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Applying this process on a few simple songs:

simple melodies

... and an overview of the process:

Sorry, I didn't mean to stray so far from the OP 's basic inquiry. I agree with Michael, the process he describes is essential. It's how I started. Music is logical, which is why I stress the importance of learning the order behind the complexity of possibilities which can be available in harmonizing even the most simple songs -- possibilities that rise out of the basic I-V or I-IV-V cadences found in simple songs and which are related to them in logical ways.

Demonstrating this logic is where Rosa and Schott--Rosa particularly for the beginner--do such a brilliant job. But before your ear can recognize these relationships, you it must be able to recognize the basic cadences and hear them in simple songs just the way Michael describes.

Only one small caveat: while music is logical, it is also emotional, and not everyone wants to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or any children's song for that matter, so try to find songs that you're motivated to play because, as Michael suggests, the process can be very tedious if the song is boring for you. If you like country, there are tons of 3-chord country songs, if you're spiritual, try Amazing Grace. I love musical theatre , so my first song was from Music Man. Here it is only two weeks into the process:

https://app.box.com/shared/hsx3os388t

I love musical theater too. I actually grew up singing it as a young teenager. I was in Carmen, had the lead role in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor dreamcoat, and various other performances. I'm really into Sondheim too.

I was curious about pulling up your "Good night my someone" recording, but it's only in Midi? You dont' have an audio/mp3 version?

Wow, you must sing as well as you play! And Sondheim is my man. Has been since I was 15 and took out the recording of "Anyone can Whistle" from the library and discovered he composed music as well as wrote the brilliant lyrics to some of my favorite musicals.

Thanks for your interest in my first recording. Although its midi (I have no way to convert it now as I have retired my DP), it doesn't have a synthetic sound but sounds like I'm playing a piano.

No, I don't have much of a range anymore and I don't have a lot of power in my voice. So when I do sing, it's gotta be a part that's within my limited range.



I think West Side Story was the first one he worked on? My two favorites are Sweeney Todd, and Sunday in the Park with George, an interesting, somewhat odd ode to the artistic spirit, and the version with Mandy Patinkin? Wow. What a cool guy. I'm sure most people who watched Chicago Hope or the other TV shows he's been in, had no idea this guy is multi-talented. Or the awesome flick The Princess Bride, for that matter.

The one thing I absolutely can't stand - and this is probably going to [censored] some people off, sorry - but I can't stand the fact that they made, and keep making for corn's sake, musical versions of Les Miserables. Oh crap. Just stop it. It belittles the brilliant piece of literature that is Hugo's book.

I'm a huge Sondheim groupie, as well.
Sondheim wrote the lyrics to West Side Story and Gypsy. Not bad. After that he wrote music and lyrics for his own shows.
I love Sunday in the Park (Move On), Sweeney Todd (Not While I'm Around, which Kurt Elling sings), A Little Night Music (the whole score is some form of waltz), Pacific Overtures, Merrily We Roll Along (Our Time), Company (Being Alive), etc. I think all Americans should know some Sondheim; he's one of our greatest artists.

There; now I feel better!

A man after my own heart. I was an English major and my husband is an English Professor and we both couldn't agree more. Although, I know at least one beloved regular here who would have us stoned and burned at the stake for saying so. (I expect we'll be hearing from him in this thread very soon.[lol])

jjo - I saw a production of every show you mentioned and others you didn't, Into the Woods (which changed my life because seeing it coincided with my discovery of Jung and dream work) and Follies (flawed but so "cosmic egg" breakingly brilliant in concept and parts of its execution, it is my favorite even more than the critics "least flawed" choice, Sweeney Todd)

Amen. I'm not saying that music in "Le Miz" is bad, I'm just saying that I wish they had chosen some other book instead. If you want to appreciate what Victor Hugo is saying, you gotta read the book. Everything else falls short. Way short. If the BBC did a really well-made miniseries, like they did with Martin Chuzzlewit - which was absolutely amazing, the British are so good at that sort of thing, and Pete Postlethwaite's performance was just astounding - they could really do justice to the book. The 1998 version with Liam Neeson and Geoffrey Rush was very good, but too short - you can't express in a two-hour film the subtleties of an 800-page novel that was written by a genius.

Continuing on the lines of learning to play piano by ear, I did another video in the same vein as my first one. For this, the song is "Stuck on You" by Lionel Richie. I show you the melody and chords, with tips and advice to figuring those out by ear. And I show you appropriate sets of improvisational tones to use for each chord and some different techniques on piano that are of benefit on any song you play. Check it out, hopefully someone will find it of some benefit:

Stuck on you - part 1:


Stuck on you - part 2:

Very cool vids! Thanks for posting these. If you decide to make another video do you think that you could make one explaining how to relate keys together, using borrowed chords and whatnot. Maybe even throw in some examples of some non diatonic progressions or key changes. Thanks again!

already hankering to get out of a single key, aren't you? Good. ... yes I'll do this ....

Well ya...it's funny I've played guitar for years, and I know all about scales and chord construction and what not, but when it comes to smooth key changes and and when to use borrowed chords, I'm a bit of a mess. I know that you can use a 2-5-1 to change keys, but aside from that I'm kinda clueless. For instance, I was messing around with Layla the other day and I noticed that the intro is in D minor, then the verse is in C#m...which is a half step down. Weird, but it sounds so perfect with the A - C - C# movement. Then the A7 chord brings it oh so nicely back to D minor again. When I try to compose key changes I can't seem to get them to sound so smooth like that!

Just to add to the debate

I would say it depends on the type of music you want to play by ear. I personally play by ear because I am a church musician and I need to learn songs fast In time for Sunday.

I use the number system as its suited to playing in this style.
A lot of the songs we play use similar chord patterns with a different melody sung on top. When I learn songs for church I only practice the chord patterns & harmonic structure & leave the melody for the singers or choir.

A lot of the progressions cross over into R&B and Jazz so they can be used for playing the harmonic structure for a lot of those songs too.

In my opinion one of the best exponents of this style is Jamal Hartwell whose excellent Set of DVD's "Play by Ear" 1 & 2 will teach you the chords & Patterns & his "No More Transpose download" will give you the chords & patterns in every key.

But I would only recommend using the system to supplement what you already know, and not as a replacement. Not every song fits neatly into the patterns or progressions so knowing other ways of learning songs is just as important.

funny you talking about A7 -> Dminor. I was planning to discuss secondary dominants in the next video.

Post 2160461: Creating bass lines in B minor by ear:

B minor bass lines

Playing by ear is a matter of being taught the structure of music and being shown how, within this structure, there are many choices available to you. To learn how to do this, you must refuse being shown "exactly what to play" and instead you are shown the general framework and it is up to you how to put the building blocks together.

To learn to play by ear, you have to get away from all forms of written music. This is crucial. You must be able to it down with nothing but you and the piano keys.

For example, you are taught a C major pentatonic scale. How you play these five notes, how you phrase them and create riffs, is up to you.

For example, you are taught a I IV V chord progression. You play these enough to where your ear is familiar with the sound of each chord in relation to the other. Later on, your ear allows you to apply this instinctively when appropriate.

"Learning music by ear is done by repeatedly listening to other musicians and then attempting to recreate what one hears. This is how people learn music in any musical tradition in which there is no complete musical notation. Many people in cultures which have notation still learn by ear and ear training, often through a musicianship course at a music conservatory or college, is common practice among those who use notation extensively.

Audiation involves hearing sounds mentally, although on a different level than just "hearing a song in one's head". In addition to mentally hearing rhythms and pitches the skill of reproducing those sounds involves melody, harmony (chords) and bass line.

In the West, learning by ear is associated with folk music, and pop styles including blues, rock, and sometimes jazz. But many classical music forms throughout the world lack notation, and have therefore been passed from generation to generation by ear.

The Suzuki method of teaching music has a highly developed focus on playing by ear from a very young age. In his book "Teaching from the Balance Point," Edward Kreitman, a US-based Suzuki teacher, clearly distinguishes "learning by ear" as a separate, completely different process from "learning by rote"

I definitely believe that playing by ear can be taught, and that much of what holds people back is simply a lack of instruction on what to do.

On that note, and since the OP asked about free resources that delved into theory and playing by ear, I thought I'd mention that you might want to check out my podcast, "The Better Piano Podcast." The tagline for the show is "the podcast all about helping you to be a better piano player, especially in the areas of improvisation, composition, and playing by ear."

You can find it here:

http://www.betterpiano.com/archives/category/podcast
or here (US page):
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/betterpiano.com/id570184527

There's currently some 13+ hours of free material there so far, covering a variety of levels and genres.


Best of luck in your quest!

James

I find that getting very familiar with the Circle of Fifths is one of the best ways to learn to play by ear because it gives you a sense of typical chord movement and patterns/progressions that you can get to know and then play by heart. (BEAD-GCF)

Circle of Fifths:
http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/moneychords/circle.html
http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/moneychords/circleprogressions.html

"The Circle of Fifths [above] shows the most logical, natural movement of one chord to another in Western music".

Thousands of songs follow some form of the Circle of Fifths.

A good way to get familiar with the circle of 5ths/4ths is to practice scales according to the circle.