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Playing by ear.

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using a book to learn to play by ear is sort of defeating the point.
just play a song a few times, then try to join in on the right hand. once you can do it reasonably, add in simple chords - root chord, 4th and 5th. Then, elaborate from there. you shouldn't have any trouble. I have been playing since february, coming from the violin, and most of my repertoire is from tunes I already knew and a man on YouTube called Basil Bunelik.
 
i like to play by ear and/or memory especially as i am not a good dot reader

i struggle with how to play the chords with by ear tunes

ie it seems to me you try and get the right hand tune , then add suitable chords and it hopefully starts to sound good

but when adding chords unsure how to you play them eg hold them down , (this tends to sound too over bearing when i do this) , or other techniques

if it doesnt fit a waltz beat by default i tend to play tango beat as this seems to fit in to my skill level

maybe i 'm missing expertise or it's just practice or somthing else

i am at novice/intermediate level with this so asking at a basic level with experience of standard common chords only really

maybe its just me

hope someone knows what i'm saying here :| :?: :)
 
I know exactly what you mean. It takes a very good ear indeed to identify anything other than basic chords, although I spent a while learning jazz guitar chords which helped a bit.

I'm very much a right hand man, and if I'm not sure what the left hand should be doing I'll try a few things out. Sometimes I play a left hand chord with three fingers that sounds OK, but don't ask me what the chord would be called. I find that once you start replacing the 13th with a 6/9 and take away the number you first thought of, then that's where I start to lose interest completely.

I can play waltzes, polkas, javas, and maybe even tangos with the correct accordion chords, but once you get into stuff like the Girl from Ipanema then I have to rely on what I know on the guitar in an attempt to recreate all those maj7 and other subtle chord nuances that I cannot remember the names of. That tune sounds really nice on the accordion, but it was written for the Brazilian nylon string acoustic guitar, on which I can assure you it is far easier to play.
 
Oh yeah, I think bossa nova classics like that are good examples of how feeble a clue you get from a chord chart. The analysis will tell you they're indeed playing major 7s and minor 6s and so forth, but the voicing of those chords on the guitar and the structure that comes out of that, plays a huge role in making it work. On a guitar, they're wonderful because that structure is built into the chords. On a typical stradella setup that might mean more work for the right hand.

Chord charts are an extremely economical way to encode a lot of information about a tune, but they are very rudimentary. The way I see it, they're cues for playing by ear.
 
I am keen to learn play by ear but there seems to be a beginners page and an advanced players section with not much in between.
Until now, that is. On good old youtube I found a course of about 50 lessons.

I will await others reactions as to whether I am kidding myself.
Garth
 
There is a book by colin aston "how to play by ear correctly ......" can be used if you cannot read music, I can so it was a bit going round in circles for me
 
colinm said:
There is a book by colin aston how to play by ear correctly ...... can be used if you cannot read music, I can so it was a bit going round in circles for me
Click to expand...

i had a quick search for this to check out prices and availability but cant find it :(
 
Most of the books of how to play by ear are mainly for piano and keyboard which are not suitable for accordion. I can already play the piano by ear and from sheet music but the accordion is a much different beast. Single stave instruments are much easier to play by ear because there is just the treble or just the bass. I have come to the conclusion that it is just a matter of practice, but I have become so dependent on sheet music that its getting down to finding the time to practice playing by ear. Starting with slow tunes like silent night and eidelweiss and working up from there, which really anyone could do without any books.
 
many excellent by earists do not know the names of chords and have no desire or need so to do. The starting point for left hand stuff is always the '3 chord trick' that enables guitarists to more or less strum along with anything .

Stradella bass is aranged so that the requisite 3 chords sit conveniently on 3 adjacent diagonal rows. Put simply its the diagonal of the key i.e C (if playing in C), the diagonal row above (G) and the diagonal row below (F). For starters just use 2 vertical rows i.e fundamental bass & major chord. In this example play the C bass until it sounds crap then try the row above ,if that isn't ok try the one below and so on anad so forth. It quickly becomes intuitive . It works just the same for any key just starting on the diagonal of the key being used.

Once this is mastered, and not before, try going up another diagonal to see if it sounds better et etc. Also venture onto the minor or 7th chords but don't rush it!

As to the treble it is absolutely essential to first store a tune in the head as this effectively replaces the dots.

For dotists learning to play 'bye ear' it is essential to put the dots away aand concentrate on playing tunes that you can hum or whistle.

I have taught many dotists to play by ear and the foregoing is the bare bones of the process.

george
 
george garside said:
many excellent by earists do not know the names of chords and have no desire or need so to do. The starting point for left hand stuff is always the '3 chord trick' george
Click to expand...

any tips on left hand technique during playing by ear practice for a beginner/intermediate player :| :?:
 
Keep it simple.

The object is to be able to play what you hear on the left side, just as on the right. Luckily the complexity of the left side task is limited, but for most of us it's initially hard because we don't "hear" that part of the music as clearly. You don't want to routinely be trying to play more than you can hear, so ...

Of course it's easier to get a handle on it when you aren't trying to deal with the right hand too, so a little left-only practice might be called for.
 
I agree with Donn as to ''keeping it simple'' . There are various little exercises that can be used to develop 'intuitive' selection of bass.

- Using fingers 234 rest them gently on major chord buttons eg CGD (If playing a tune in G) .

play a SLOW tune on the right hand eg a simple waltz eg daisy daisy , oh dear what can the matter be, or maybe amazing grace, Shenandoah, waters of tyne, danny boy, or whatever .

start with the G maj chord i.e. the middle of the 3 fingers and LISTEN CAREFULLY so as to detect when the G chord ceases to harmonise then try one of the other 2 fingrs . Keep the tune going whilst 'rooting' for harmonisation!

When that is properly sorted try beating quiet unobtrusive um pa pa rhythm on G bass & G major using fingers 3&4 and moving randomly between G,C and D. tap very lightly touching buttons as if red hot.

When that sounds ok try it on the tunes you have played using the 3 finger exercise.

Playing by ear can be summed up by

''LEARNING TO LISTEN''

and

''LISTENING TO LEARN''

george
 
Some sheet music has compicated chords which are awkward to play and often have big bass button jumps making it hard work. Missing buttons and trying to find substitute buttons. So I have been having a go playing by ear just using three basic chords and it dont sound too bad, not always the right ones. There was something on the forum a couple of weeks or so ago about the right books to buy for playing accordion by ear which I cant find. Some of the books I found on Amazon are really for piano. I am looking for one for accordion only as its the bass buttons which are the problem. Can anyone tell me what the right books are.
 
I can't think of any books specifically aimed at by ear players but would be interested in any info on them myself.

Using the 3 basic chords is the right way to start and this should become intuitive fairly quickly. The next stage is to try an extra one up to see if it sounds better i.e. if playing in G (chords CGD) try using A occasionaly instead of D and maybe a little run such as GADG.

Similarly try using the odd 7th chord instead of major, usualy on the higher of the 3 eg C G D7.

Also try some minor chords eg if playing in key C try C followed by Dmin , Amin F, C


The art of playing bass by ear is to get used to ''what sounds ok or best with what'' and experimenting as in the above examples should help to develop the in required intuitive skills.

The only test is ''if it sounds right it is right'' so whilst the 3 chords will sound ok a little bit of trial and error while learning a tune can make it sound even more right!

george
 
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