If you have a lot of experience with theory classes or with playing in an organized ensemble, you’re probably familiar with two different but equally important types of ear training method.

When we sit down to practice though, we tend to focus only on one of them: the basic, practice-the-interval-until-you-could-recognize-it-asleep memorization method (or derivatives of it, like sight-reading). I like to refer to this approach as “melodic”, as it emphasizes the musical elements necessary in carrying a tune or solo improvisation.

It’s the second type, “harmonic”, that musicians sometimes forget: training your ear to hear the subtly different types of chords beyond the basic triad. Practicing one type improves the other, and a well-balanced approach is the fastest way to start hearing results from your training in everyday jam sessions.

In this post we’ll take a closer look at both of these styles of ear training and identify the best techniques for developing them.

Before we move on it’s important to note that any classifications like these are, of course, only effective as basic guides to help these concepts sink in. For instance, you might find it just as helpful to adapt what we’ll refer to as “melodic” methods to do harmonic training, and vice versa. These subdivisions of ear training are not rules – just a logical dichotomy between the two general types that, if practiced in parallel, could help you develop a better ear.

Type 1: Melodic

Melodic ear training is the type we tend to emphasize – sometimes to a fault! If you’ve ever quizzed yourself on intervals with a keyboard or practiced sight singing, you’ve been training melodically. This type of training can be extremely important in developing the ability to solo instrumentally or in composing vocal melodies, and it will help you become familiar with different types of scales and modes. If, for example, you were working on a song built around a harmonic minor scale, you could practice running the notes up and down to get acquainted with the distinctive characteristics of the scale.

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At this time of year it’s easy to get distracted by all kinds of holiday fun. Decorating the tree, wrapping presents, writing Christmas cards… Or celebrating Hanukkah or just some time off work, as the case may be! But all these fun activities needn’t put a stop to your ear training: Use our new Christmas-themed Unravelling Music track to help you improve your ears and get in the festive spirit.

The new Unravelling Music ear training track March of the Candy Cane Soldiers teaches you about key modulation, chord progressions, rhythmic figures, musical codas and the circle of fifths – no music theory required! Download the tracks below and get in that festive ear training mood:

Click to download “March of the Candy Cane Soldiers” Unravelling Music pack (or right-click and “Save as…”)

Contents

• 14-page liner notes PDF with track-by-track info
• 1 full-length MP3 file, “March of the Candy Cane Soldiers”
• 6 supporting MP3 files teaching you to hear more in the song

Did you enjoy our Christmas special? Have you spotted extra musical details in the track you want to share? Leave your comment below!

As players, guitarists are expected to have a wide range of skills including incredible ears. We are asked to play by ear, accompany singers in any key, and improvise. In developing these skills we need to be able to recognize different chord types and their inversions, as well as to be able to translate what we hear to the instrument.

When we are learning different chord forms we seem to be inundated with their seemingly endless variations and notations. But at their essence are four different basic sound qualities: major, minor, diminished and augmented. Within these four basic triad qualities are really just two modes: major and minor. The diminished triad is related to the minor triad, as the augmented is to the major one.

In this article we will review close position major and minor triads as they are found on the guitar. Close position triads on the guitar are perhaps not the most practical chords to use from a playing perspective, but they will help you understand the construction of larger four and even six note chords that you may be more familiar with, and provide a means for learning their sound quality in their most basic forms.

Triads

Triads are three note chords built by stacking thirds, from a root note. If you consider the common C major chord below, it actually only consists of three pitches: C, E and G. The other two notes are just repetitions: another C on the second string and another E on the first string.

A standard C Major guitar chord

Standard C Major guitar chord

Chords sound the strongest when we put their root as the lowest note. Nevertheless, any of a chord’s members can be the lowest, note giving a triad three possible positions: Click to read the rest…