• Songwriter, Recording Artist, and Blogging Musician
  • Log in
  • Help

Ear Training on Speed

Given enough time, it’s inevitable that you will figure out what you are hearing. But what about knowing what you hear in the moment? For this, you must practice speed.

You can practice speed whenever you hear a song on the radio, when you’re at your instrument, or just in your head. The key is to be relaxed, yet alert, and set the intention of your practice session to improve your speed. The most accurate form of measurement would be a stop watch or timer of some sort. You could measure the time it takes to get a single answer right or how long it takes to get a group of answers right. Then try to beat your previous measurements. Do this with intervals, chords, pitches, and anything else musical that you want to be able to identify.

Even though you are focusing on speed, don’t worry about how long it will take to meet your goals. That’s not really the point of this practice. The point is to use whatever level of improvement you’ve gained to make better music. Having goals and setting dates can be important, but don’t lose sight of the big picture.

Practice so that you can make better music.

If you want to be notified the next time I post something, sign up for email alerts or subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (1 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...

Video: Songwriting and Time Management

The brand new Merlin Show features Jonathan Coulton, a songwriter who gained quite a lot of popularity for his Thing a Week project. They discuss songwriting and the ubiquitous capture process. It’s a good show and the 43 Folders blog is an excellent resource for Getting Things Done. I highly recommend watching.

Update: Part 2 is up.

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
Loading ... Loading ...

Samurai Songwriting Private Beta Starts Today!

It was really hard to keep it under wraps for so long, but it is finally the right time. You are now invited to the Private Beta of Samurai Songwriting.

Click here for details: Samurai Songwriting Private Beta

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
Loading ... Loading ...

Who Else Wants To Record Like The Beatles?

Recording The Beatles is a 540-page book that details all of The Beatles recordings. It’s been reviewed by Wired and looks awesome.

It’s not cheap at $100 but it looks worth it just to learn the mics, mixers, effects, and instruments they used to get those classic sounds. I’m definitely buying a copy!

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
Loading ... Loading ...

2-23-07 GMAJ 69bpm

Here’s a country/pop song using some acoustic guitar instruments in Logic Pro.

 
 2-23-07 GMAJ 69bpm: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (1 votes, average: 3 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...

© 2008 Graham English. Contact Subscribe Support

Close
Powered by ShareThis