Want to be able to play what you hear on saxophone?
Not quite sure how to get started?
There’s a six week saxophone ear training class on Sax Station.
But if you have been playing saxophone for a year or less or just have never really tried learning music by ear, you might want to start with something a little simpler.
Have been working on a more approachable set of lessons on ear training for sax for beginning players.
Here are a few questions and comments about ear training:
Giulio May 25, 2012
Always played by ear. lately I’m trying to acquire literacy in music which is another too big world (awesome) Now somehow the two ways are not yet enough related/synchronized in me and at times they get in conflict and some confusion arises.
The pitches are not the main issue in finding/following the melody in a tune/song while a problem can come from the ‘dictatorship’ of the ear if it glues to the main line and gives you hard time in playing differently but with it, that is harmonizing and/while improvising.
Time and rhythm are two big affairs.
Giulio
Warren Frith May 27, 2012
Neal, In the band that I play tenor sax in I ask the Piano player , what key he is playing the song or tune in , and he tells me and I look up my chart to see what key I would be playing in for B flat sax,
Thats the first thing I do before getting in to it .Kind Regards: Warren Frith.
Jake Lockyer June 2, 2012
Hi, have just started playing and reading, and am sure that i dont want in the long term to be tied to script.
Sso would like to understand the learning by ear process to have it in the back of mind even if i dont start applying it for a while, but at least to have an idea of how it fit together.
Possible to kick off early with an idea of the basics?
Neal June 4, 2012
Hello Jake, it’s good for you to know that early on! The set of lessons I’m putting together should help with that. Thanks
Played piano in the past and learned many songs by ear. Have started the sax after many years of not playing and trying to develop my ear again.
Will your lessons do what is necessary to get me over the hump?
Jim
Hey Jim, I think the lessons will help you.
Just practicing helps and approaching it in a structured way should make it easier to get through. Thanks
-Neal
James Queen October 16, 2012
I can sometimes figure out the right notes on easier or more familiar songs. I find I am way off after I see the sheet music on faster or harder songs
Neal October 16, 2012
Hey James, it just takes practice. Keep working on the songs you can do and then work your way into the harder/faster songs.
-Neal
Henry Lane June 30, 2013
I like many others can pick the songs out but not playing it in the right key.
I know I have lost a lot of my hearing by being exposed to air horns and sirens from emergency vehicles for over 30 years.
Neal July 1, 2013
Hello Henry,
That’s good to be able to do. You should be able to get the right key also without much more work. Just need to figure out where it starts.
Mark May 22, 2012
Learning music by ear is challenging because I can’t ever find the right note
Rob May 22, 2012
Neal, thanks for the offer. I eventually work it out but would like tips to speed the process.
Cheers
Rob
Jes Ryberg May 22, 2012
Playing sax by ear is really challenging for me as well.
I have played for 9 months now struggling to learn notes.
Now I can’t ever find the right note and it’s difficult to hear if the next note goes up one or two…..
John May 22, 2012
I’ve been playing for about 3 years and need help in finding the correct notes also.
Osman May 22, 2012
Initially the grace notes and how they are executed is difficult to follow. I have tried a few softwares which give me the opportunity to slow the solo down where I can listen to ta specific lick in a loop, over and over again till I figure what is going on.
Furthermore whatever I can sing or whistle I can play, now that is easy with tunes like Misty, Stardust and Harlem Nocturne, but try Confirmation or Yardbird Suite, even slowing down does not help if you cannot sing it.
You need to listen and embed the musical idea in your gray cells in order to execute it from the horn.
Brian Copeland BsaxC May 27, 2012
Osman you got the just of it.
My music teacher Bill Bell always said.. “If you can sing it, you can play it”. First thing about playing by ear is listening. Hear the notes, sing the notes, play the notes.
It helps to know what key you are in first. Have your horn in tune with the music. Hear the tone, play the tone. Slow it down to your level. If you are tone deaf, you can never play by ear. Quit now. LOL
Neal May 27, 2012
Very few people are actually tone deaf. Although I have seen the phrase ‘tone deaf’ used to describe someone who sings off key, by Suzuki actually….. that seemed strange to me.
In general, I think most people can tell if a pitch ascends or descends compared to another.
olusegun May 22, 2012
I’ve been playing for 2 years now and I know it is a lot more difficult to play by ear. I will really appreciate any aid in this area.
Gabriel May 23, 2012
Playing by ear is like driving you a car, you must know and understand everything you do at all times, see the full blessing of being able to play by ear
according to me is knowing your instrument and understanding your music,
Merrill May 23, 2012
As a child, I learned to pick out tunes by ear on the harmonica and a plastic instrument resembling a clarinet called the Flutafone.
I’m 71 now and before I leave go to live with Jesus I like to be able to play sax on a professional level of skill. So 2 years ago I started studying jazz under a professional player (if I gave his name, you might know him).
He says I have a “gift” for playing by ear. Be that as it may, I think I can always benefit from more info on the subject, so yes, I would like to have your lesson on ear training.
Albert May 23, 2012
I have spent years playing music but always reading, I have been unable to play by ear.
When I play something I already know the ear tells me if you play correctly, but unknown to play a song by ear has always been my unfinished business.
I used a program called Transcribe and I managed to play a few songs from albums that I liked
charles burton May 23, 2012
I really have difficulty telling whether the next note is up or down. sometimes when i think it is up, i try and am just not sure where to start going up.
steve May 23, 2012
Like So many others finding the right note.
RAY May 23, 2012
Hi Neal, learned to play the sax through play along music books with cd,now i find im tied to that kind of learning, so i to find it hard to break away from it.ray
Benzo May 23, 2012 at 12:35 pm [edit]
Hi Neal, thanks for great assistance u ve been giving to begingers like me. I really appreciate it. My case is different and sound as the worst even though i desire to change it to the best.
I luv sax and went to market and bought alto sax not up to two months ago. I am finding it difficult to find my note, identify my octives notes, run scales and play a song.
I run to the net as directed by my friend and i strat looking for who can help me be a good player of my desire instrucment. Where do i start from?
Frits May 23, 2012
Hi Benzo, to my opinion there are several ways to do that. For me, playing well known melodies from sheet music helped me a lot to discover the instrument, because you need to feel the relation between the keys and the tone you hear.
As soon as that relation is settled in your mind, playing sax becomes like whistle. You want to hear a tone and your fingers, mouth and tongue are automatically on the right place. Your instrument has to be directed by your mind and not by your fingers anymore.
For me that worked because I can read music and used to play flute.
When you start from scratch, you can also reach that level by experimenting with your sax and experiencing which fingering belongs to which tone. Than at first you need the fingers chart as a guide, just to produce the right tone on the right way (with the right fingering).
As soon as you can grip the right keys to produce the tone you want to hear, you are on the right way. So, try out, remember the combination of a tone and the fingering and try to reproduce that tone. Start with the well known songs your mother sang to you when you were a little child.
Success!
Cuauhtemoc May 23, 2012
I really think that is only a matter or studying and learning by heart the notes, like if you were memorizing a poem or something, of course starting little by little.
But in music for the normal pitch of the notes you have the advantage of not guessing but to continue with the sequence of the proper notes.
Anyway for me is hard,. I only can play reading the pentagram.
But may be is a question of taking the challenge like in some other aspects in life.
Anyway what we want is to play and to play right.
Thanks very much for your patience.
Best regards. Don’t forget that musical sense is a gift and comes from heaven and not by studying, it doen’t matter how hard you try. But of course I don’t deny that are a lot of ways or methods to get to that mastering.
Thanks very much for your patience.
Cuauhtemoc
Neal May 23, 2012
It doesn’t matter how hard you try? All great musicians I know of have practiced a lot……
Frits May 24, 2012
Heaven can only use you as an instrument when YOU prepare that instrument for playing, and that’s exercise by finding the relation between sound and fingering. Pray and WORK!
Henry May 23, 2012
I would say if you are able to sing it then you you will be able to play it.
With other words:
Use your natural given instrument (aka your voice) first and see if you match the right pitches. If you can do so you know that your ears and relative pitch recognition work as needed to accomplish the task of ear playing.
If you fail to sing the right pitches go back to ear training.
Tony Glover May 25, 2012
Hi Neal, My difficulties with playing by ear is completing the song. I basically, I can play the beginning of song but not bridge.
I start studying with a metronome to become more discipline. Any assistant
Take care.
Big May 25, 2012
I can read music, but have not been able to develop the relationship between the notes on the page and the sound of them. As soon as I look away from the music I’m lost…
