Have you ever wondered how the pros can play along with any song they hear? Well, it takes some practice, but you might be surprised to hear that you don’t need to be a prodigy, a virtuoso, or have perfect pitch.
All you need is a solid understanding of some fundamentals and a little ear training, and you’ll be a hit at every party (every party with a piano, at least; if not, you’re on your own).
Managing expectations
When we talk about playing by ear, we’re typically talking about picking out chords and melodies.
We aren’t talking about playing challenging piano concertos note-perfect after one listen. If you can do that, you’re doing better than most of us. If you can’t do that, you’re one of us, don’t worry about it.
When it comes to popular music, it’s not unreasonable to think we can replicate catchy piano parts with some accuracy. Even with jazz, we might be able to replicate specific piano parts after a few listens.
However, the aim of playing by ear is to identify the key, chords, and melody so we can busk and improvise our favorite songs.
We can play by ear in four steps:
- Find the tonic
- Identify the chord quality
- Think about diatonic chords
- Figure out chord progressions and bass movement
Don’t worry if it feels like you’re just guessing as you go through some of the steps; I’ll explain how to practice at the end so you can play by ear quickly and accurately.
Step 1. Find the tonic
The first thing we need to know is what key the song is in. Songs often start on the tonic chord (the I chord of the scale), but not always, so we can’t count on the first chord giving us the key.
For example, if the first chord is Cmaj, it could be:
- The I of C major
- The IV of G major
- The V of F major
Whatever the case, we want to find the tonal center, the home base of the song.
Even if you don’t know what the chords are yet, you’ll get a sense of home because it’s where the song resolves most obviously.
If you’re new to playing by ear, pick a note and play it a few times over the song. You’ll immediately know if the note is really far off because it will sound terrible. But if it sounds like it fits, we know the note is diatonic to the key of the song.
Assuming we can tell where the tonic occurs (the home base), whether it’s the first chord of the song or where each vocal line ends, we want the note we’re playing to be a perfect match. If it’s a perfect match, you’ll have the root of the tonic chord, and you’re halfway to knowing the key signature.
Don’t worry if you don’t get it right away; even experienced pianists without perfect pitch don’t get it right on the first attempt every time. The trick is always to get close enough that we can work it out in seconds, and that’s something we can learn.
For now, trial and error is fine; just go through the process, and I’ll talk about how we can train our ears below.
Step 2. Identify the chord quality
Once we have the root of the tonic chord, let’s say it’s C, we need to identify the tonal quality as major or minor.
Since we have the root, the fastest way is to try playing both the major and minor versions over the tonic in the song.
I’ve talked in other articles about major chords sounding bright and happy and minor chords sounding darker and sad. I’ve also spoken about minor chords being in the tonic family when it comes to functional harmony, but despite the close relationship, we should be able to tell major from minor quite easily with a bit of work.
The aim is to know major from minor by ear, without the need to test the chords. Once we know the quality of the tonic chord, we have the key; let’s say it’s the key of C major.
Step 3. Think about diatonic chords
Now that we know the song is C major, we should remind ourselves which chords are diatonic to the C major scale.
Having the diatonic chords in mind will help you figure out the chord progression easier.
Step 4. Figure out chord progressions and bass movement
Knowing the key of a song is just part of the puzzle, but we need to know what path the music takes.
There are a couple of ways we can follow that journey.
Sometimes, the chord progression is very simple, and we can hear it immediately. But if you can’t hear it, immediately focus on the bass movements.
More often than not, the bass will play the root of each chord as they change. If we can identify the target bass notes, we’ll find the chord progression.
How to practice
Here’s where it gets interesting. The steps above are great if you find the correct key and chords quickly, but we want to turn trial and error into a skillful process.
Most of us aren’t fortunate enough to have perfect pitch, but we can train and develop relative pitch.
Relative pitch is the ability to identify one pitch compared to a reference pitch. For example, if we take middle C as our reference, we can identify other notes by their relationship to middle C.
When I say relationship, I’m talking about the interval between the two notes. Here are some examples:
- C – Eb – Minor 3rd
- C – E – Major 3rd
- C – F – Perfect 4th
- C – G – Perfect 5th
- C – A – Major 6th
Interval training
You should start every practice session with some ear training, even if it’s only 10-20 minutes.
Interval training is how we develop and improve our relative pitch, and it’s not difficult.
Choose a reference note; we can make it C to start, but it can be any note. Play your reference note, then close your eyes and play any other note.
Make sure you don’t feel too much for the keys to get a hint, and use your index finger only.
To start, you can play your reference note before every new note. As you get more comfortable, try playing your reference note less.
Once you get used to identifying intervals, finding the tonic of any song won’t take too many attempts because, if your first attempt is wrong, you’ll hear how far away you are.
Identifying intervals quickly also helps you figure out chord progressions.
Major or minor
While you’re doing some ear training, spend a little time getting used to the difference between major and minor chords.
Choose a chord, spend a few minutes alternating between major and minor, and listen closely to the difference.
Once you’ve done that, put your fingers over a basic Cmaj triad to get your hand in the correct shape. Then, close your eyes and move your hand around the white keys, playing simple triads.
Try to do this for a few minutes each day, identifying whether the triads are major or minor as you go (if you land on that Bdim, you’ll know).
The more you do it, the easier it gets, and it becomes less about guessing and more about skill.
Chord progressions
I highly recommend that you work through our common chord progressions article. But don’t just do it once; work on these progressions as part of your practice routine.
Great musicians aren’t psychic; they don’t magically know what’s coming next. They know what’s coming next because they can spot common patterns and indicators.
Practice our common chord progressions, and listen to lots of music. I know that sounds like obvious advice, but I mean, really listen to music; pick out common patterns, pick out techniques that your favorite musicians use, and learn while you listen.
Don’t be afraid to explore new genres either; the more open you are, the more you’ll learn.
Explore the melody
As pianists, we spend a lot of time accompanying singers (or singing ourselves, if we can – I can’t), and although we consider the melody, we don’t always play it. It’s always beneficial to learn and play the melody, even if you don’t need to.
Playing the melody helps us understand harmony better because we focus on the relationship between the melody notes and the underlying chords.
Once you start working on your relative pitch, the melody provides another way to find the key of the song. Pick out one melody note, and relative pitch will help you find the others. You’ll soon hear what scale you’re using and have the song’s key.
Conclusion
Playing by ear isn’t magic, and there’s no big secret behind how it’s done. The answer, as it often is, is practice! The more you practice, the easier it gets.
