. Many guitar (or bass guitar) players like yourself (and indeed other musicians) struggle to memorize songs because they do it the “wrong way” as you’ve indicated. Hopefully these articles are a good starting place, and maybe some of our bass playing ear trainers will chime in, too.
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