Ear Training

Lesson 4/145 | Study Time: 5 Min

Course: Complete Harmonica

Ear Training

Probably the most important aspect of harmonica playing is being able to play a melody by ear and respond to other musicians. Many people have trouble with this at first, but it is really just a matter of listening, practice and patience.

All notes used in music can be written down and therefore have a specific pitch and time value. Through the course of this book you will learn the fundamentals of all of the common time values for notes as well as a method of identifying pitches and how they relate to other pitches in a song. The best way to start improving your ability to play "in time" and "in tune" is to copy the sounds made by someone else. The easiest way to do this is to play along with a recording and try to copy the harmonica player, or the vocal melody. Listen carefully to both the rhythms and the pitches. Here are some exercises to help you develop this ability. There is no notation for these examples, you simply copy what you hear on the recording. In example 96, the harmonica plays a rhythm using a G note in one bar and then you repeat it in the following bar.

Now try matching the pitches played by the harmonica on this example. Once again, the harmonica plays in one bar and a space is left for you to repeat what you just heard in the next bar.

This example contains short phrases using rhythm and a variety of pitches. As before, listen carefully and then copy what you hear. Do this for a short time each day and it will get easier as long as you do it regularly.

It is also useful to get together with another musician and practice this technique between the two of you. E.g. have a guitarist play short phrases and you repeat them. Then swap roles – you improvise short phrases and your friend copies them by ear. This can develop into call and response (question and answer) which is commonly used by Blues musicians and is always entertaining for an audience. Your eventual aim should be to be able to instantly copy any melody and come up with your own variations on it. All great players can do this.

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1- INTRODUCTION 2- The Diatonic Harmonica (Key of C) 3- Making Musical Sounds 4- Rests 5- Playing Single Notes 6- Hand Vibrato 7- The Eighth Note 8- 12 Bar Blues 9- The C Major Scale 10- Cross Harp Playing(Second Position) 11- The Triplet 12- Sliding Between Notes 13- Bending Notes 14- Grace Notes 15- Sixteenth Notes 16- Dotted Eighth Notes 17- What are These Sounds? 18- Cross Harp Sounds 19- Articulations 20- Improvisation 21- Eight Bar Blues 22- Third Position 23- Fourth Position 24- Harps in Other Keys 25- The Chromatic Harmonica 26- Solving Reading Problems 27- Sharps and Flats 28- More About Major Scales 29- Playing the Chromatic Scale 30- More About Keys and Key Signatures 31- Transposing 32- More About Blues Scales 33- Intervals 34- Minor Keys and Scales 35- Relative Keys 36- Using the Compact Discs 37- How to Hold the Harmonica 38- Reading the Notation System 39- Moving Between Positions 40- The Lead-in 41- The Train Whistle 42- Double Tonguing 43- Rhythm Playing 44- Key of C Major 45- More About 12 Bar Blues 46- Swing Rhythms 47- The Trail Off 48- Licks 49- The Trill 50- First and Second Endings 51- Notes on the C Harmonica 52- The G Major Pentatonic Scale 53- Accents 54- The Turnaround 55- The Dorian Scale 56- Relative Major and Minor Keys 57- Bending Exhale Note 58- Holding the Chromatic Harmonica 59- Positions on the Chromatic Harp 60- The Chromatic Scale 61- Major Scale Pattern 62- Enharmonic Notes 63- The Key Cycle 64- The Key of E Flat Minor 65- Interval Qualities 66- The Harmonic Minor Scale 67- Learning a New Minor Key 68- Approach to Practice 69- Bar Lines 70- Playing Songs 71- The Tie 72- Breath Control 73- Syncopation 74- Chord Numbers 75- The Shuffle 76- More Notes to Bend 77- Throat Vibrato 78- Sixteenth Notes and Ties 79- Complete Range of the C Harmonica 80- The Minor Pentatonic Scale 81- Ghost Notes 82- Ear Training 83- Simple and Compound Time 84- Swinging Sixteenth Notes 85- Understanding Chords 86- Understanding Music 87- Intervals 88- The G Major Scale 89- Major Scales in all Keys 90- Interval Distances 91- The Melodic Minor Scale 92- Minor Scales in all Keys 93- Types of Harmonicas 94- Consecutive Breaths 95- Combining Chords and Single Notes 96- Posture 97- Root Notes 98- Stop Time 99- The Major Pentatonic Scale 100- The Blues Scale 101- Learning From Horn Players 102- Call and Response 103- The Blues Scale in Third Position 104- Playing in Other Keys 105- Melody and Harmony 106- Standard Music Notation 107- Using the Slide 108- Key Signatures 109- Using the Key Cycle 110- Identifying Intervals by Ear 111- Table of Minor Scales 112- Tonguing 113- Tone Development 114- Learning Vocal Melodies 115- Playing Octaves 116- Different Types of Chords 117- Learning the Notes on the Staff 118- The F Major Scale 119- Jam Along Progressions 120- Playing by Ear 121- Leaving Space Between Phrases 122- New Topic 123- Note Values 124- Performing in Public 125- Riffs 126- The Note Tree 127- Overcoming Nerves 128- Range of the Chromatic Harmonica 129- Eye Contact 130- Playing Songs on the Chromatic Harmonica 131- Stage Presence and Stage Craft 132- Slurs 133- Developing Your Own Style 134- Cut Common Time 135- Microphones 136- Octaves on the Chromatic Harp 137- Microphones for Performing Live 138- Developing Your Music Reading 139- Amplification 140- Overdrive 141- Using a Harmonica Rack 142- Listening 143- Transcribing 144- Recording Yourself 145- Learning More About Music

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Ear Training

Ear Training

Peter Gelling

Class Sessions

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