EAR TRAINING: ONE NOTE COMPLETE

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

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Q I have recently purchased one of your books. It's refreshing to find a well written music book. Thanks!

I've just begun to try your technique and had a few questions. I was hoping the book would answer them but it did not.

First let me say I have no formal ear training. I listen to your CD on the way to work and back (1 hour+1 hour daily). I was in band in elementary school and have taught myself guitar over the past 10 years. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. Even though I sing and play guitar, it seems I really can't even tell if a note is in key unless the chord is playing in the background simultaneously with the note. Is this common? On your CD I can usually recognize if the note is either C or G, but don't know which one it is. The rest of the notes all sound the same to me. Is there anybody that has tried in earnest to train his or her ears that just can't do it? How long does it usually take before I will start to recognize the notes?

Thanks in advance. I will let you know my progress if you're interested.
A Your experience is very common with beginners who are trying this ear training method. Fortunately I have never met a person who didn't eventually get this ear training if they worked on it patiently, and didn't get upset if they weren't improving as quickly as they wanted.

I think first you need to understand that your perception and identification of sound is probably distorted, possibly from a lifetime of neglect or misperception. This may sound like an incurable situation but it isn't. Really all you need is the will to change it, the mechanisms to re-learn are still inside you. It may require a lot of work on your part but the rewards are immense.

In order to change your perception of sound you are going to have to set up a regimen of practicing which will allow you to keep the sounds of pitches in your short term memory as much as possible. Your practicing to and from work is a good start. Learning this type of ear training is a lot like how your learned words when you were a small child. After you were born, your parents would say a word over and over to you over many weeks or months until by the time you were two or so, you were ready to start really talking. This is the type of learning process you need to use with this ear training. We need to keep the sound of these pitches in your short term memory as much as possible so it can sooner or later enter you permanent memory. It sounds complicated but really it's just about you doing this ear training as much as possible through out the day even if it's for 2 or 3 minutes. Remember you're not really using the "intellectual" side of the your brain with this-- you are really trying to develop a natural response to something you have heard so much that you just remember it. So don't spend too much time trying to find the hidden sound of each note that will allow you to identify it-- just try to be positive and welcome each note as an interesting sound that you will memorize over time.

There is two sides to the ear training process. The listening, that you do with the CD that you have, and the sight singing which is done with the book Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training. Your progress will be greatly enhanced if you can work with both listening and singing everyday. For instance one of your current problems is that a lot of the notes sound the same to you. This is because you have weak "key retention." By doing the singing assignments in the Fanatic's Guide you will begin to build your key retention which in turn will help you to hear the difference between each note. I recommend you get the Fanatic's Guide and follow the assignments in the book or that are posted in the "member's area" of the muse-eek.com website. You have free access to this area because you own a muse-eek book so take advantage of this resource. You will also find a few ear training documents in the member's area which are important for you to read.

Usually it takes a few months of work before you will start to notice that your recognition skills have improved. Don't try to rush the process. Usually by trying to improve too quickly students come up with little tricks and gimmicks to help them identify notes. This will only hold you back in the future. Try to approach this as a process of memorization of sound which will take time and concentration but most importantly approach it with a positive frame of mind. Don't chastise yourself if you get something wrong. Be positive and realize that these sounds will become familiar to you over time.

Also please keep in touch and let me know your progress. You are attempting something that is very difficult and needs a lot of guidance. Feel free to contact me as you work to make sure you are doing everything correctly.

Good luck and thanks for contacting me.
 
Q Since last typing at you I've been taking some musicianship, piano, compostition, and harmony classes at a local college and I'm loving the challenges...and the learning. I also recently puchased two of your one-note ear-training books. I believe I understand the basic approach; that is, this information needs to be automatic, like the vocabulary and grammar of any laguage one hopes to speak; and, the best way to make this information automatic is through repetitive drills, at (eventually) a fast pace.

Does that sound right? Now for my questions: If I can eventually hear and immediately identify all the twelve notes in various octaves agaist a c major tonic background, what happens when I'm not in c-major? Will I still know the notes by their actual pitches or will I hear only their relation to that new key? In the latter case, shouldn't I be learning them as 1-12 instead of c-b? And of course many pieces purposely modulate through several keys. How will I deal with this? My hope is that I'll know all the notes regardless of key, maybe I'll just need to hear the c to orient before starting out. Probably there's no easy answer to all this but time and persistence (if those could be called easy). If when you get some time you could offer some wisdom on this subject it would be greatly appreciated.
A You are right about the correct approach to the ear training books. Of course it's difficult to tell a student all the different problems that one may run into when trying to perfect this type of ear training, but here are a couple of things to keep in mind.

1. You are trying to develop the right response method in your mind. This means that you should listen to the I IV V cadence, hear the note and immediately give a response even if you are just guessing. Over time you will guess less and less because you will remember the sound.

2. Never use the resolution tendency of a note to identify it. Students commonly will hear the following:

a. 7th moving to the root.
b. 4th moving to the 3rd.
c. flat 6th moving to the 5th
d. flat 2nd moving to the root

I believe most people have these tendencies and they are fine to have just don't use them to identify notes because in reality any of those notes could move anywhere. Also, it takes too much time, and you want to eventually KNOW what the note is, not its nearest neighbor.

3. I strongly recommend practicing this ear training in short periods many times throughout the day, as opposed to one or two long sessions This is best for both the singing and the listening. I find five 15 minute sessions to be a good amount. But even listening to two examples 20 times a day is excellent. Basically you want to keep these sounds in your short term memory until they move to your permanant memory.

4. Never ever sing the tonic of the key or the note you are trying to identify, you may think you are "grounding" yourself but like my caution regarding resolution tendencies, this will just slow you down and its a bad habit to get into.

These are some of the things to watch out for. I think you can see that you just have to memorize the sound over time and then speed up the response.

For your question about using this ear training in other keys. All keys have the same structure. Therefore if you heard E as the 3rd in C major when you are in the key of F# major you will hear A# as the 3rd. Some students prefer to give their response as degrees of a key rather than note names. I believe you should be able to do both. Obviously this will require you to learn your music theory quite well. But, on the other hand doing this ear training method over time will highly refine your music theory too. As far as your question goes you could learn the notes as degrees rather than note names but really you should be able to do both in any key. If you are a guitarist I would recommend working through the Music Theory Workbooks for Guitar Volume One and Two to develop your ability to think notes and degrees in any key.

To answer another question that comes up often. You don't need to do this ear training in all keys but you do need to get your music theory to a point where if you are in the key of A major and you hear the flat 6th you will know that is F. Also if you were playing in a band and you played an F and it sounded like the flat 6th you would instantly realize you where in the key of A. The book "Key Note Recognition" gives you exercises to further develop this skill.

As far as modulation goes that is covered in two note ear training. When you feel you are up to 80 to 90% on the one note advanced level, pick up the 1st volume of the two note method and that will explain the process. However, I highly recommend you work through "Key Note Recognition as a primer for the two note ear training series.
 
Q I just bought your "One Note Beginning Level"book from Barnes and Noble. I understand the idea of relative pitch and I totally agree with your approach of staight memorization. However, I play trumpet and hadn't really thought about the fact that the book might not have a portion in Bb (spoiled by the Aebersold stuff I guess). This presents a real problem for me personally because I tried to teach myself trumet with a chromatic tuner and ended up learning (sort of) the fingerings in C and have finally purged most of that and relaced it with the Bb info. I'm afraid that using the CD as is might bring back old habits. I'm also afraid that transposing the answer key and looking it up each time wouldn't give me the immediate feedback I need. I was wondering if you had any suggestions. Also, is there a Bb version available/in the works/can I get one???

thanks for the excellent resource!
A I understand your dilemma, and I have a couple of concerns.

First if let's say there was a Bb version. You would hear the a cadence in C then let's say the 5th or G concert was played. You would like the answer to be A or the 6th. So then when you played A on the trumpet you would be playing a G concert. I'm wondering about the wisdom of learning ear training/music theory in this manner. Basically if you hear the 5th of a key sounded you think the sixth (or basically always thinking with transposition.) You would basically have to do this for all music theory and ear training knowledge you possess. I guess that is OK but from the trumpet players and woodwind players that I talked to they believe you should be able to do the ear training method both concert and transposed. I'm also wondering how you will deal with always transposing when you are reading nontransposed parts which happen quite a bit in the real world.

On the other hand I understand your need for instant ear to finger connection. One possible solution would be to listen to the Ear Training CD and pretend the cadence is in Bb; then when you hear to answer it will be transposed.

Another possibility would be to use your trumpet when you listen to the CD. You would hear the I IV V cadence and the when note in question would sound you would then play on the trumpet what note you think is correct. This way you wouldn't even have to listen to the answer because you would know if your trumpet note matches the sound on the CD.

A really no-nonsense answer to your quandary would be to say you should learn the ear-training "in concert" as originally intended, just to be an all around good musician, then go BACK over the exercises with your trumpet, until you are instantaneous in your responses. Tough to do, but that's another route.
 
Q What is your recommendation for combining the Ear Training and Fanatic's aural exercises? Do you alternate lessons from each book daily or do you have another method that will maximize results? Thanks for your time and I am looking forward to hearing better.
A Thanks for contacting me. I'm glad you have both the Fanatic's Guide and an Ear Training One Note book (I assume it's a one note book.) Working on both singing and listening is very important to fast progress. One of the key ingredients to improving at the fastest pace with this method is to practice several times throughout the day, as opposed to one long session. 15-20 twenty minute intervals would be ideal. During this practice time you should work in both books by listening to the CD for the One Note Book and then doing some of the singing exercises out of the Fanatic's Guide. Make sure you always use the Fanatic's Guide CD with any exercise you sing. It is important to always hear your voice in relation to a key center. Another main ingredient is your understanding of what you are trying to do inside your head with this ear training and how you deal with your own preconceptions and old habits. These questions are usually dealt with by me in a private lesson over a period of time. In this case we don't have that luxury. To deal with this problem I have written a 10 page article that is free for you because you own a muse-eek book. You can find this article in the "member's area" of the muse-eek.com website. This article will give you much more information on how to approach each book and the how's and why's of organizing your practice time. I think you would greatly benefit from reading this information before you start into this ear training method. It may also create some more specific questions relating to your take on the process. Remember you are trying to reprogram the way you hear music. If you start to think about that it's a pretty massive task. Luckily this method will do this for you BUT you need to be fully involved in monitoring and analyzing your practice habits and your perception of sound. It is important that you read the FAQs under all the ear training books on the muse-eek.com website. In theory this ear training method is simple, yet once your mind starts to process sound and you are in the middle of practicing you'd be surprised how many different right and wrong perceptions students have of what is the "right thing to do." Let me know if you have any more questions and I wish you good luck with your progress.
 
Q I understand that you feel the traditional interval-based ear training to be impractical. I've never done any extensive ear training before. After trying your method for about a month, I noticed that it actually worked, but in a very specific, limited way. When I listen to a piece of music, first I need to hear the key. Naturally, I don't need to identify what key it is, but I need to get a sense of the key, whatever it is. Based on your ear training, until I get a sense of the key, I cannot identify anything. The problem with this is that much of the modern music (pop, jazz, dance, electronic, rap, etc..) has very vague use of key. Even with very straight forward pop songs, many of them would not establish any key until the chorus section. Some songs don't at all for the entire song. Some songs are modal and get very confusing as to how to interpret the key. The keys for many pieces of music are a matter of interpretation. When I cannot establish a key in my mind, I find that I can't use what I've learned in your ear training. It only works with old classical music like Bach, or very elementary pop music like Britney Spears.
A Thanks for contacting me and asking such excellent questions. FIrst let me say that your progress is great for only working with one of the Ear Training One Note books for a month. It's great to see you applying your ear training to "real" music. First let me discuss some general topics so you can understand my overall beliefs concerning ear training.

I don't believe there is such a thing as "Atonal" music. All sound has a pitch and as sound groups together it forms a key. If your ears are good enough you will be able to distinguish this key center. Of course you will need a reference pitch which people usually get from the instrument they are playing. I should point out that many times in supposed "atanal" music the key centers are changing very quickly. These quickly changing keys require you to learn how to modulate which is what the Ear Training: Two Note Series starts to teach you. Anton Webern one of the fathers of this supposed "atonal" music explains in the book THE PATH TO THE NEW MUSIC, PUBLISHER (Bryn Mawr, Pa., T. Presser Co. [c1975]) that he doesn't believe that there is such a thing as "atonal" music. His reasoning falls along the same lines as mine. Arnold Schoenberg has also been quoted as believing that no music is "atonal" and hated the reference of "atonal" to his music and others. Both these composers felt that you could hear the key centers moving in highly chromatic music or even music created using 12 tone rows. I should interject at this point that getting to point where you hear for example Schoenberg's Funf Klavierstucke (Five Piano Pieces Opus 23) in a key or quickly moving keys will not happen in a month of ear training. It will happen though, after years of working with this method.

Your statement "The problem with this (the ear training method) is that much of the modern music (pop, jazz, dance, electronic, rap, etc..) has very vague use of key." I do agree that many styles of contemporary music have a vague sense of key when you compare it with Mozart. But, you will find that this ear training method over time will help you develop better skills in hearing keys in this type of music. Let's examine how you should proceed to reach this ability

There are two sides to practicing this ear training method. One is listening to the CDs the other is doing singing exercises. For the listening you should progress through the books in the following sequence:

1. Ear Training: Beginning to Intermediate to Advanced
2. Key Note Recognition
3. The Two Note Series.

Note: After the two notes series you need to move to 3, 4, 5 notes at a time. At this writing I haven't finished books for these levels though they are in the works (02/01/01)

For Singing I recommend starting with "The Fanatic's Guide to Ear Training and Sight Singing" You would then continue with:

1. Lines: Sight Singing and Sight Reading Exercises
2. At this point I would recommend specific studies out of other books, like "Single String Studies Volumes One and Two"
3. Singing along with chord progression and melodies from modern repertory pieces like jazz standards, pop, jazz, dance, electronic, rap, etc..)

This should give you a general idea of the progression through this ear training method. Obviously you will need to interact with me so that I can lead you through all of this. But, in general I would follow the path I set out for you above. Of course if you have any questions please contact me. The worst thing you can do is work on any of this ear training the wrong way. I feel I have explained it pretty well in the books but if you're not sure please check with me first.

I should also mention that you could use your method of just transcribing melodies using only the interval relationship, but my abjections to this method are as follows.

1. This method obviously divorces you from what key these pitches are functioning in. It's a bit like "follow the dots." You may end up with an outline that looks like something, but there will not be any sense of the underlying form that holds it all together and gives it shape. When I store melodies in my memory, I store them as they relate to the key, not as how the individual notes relate to each other.

2. After working with intervals, most students have extreme difficulty developing the proper technique when doing the Ear Training Two Note (+) method.

3. In the improvisational/interactive setting of a band, if someone is playing constant sixteenth notes at quarter note equals 80. You are far better off knowing the key that these notes are functioning in than knowing the actual pitches. If you can hear the key you can interact in a creative way with the other musicians.

4. As you develop through the ear training method presented in my books you will find that your ability to transcribe anything will improve exponentially. Give it a chance and you will see.

Hope this helps you understand the method better.
 
Q I'm working with your ear training method. It's a very fun book to work with 'cause I had the cd always in the car and practice every day for about 20 minutes. I nearly get right about 80% of the notes but I'm not sure if I am doing this right or not.Sometimes I hear the note from the key chord but other times I know that I recognice the note by memory(a particular note relates to a particular tune for example). How do I know when I'm doing it the right way? (I started the book a week ago)
A I'm glad you have been working on the books. As far as the ear training goes, what you are aiming for is the ability to just hear a note and instantly recognize its sound. It's like when you see a person with a blue shirt on. You just instantly know it's blue you don't have to compare it to the sky to make sure. It is the same with the ear training.

You also mention that you recognize the note based on another common melody you know. I don't recommend that because if you have to take the time to relate the note you are hearing to a tune it just takes too much time. Remember you are trying to get to the point where you can do this ear training in real time as music is being played. In real time situations you won't have time to think of anything but what the note is.
 
Q I understand your approach to ear training and I believe it will work in my case. For example, I could never figure out how to superimpose the sound of a minor 3rd when trying to sing from a 3rd degree to a 5th degree in a key. I just knew the sound of the 5th degree and sang it regardless of what note I was coming from. Of course I always thought this approach must be wrong (i.e. not using the sound of the interval) and tried to resist it. Now that you've given me the okay to do it this way, my sight-singing has DRASTICALLY improved (in only a few short weeks).

Anyway, my question is at what point in this process will I begin to hear and understand (immediately) short melodies. After all, that is what the music is all about and what I'm ultimately trying to reproduce (either by singing or playing my instrument)?
A The ability to apply this ear training method in "real life" varies for each person. For me it took about 6 months before I first started to hear a few notes here and there. These were usually over a drone and at a very slow tempo. Of course this all depends on how quickly you develop with this ear training. I was very slow but then again, I've had many students get "one note" ear training in 2 weeks--then they start to apply it right away-- much quicker than my 6 months. To get a more drastic perspective, other students with a real weakness can take 4 years to just get "one note" ear training. Of course to some people that seems like "forever." But, I can tell you that all these students experience a profound difference in their musicianship after they start to hear correctly. They not only can hear what notes are played but they play so much more musically, that there is no comparison.

I've also noticed that some students can get "one note" ear training on the CDs OK but it takes them much longer to apply this to real life playing situations. I believe a lot of this depends on whether a person tries to apply it, or whether they compartmentalize the exercises into an isolated academic study. Again, for some musicians it takes time for them to integrate this new ear training technique into their everyday interaction with music.

From your description of how your are singing the notes it sounds like you are on the right track. I hope you are working with both a "one note" book and the Fanatic's Guide. By doing both singing and listening exercises you will improve at the fastest rate.
 
Q I'm interested in starting your ear training courses, but have problem deciding which book(s) to buy. Could you please help me sort out the following questions?

(1) What's the difference in the One/Two-Note series and the "Fanatic's Guide"?

(2) Is the material in "Lines Volume One: Sight Reading and Sight Singing Exercises" included in the "Fanatic's Guide"?

(3) If I obtain the complete One Note + Key Note Recognition + Two Note series, do I still need the Fanatic's Guide (or vice versa)?

(4) Do you have a combined book for all six volumes of the Two Note series (like the One-Note-Complete Level)? If not, are there discount for buying all six volumes?
A We recommend the following books for the ear training course:

Start with:

Ear Training One Note Complete
Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training

After you have completed Ear Training One Note Complete you will move on to:

Key Note Recognition

After you have completed this book you will move on to:

Ear Training Two Note Series (6 books currently in series. We don't have a combined version).

After you have completed Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training you will move on to:

LINES

We would also recommend you develop your rhythm along with your ear training skills. For this we recommend:

Rhythm Primer
Rhythms Volume One
Rhythms Volume Two
Rhythms Volume Three
Odd Meters
Contemporary Rhythms Volume One
Contemporary Rhythms Volume Two

If you order through the muse-eek.com website you will not have to pay for shipping on these books if you live in the USA.
 
Q I plan to start practicing with your Ear Training One Note CD. I think it looks to be a really good method and I am excited to begin. However, I have a couple of questions that I hope you can answer for me first.

1) You state that one is supposed to just listen for what a note is against a particular key rather than listen for the interval between two random notes that happen to be played. This seems to me to be a good method, but wouldn't one also benefit from practicing identifying random intervals as well. For example, if you know what key the music is being played in and you hear two notes played consecutively, by your method you will know what those two notes are, but you won't know what the interval is between them? Of course, you will be able to figure out what that interval is very easily because you know both notes, but it adds an extra step, and as you pointed out in your text, you need to know these things immediately. Or am I completely wrong here? If you can hear two notes against a key is the interval between them really obvious? Do you believe there's any additional benefit to practicing hearing just the interval between two notes independent of a key?

2) I am confused how your concept of identifying notes against a key center relates to the fact that a note has a different interval to another note depending on whether it is higher or lower than that note. For example, D would be a major 2nd above C but also a minor 7th below C. So which interval should one pick when listening to your cd? Or should I be listening for both? Or neither, and instead just listening for the sound that D, a note that is both a minor 7th and a major 2nd in the key of C, has in the key of C?

3) How should I go about beginning my practicing with the cd? Should I begin by only practicing with a couple of notes or even just one note and then gradually introduce others? Should I just start listening to C, to see how C sounds in the key of C, and once I have that should I bring in say, G and listen to them both, and then maybe bring in F? This question troubles me because I feel that if I just jump right in listening to the whole cd, all 12 notes in various octaves, I won't be able to remember individual notes enough to really learn their sound. So what do you recommend as the best method?
A Answer for question One:

If you knew what key you were in and had the ability to hear the interval between two notes that were sounded you still would not know what these notes were. Let's say the two notes were a 5th. There are 12 possible 5ths so you would have to go through all 12 to figure out which 5th was being played. You could possibly add in the step of hearing the 5th focusing in on one of the notes and then relating this to the tonic note of the key. Unfortunately this takes too long and presents a problem for many people when the key center root is not being sounded amongst other issues.

Answer for question Two:

Quite confused by your question. You are not listening for an interval relationship with this type of ear training so where a note is placed in relationship to the the tonic of the key center has no relevance. Remember all 2nd degrees of a key sound the same no matter what octave they are in.

Answer for question three:

It's OK to concentrate on a few notes at a time but also make sure to listen to the CD with all notes everyday too. You should also be working out of Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training this will particularly help you to memorize the sound of each note through singing exercises.
 
Q If I hear a piece played on the piano, can I trascribe it to the guitar after working through your ear-training series?

If I were to begin with your series, I guess I should go with the following books:

Ear Training: One Note-Complete Level
A Fanatic's Guide to Ear Training and Sight Singing

But I notice that you have lots of other ear-training books on your site. Could you give me a breadown on each book to help me decide whether I should get the book or not.

The other books are:

Key Note Recognition
Ear Training: Two Note-Volume 1
Ear Training: Two Note-Volume 2
Ear Training: Two Note-Volume 3
Ear Training: Two Note-Volume 4
Ear Training: Two Note-Volume 5
Ear Training: Two Note-Volume 6
Lines Volume One: Sight Reading and Sight Singing
Exercises

If I just use the Fanatic's Guide and the Ear Training Complete, would I be able to transcribe music from one instrument to the next?
A This ear training method will help you understand and express your inner music and help you transcribe and understand the music you hear from external sources.

To answer your question about being able to transcribe piano music and play it on guitar. You certainly will know what notes the piano player is playing. You will definitely need some music theory knowledge to make the music playable on guitar. You will notice that I have a couple of Music Theory Books for Guitar that will help you understand this process.

You are correct to start the ear training with:

Ear Training: One Note-Complete Level
A Fanatic's Guide to Ear Training and Sight Singing

You shouldn't at this time buy any more of my ear training books. You will need to spend at least 6 months to a year - maybe more - on the two previously mentioned books, so I would wait till your ready with the others.

You asked "would I be able to transcribe music from one instrument to the next?" using my ear training method. I think it is important for you to understand that all Western Music is based around 12 notes. All instruments play these 12 notes so it doesn't matter which instrument is playing the notes you will be able to transcribe any notes you hear. But you need to have a good knowledge of music theory in case you need to rearrange chord voicings or octave ranges so these notes fit on other instruments. The Music Theory book I previously recommend will help you start this process.

Hope this helps you understand music and ear training.
 
Q I recently bought one of your books about ear training entitled "Ear Training - One Note Complete Method" and I'm a bit confused about certain aspects of the method you talk about in the book.

You suggest learning what each of the 12 tones in the octave sounds like instead of "just" learning to recognize intervals because it would allow me to indentify the actual pitches (scale degrees in this sense) that someone is playing based on the establised key center. You empasize this to be a major advantage over the traditional methods of pure interval training.

At first read I felt totally convinced about this method and its obvious advantages, but then I started really thinking and discussing. Imagine, a person had learned to recognize and sing all intervals found in our modern Western octave subdivision. Let's aplly this fact to the scenario you describe in your book. The band is playing the tonic, in this case the C-major chord (broken up into the bass playing the C, guitar playing the chord voicing, etc.) and now another instrumentalist is playing two notes in a row, E and G. The person obviously would recognise the minor 3rd interval between the two notes as you described in the book. But my point is, wouldn't he recognise the intervallic relation with the root tone C, too? And therefore, know that the instrumentalist played a major 3rd from the root and a then a minor 3rd from the E.

To make this clear a little more, imagine the instrumentalist just plays the tone E. In this case the person would hear a major 3rd up from the root C, wouldn't he? In my opionion you can always relate any tone to the tonic if you whish to, but that's just one method. For example, you could also relate it to a chord tone or to a previously played tone. Am I wrong?

To clear it up: with interval training I don't think of associating song beginings or something like that to the sound of the interval. I think of learning and internalizing the sound of each interval. It seems, that there isn't a real difference between my understanding of interval training and your method because you teach to actually internalize the sound of each pitch against a root tone which, I think, is the same thing as how the distance (interval) sounds between the tones (i.e. root -> 5th). It's just another way of describing the same thing, isn't it?

Let's further apply your method to an improvisational scenario. The ability to recognize the pitches another instrumentalist is playing is obviously a good thing, but is it useful at all if you don't know how to play what you've just heard on your own instrument. I think it's also essential to exercise the connection between your musical and your physical mind (actual finger movements). Steve Vai explained a method he used to achieve this in one of his Guitar World columns. He suggested singing along with what you play on the guitar as a way of getting used to the sound your fingers are creating in certain positions. The next logical step then, is to try the opposite and sing a note and then try to replay this note on the guitar. This exercise really trains the connection between your head and your fingers. Of course, in the beginning you would start out within the range of on octave and within a range you could sing erfortlessly.

Well, I could continue this for some more hours. Regardless, I really want to thank you for the opportunity to get in touch with you so easily.
A There are a few problems with your ideas but I'm glad you are thinking this through. First let's look at the idea of checking one interval and relate that interval to the key center. Let's say for argument sake that you know what key you are in.

1. Basically you have to do three calculations. What the interval is of the two notes, Pick one of those notes and then relate it by an interval to the tonic. This process will work but the amount of time it takes to do this makes it impractical because music is going by in real time.

2. The next problem is if you are an improvising musician and you want to improvise over this C E G you are going to then have to analyze this in your mind to figure out which scale degrees are being played and then relate this to a scale or melody to then play over the structure. Not too hard when it's C E G, but what about Gb G Db in the key of Gb.

3. Let's get a little more complicated. This is certainly a situation that applies to almost any piece of music. Suppose the tonic isn't being played and you hear a G played by the bass player and a E and G played by another instrument. Let's say for argument sake that you know the key is C major but remember if you didn't know your interval method isn't going to help you decide what key your in. Only the type of relative pitch training I suggest will do this. So now you hear your E and G, you know it's a minor third and you pick the bottom note to relate it to.... Well there's a problem do you relate it to the C or to the G. What if it's a walking bass line changing every beat. You've got a major problem.

Let's say you didn't know what the key was and you heard the same example. Because interval relationships don't tell you the key center only the note relationship, let's say you decide that G is the key. You could still use your system of intervals based on the arbitrary choice of G as the key but is that the key your are hearing or is it C major? How about E minor? If you can't hear what relationship notes have to a key center you are going to have your mind racing around trying to figure out intervals, pick keys relationships based on music theory rather than the musical situation, then try to improvise something meaningful? I think you can see this is not only impractical, it's not the way great improvising musicians hear sound. I know this from teaching and I know this from playing with some of the greatest improvisers in the world. They hear by relating notes to the key not by interval relationships.

As far as Steve Vai's ear training method I agree that you should sing what you play with or without an instrument. But you should hear the notes you are singing not by the interval relationship of one note to another but by their relationship to the key you are in. There are many interpretations of good ear training exercises and methods. If you really need someone famous to back up my ear training check out the Guitar One Magazine's lesson with Steve Morse where he describes the exact same relative pitch training I recommend.

I hope this is enough for you to see the errors of your logic. I've been through these arguments a 1000 times in my head. I learned my intervals perfectly in college and I'm here to tell you it just doesn't work in real time. Yes it does work in a class room were you have the luxury of time to sit and figure this all out in your head. It could work it you only played simple nursery rhyme type songs with simplistic structures. Unfortunately or fortunately music exists in time and most of us including you I'm sure like things a little more complicated than "Mary Had a Little Lamb."

Hope this helps you understand. Give it some thought and get back to me if you have more questions.
 
Q I still have one simple question. You say to listen to the CD with all of the notes. So, should I just put the cd in and listen from the beginning straight through for fifteen minutes or so? It sounds like you recommend this mostly, but I still believe that it might overwhelm me, that I won't have any way that my mind can start to really distinguish the different intervals. So, is this the way that you designed the course to be practiced, or is it also necessary to focus in on some particular intervals in the beginning?
A First remember your not thinking intervals you are listening for the unique sound of each note within the key. Interval denotes a distance. You are not trying to hear the distance of one note to another or the distance of the notes from the tonic. Second you can make special tapes or CDs of certain notes you can also put your CD into a computer CD drive or a high end CD player and program which tracks the CD player will play. You should also just listen to the CD in shuffle play each day so you hear all notes. Remember at the beginning and I mean the first couple of months you shouldn't worry about how many notes you get correct as you listen, you should just listen and try to remember sound. This will happen naturally if you listen to the CD 4 to 5 times a day for 10 minutes. Also remember not to miss a day. At the beginning in is extremely important to listen every day.

Hopefully you are also working out of the Fanatic's Guide which will greatly improve your progress with this method
 
Q I recently purchased your "Ear Training: One Note Complete" with all three cd's. I have read some of the beginning and I am trying to take it all in slowly. Is it really necessary for me to have the "Fanatic's Guide to Ear Training and Sight Singing"? Should I purchase "Fanatic's Guide" before going ahead with the ear training? Also, I know that you have addressed this several times, but I am still having trouble with how all of the ear training will apply to other keys if the book is written in the key of C. Should I buy the music theory books for guitarists that you have available on your site in order to apply the ear training to other keys?
A You need to work out of both the Ear Training One Note Complete and the Fanatic's Guide book in order to improve at your quickest rate. Since you already have the One Note Complete book I want you to listen to the Beginning CD 5 times a day for 10 minutes. Remember you are trying to memorize the sound of each note against a key center so concentrate on each note you hear and try to remember it's unique sound in the key center. At the beginning you probably won't hear this but over time and repetition you will start to remember. You can limit which notes you are testing yourself on if you think that might help but always listen to all notes at least a few times everyday. Also you need to remember that you are for example trying to memorize the sound of let's say the 3rd of the key. The 3rd of the key will always sound like the 3rd in any key. Therefore if you are in C major and hear an E it will sound like the 3rd. If you are in the key of Ab major and hear a C it will also sound like the 3rd. This is the reason why you don't need to do the One Note exercises in every key because all notes have the same relationship and therefore the same sound in every key.

The Fanatic's Guide will have you singing in every key. This is to make sure you don't memorize sound based on vocal tension or other crutches. Once you get the Fanatic's Guide book you should also work on this book about 5 times a day for 10 minutes. Start with the "One Note" exercises.
 
Q Can I use my guitar to help me when I transcribe? Secondly, based on what I have read in the One Note book, and to the best of my understanding, I will say that I am given the I IV V I cadence to give my ear a sense of key. When I hear the note, I am listening for what that particular note sounds like against the cadence, or the key, and I am ultimately trying to memorize its sound.
A You are correct that the cadence gives your ear a sense of key. Using your guitar isn't a bad idea but you will need to improve your note recognition on the instrument before it will be of much use. To help improve your note recognition on the guitar I would recommend the Music Theory Workbooks for Guitar and Single String Studies. I realize you have some Music Theory and Reading background but you need to transfer this information to the guitar fretboard and these books will do that for you.

Keep in mind that the ear training books exercises will take quite a bit of time before you are transcribing Chet Atkins chord solos. You will need to be very proficient in 2 note ear training before you will be able to start to transcribe in this sort of situation. I should mention that many of the chords that Chet uses can be found in the Chord Workbook for Guitar Volume Two. You should at least learn and apply these chords to the guitar so when your transcription ability improves you will have the physical technique to play these sort of chord melodies.
 
Q You state that ear-training is essential for a guitarist who wants to improve himself. Please explain how is this so.

Second question: If I work on my ear-training using all the books you have listed at your site, will I be able to play any song just after hearing it from some source, either on the radio, MP3, on TV, etc?
A Thanks for contacting me. To answer your ear training questions. Musicians hear music in their head and then transfer it to their instrument. You need to use ear training in order to interpret the notes you hear in your head so you can play them on your instrument. Ear Training is also used when you hear sound from an external source and want to identify the notes you hear. Keep in mind that when hearing songs from external sources your memory will also play a roll because after you identify a piece of a melody or chord you need to remember it's note combinations as well as it's place in the overall song. I recommend you start your ear training with Ear Training One Note Complete and Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training. If you practice out of these books a combination of 1 hour a day you should be able to apply your new learned ear training skills to transcribing songs within a year or two.
 
Q I just started working with your One-Note Complete ear training CD, and it's really helping me. But as a classical pianist, I'm wondering if I should develop perfect pitch instead of relative pitch. Does it matter? Should I work on both kinds of pitch?
A Hard question to answer. I would do both. By having great relative pitch your understanding and, therefore, your execution of classical music will be greatly expanded. If you want to start on perfect pitch find a two or three hundred page book and read it out loud saying the word to the pitch "C". You should find by the time you finish that you remember "C". Also keep in mind that you learn perfect pitch on one instrument at a time so the first one will be your voice.

One further clarification is that the sound that you are listening for with relative pitch is completely different from what you are listening for with perfect pitch.
 
Q I'm wondering how to apply your concepts of one note ear training to hearing chords? Are you training to hear the individual tones and then construct the chord in your mind? How does that work?
A Well this is all contained in the 2 note ear training books but a brief explanation: after much practice you will hear a chord identify which key you hear the chord in and then listen to each note of the chord to identify how those notes are functioning in a key.
 
Q I am making headway with the one note method, but one puzzling thing keeps occuring with pre-hearing a scale degree (tension signature) and singing it over a key drone.......it takes time to hear it! I wonder how much time should be allowed from cadence hearing to forming the inner pitch and reproducing this pre-heard tone vocally. I am afraid that a lot of time only encourages cheating (ie. relating the tone being practiced to a better known one - my favorite cheating device), but too little time denies the proper building and forming of a long-term memory. What is your experience with this and is there a set time inteval I should aim for to pre-hear notes?

I also took your advice and started "Key Note Recognition." I am sorry to say that while the major keys Have been learned fairly easily, the minor keys are a disaster. I simply do not have the immediate recognition I get with the majors. Is this common?

Also, I wonder if you could clarify what exactly you mean when you ntalk about the problem of using "vocal tension" when singing the same scale degrees in each key.
A While waiting too long to pre-hear a note does encourage improper behavior I think a better way to approach this is memory reinforcement of the pitch you are trying to memorize. For example if you are trying to hear F# against a C tonal center. First create the key of C through a cadence or vamp and then try to hear F# if you can't hear it play the F#. Now try again and see if you can hear the F# after you establish the key center again. You will find that students will be able to pre-hear the F# if you continue this for a number of repetitions.

Next try bouncing between a couple of notes. Work back and forth between let's say F# and G#. Always give the pitch if the student can't get it right away. Soon you will see they can remember two notes. Keep adding additional notes if possible. Usually a student's memory burns out after about 10 or 15 minutes of this, but if this can be done 2 to 3 times a day you will see that students will start to remember the notes and therefore be able to pre-hear them with no difficulty.

Hearing all 12 notes against a minor tonality will seem strange at the beginning. Overtime you will hear the distinctive characteristics of each note but this usually takes some time. An analogy to this would be if you have a red piece of paper with yellow lettering inside of it at first glance the yellow lettering can look like it's actually white. Only after close examination do you notice that the lettering is actually yellow. Contextualizing all 12 pitches against various types of tonalities is an important part of developing this ear training method. I think at the beginning it's best to stick to I IV V I or simple drones. After a student can do one note ear training with the simple method then it is time to introduce various vamps and cadences that create alternate tonal environments.

Vocal tension is when a students uses the tension of their vocal cords to find a pitch. Very common with singers but also a habit that other students almost subconsciously develop. One common indicator is when a student sings slightly out of tune but of course this can also be caused by lack of air support or just guessing at the pitch.
 
Q I am a music theory professor in a small liberal arts college, and I am quite intrigued by your various methods of ear training. I have recently examined "One-Note Complete Method" and "Fanatic's Guide." Since this method is very unlike most methods used in colleges and universities, I was wondering if you had any thoughts on how this method best works in a classroom setting.

How, for instance, do you evaluate student progress? My ear training classes are lab sections of my theory classes, so I have many students with a wide range of abilities. It seems that your CDs would work wonderfully for individuals, but I'm trying to figure out how to give quizzes and tests fairly and still push the more advanced students. Any thoughts?

Also, does it make sense to supplement your books with any of the more traditional graduated solfege books (Ottman, Benjamin, etc.)? Do you work on rhythm exercises? What about harmonic and melodic dictation? Is is best for instance to focus solely on the one-note method and the "Fanatics Guide" first before tackling melodic and harmonic dictation or solfege?

I appreciate your thoughts.
A Thanks for contacting me. As we both know it doesn't matter what ear training method you use; a class setting is always dicey. There's always that student who is slow and possibly hasn't even thought about trying to "hear" music and on the other end you have a student who progresses at amazing speed. This is complicated by the usual coupling of Ear Training Exercises within a music theory course environment. So once again you have some students who are great with music theory and have little ear training skill and visa versa.

Given the aforementioned parameters I would say that my "contextual" ear training would work as well as a pure interval approach. Many of the same exercises that most teachers use in "interval" based ear training can also be used; you just need to establish a key center first. For instance using "Ottman's" book for sight singing or melodic dictation would be fine as long as you give a key center before you play the example. I don't think I would start week one with Ottman's book. I'd give the students 3 or 4 weeks of listening and working within the class with listen/answer quizzes using the method on the "One Note" CDs first. You could also use the Ottman book for assigning singing examples in major keys. Just make sure that they sing these examples over the CD that accompanies the Fanatic's Guide book so they have the key sounding at all times.

For the "One Note" CDs I'd recommend to the students that they use Discman CD players and listen between classes. If they actually do that you should find most of your class will be around 50% accuracy with the note identification within 3 to 4 weeks. If they are like most students they won't do this religiously so you'll probably end up with 20 to 30% correct answers. Students progress will of course be helped immensely if you also have them working out of the Fanatic's Guide and have them doing the "one note" singing exercise from the Fanatic's Guide book at home. (Once again 4 to 5 times a day for 5 minutes).

For testing you can go around the class each meeting and have the students do the "One Note" Fanatic's exercise where they attempt to sing various pitches in various keys. If you have more advanced students you can have them sing harder notes like b6 or #4.

For evaluation of students I think the best method is always based on personal achievement rather than a set bar that everyone has to reach. This is not always possible in a school situation but I think any teacher would agree it's the correct way to judge progress. The best method of course would be if you have 3 sections of Music Theory/Ear Training and could divide them up based on music theory knowledge and ear training ability. Of course the way music departments are organized this isn't always possible.

Overall if both the students and you know that you are basing their grade on personal improvement everyone will immediately think that's fair and realize that they have to improve to get a good grade. There of course have to be guide lines and I would say a student should have one note ability after their first year of school. If not if should be made quite clear that they are falling behind and need to do summer school work at home or in a classroom to improve their skills.

I would quiz students the first week by playing them examples like the "One Note" CD and have the students write down what they think the note is. Do this every week or at least every other week. You could even have the students correct each other's quiz during class to save you the time of doing the corrections (Of course you would want to look at the quiz to see how each student is doing).

There are many other exercises you could do using the Fanatic's Guide book --or as students improve, use the LINES book or once again have them do dictation based on Ottman or other texts. The important thing is to get them to hear "contextually." You will find that once students begin to "get" this method not only will their note recognition improve but their musicality will change dramatically. Once a student can recognize a sound instantly by hearing it (not unlike just seeing a color and instantly knowing what it is) their mind's ability to memorize, categorize and basically understand music goes to a much deeper level. Every great musician I've ever played with has this ability.
 
Q For the past month and a half I've been working diligently with the singing and listening exercises. Recently I've been able to do about four or five 15 minute listening sessions and the three 10 minute singing sessions per day.

Although I notice a some progress, I'm still getting only 55-65% correct answers. I must admit that a few times a week I do a session where I get over 70% correct (top score is 77%), but I also do 50% on some sessions too. As I mentioned, I do feel that I'm starting to get it (i.e. recognize the notes), but very, very slowly. At times it gets very frustrating and I almost feel like giving up. The fact that some days I feel that I'm almost about to break through and get it, but then the next day I don't do hardly as well is extremely frustrating. Honestly, I feel I'm learning just as much about myself and will power as I am about ear training.

Any practical and moral assistance will be much appreciated at this point.
A Your situation is common and depending on how much you want to torture yourself there are a few solutions. If you just continue in the same manner as you describe you will push over the 77% mark sooner or later. On the other hand if you want to push through to the next level you can try increasing your practice time and concentration level until you see progress. For some people adding in an extra 30 minutes to an hour a day does the trick for others it can be a real marathon. For instance for myself (which by the way you are progressing much better than I did) I had to push the ear training two note exercises and singing up to 10 hours a day for 2 weeks before I finally broke through to the next level. This took great will power on my part but I had been doing two note ear training for 1 and 1/2 years with hardly any improvement so I had to do something drastic. I doubt you will have to be that drastic but you will have to find that level of practice time and concentration that allows notes to stick in your internal memory.

Hope this helps and for God's sake don't give up now you're almost there.
 
Q In your exercises all the work is done around a major tonality. How does your method apply to minor tonalities?
A Thanks for contacting me. There are many types of modes in music - major and minor being just two. All notes sound the same against any tonality. This is the reason why the CDs only use the major tonality. You will work with minor and other tonalities as you progress through this ear training series. For example, "Key Note Recognition" will work with both major and minor tonalities. For now I would concentrate on learning the sound of each note against the major key center and you will find that when you develop this ability you will be able to transfer it to other tonalities.
 
Q Hello. I am 14 years old and live in Japan. Now I am learning Chopin's Ballade No. 1. In Western music, the tonic has a special meaning. It makes a home base in music, and then the music is developed from this point. Pianists give a special touch to the tonic on piano. But sometimes, pianists give a special touch on the dominant. Could you eplain the reason for these differences?
A Thanks for contacting me. You are correct that musicians give special emphasis to various tonal centers that exist in music. You can not always tell the tonal center by looking at a piece of music or analyzing it with music theory. In some cases it will be clearly defined what the key center is and at other times it will be up to the individual performer's aural perception to tell them what the key center is. In order to develop your aural perception you first will have to understand each notes distinctive sound against a key center. I would recommend you purchase Ear Training One Note Complete and Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training in order to develop your skills in this area. Currently (3/28/03) we are not distributed in Japan. I would suggest you either use amazon.com or possibly the www.muse-eek.com to obtain these books.
 
Q I told you in a previous email that I did not know all the notes on my guitar fretboard. I can figure it out, but I don't know all the notes automatically. Anyway, I have been working with the ear training one note beginning cd, and guessing the tones and trying to relate them to the key. Now, my question is, even though I don't know all the notes on my fretboard (I am working on it though), since the name of the tone is called after it is played, I can still use this method to memorize the sounds of the tones against a key, right? My point being that it has nothing to do with my fretboard, I am merely trying to memorize the tones against the key, and if I hear the tones enough and know what the tone names are, I will memorize them and be able to recogonize them. Also, should I be listening to the cd from the beginning, or should I shuffle each track?
A You do not need your guitar or knowledge of the guitar fretboard to master this type of ear training. You will though need to develop good music theory theory skills so when you are in a real musical situation you can apply your ear training skills. The most important thing to learn is the relationship of all notes in every key. For instance if you hear a note and recognize it as the b6th in the key of E you will need to know instantly that this note is a "C." Therefore it is important that you start soon improving your music theory knowledge.

I would use shuffle play whenever possible. You can also fast forward into the CD to help combat the memorization of the 1st exercises on the CD.
 
Q I browsed your site and read about several of Bruce Arnold's books on amazon.com. I've been playing the guitar for a little over 2 years. I took lessons for about 8 months, but my teacher left the state and I've been floundering since then. Your books look interesting and get rave reviews, but I don't know which one to try.

I know lots of chords, can play a few barre chords--not well, but can play them, and I have a great memory for chords and little pieces I learned in lessons. I know nothing about theory, and can't figure out the strumming patterns of songs even when I know them like the back of my hand, can sing them, and have the tabs for them - I can play the chords, but that's it. I love music and playing is a joy, but I have found myself very unmotivated the past 6 months or so and hardly playing at all (even losing my calluses). So, to summarize: not a rank beginner, know lots of chords, great memory, no music theory, no "ear", no sense of figuring out strumming patterns, sad because I have lost direction and motivation.

What book would you recommend I buy?
A Thanks for contacting me. I would recommend you work in 3 different directions. My recommendations would be based on a 1 and 1/2 hour practice time per day. Hopefully a little more on the weekends. It would also be figuring that you have time to do ear training or music theory when commuting to work/school. This could also take in to account other small 5 to 10 minute time intervals throughout the day that you could do a little music practicing without the guitar.
First, I think 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist will be a good starting place for you. This book will show you the proper technique you need to use when playing the guitar but will also help you with your rhythm and chord changing problems.
Second I would recommend Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One. A completely "not fun" book, but is a very valuable book to work through. This book will help you memorize all chords both in you head and your hands. This will be very useful information when you start to process and understand the music theory aspects of each scale or chord progression you might learn. This is a workbook where you fill in answers to music theory questions. It is an excellent book to work on when you have breaks throughout the day or when commuting etc.
Last, I would recommend Ear Training One Note Complete. This will improve your ear so you are more "connected" with music and will in the long run help you to learn music directly from CDs and to hear and understand what others are playing. Once again this book and CDs are excellent tools to practice when commuting or during any 5 to 10 minute down time throughout the day.
 
Q I have two sections of music and they must be in different keys with a modulating chord at the end of section 1 which fits both sections. Can you explain this to me please?
A In music you will find chords (usually dominant chords i.e. 1,3,5,b7) that will allow you to modulate to new keys. For instance starting in the key of C you could have the progression C to A7 to D- to A7 to D-. This progression will most likely make you modulate to the key of Dminor. This doesn't mean that all dominant chords make you modulate. For instance you could have a progression in the key of C. C to A7 to D- to G7 to C. If this progression is played at a moderate to fast tempo the A7 will not modulate to Dminor. If you play this progression extremely slow the A7 will make you modulate to Dminor and the G7 will make you modulate back to Cmajor. So you can see that you can't always tell if you modulate just by looking at the chords in a piece of music. Tempo is an important consideration when judging modulation but the bottom line is you need to use your ear to tell you whether you have modulated. In order to develop this kind of ability I suggest you work on your aural perception. Ear Training One Note Complete would be a good book to start with. Learning to hear modulations will take some time so don't expect to have this ability right away.
 
Q I have a quick question on the "Ear Training One Note Study." Since I am completely new to ear training when I listen to the cd I'm a bit overwhelmed, the only tone I can really recognize is the low E - probably because it's the first note I hear when I tune my guitar! So, if I were to make a selection of tones to start with, should I just select random notes from the scale or should I do them in a sequence of some kind? And should I listen to the smaller selection and get some kind of accuracy with that first or should I continue to listen to all the tones alternately with the smaller selection - say twice a day for the selection and once a day for all tones?

I also have the "Fanatics Guide," which I haven't even opened yet. I need a little direction I think. I have a guitar teacher who is great and would help me with this, but I try to devote that 1/2 hour per week with him to the "Berklee Method I" and my slowly growing repertoire!
A If you are being overwhelmed by using all 12 pitches on the CD I would recommend limiting you notes to C,D,E,F,G,A,B. You might want to limit the octave too. If that is still to much try just C,E and G. Whatever combination that you use make sure to listen to the full CD for at least 10 minutes a day. You don't want to get lopsided in your aural recognition skills. If you could do your limited set 2 to 3 times a day for 10 minutes that would be great.

With Fanatic's Guide I would start with the first One Note exercise and sing it in all keys starting with the root of each key. Try to do this exercises a couple times a day for 5 to 10 minutes. The singing will help you a lot. As you perfect the ability to sing any degree in any key you will see that your CD recognition will improve.
 
Q I purchased the "One Note Complete Method," and have been working with it for about a month by limiting the exercises to only the diatonic major scale. I have never seriously done ear training before, and have been pleased with my progress in note recognition in a relatively short time. The root, second and seventh in particular have characteristic sounds that I can detect, while the middle intervals are still a little hard to distinguish for me. I was considering also doing some interval training at the same time, particularly harmonic interval training; however, I am a little concerned about this, having read that you essentially had to unlearn interval training for the one-note method to take seed. How does interval training interfere with this method? Can it not simply be turned on and off? What about harmonic interval recognition? Is this what is addressed in the Two-Note and higher methods?
A I wouldn't recommend working on more than one ear training technique at once. It is my belief that once you are able to do my ear training technique you will not be in need of any other. If you are concerned about improving quickly I would recommend you work from the "Ear Training One Note Complete" and "Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training" 10 time a day for each book for 10 minutes.
 
Q I have purchased your ear training books. I have a few questions:

How do you work out chord progression via ear?

Do you have a daily training program?

Is it OK to use a CD player with ear jacks to listen to the CD?
A You will begin to learn how to hear and transcribe chord progressions when you begin to work on the 2 note ear training books. I would recommend you first work with Ear Training One Note Complete and Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training.

I would also suggest you read the FAQs associated with these book on the muse-eek.com website. You might also want to read the recommendation file found at:

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/books.html

There are some very good recommendations for a daily ear training program found at:

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/ET_1_note_complete/eartrngfaq.html

It is definitely recommended that you use a CD player with ear jacks to do your ear training. It's a great idea to carry a discman with you and do ear training in any situation where you have a few minutes time to concentrate.
 
Q I have purchased the One Note complete series. After a very short period of time (a few hours spread out over a day or two) I found I could get over 90% correct at the advanced level. However, I'm not sure I'm really "getting it" and I am wondering what you would suggest.

You see when I hear the note, somewhere in my brain I recognise it instantly. However that recognition is not communicated to me as a label but as what I'd call a "note signature." I think in a FAQ you referred to this as the way a note resolves to another note. But in my case upon hearing a note I immediately get a signature tune.

F: F-E-D-C

A: A-G-B-C

G#: G#-G-B-C, etc.

It's very quick - quick enough that I can figure out which note it is before hearing the answer... but I am just "figuring it out" and not really "knowing" the note like I do when I hear C (which is clear as a bell which I assume is what we're aiming for with the other notes).

The signatures of some notes are similar which is why I occasionally get the answer wrong. In fact the notes with the weakest signatures (G & E which I guess don't tend to resolve to anything but C) are the ones I get wrong the most. From reading your FAQ these seem to be the ones others get right first.

I suppose if I just keep listening to the CD the note signatures will eventually get dropped for real recognition.

My question is this: should I go back to the beginning CD at this stage or will sticking to the advanced be equally effective? I'm finding it quite hard to not hear the signature tunes and to simply take in the feel of the note... even at high speed. It seems I need to turn my brain off and don't know how! I'm at a loss so hopefully you've come across this problem before. If you can suggest any other exercises I'd appreciate it.
A The problem with hearing a note signature is notes don't always resolve the way that you are resolving them in your head so when a note sequence comes along that doesn't conform to your usual resolution you make a mistake.

You problem is common and usually what I have students do first is to work a lot out of the Fanatic's Guide and the book Key Note Recognition. When you are ready to work on both or either of these let me know and I'll recommend a couple of things.

The other thing you can try is to just concentrate on guessing the note before your mind has a chance to do it's "note signature" thing. Sounds like yours happens pretty quickly but give it a try and let me know if that helps.
 
Q I'm 42 and just picked up playing guitar again after a break of more than 25 years. I never had any ear training and don't have a natural sense of pitch - I even find tuning the instrument correctly to be a challenge - so I bought the Ear Training One Note Complete book to get started. I believe that getting a better 'ear' is critical for what I want to achieve musically. How do you suggest that I approach the training? As a working professional with kids, my time is somewhat limited and I can't do 5 brief sessions a day as it is suggested in the book. Any suggestions highly appreciated.
A Thanks for contacting me. To learn ear training effectively you need to apply yourself to the task. Really, ear training is just memory training and in order to effectively memorize anything you need to reinforce the information as often as possible. Most people find that they can do a 5 minute session in the morning, at lunch time, when they get home and before they go to bed. I would recommend you start with this. If you find that the Beginning CD of the Ear Training One Note method is too hard try using the intermediate. Even though this CD is faster, some students find it easier because there is less of a silent space between the chord progression and the note you are guessing. I realize that you have very little time but I should also point out that working with Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training will greatly increase you success with this method.
 
Q I just got your book and I believe it´s an interesting aproach. I just have one question: What about modal or minor scales? The harmonic minor maybe close to his major relative, but will the notes have the same feel? Will the G sound the same on A minor or C major ? And how will I peceive the G# in C major and melodic A minor?
A All notes, no matter what the key center type, will have the same sound. Therefore. a G in the key of C major, C minor, C mixolydian etc. will all sound like the 5th of the key. The note G does not sound the same in A minor as it does it C major. In the key of A minor a G will sound like the b7. In the key of C it will sound like the 5th. You will hear a G# in the key of C as the #5 and in the key of A minor a G# will sound like the 7th.
 
Q There's a free software called 'Functional Ear Trainer' and it is taught this way: Hear the chord progression and resolve the note to the tonic whether up or down. For the diatonic notes, the bottom 4 notes resolve downward and for the top 4, the notes resolve upward. After a period of time your mind is supposed to be able to eliminate these steps and hear the note instantaneously. The software even has a random key selection and works in all octaves. Is it possible to learn the notes in this order?
A I wouldn't recommend resolving notes to the tonic up or down even as a intial step. Hopefully you have my 'Ear Training One Note' and 'Fanatic's Guide' books so you can understand exactly what you are supposed to be doing and how. These books and the www.muse-eek.com website will also contain information on common problems and misunderstandings people have. Once you understand this information you could use the Functional Ear Trainer if it gives you similiar types of exercises. Since ear training is probably the single most important thing you can do as a musician, I suggest that you make sure you are investing your time and/or money with something that will be worth your time and effort. If you find an ear training program that just says "do this" with no indepth explanation I would be very wary that you are being directed in the proper way.
 
Q I have been working with your Ear Training One Note Beginner for about two months now and I believe it's working well. However, I would like to describe to you my practice regimen and see if you think its okay or if I should alter it in any way. Here it is: I have made a subset cd consisting of every C, E, and G in every octave. I try to listen to this two or three times a day for ten minutes at a time, but usually I only do it once. I also try to listen to the main cd with every note once a day for ten minutes, although often I don't get around to it. Then I also do the Fanatics singing cd for about twelve minutes a day (this I do every day). I'm being honest about the actual work that I've been doing because maybe it'll help you advise me. Hopefully I will be able to increase to what I know I should be doing soon. With the Fanatic's CD on track one I'll sing an E for about a minute and then go to track two where I'll either switch to G or sing another E just like I did on track one. In this way I'll alternate between E, and G for the whole cd which lasts about twelve minutes because I'm doing one minute on each track. In the beginning I was singing only C, but after I got that perfect I moved onto E, and then G and once I got each of those perfect I combined them. So that is where I am now. With both the Fanatics Guide CD and the One note subset CD that I made of just C, E, ang G I am now getting close to 100%. However when I listen to the full CD with all 12 notes I can only get C and thats only if its in the middle octaves.

My plan is to now make a subset that now includes D, in addition to C, E, and G and work on getting those all correct and then move onto include F and so on in the order that you recommend working through in the Fanatics Guide book. In terms of the Sight Singing work that I'm doing I plan on now trying to sing D.

So, a few questions:

1) Do you think this is a good practice plan? Should I be focusing this much on the subset CD that I made or should I be spending more time listening just to the main CD with all 12 notes?

2) How do you recommend I practice my Sight Singing? The thing that troubles me is that as I move onto singing a new note I feel I neglect the ones I already have practiced and learned and that I forget them. This is why I am now alternating between E, and G within the same practice time. But once I move onto more notes, I won't have time to be focusing on all of them. Should I just periodically review the previous notes?

3) Is it okay to be doing only one session of Sight Singing per day with three or four sessions of One Note listening or should I be doing an equal amount of each?
A Thanks for your detailed explanation of your practice regimen. My main question is about your work with the Fanatic's Guide CD. Just checking but you do realize that if you sing E with the first track you are listening for how a 3rd sounds against the key of C and when you switch to the second track which is in the key of F and you continue to sing an E you are now singing the 7th of the key and that is how you are hearing the E in the key of F. If this is not what you are doing then this is VERY wrong. Remember you are trying to hear what each note sounds like against a key center and when the key center changes each of the 12 notes will sound differently.

It is OK to make CD with fewer notes BUT make sure to always listen to the CD with all the notes each day. In some cases using a smaller group of notes can help people remember the sound of each note but in other cases people just get a false sense that they are memorizing sound. Remember it's sometimes hard for your brain to memorize something when it doesn't have the complete picture of all the components involved. This is why listening to all the notes is an important step each day.

Overall it sounds like your on the right track as far a your practice habits go. It is very important with this ear training that you do it every day and never miss a day.

I would get your response up to around 90% for each note before moving on to the next with the Fanatic's Guide. I usually have students work through the notes in the following sequence C,E,G,B,D,F,A,C#,Eb,G#,Bb,F#. The more practicing you can do out of both the One Note and Fanatic's Guide the better. You should at least spend 1/2 hour on both books each day. Of course you want to break this up in the short sessions. Remember you are dealing with your memory with these books so you need to reinforce the information often.
 
Q I'm trying to improve at jazz/blues piano and I'm currently using your One Note Complete Method. Even though I'm improving at the tests on the CD it still hasn't gotten any easier for me to recognize chords and modulations (which is what I really need). I need to develop my relative pitch skills more than my single tone recognition. Can I jump to your relative pitch book or is completing the one note method still an absolute pre-requisite?

Also, I'm finding it difficult to de-couple tones. The resolution tendencies are so stuck in my head that when I try to answer very quickly I can still feel my head working out the note (some notes more than others) via its resolution tendency. Is there any particular exercise or drill that I can use to train myself not to do this?
A Thanks for contacting me. To answer your question about jumping ahead in the ear training program you need to realize that if you can't hear one note against a key center how are you going to hear multiple notes? I know it is frustrating, but it takes time and concentration on your part to improve at your premium rate. One thing that you can do is also work out of the Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training. This book will seriously improve your rate of progress when used in combination with the One Note Complete Method.

In regards to the resolution tendency habit, you need to break it. Some things I recommend are guessing the note very quickly or doing singing exercises from the Fanatic's Guide, but all of this is in vain if you don't try as hard as you can to control your mind's impulse from using a method that will only cause you heartache later. Remember that doing ear training is like spending 10 years in psychotherapy. You need to learn how to control wrong impulses and amplify the right impulses within your brain. This will come with practice, patience and personal self-control. Think about how long it took you to develop this habit of note tendency. It probably will take you just as long to break this habit. I have found with students and with myself that if you have done other Interval and resolution based ear training prior to using this method it will take much longer to progress. This is because you have to unlearn all of your bad habits and then relearn the right ones.
 
Q When I do the exercises at random, I find that I try to derive the current note based on the previous example, regardless of the octaves involved. Is this the same as doing interval training and/or is it a bad thing?

Also, I made a new CD out of the provided 'Beginning Level' CD where I grouped the examples per note so that I could listen to all of the different octaves of a note together. So, on the CD, I have all the C note examples first, then the C sharp, then the D, etc... Is this advisable and is there any other technique that I can use to assist in this learning process?
A Yes that is a very bad thing to do and defeats the entire purpose of the exercise. Why don't you try to just listen to the creation of the key via the cadence, and when you hear the note, just say to yourself, "What does that note sound like?" If you have an idea, say it. If you listen to the CD in this way and do it for 10 minutes 5 to 10 times a day you will notice that you will start to remember the sounds. Another way to think of this is to image you are learning a foreign language rather than ear training. When you hear each note, think of it as a word that you are trying to memorize in another language. Obviously, the relationship of one word in one example and one word in another example has no meaning or relationship.

I don't think the octave CD is a very good idea either. I think that a better idea would be to get the Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training to help you learn the sound of all 12 notes. You will find that a combination of both books will help you to understand this technique and improve at your fastest rate.

Overall, I think you are approaching this whole process with the wrong frame of mind. Don't gauge your progress on getting a note right or not. Think of it as a memorization process that will take time and know that it's OK if you don't remember the sounds right away. The important thing is to do it everyday.
 
Q I've been working diligently on the Intermediate One Note Ear Training CD and the 4 note exercises on page 26 of the Fanatic's book for the past 3 months. This is my last week (key of G) of the 4 note exercises. What will my next assignment be?

I've been doing 3 x 15' each day in the following manner: 4 note exercises up and down and then down and up, going down the page instead of across (Ri, Re, Di, Do down and up, Fi, Re, Di, Do, down and up etc...) and then C cycle 5 through all keys (one key a week).

I've improved a lot since starting the Fanatic's book and think the next 3-4 months should help consolidate my note recognition and singing. I've been listening 5-6 x 15' each day to the Intermediate CD and can now recognize the sound of the C and G notes. My correct answer average oscillates between 70- 90%. My progress is slow, but I'm getting better with note recognition and I'm getting more and more around 80% average. Hopefully I'll be able to recognize all 12 notes in the next 3-4 months.
A Sounds like your making good progress. I want you to continue on to the 5 note exercises, but now I want you to do it with a metronome. This will help you find the notes that you hesitate on and will point out which notes are weak. Start with the metronome very slow, like quarter equals 40, and make sure that you can sing up and down or down and up (start at the end of each measure and work your way backwards and then forwards). Slowly speed the metronome up as you go.

The two books that you are working on are sufficient for now. If you feel like you have an extra 10 to 20 minutes a day to add in a little more, the next book we are going to work out of is the Single String Studies for Guitar Volume One. May seem like a strange choice, but I use this book both for guitar players and for my ear training students. If you decide you want to start on that too, let me know when you get it and we will get started. Keep up the good work.
 
Q I am wondering how your ear training/sight singing course would work with children and young teens. I teach piano from beginning to advanced levels, and it seems your concepts would greatly benefit students who have not yet formed "bad habits" of listening, such as those promoted by so many conservatory curricula and contemporary method books which emphasize interval recognition. Are you aware of teachers using your materials? Do you think children would respond well, and if so, how would you recommend delivering this course to them?
A I haven't really used the ear training with young folks. I was working on a book for young people about a year ago but other things took precedence and I don't think I'll be able to pick it up anytime soon. I think the concept would certainly work with younger students. They just have to understand that they are memorizing the sound of each note against a key center. That concept may be hard to convey. Many exercises could be worked out to help them onto this path.

I think the other thing that will arise as a difficulty is the fact that you need a fairly good sense of music theory in order to have this ear training work for a student in a practical way. For instance, if the student hears the 5th of Gb, he or she needs to know what the 5th of Gb is in order to give the correct answer. You could have them just do recognition based on degree. In other words they would answer the 5th rather than Db. That would temporarily get around the music theory problem, but, in order for them to play the Db on their instrument, they would need to know the music theory part. You could also just stick to C major for a very long time.

I'm willing to work on this with you if you want. I think it would do your students a world of good to get started on this ear training. I would advise first just doing the same exercises as you hear on the Ear Training One Note Complete CD, but play this for them on a piano or guitar and only later try to interest them in the CD. Give them an explanation that they are just trying to remember the sound of each note against the key center or maybe just play the key center and do the exercise. An explanation may confuse them because they might not understand what a key center is depending on their age. If you have some ideas on this let me know.
 
Q I am left-handed and a few years ago, I took guitar lessons from a teacher who told me to play right-handed. I found the going extremely difficult, either because I was playing right-handed or simply because I had no talent. Now I would like to try again, this time, playing left-handed. Would your book help? If not, could you please recommend some other book? Also any recommendations for a good left-handed guitar, or should I buy a right-handed guitar and reverse the strings?
A I do have some books that I think would be good for you. It's really a matter of whether you want to spend the time dealing with the fact that they are written for a right handed guitarist. For Instance, Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One and Two are excellent for helping you build up your knowledge of Music Theory and the fretboard. All exercises could be filled in, it wouldn't matter if you were right or left-handed, but the answers in the back of the book would be shown for a right-handed guitarist. You could hold the back of each page up to your computer monitor and read through the back-side of the page to see the left hand answers. Most students only need the answers for the first couple of pages and then they understand the process and continue without constantly checking the answers so this book might work for you.

I think 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist would be good too. There are three important things you could gain from this book.

1. How to physically play correctly. There is a detailed explanation of how to use both hands with pictures and videos to help you understand. This information is crucial to developing proper technique, which will make all the difference in the world for your progress.

2. Chord progressions with rhythms written out for your strumming hand. This will help you develop basic strumming skills. For the chords you will have to once again look through the back of the page. For most chords I think it would be quite simple for you to figure them out quickly.

3. A detailed explanation of rhythm and reading rhythm. This will be important when you come across rhythms in music that you might need to read. It will also help you to gain a mental image of how music is organized rhythmically. Working through the strumming patterns will also help point out any rhythm problems you might have. This is very important to your rhythmic development and overall musicianship.

There is one more book I would get that is an ear training book and wouldn't be affected by your left hand approach. This book is Ear Training One Note Complete. I can't stress how important it is to also develop your ear as you develop musically. It will make all the difference in the long run to your overall ability.
 
Q I am working on your single string studies book. I am just about finished with studying the key of C on each string. I spent about a 15 min. per session for 7 days on each string. I review each string from time to time, especially ones that seemed more difficult like the D string.

By going slowly, and visualizing (in my imagination) the string being studied, I am getting pretty accurate but still make mistakes. Especially going up high on the string from down low. I guess the smaller size of the frets makes it harder and I never have used the frets above 15 on strings E - D before. What should I do next?

I am also doing LOTS of ear training in the single string study book. I have only three more keys to go on the first study. My only comment is very challenging at 100 bpm!!!
A So next you will go back and read all the strings but in the key of F. You just continue this through all keys. After that you do the All String Exercises.

For singing, once you feel comfortable with the first page using a C chord vamp I want you to make an F chord vamp and sing the 1st page again. So now you will have a #4. Once you finish that, you need to go through all of the keys, so next would be Bb which will give you a #1 and a #4. As you can see it will get more and more difficult as you get into keys which contain very few notes that are in C major.
 
Q About a year ago I made a commitment to myself to work on my ears everyday. I decided to start by learning intervals. I knew that some people were hearing intervals by association to the beginning of songs. Like you, I figured that it was not the best way to go at it. I then started to learn each interval like if I was learning a "colour," as you put it. I listened to each interval long enough that when I hear one, I just know what it is (no crutches, just plain recognition). When I got on your site, I was excited to read the way you approach music. I bought the Fanatic's Guide and the Complete One Note books. I read all the information in the books, and all the information from your website. I was excited to get to the CD exercises even if I knew it would take me years to master (because my ears are not well trained and because it took you one year and a half to get only one note). I was so surprised of my success that I am sure I am doing it wrong (I have done the first CD with about 85% of good answers within about ONE HOUR !!!).

OK...here is how I went about it: You say "listen to the progression and get a sense of the key" - Well, for me, a sense of the key means the root. So, when I listen to the progression I hear and hold the pitch C in my head. After the progression, you play a note... Well, for me it is just like when I was practicing my intervals with my ear training software, but now it is even easier because the first pitch of the interval is always C.

Am I thinking about it the wrong way ? If yes, why is it wrong...I mean... I get all the good answers after all.
A You're close in your assessment of the ear training, but I think it's important to make a couple of distinctions. After you hear the cadence in the key and hear a note, don't think about the key or hold the C in your head. You are already in a key, so trust yourself and just listen to the note that you need to guess. You don't want to think the key or the note C, but just allow your memory of the key or the note C to be the focus. The reason for this is the conscious retaining of the key or the note C adds an extra conscious mental step into the ear training process which will slow you down. Many times students find that it's easier if they hold on to the key center in their mind when doing the ear training. This is because they have weak Key Retention (the ability to retain a key center after the sound of the key has died away). By working on the singing exercises in the Fanatic's Guide your Key Retention will strengthen so just be patient. Just remember that when listening to the Ear Training One Note CD you just want to hear the note, guess what you think it is and trust that over time your internal sense of Key Retention will help you hear the unique quality of that note against the previously heard key center chord progression.
 
Q I have been working with your eartraining books (One Note Intermediate and Fanatic's) for some months now. I am noticing improvements in my hearing.

But anyway, my questions are these:

1. In the One Note Intermediate I now have about 90-95% accuracy, but when I do make mistakes, it is usually in confusing a b5 with a 5, or a b6 with a b2. Once in a while I will mix up a b5 and a 4 or a b7 and 7. My question is, is this happening because I am trying to use intervalic distance to get the notes right (meaning, I confuse the b5 and 4 because I am judging distance and am just missing the distance), or is it just because I don't completely know the sound of the note yet. It worried me because, the b5 and 4, or the b7 and 7,or the b6 and b2 sound very different, so I wasn't sure if I was judging the distance between notes.

2. With the ear training, I find that my recognition of notes is much better than my ability to hear the notes in my head and sing them. Are there any other exercises you would recommend other than the ones mentioned in Fanatic's Guide that I should also do to better develop the ability to pre-hear notes and to accurately sing them.
A You probably still have some distance judging going on but the fact that you are mixing up b2 and b6 shows that you are also getting to know each note for it's original sound.

The exercises in the Fanatic's Guide should help you a lot to get closer to these notes. It's important that you do the Fanatic's Guide many times a day to reinforce your memory, which will help your pre-hearing. This whole process can take some time so be patient and be consistent. Missing a day is like missing 2 weeks in your current state so stick with it.
 
Q I've just received my copy of Ear Training One Note and Fanatic's Guide. I have two questions, I'll start with the easy one: in the ear training CD I can't help listening to the fundamental at the end of the cadence: the last chord is in root position, so the fundamental sounds longer, which makes it even harder. Is there any trick to correct this problem?

Now for the twisted question: in the Fanatic's Guide you teach the solfeggio syllables Do, Di, Ra, etc. To my understanding, these syllables are used to identify a relative pitch rather than a specific note, so if I asked you to sing 1 #1 2 in the key of Ab, you would sing "Do Di Ra", which would actually be Ab, A, Bb. However, I happen to be French. We don't use the letters C, D, E, F, G, A, B for the notes. We actually call them Do, Ré, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si. Which gives me almost the same syllables both for fixed note names and floating relative pitches, and a lot of headaches in prospect. I don't think I could unlearn the french syllables (they are very instictive), so what I would be inclined to do is transpose the solfeggio syllables, thus 1 #1 2 in Ab would be "Lay La Tay." Have you ever had French-speaking students in your classes? If so, how did they cope with this problem?
A You should be concentrating more on an overall sense of key rather than focusing on the root of the key. This will take time. What may be happening is you have weak key retention so you concentrate on the root to help you hold the key center. This is a natural reaction but over time you want to just have a sense of key rather than concentrating on one note. The Fanatic's Guide and singing exercises in general will help to develop your sense of key. Also keeping a steady practice schedule everyday will help. This is especially true if you can do the listening and singing multiple times throughout the day. This will really help to build key retention quickly. I guess with all things there are little tricks but really the majority of what is going on here is you changing your perception of sound which takes time. Sometimes you will feel like your getting nowhere and then other times you will have a breakthrough. The important thing is to police your mind and the process you are doing to make sure you aren't developing bad habits.

I have never had a French student that had any extreme problem changing there solfeggio. It's like learning anything new it will take time. Overall I think you need to develop some patience with yourself and believe that you have the capability to control your aural recognition destiny. You just need will power and concentration.
 
Q I was listening to your beginning ear training CD yesterday and think I got what you're trying to teach me to do. Recognize the notes you play in relation to the chords played. It sounds simple but it's more difficult than that. I just wanted to confirm a couple of things. First I should listen to the chords without thinking of their names. Just the sound (I usually count 1,2,3,4 in rhythm with them), then listen to the note played afterward in relation to the chords just played, then quickly guess at the name of the note, listen for the answer and move on to the next one. Now that I understand what I am trying to listen for it makes it a lot easier. Its funny how it just clicked yesterday (my guesswork didn't improve) but I understand the direction I'm trying to go now, which will make it more rewarding along the way.
A Remember that you are trying to hear each pitch against a key center not a chord progression. This is a subtle difference in language but a huge difference in approach. I would just listen to the chord progression and let it create a key within you that's it. You may not be able to hold on to this key very long to start with and if you lose it before the note sounds you probably will get the note wrong. That's OK! Just keep trying, it will come. Everyone who gets this ear training sticks with it. Overall I think you are on the right path I just wanted to point out these subtle differences. Please also be working out of the Fanatic's Guide. This will really help in your understanding of the process and help you to improve at a quicker rate.
 
Q My son just started college this year and is taking music theory. This is the first interest in music he has expressed, besides having a car stereo that is rated on the Richter Scale rather than in decibels. Music isn't his major but he sounds like he wants it for a hobby. I'm overwhelmed because I see it as a blessing in that we can rebuild our broken relationship. We haven't talked so much in years. The real question is how can I direct him when it comes to ear training. I know that they will use interval training in the class. I have loaned him One Note Complete and told him that if he followed the method he would be able to hear much better than the interval method. I know that this will cause him confusion because when they test him on intervals he needs to be able to pass their test but using your method. What do you recommend? I loaned him a guitar and ordered him your First Steps book.
A Well I think you did the right thing to give him the ear training book. At least now he knows there is an alternative. It really shows you care about him and he will realize that maybe not now but certainly later if he continues with music and realizes that the interval thing just isn't cutting it. First Steps also is a good choice because if he starts learning the guitar and follows even half of the information on proper technique he will improve quickly. Of course he could use Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One but you might want to wait until you are sure he is serious because that is a hard book and takes a lot of will power and determination. It's a great way for a guitarist to learn music theory. Applying music theory to your own instrument is the best way to make sense of your instrument and also a great way to help you remember all of the theory relationships because you see them on your instrument. Wishing you the best of luck with your son he's lucky to have a father who cares. If you need further advice let me know.
 
Q I have never played a musical instrument before and have decided to learn to play the guitar.

I started with Guitar for Dummies, because someone gave me the book. I still haven't mastered playing chords, which is the first part of the book. The problem here is trying to remember where to place my fingers on the fret board then changing to the next chord. I assume that trying this over and over 7 days a week will solve this problem.

I had no idea if what I was playing sounded right, so I thought that Ear Training was the thing to do. I purchased One Note Ear Training Beginning Level. Do I need to learn something about music notation, before working on Ear Training?

Should I be working with some of your guitar books before continuing with Ear Training?

As someone with an electronics and mathematical background I have the inclination to go look up the frequencies and mathematical relationship between the notes. Would this help me any in learning to play an instrument?
A Thanks for contacting me. I would recommend you get 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist. You first want to study the section on proper playing technique. Look at the pictures and the videos to make sure you are playing correctly. This will make a major difference in your progress. Second I would look at the chord voicing and start applying them to the chord progressions. These progressions have midifiles and mp3 files that you can download to help you hear what they should sound like which will help you learn quicker. Along with the 1st Steps book I would get Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One. This book will help you learn music theory and apply it directly to the guitar. This will improve your understanding of music and how it relates to your instrument. The other book I would recommend would be one of the Ear Training One Note books which you already have.

I would spend 30 minutes to an hour on the 1st Steps book. 15-20 minutes a day on the Music Theory and do the Ear Training book with a discman throughout the day when you have a break. Try to do the Ear Training 4 to 5 times a day for 5 to 10 minutes.

If you have further questions let me know. I would also recommend reading the FAQs found for each of these books on the muse-eek.com website. I would also recommend you join the free member's area on the muse-eek.com website now that you own a muse eek book. There is a lot of additional information found in this section of the website that will be useful to you.

I think Guitar for Dummies is a good reference book. It will help you with basic understanding of the guitar. I think the book falls short in that the chord progressions are not that hip and the explanation of how to physically play the guitar is not well developed. But I say over all of the books available it is a good purchase.

I wouldn't particularly recommend you look up the frequencies and mathematical relationships between the notes. While interesting, it isn't the main thing that I think you need to learn right now. Having an electronics and mathematical background though may help you to relate music to a field you currently understand.
 
Q When pre-hearing a note while doing fanatics guide, what is this note supposed to sound like in my head. I know this sounds like a seemingly stupid question. But should I be hearing a voice inside my head that goes Do or May or whatever note I'm trying to sing. Sometime I hear what sounds like a piano playing the desired note in my head. I feel as if when I do pre-hear that the sound inside my head feels as if it came from nowhere, and feels like a very abstract thing. Perhaps there is no right answer to this question, but I just thought it would be better to ask and find out.
A I think the sound, or image of a sound, people hear is different for each person. I think it would be similar to other types of sounds you try to hear in your head. Imagine words or sounds you know well and see what happens inside. This will give you a good idea of what the pitches will sound like.
 
Q I've been working for one and a half month with your ear training and sight singing methods. In my last message, I told you I couldn't help hearing the fundamental and applying an interval. As strange as it may seem, I've solved this problem by starting with the advanced CD. Then I've moved to intermediate and now I'm back to advanced. I also told you about my concern with solfeggio syllables and french note names; you were right about that, it's not so hard to deal with.

Today I feel confident about my progress : one note recognition is becoming more and more instinctive; as for singing, I don't know all the notes yet but it's only a matter of time.

I have two questions :
1. Do you have tricks to tell if a student is not using the right method? For example, I sometimes confuse F# and B, which might indicate that I rely on their strong tendency to resolve to the higher semi-tone (I hope to solve that when I cover those notes in my singing practice).
2. As beautiful as the I-V-IV cadence is, I'd like to start applying my new skills to real music :-) Sometimes I use a real CD (simple songs, no key changes) for my singing practice, although I find it much harder. I've also tried having my computer play random notes over a CD to work on ear training. Is this a good approach? I've noticed that pitch recognition is harder when the song is in a minor key, is it supposed to become easier over time?

PS : I've received my copy of Single String Studies today. I'm really happy to note that my ear training tremendously helps me to play the exercises without looking at my fretboard.
A Many students find if they start with the intermediate CD that it helps them. It takes less key retention to do the intermediate CD than compared to the beginning. Most students when they start out are weak in their key retention and this is why I recommend using the Fanatic's Guide to help build key retention and basic knowledge of the notes.

Glad to hear the solfeggio isn't causing you much trouble now.

There are many indications that I use when I teach to tell if a student isn't doing the ear training correct. Many of these can be found in the FAQs for the ear training books on the muse-eek.com website. Your example of mixing up F# and B is common. You could be using resolution tendencies. One way to counteract this is to guess the answer quickly which will stop your mind from thinking to much and it will just react based on memory.

Your examples of using a real a CD with simple songs, no key changes for my singing practice, or playing random notes over a CD to work on ear training is OK to do. Just be careful for now to just use music that has one chord change. After you work your way through Key Note Recognition and start 2 note ear training then we can talk more about other real music things you can do to improve.
 
Q Could you give me a practical scenario to help me understand how the 2 note workouts will be applied to real musical situations? How do you use this modulating, 'do' in the 'automatic' sense your method is aimed at in your present work and can you give a recent example from one of your gigs?

Finally, can you give me a brief history of how your hearing skills progressed as they correspond to each method you have developed to attain automatic hearing. The hard work would sure go a lot easier if I can get a handle on some of the improvements I can look forward to in my hearing and musicianship. Now I know this is a tough assignment and I know that your not getting paid... but I am sure everyone in the FAQ room will be tickled pink to hear your testimony!!!!! Besides I will gladly send you exotic food stuffs, my Mickey Mantle baseball cards... oh what the heck... my first born... just to get a little more insight. take your time... no rush on this one and I will be eternally grateful.
A With rhythm you need to first do the basic building blocks of counting and thinking the rhythm/time in order to learn what a rhythm sounds like. After that you should progress to more of a Big Metronome approach. So your method of learning is good as you stated.

The 2 note ear training teaches you to modulate and also helps you to gain more experience with the one note ear training but now you have to identify multiple notes. There are many applications of this two note method. One of the most common is a situation where you are playing one note on your instrument, let's say a C, and it sounds like the tonic and then it starts sounding like the 3rd then you have modulated to the key of Ab. Two note method also helps you the split up multiple notes in your mind and be able to identify them.

As far as my ear training history I don't think it is really that relevant because each person is different and I don't think my progression through these exercises will have any bearing on you or anyone else. I will give you a brief idea of my experience just to satisfy your interest. One of the reasons why I have so many methods to help you develop your ear training skills is because I have a lot of difficulty with learning ear training. I did the interval thing in college and always got an A in the class but found it didn't help me hear music in the real world. When I started the technique I teach now it took me a very long time to unlearn intervals and then relearn how to hear within a key. One Note Ear Training took me 1 and 1/2 years to get down. I had to do a lot of singing too to help my improvement. This is one of the reasons why the Fanatic's Guide has so many exercises in it. I had to go through that amount of singing before I could hear the one note ear training. Each of the other exercises i.e. Key Note Recognition and two + ear training exercises all took quite a bit of time for me to master.

The application of the ear training covers all aspects of music making. I use it to tell what key chord progressions are in by using the Key Note Recognition method. I can tell how a progression is modulating by using the two note method and I can hear individual notes by using the one note method. Probably the most profound effect this has upon your playing and music is you become much more musical in your playing and composing. Once you hear music correctly it makes all the difference in how you hear, what you hear and how you interact with other musicians. There isn't an end to the ear training process I still work at various aspects of ear training mostly applying it to the music I write. Many people also don't realize how hearing makes there physical ability on their instrument improve. Once you really hear what you are playing you play it much better and your able to play faster and with more accuracy. Ear Training is absolutely the most important thing you can do for yourself to improve your musical ability. You should look at it as a life long path that will always keep you as close to the essence of music at all times.
 
Q I just received the Ear Training One Note Beginner Level. I am very excited at the possibility of really learning how to hear. I tried an ear training course (or collection of notes to play) some years ago based on playing a single chord tone at first and singing it back, and somehow I felt it helped me hear a lot more of the music I was listening to and playing. I ultimately gave up music, but have returned to it again, some years later (I am in my early forties).

Anyway, I got your book/cd, read the FAQs, and noted that many people spoke of being discouraged. I thought, well, that won't be a problem for me, especially now that I have been warned. I plugged the cd into my cd player, and could only go for a few minutes, because I felt it was absolutely impossible. I went to make a subset cd of just the major triad chord tones (though my software stymied me for now).

Anyway, my questions are these:

1. If a person really gets essentially none of the answers right at first, is there still hope :-) ? It really feels impossible, like I am being asked to fly or create metal bars out of water vapor.

2. When I played music before, I did a lot of scale pattern work, including arpeggios. I could sing them pretty well after a time (I cannot do that anymore, but I am now hunting for the arpeggios on the guitar to reproduce what I had earlier done on a mandolin). Anyway, how does singing arpeggios and/or scale patterns, at the instrument, fit into your scheme? You recommend against certain forms of ear training, and that is why I am asking. I will probably get your sight singing book that you recommend.

I'm rested from my initial discouragement, and am picking up the cd to try again after sending you this. Thanks for making these resources available.
A Not getting any of the notes correct at first is common. As you have probably read in some of the FAQs you are using a different type of learning skills with this ear training. You are going back to the skills you used when you learned to speak. Your mother would say "say daddy" over and over everyday until you finally said it, then she built up from there adding one word at a time. This is the type of learning you need to use with this ear training. So play the CD often for short periods of time and keep a positive attitude. Keep in mind that the way you have learned most everything after about the 1st grade is by reference, 1 stick plus 1 stick equals two sticks. You are not using this type of reference learning with this ear training. Therefore there is no way to compare the 3rd to the 5th to help you distinguish between the two. Also keep in mind that it has been engrained into you at an early age that being wrong is bad and right is good. What you need to do right now is just listen to the CD and not worry or think you are bad if you miss notes. EVERYONE that applies their self gets this ear training. The people that have the hardest time are those that don't understand or follow the advice I've given. The whole trick to improving is to keep these sounds in your short term memory as much as possible. This is why I recommend doing it many times throughout the day.

Singing will certainly help out your situation so get the Fanatic's Guide and start working out of that. I wouldn't do your arpeggio singing right now until you start to hear every note against a key center. Check out the one note exercises in the Fanatic's Guide, this is what you need to do first.

Most of all keep a positive attitude. It's you that is causing the problem not the ear training. It's not how many notes you get right or how long it takes it's doing it correctly with a positive attitude that's important. When you get a note wrong don't say shit. Say oh that's what that note sounds like I'm going to try to remember that sound. Maybe play the same track again and really listen to the note and say I'm going to try to remember that sound. Don't try to figure how to remember it just tell yourself the more you hear it the more you will remember it.
 
Q Are there books that train you to hear chord progressions?
A My ear training method prepares you step by step to hear more and more complicated aural situations. You can't learn to hear chord progressions before you can hear one note, two note, modulations etc. You have to build up to hear multiple notes that either modulate or don't. If you feel this makes sense to you I would start with Ear Training One Note Complete and Fanatics Guide. Once you have finished those books write back and I'll give you the next group of books and exercises to do. You can also check the many FAQs and additional suggested materials posted on the muse-eek.com website for more information.
 
Q I bought a guitar very recently and am very much motivated to play it. I looked around for resources and books and found your books on amazon. First I bought 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist and then Music Theory Workbook Volume One following some of your advice and suggestions from co-readers on the site. Soon after that, I saw your FAQ suggestions and strong recommendation on the Ear Training, so I got it too...

Looking around those 3 materials, I realized there is plenty to learn (actually overwhelming!) and the stuff you speak about in the workbook and ear training isn't going to be easy for a beginner like myself. I haven't played any instrument before. I work around 10-12 hours a day and additionally I have my language lessons, workouts, etc, etc that keep my day/weekends quite exciting and busy. I actually enjoy being busy.

What type of a schedule would you personally recommend for a person like myself? I am a bit confused because my concern is - I want to spend optimum time on the right book/CD so that my progress is stable and keeps going on and on... at the same time it shouldn't demand any time more than what I really have. Although I am learning it to play it just for myself, I have some objectives:

1. Know the instrument properly.
2. Hear to any music (especially from my favorite rock stars) and play them.

Do you think I made a wrong decision by getting all the 3 resources at the same time? Where should I exactly start? Should chords be part of my first lessons or is it the theory part?
A You made the right decision to get all 3 books if you have the will power and concentration to fit them into what sounds like a very busy life. I think one of the key things here is do you have any spare time at work where you could listen to an ear training CD for 5 minutes maybe 3 to 5 times and/or do 10 minutes of music theory work. If you do then I'd spend between 1/2 hour and 1 1/2 hours a day playing guitar and do some extra practicing on the weekends. The important thing is to be consistent. If you can only practice 1/2 an hour a day then be consistent and always practice that amount. This is one of the main keys to becoming a good musician.

Of course you have to also realize that only practicing a 1/2 hour a day it will take longer to progress than if you practice more. But this is your situation now so work within your current situation and try to figure out a way in the future to devote more time to music.
 
Q I have the first books and I am ready to start. What type of schedule should I use to practice? I take the train to work so I have an extra hour and a half away from the guitar to do the exercises in the workbook.
A For the Ear Training One Note Complete book try to listen to the Ear Training One Note CD 5 to 10 times a day for 5 to 10 minutes. Make sure to go to www.muse-eek.com and read all the FAQs this can help you think of this practice correctly. Doing this on the train is a good idea.

Now for the Chord Workbook for Guitar Volume One you want to learn around 10 new chords a week. Go through the chords from the beginning and make sure you learn them all. Use the cycle 5 suggestion to help you memorize these chords. If you already know quite a few go to the back of the book and start learning the chord progressions. You should try to learn one chord progression per week. There are mp3 files up on the muse-eek.com website for these progressions. Look under the title and you will see a folder on the left side called mp3.

The Music Theory books you want to do one page a day from Volume One.

Additional stuff:

You need to go to www.arnoldjazz.com and the music workshop and download the 19 scales. You want to learn a new scale each week. You are going to first work your way through all the C modes so first C major all positions then C dorian positions etc. Remember we are learning note names and degrees here not just fingering positions. I would pay close attention to your technique and look in a mirror to check out your hand. I'd recommend you buy the the Guitar Technique ebook and check out how I recommend you play the guitar.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00006J9UF/museeekpublishin

Be anal about this because the more relaxed and close to the neck your hand is the better you are going to play. You also want to spend time playing/improvising with these scales. Use the midifiles and progressions connected to Music Theory Workbook Volume Two or make up your own. You can find the Music Theory Workbook files under the book title on the muse-eek.com website. Also download the applying music theory article from the member's area this will give you other ideas on sequencing scales.
 
Q I have previously studied classical guitar, especially Spanish master's pieces by Tarrega, Torres and Segovia, and some Brazilians like Villalobos, obviously as an interpreter. Needless to say, in a pretty much mechanistic way since I feel my knowledge in music theory is rather too modest, not to say mediocre.

I've read outstanding reviews about your accomplished musicianship and teaching approaches and therefore I would like to get some advise from you; I am planning to purchase some of your publications and in face of your prolific editorial production I would like to count on your proficient advise to choose the right ones for me. As I said before, I have some background, I don't have huge playing limitations, in terms of my playing skills I would rank myself as an intermediate-to-advanced amateur player. I am looking forward to getting an in-depth understanding of basics in chord construction, classification and terminology, intervals and scales over chords concepts. Needless to say, exercises on modes and scales are always welcome as well as other concepts not mentioned above.
A I would recommend the following books for you.

Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volumes One and Two
Chord Workbook for Guitar Volumes One and Two
Ear Training One Note Complete
Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training
Guitar Technique Ebook

If you let me know the amount of time you have to practice I will help you with a practice schedule. If you want me to do this also let me know when throughout the day you might have 10 to 15 minutes of down time that you could do ear training exercises with a discman.

You need to go to www.arnoldjazz.com and the music workshop and download the 19 scales. You want to learn a new scale each week. You are going to first work your way through all the C modes so first C major all positions then C dorian positions etc. Remember we are learning note names and degrees here not just fingering positions. I would pay close attention to your technique and look in a mirror to check out your hand. Reference the Guitar Technique book and be anal about this because the more relaxed and close to the neck your hand is the better you are going to play.

You also want to spend time playing/improvising with these scales. Use the midifiles and progressions connected to the book or create your own. Download the applying music theory article from the member's area this will give you other ideas on sequencing scales.

PS Guitar Clinic would also be a good book because the back of the book contains information on 3 very important concepts of improvisation.
 
Q I am a singer, wanting to improve my sight singing abilities (to improve my capabilities as a session singer). I am not quite sure about which of your books I should get. I have had some theory and can squeak by with sight reading... I think I would consider myself a beginner.
A I think the best course of study for you would be studying out of 3 books.

Ear Training One Note Complete
Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training
Music Theory Workbook for All Instruments.

The two ear training books will get you going on a course of learning to reprogram your ears to hear correctly and therefore sing better. The theory book will help you develop your knowledge of music so it becomes more natural for you. If you feel like this is the course of study you want to do contact me after you get the books and I'll help you with a practice schedule.
 
Q I recently purchased One Note Ear Training and have been working with the program for about two weeks. At this point I have a question: Since we are learning the sound of various pitches as they relate to a tonal center (key), shouldn't we be referring to the notes by their scale degree rather than their note names? The sound of the third degree of the scale will remain the same in all keys but note positions will change in every key won't they?
A This is a question that is asked often. Many students that are just starting with this ear training don't have a strong music theory background. Many are just starting to learn about scales and the chromatic scale. By using note names it helps a beginning student organize music theory relationships and apply them to their instrument. In the long run a student needs to know both the note names and the degree relationships in every key. It would be nice if the book contained 6 CDs so a student could work on both methods. This is not practical because of cost considerations. I have found that a student that works through my Music Theory books has no problem instantly switching keys and using note names or degree relationships. If you don't currently have this ability I would suggest you start working on it. If you do have this ability then it won't matter if you are saying note names or degrees.
 
Q Thanks for answering my questions so promptly -- it shows that you care. As I mentioned, I've been working with your ear training course for about 2 weeks now. At first, it was pretty overwhelming -- all those notes! And I had very few correct guesses. To minimize the frustration, I decided to make a CD with only the tonic, third and fifth on it. The other day I added the flat 7. In one of your raps, you mention that this is OK to do but I don't recall you mentioning which elements it would be best to start off with. Was I correct about choosing 1,3,5,7? If so, is there any particular order of scale degrees I should add next?
A I don't really have an order for adding tones. I also can't say I totally recommend starting with notes and adding on. I find that it helps some students and not others. I think this is based on how people learn and everyone learns a little differently. If you feel it is helping then continue adding tones in any order you feel is appropriate. I have found that the real thing to help you improve with the ear training CD is working out of the Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training. The singing will not only help you get the notes on the CD faster but will also help you apply this technique to real music. Overall I'd have to recommend patience. You are programming or in some cases reprogramming the way you hear sound. This is no small matter. The important thing is to keep a positive attitude and believe in yourself. Everyone who works hard at this method gets it and it makes a major difference in your musical ability.
 
Q Hello, I am a student at Harvard College, though I am taking this year off to pursue other interests. High on my list is Jazz guitar. The reason I'm contacting you is to ask your advice. I've been playing guitar for many years. I've also played bass and classical piano. I have a fairly strong background in music, that is, my ear, manual dexterity, and basic musical knowledge (with the addition of a few Music Theory courses) is present. Still with Jazz, it's spotty, as I've never had a teacher for guitar. I've learned what I could from books and listening, and I've come a long way in this respect. I've reached a point where I very much want to solidify my groundings in Jazz theory. I have the enthusiasm, passion, work-ethic and ambition, but I lack direction. Can you recommend a way that I can get to the level appropriate to show up to a jam session and be on the same page as other Jazz musicians? Should I go straight to lessons? Should I enroll in a jazz theory course? Or would I be wasting my time and money with both of these, when I could make a lot of progress on my own (following a book you might recommend, perhaps one of your books and your website)?
A I'm going to make a leap of faith here and figure that you have a decent knowledge of scales but probably haven't organized them well or know them like you need to know them in every key. Furthermore I'm figuring you know the name of any note on the guitar fretboard if I pointed to a note. I'm also figuring you know your basic barre chords with the root on the low E or A string. Let me know if I'm not correct.

Given that this information is close to correct I think we need to first completely organize your knowledge of the fretboard in regards to scales. To do this you to need to go to www.arnoldjazz.com and the music workshop and download the 19 scales. You want to learn/review these scales. Using the fingering suggested on the downloaded sheets I want you to first work your way through all the C modes so first C major all positions then C dorian positions etc. Remember we are learning note names and degrees here not just fingering positions. I would pay close attention to your technique and look in a mirror to check out your hand. I'd recommend you buy the Guitar Technique ebook and check out how I recommend you play the guitar.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00006J9UF/museeekpublishin

Be anal about this because the more relaxed and close to the neck your hand is the better you are going to play.

You also want to spend time playing/improvising with these scales. Use the midifiles and progressions connected to Music Theory Workbook Volume Two or make up your own. You can find the Music Theory Workbook files under the book title on the muse-eek.com website. Also download the applying music theory article from the member's area. This will give you other ideas on sequencing scales.

So to review: For scale study download the scales and get Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume Two and the Guitar Technique ebook.

Nothing you do on the guitar is going to be worth anything if you can't hear correctly so get the following books. Ear Training One Note Complete. Try to listen to the Ear Training One Note CD 5 to 10 times a day for 5 to 10 minutes. Make sure to go to www.muse-eek.com and read all the FAQs. This can help you think of this practice correctly. Also get the book Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training and start working on the first assignment in the book. There are also a few suggested lessons in the muse-eek.com member's area for the Fanatic's Guide. You can join the member's are for free after buying the books.

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/members/members1.html

We are also going to review and apply all your chords with the root on the 5th and 6th string. I want you to start learning the chord progressions in the back of the book. Learn both versions of each progression. By this I mean learn the chords using the chord symbols but also look in the very back of the book and learn the progressions by just looking at the actual notes. If you find chords you don't know look them up in the book. You also need to read the section of Chord Reharmonization which precedes the chord progressions. This information is extremely important to help you understand how to analyze, create and alter chord progressions. We are also going to use this information to superimpose melodic lines later on. You should try to learn at least a couple of progressions per week. There are mp3 files up on the muse-eek.com website for these progressions. Look under the title and you will see a folder on the left side called mp3.
 
Q I have been working through you ear training books for about 6 months now and seem to be making progress. I am working on Key Note Recognition and continue to hack at one note advanced (for which I am probably at the 80% correct mark). From the outset I wondered about the relationship between key and mode in the method. For the entirety of one note the goal is to memorize the sound of each note relative to a key: that key being a major mode in the exercises. Starting with Key Note Recognition, you introduce minor modes. This leads me to a few related questions. In one note am I really supposed to memorize the sound of a note in the context of a major mode or should I be thinking of the mode as setting up the tonic and then thinking of memorizing the sound of a note relative to the tonic? I assume the former is what you intend since the latter sounds too much like interval based ear training (which we all know is evil :-). Assuming the former, how should I be thinking of proceeding with key note? Should I be trying to identify the mode first (major vs. minor) and then thinking of the sound of a note relative to that mode to get to the key, or should I be thinking of repeating the entire exercise of the one note method relative to minor keys? In certain cases it seems necessary to proceed one way and others not. For example, when I hear C against a C major cadence vs. a C minor cadence the extent to which it sounds different is the extent to which C major and C minor sound different. On the other hand, when I hear A against a C major cadence vs. a C minor cadence it sounds quite different due to its relative affinity with the mode that is established. At some advanced level do you start doing exercises in goofy modes like phrygian? Of course, if this is all about identifying the tonic and hearing relative to that, then the question is moot.

For now, I am just listening and waiting for some kind of gestalt to develop. Also, I am in Boston and was wondering if there are any teachers you can recommend for ear training here? I am not prepared to enroll at Berklee or anything like that but might be interested in spending a few hours a month with someone who can whack my nose with a rolled up newspaper when I am doing something wrong.
A You are trying to memorize the sound of each note against a key center it doesn't matter if it is a major, minor, dominant, Locrian natural 2 etc... All notes will still sound the same. I also wouldn't think of it that you are memorizing the sound against the tonic because this tends to focus the mind on the tonic of the key rather than on the overall sense of key. The relationships you are hearing that an A sounds different against a Cmajor tonality and a Cminor tonality will go away with time and you will see that you hear the same sound in both modes. Really the Key Note Recognition is slowly introducing these other modes to help you develop this overall sense of each note. Remember each note's sound will become more refined over time so 6 months is a drop in the bucket. Over a few years you will see these things that I talk about slowly take shape. You will also find that over time it won't matter what the mode is. You will still hear these relationships it just takes time. I'm currently working on a method to help people with these other modes but even without another method you would develop this over time.

I don't think you really need a teacher you just need to follow my directions and be consistent.
 
Q I know that I sent an email about practicing, but I just want to say that I've made tremendous progress with the ear training. After three days I'm getting 95% of the intermediate CD correct with plenty of time to spare. This is by far the most effective practice I've done in a while. It forces me to organize my thoughts. I have a good ear for recognition of pitch, but identification is so important. I've been listening to music and identifying melodies as they apply to the key center with actual ease. Really great stuff, thanks. As far as the practice schedule, whenever you get a chance to offer some suggestions, that'd be awesome, I can't wait to keep improving.
A As far as a schedule goes you should plan on 4 to 5 hours of practice a day if you have the time. You should work up to this amount because it's easy to burn out and consistency is important.

For the scales I'd like to see you get through all keys all positions in the next 3 months. The scales don't have to be fast just have them be consistent in tempo as you go up and down.

I also want you to make some flash cards for testing the scales:

1 set with list of all 19 scales
1 set with degress 1-7
1 set with all keys.

So you turn over one card it says Dorianb2
you turn over another and it says 3rd
you turn over the last and it says Bb

So you play a BbDorianb2 scale from the 3rd.

You of course should go through all keys all scales all degrees but use these cards to help test yourself.

Make sure to also apply the scales to vamps and tunes so you understand how each scale sounds.

With the Chord Workbook you pretty much know most of the chords so find the ones you don't know and play them cycle 5 i.e. C, F, Bb, Eb, etc... Read the section of Chord Reharmonization and then learn and analyze the chord progressions in the back of the book. Check under the Chord Workbook title on the Muse Eek Website there are MP3 files of the chord progressions play by me. This will help to make sure you have the right feel and give you a backing track to solo over. Try to learn a few new progressions each week. Analyze the progressions and let me know if you have any questions.

Continue the ear training. Glad to hear it is going well.

With all guitar work I can't emphasis the importance of correct technique so monitor your technique with a mirror or even video tape yourself.
 
Q I have been working with one note and fanatics guide for several months now, and although slowly, I am progressing as time goes on. Even though I am at a VERY beginning level still, I have found a few days ago while listening to Ali Akbar Khan, I could assign scale degrees to most of what he was playing during the slow section with no percussion. My question is, do you think it would be wise at this time to start working on the rhythm aspect of ear training as well? If so, what books of yours would you suggest I pick up and start working on?
A You will need to get the following books:

Rhythm Primer
Rhythms Volume One
Rhythms Volume Two

Once you have the books get back to me and I'll give you an assignment
 
Q I have obtained the following books:

Guitar technique (thanks for the email version)
Guitar clinic
Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Vol 2
ET one note complete
Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training
Rhythm primer
Rhythms Vol 1
Single String Studies Vol 1
Chord Workbook Vol 1

Rhythm primer: started working assignments on page xxi. These are not difficult for me, but the faster tempos (whole note = much above 60) seem excessive in that by that point I think I have gotten what I need out of the exercise from a reading standpoint.

ET one note: I read through the book and understand what you are saying. I was on the road in the car a lot this week with the first CD on random play. What a blast! I get more than 80% right overall, but have particular problems with b5, b7 and the highest register for some unknown reason. I'm working on it.

Fanatic's guide: I can sing 1, 3 and 5 in all keys and am working on the other diatonic tones.

Let me also say that I am deeply impressed by your scholarship and dedication. I have been teaching and studying for years and have never seen such a comprehensive and well-thought-out method.

I could use some guidance through this vast forest of material. What next?
A The reason for the faster tempos in Rhythm Primer is to get your eye moving quickly across measures of music. Don't underestimate the importance of this. You should also check out the file on beat reading found in the member's area. This is closely related to training your eye to move ahead of the music which is key to sight reading.

As far as the other books first check out the modal sequencing information found in the Guitar Clinic and the Applying music theory in the member's area. As mentioned before I want you get all 19 scales listed on the www.arnoldjazz.com music workshop website down in all keys from every degree. Remember we are just doing an introduction to all these scales they don't have to be fast but they need to be consistent and Gb major should be as strong as C major. We are working towards using the 19 modes as a warm up everyday. So you might for instance run through all 19 modes in one key from every degree for a warm up. This will take time to reach that point but sooner or later you should be able to do this in 20 to 30 minutes. But for now you want to make sure you know all of these scales by playing all of them in every key. You can also use flash cards to test yourself.

Make the following flash cards:

1 set with list of all 19 scales
1 set with degress 1-7
1 set with all keys.

Flip over one card from each set and play the scale. Along with these technical ways of working on the scales complete the exercises in Music Theory for Guitar Volume Two and play along with the vamps that are suggested for each scale type. Remember there are midifiles of these progressions on line at:

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/mtwbforguit2/midi.html


For sight reading you want to do this for 1 hour a day. Do 10 minutes out of each of the following books:

Rhythm primer: try to do these as fast as possible
Rhythms Vol 1: metronome on 2 and 4 read with a swing feel if you tap your foot do it on 1 or 1 and 3.
Single String Studies Vol 1: One page a day move through the book by string. So first low E string in C major then A string in C major, D string in C major etc.
Chord Workbook Vol 1: Learn one new chord progression a week. You can also find examples of me playing these progressions at:

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/chord1/mp3.html

Augment this time with reading out of books check out of the library or other sources. Remember to read as many types of music and manuscripts as you can find.

Ear training continue as you have described, seems like your on the right track.

If you have more questions let me know. I would like to move on past scales in a few months so try to get all the scales together. Study the concepts of modal sequencing and rhythmic variation that I have set forth in the member's area files and Guitar Clinic.
 
Q I recently purchased the one note method. It is an interesting method and I look forward to improving my hearing. It seems your ear training technique goes on to cover 2 notes, 3 notes etc but I wondered why you don't teach ear training for chords?

Is being able to hear individual notes the same skill required to identify chords? For example, if I can hear and identify the A note in the key of C, does it necessarily follow that I will also be able to identify the A chord in the same key?

I am keen to learn how to play totally by ear and I want to train my ear to be able to hear and identify chords so I know which chord to harmonize the vocals with.
A Hearing chords is partly being able to hear one note and partly being able to modulate because sometimes chord progressions modulate. To give you a simple example of how to use the one note ear training in a chord situation where there is no modulation let's say you have the chord C major. So when you hear the C, E and G it will sound like the root, 3rd and 5th. Let's say the next chord is A minor, which then returns fairly quickly to C major (if we stay too long on A minor we might modulate). So the notes of the A minor chord A, C, and E will sound like the 6th, root and 3rd. Getting to the point that you can hear this way will require you to work completely through the Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced CD from the One Note Method. It will also require you to work through Key Note Recognition and get a good handle on the 2 note books along with Fanatic's Guide which will help you improve quickly. Sometimes students are able to apply the skills learned with the one note method directly to chords, sometimes it takes longer for the skills they learn with the one note method to penetrate their multiple note abilities. To be able to play chords on the spot to a singer singing notes obviously requires a very quick access to knowing what notes you are hearing and transferring that information through your music theory skills to decide on what chord would be appropriate. I would also recommend you improve your music theory skills to help you in this process. I would recommend Music Theory Workbook for All Instruments which will give you exercises to improve instant recognition of what notes are in what chords.
 
Q I have just started working on Key Note Recognition today. My accuracy level on One Note Advanced is around 95%, therefore I decided to start working on Key Note Recognition. I feel I still need to continue to work with One Note, why I'm not sure, but I do feel the need to. Is there any recommended practice schedule that is best when working out of One Note, Key Note, and Fanatic's Guide? Up until now, I would do 7-10 minutes of One Note, followed by 7-10 minutes of Fanatic's, and then repeat this procedure 4 times throughout the day. Is it better to do Key Note, then do the other two, or better to put Key Note in between the other two? Perhaps this is a question that really has no correct answer? As I am working my way through your wonderful books, I realize that practicing correctly and efficiently is an art on its own. I therefore am not sure whether this is something to be worried about or not.
A There is really no correct answer to your question. I will say this though. You need to become aware of what amount of practicing and combination of practicing techniques makes you improve the quickest. Most of the time this is finding the correct amount of repetition/time that you work on an exercise/book/CD. For most people this takes quit a bit of time to figure out. For instance you might be weak at hearing the b6th of a key. So you work on the listening CD, you sing exercises from the Fanatic's Guide that emphasis the b6th and you work on the E major/minor modulation with the Key Note Recognition CD. Each day you increase your frequency and time amount for practicing until you start to see your problem improving. This is just one example but try to use it as a template to learn your weaknesses and find practice routines that fix the problem. You have the tools with the books that you are using. You now just need to find the right combination for yourself by learning more about yourself and how you improve.
 
Q I have a couple of questions about ear training. I am a man in my thirties and I have started to play keyboards and some guitar. I already can play melodies by ear, but I have difficulties in chord hearing on music (I do know how to read notes so this is not a bad problem). I already have bought One Note Complete, I am just waiting for the mail to deliver it.

So there are my questions: (I don't want to sing). Is Fanatics Guide necessary when training ear? Is it possible to get just Key Note recognition and one of the two note books? I have a computer with midi so I can do more training CDs myself when I know how to do it.
A It is possible to do the ear training without the Fanatic's Guide. I think you will be making the process much harder for yourself and you won't improve as quickly. I also think it will effect how soon you can transfer the exercises into real music application. You would definitely want to get Key Note Recognition and at least one two-note book so that you understand the concepts presented in those books. I would also recommend you check out amazon.co.uk in a few weeks, they will have all these titles available so that might save you some shipping costs. Just one final note. I think your statement that - I don't want to sing - is not looking out for your own best interest in improving your musicianship.
 
Q A few questions.

1. I noticed at the Muse-Eek website that several of your books are required texts at NYU. I will be attending NYU next year at the CAS, not Steinhardt, but am strongly looking into doing a music minor at Steinhardt. Are your books the ones that they use in the Aural Comprehension classes? How does this work in a classroom setting? Do the classes start with One Note CD's and Fanatics, and gradually, throughout a period of a few years move on throughout the 2-note series?

2. With Fanatic's Guide, I am still working on the first one note excercises, but am still REALLY slow on my pre-hearing. What I am doing is, listening to the cadence, trying to pre-hear whatever note I am working on, and if I cannot hear it, play the note on an instrument, and repeat this several times until I start to hear an image of the note in my head. Does this seem like a good method for tackling my problem? Or is there something different I should be doing? Although this is the method described in the book, I feel that I am doing something wrong. I am at about 100% accuracy on the Advanced One Note, and working on Key Note, but it took me a few months to even be able to pre hear the root note of the key in Fanatic's! Now, of course I have moved on to other notes.

3. At Arnoldjazz.com, the CD cover for Spooky Actions is a different one than the one on Muse-Eek (which by the way is awsome!) Is this a different CD? If so, can I get it through Muse-eek?
A The music department in the Steinhardt school at NYU would best be described as fluid. The Theory Department, which is where the ear training courses are offered, has used my ear training books. Many times each teacher will decide on what books they want to use for their course so you will find teachers at NYU still using the interval method in their classes. Teachers that are using, or have used, my method work through it the same way as I recommend.

Your method for pre-hearing sounds fine except I would at least try to sing a note before checking the correct pitch on an instrument. You will find by using repetition that you will pre-hear the note. In other words:

1. Play progression.
2. Try to pre-hear note.
3. Try to sing note even if you don't pre-hear it.
4. Repeat the same note and exercise over and over until you are able to pre-hear the note. Sometimes this will take multiple attempts in a row before you start to pre-hear the note.

There were actually two Spooky Action CDs with two different bands. The first one with sort of a geometric shapes on the cover was a CDR release and was never commercially pressed. A great recording and great playing but it was different than the commercial release currently available.
 
Q A few days ago I ran into your books via Amazon reader feedback. I am 44, just starting with music (playing the electric guitar, reading, ear training) and struggling my ass off at Music School, where everybody is 18 to 22 years old, except the instructors, at 28 to 32 years of age. Hell, they could ALL be my children!

Well, so I saw the light late, perhaps I am slower, blinder and more stubborn than others, but I finally recognized (after a lot of self doubt) that I am not an Economist so here I am studying music.

Weeeell, the reason I'm writing you is to say 'thanks for existing' and for writing all those wonderful books of yours, which the magic of Amazon is delivering to my doorstep in Buenos Aires. The love for music and for teaching is apparent in every sentence you write.

You see, Argentina being one of those oral-tradition societies that don't really believe in books as applied to learning, all the stuff said in class is oral, write-it down in your notebook and then go home and practice. So I go home and try to practice, and miss not having my teacher next to me, because I sort of feel lost, trying to remember everything that was said in class but I couldn't jot down because I had a guitar in my hands, never mind that my brain seizes because even though it's beginner level, the guitar class is truly challenging for me.

Now you come along, with your books, and work-books, and CDs, and midi-files, and for the first time I now get the feeling I can really do this, because I have all the material I need at home, as books, CDs, midi files from muse-eek, etc, that I can work at my own pace and not get stuck and de-motivated. Mostly I have been a self-learner all my life, so your books come hand-in-glove for my needs. :-)

Oh, and I do have one question for you. As an ex-glider flight instructor, we were all aware that learning speed decreased linearly with age. As such that we had a golden rule for all normally-abled students, that required a minimum number of instructor-accompanied flight equal to the student's age plus 10 before the student was allowed to fly solo. The question then is: Is there any data on how music learning times are affected by age? Sort of like languages take longer to learn as you get older (and music is a language).

PS: If I can pay you back with just two ideas... :-)

1. Get your stuff translated into spanish, that's a big market, and many other languages as well. Surely the text is easy as pie to translate, and you could get some languages grad students at Princeton to help-out.

2. How about some really simple software to track ear-training progress? (perhaps there's a pattern as to which exercises you hit and which you miss, so the software can play the ones you miss more often, and also tell you via a histogram chart how your doing. Again you could get computer science students to help-out.
A Nice to hear from you and thanks for your kind words. I'm glad the books are helping you because you are exactly the type of person I wrote these books for. Mentally it has been shown through studies that a person does not learn less efficiently as they age. Of course physically people do develop arthritis and other ailments but the mind works just fine. I think one reason people feel that it's harder to learn as they get older is that they have preconceived ideas about what they are learning or they have to unlearn bad habits before learning the correct ones. Because of this learning can be more time consuming but this just takes dedication and persistence to overcome this hurdle. You should read Eric Kandel and Larry Squire's book 'Memory: From Mind to Molecules.' This book really goes to the heart of how we learn and is important to help you understand how to improve quicker with your music studies. I've taught and studied this way my whole life and it's great to have a Nobel Prize winner confirm what I've noticed in myself and my students. Link below for book.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-
/0805073450/qid=1068559715/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/002-
4708838-3970425?v=glance&s=books

Thanks also for your suggestions. I thought of both but haven't acted on either yet.
 
Q Five years ago I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis which fairly abruptly halted my career as a guitarist. At that time I changed my focus from performance to composition and began getting into the film and media music business. I also started on an ear-training quest to eliminate my dependency on an instrument during composition (to compose from my mind directly to manuscript paper) due to the difficulty I have at times. I have a degree in composition and have spent quite a bit of time on interval based ear training. I have also recently completed Burge's Relative Pitch Ear Training Course and have had quite a bit of success using these techniques.

However, I was recently browsing Amazon's bookstore and I stumbled onto your books and I was intrigued enough to buy them. Here's why: When I'm composing to paper, I find that I naturally use a combination of interval based and key based techniques (I was unaware of what I was doing until I read your book). I could certainly use more work on my key based technique, which is why I'm planning to start your course. My question: Do you really have to unlearn all traces of interval based ear training to completely grasp your method? It would still seem to me, in my situation, that a subconscious combination of both methods would yield the best results. I compose all sorts of music from abstract atonal orchestral music to contemporary jazz and pop rock songs and I think it would depend on the situation. I am interested in your thoughts. It will help me decide how to approach your material. I would also appreciate any other advice you have in helping me achieve my goal.
A In general I find that students who have a lot of interval based ear study behind them before they start my method have a lot of trouble. I do believe both methods could be used at the same time and I know musicians who do that. I find that their ears are better than most but not as good as someone who really has the key based system together. I should say to get it 'together' is a multiple year process if not a life long pursuit. I don't believe there is any music that is atonal. There are people that would certainly hear it as atonal because they haven't developed their ears to the point where they can hear the music within a key. I can prove this to you but it would take you working through the method to the point where you are pretty good with 2 note ear training. At that point I would have you start to sing things like Schoenberg's Five Movements for Piano or Webern's Funf Canons. You would see that over time you would hear these pieces in a key center. The key center may move frequently but you would hear it tonality.

You will particularly have problems with 2 note ear training if you have a strong interval background. These problems are something that anyone can overcome but as you improve with the key based system you will see your reliance on intervals becomes less and less.
 
Q When working through the Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume 1, on P. 24 (the first page that starts with 7th chords), a line on the page reads 'Therefore a -7 is a major seventh with a flatted 3rd and flatted 5th.' Shouldn't it be a flatted 3rd and flatted 7th? I don't know if this has been corrected since I bought the book; I didn't see anything up on the updates and additions page. I am enjoying working on the music theory workbooks, it really shows one how weak one's theory knowledge really is.

Can you suggest me a book from your book list (at arnoldjazz.com), or from anywhere else, that talks in detail about the different tuning systems (i.e. Just Intonation v. Equal Temperament)? Sometimes when listening to the One Note CD, I sometimes notice that the natural 3 (also sometimes I notice the natural 7th) sounds different, than the natural third in say Indian Classical Music for example.
A Page 24 of Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One has a mistake. You can download the corrected page at:

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/book_corrections/bookcorrects.html

I would recommend Genesis of a Music by Harry Partch as a good place to start to understand the world of alternate tuning systems and the history of it's application.
 

I recently started Fanatic's Two Note Vol 3 and was surprised that I was able to identify about 60% right away. The skill I gained on Vol 1&2 transferred immediately. I was very pleased! For example when I heard a two note pair played and heard it as 5 and 3 of the key. This was a eureka moment! Right now I hear (correct answers) them about 60% 5,3 and a 40% 1,6. There are problems with some of the pairs but the accuracy is getting better because I have just kept up the fanatic's singing exercises like you advised. One major side benefit is that I'm now listening to a wider variety of music than ever before and enjoying it more. I was listening to something on the classical music station today that sounded like some kind of atonal thing and was hearing scale degrees in the areas of the piece that seemed to have a root. Just wanted to let you know that your books have been a great blessing to me. I have always wanted to have good ears and have had great success so far for with your method.
 
Q Let me start by thanking you profoundly for revealing what seems to me a key pillar to establishing genuine musicianship. As you have pointed out many times, the methods you teach are anything but easy. I am really very sorry that my questions are so long. But I really hope you have the time to help me out...I am extremely dedicated, so your help would mean a great deal to me.

I am a 23 year old aspiring musician/guitarist. I have been practicing out of the Ear Training: One Note Complete book for about 3 weeks now. I was wondering if it is allowed when trying to hear/name the pitches to visualize the fretboard and picture the placement of each note. Or should I try to learn the pitches as blindly as possible? I am asking because I have found that focusing on the fretboard placement of each note helps prevent any cheating and note resolving I might have as my mind is occupied on the fretboard. I don't yet have the mental focus and discipline of a zen Buddhist monk to prevent me from occasionally cheating, but I think your course is somehow helping me get there :-) I have also been thinking that visualizing the note on the fretboard would also save me the time of having to eventually transfer my relative pitch to my fingers, if you know what I mean.

My next question regards a worry of mine. I suppose that the way I have to memorize the pitches is the same way one memorizes anything else, the brain is exposed to it and then naming (identification) follows, and hopefully over time, the names and the notes become one in the mind. I am worried that when I guess a note right after hearing it, my brain might be associating the guessed (and at this point probably incorrect) name with the note. I am worried that this might slow my progress. So I am wondering if there was some sort of mental trick you can suggest to minimize that from happening. I do understand the need of guessing instantly, but instead could I just not hear/mentally-place when I am suppose to give the answer, let it ring out, and get the correct answer from your voice and then try to associate the note with the name (by having the note mentally ring out over the name)? Should I perhaps be repeating every track at least twice? Or is there any other method I can do if this is in fact a legitimate concern? Here again, any abstract Zen mental suggestions that you might have would be greatly appreciated.

In order to get into the habit of guessing quickly and not allowing reflex cheating, can I be practicing with the intermediate/advanced CD's as well? I have some bad habits developed by previous interval trainings, but thank God I only had started bad ear training several months prior to purchasing your book (it is amazing how damaging so little can be). I ask this because I am no yet at the point where I have 80% correct on the beginning CD.

My next question is about fixing the bad habits. I have interval tendencies with G, also with A - which, thanks to previous self interval training, gets me hearing the opening riff to a song which starts off 1 to m3 (so I shift keys, in this case the A is the 1 and C becomes the m3). I also sometimes get the classics: D back to the tonic, G# back to G, C# to tonic, A# to tonic, the opening riff to Purple Haze starts playing when F# is heard etc... So my question is as follows: With G for example, a note that instantly (and I do mean instantly) is identified by upward interval and resolution with the tonic, can I somehow break this habit by playing other melodies in the root of C that include G, and from there try to 'hear' the G? If I were to play different melodies and intervals each time, couldn't this prevent me from associating G with one particular interval/melody, and in turn force me to simply hear G? Another way of putting my question is that if I hear G from as many 'angles' as possible, wouldn't this force me to eventually just hear G? Couldn't I also play C and G in unison (or in any C chord), and have that help me break my old habits? Of course my question applies to any of my cheating intervals.

My next question involves a dilemma of mine. I had requested David Lucas Burge's Relative Pitch Ear Training Super Course for Christmas. Once the order was placed, I read a review of Burge's course in where a customer recommended your approach over his, but oddly enough, out of all the reasons he used to advocate your book, he did not talk about the interval vs. contextual differences of the two approaches. As a matter of fact, he said that studying Burge's CD's along with yours was a wining formula for him. So I bought your book and I began studying Burge's Cd's along with yours. I had begun singing the fifth intervals taught in his course, and after further understanding of your approach, I realized the damage that it had instantly caused me. But from the reviewer's comments, I am wondering if his course can in fact be done with yours (I don't know how familiar you are with his course). Here is the dilemma, I cannot return the Burge course (over $300). I have ordered a Fanatic's guide and Keynote from Amazon.ca, which will only get to me in mid March since I am in Toronto (and the whole of Toronto does not seem to have a copy of either books!). Should I:

a) be doing your course in tandem with Burge's?
b) master your courses first and ONLY then perhaps do Burge's?
c) forget about his course and only do yours?

Of course, both a and b would make me feel better about the money spent, but I have a feeling you are going to recommend c ;-)

I have no time constraints for practicing your exercises, and am incredibly motivated towards achieving some progress. I was wondering if listening to the CD's for countless hours with small breaks would increase my progress, or is there a cap to how much can be done before the listening becomes a waste of time? How much can a typical person's short-term memory hold? Should I be taking more frequent breaks when listening to the intermediate/advanced CD's? Should I be listening and thinking of it as little as possible during the breaks in order to 'digest' what is in my short term memory?

I was also wondering if trying to learn songs/riffs by ear on my guitar would help with this ear training. I have a feeling that this is how musicians like Jimi Hendrix got good relative pitch. Any thoughts as to how the great get relative pitch? I know Miles for instance used a piano along with his horn (but I don't know exactly what he did).

And my final request is this. I am dedicating all my time now to music, and I want to get improvements ASAP. I would really like to begin exercises from Fanatic's guide. I have been doing some of the exercises given in the member's area with my vocals over guitar, but I would really like to make sure I am doing everything right. Is there any other information that I need for these exercises that are exclusive to the book?

Anyway, thanks for reading through my book of questions, hope you have the time to answer them. Thanks again for your work. I really think you have provided me with a fundamental key to becoming the musician I have dreamed of being!
A Thanks for contacting me and thanks for the kind words. You could visualize the notes on the fretboard but honestly I have a feeling that there is another problem here and that is that your music theory relationships are not strong in your mind and on the guitar fretboard. I think you need to work through the Music Theory Workbooks for Guitar Volumes One and Two so you strengthen these relationships. This will help you with your guitar playing and with your ear training.

The main reason I recommend answering quickly is that it stops you from cheating. If you answer quickly you don't have time to resolve a note or sing up a scale in your mind. I understand your concern about programming the wrong answer into your mind but I don't feel that is the case because you do hear the correct answer after you guess. You could think about each note longer if you make sure you are not doing any of the crutches people use to identify notes. If you want to try faster answering you certainly can use the intermediate and advanced CD before you are done with the beginning.

I'm sure you are aware that using the many resolution tendencies that you speak of can really mess you up. Notes don't always resolve the way you might think. People who rely on these resolution tendencies tend to only be able to recognize notes if they are part of their memorized resolution. I think you are on the right track for fixing your resolution tendencies. I recommend you use the singing examples in Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training to help fix your problem. I would definitely recommend you not work on the Burge course in conjunction with my ear training. I think it will really mess you up because it is based on intervals and not the relationship of each note to a key center.

One thing about my ear training method is that it helps you understand your learning process and your short term memory capacity. For example, I would do experiments with doing the ear training for 5 minutes 10 times a day to 20 times a day for 5 minutes. See what difference this makes, if any. Let me give you a quick example from when I was doing one note ear training. I was pretty good with all the notes after a year and half of hell but I couldn't get Ab. I kept adding on time that I sung and listened to the ear training tape. I concentrated on singing as many exercises as I could with Ab. I kept adding on time and adding on time. Finally it ended up that I was practicing ear training 10 hours a day for two weeks. After the two weeks I got Ab. This is an extreme example but sometimes you have to take great efforts to overcome a particular weakness.

Overall I'd say you are doing well. You are thinking seriously about this and have the drive to fix your problems and improve. That's the most important thing. At this point don't try to come up with other methods to help yourself. Just apply all your concentration and effect into the singing and listening and follow the instructions I give in the books. You can start applying this ear training but first make sure you can do the one note ear training at 80% with the advanced CD. You don't want to apply a method before you understand it because you will have a tendency to make even more mistakes in your perception.

On a final note you might get:

Memory: From Mind to Molecules
by Larry R. Squire, Eric R. Kandel

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-
/0716760371/qid=1046073543/sr=1-3/ref=
sr_1_3/104-8820594-5627927?v=glance&s=books

Eric Kandel won a Nobel Prize for his work with memory, he also did a Charlie Rose interview which is well worth getting a copy of via PBS (Channel 13 in the New York Area).
 
Q So I ordered Fanatic's along with Lines and The Big Metronome (to save on shipping), and have Key Note on the way as well. I know that I should wait with Lines as well as Key Note until I am trough with One Note/Fanatic's. While I intend to focus on Fanatic's and One Note throughout the day, can I also sometimes be doing The Big Metronome if I feel like it, or do you recommend I wait and only focus on one thing at a time?

Do you also recommend that once I am done with Fanatic's and One Note, that I study Key Note in tandem with Lines?

I am pleased to say that on One Note, I am starting to occasionally get G wrong (before, I would get it right all the time, but by cheating). This is a good thing right?

And in terms of judging healthy progress as opposed to progress based on interval reasoning... I am getting about 30-40% right (after 3 weeks), and when I am wrong it is often only by a half/whole step. Is this a good indication? Does this mean that my brain is learning correctly, or is this trend an indication that I am still somehow answering based on interval and distance reasoning? It would be great to have some sort of mental queues indicating whether I am learning correctly.
A I wouldn't work on LINES until you are working on the 2 note books. You can certainly work on the Big Metronome anytime.

You will find that your ability will vary on specific notes. You might be good at the 5th for awhile then it will go away and then come back into focus later. I believe this is your mind readjusting as it learns new notes.

Overall it sounds like you are making excellent progress. But remember don't think so much about progress think about the notes. Immerse yourself in their sound. Everyone that gets this ear training puts their energy into it. For some people it is quick, for others it takes a long time. The important thing is to keep a positive attitude and keep working.
 
Q I have purchased your Ear Training One Note Complete method, it really works. Thanks for your contribution. I believe many people would be benefited from it.

However, I got a problem. It is: I can distinguish note A from D, note E from B, vice versa... It seems that I always get the same feeling for any pair of them... But I'm ok with C and G, whose interval is the same as the above pairs...

Would you please suggest me some ways that I may get rid of these confusions?
A First remember that intervals have nothing to do with what you are listening for, just wanted to reinforce that. Most people find that they have problems with confusing notes that are a 5th away like E and B, Ab and Db etc... Over time you will hear the distinct sound of each note. As you probably know from reading the FAQs, Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training can really help you start to distinguish between these notes faster so I would recommend you start working out of that book. Most of all you need patience and the belief that you will recognize these sounds over time. Everyone that gets this ear training sticks with it. Just make sure you are not hearing things as intervals but just listening to the sound of each note.
 
Q I recently purchased your One Note Complete Method and was wondering if it would be beneficial to go back and re-listen to tracks I've gotten wrong in order to help 'correct' the ear. Or would this do more harm than good?
A Good question! Yes it is OK to go back and re-listen multiple times to the same exercise to engrain the sound into your ear. This is actually what happens when you work on the singing in the Fanatic's Guide Book which I recommend as a companion book to the listening CD.
 
Q How should I work at hearing the tetrad permutations in the theory help file? I tell you I'm pretty good at recognizing chord qualities, but, like intervals, their pretty useless on the band stand!! Since I've worked with 2 note, I realize I need to hear these qualities as a function of scale degree tension. I've been working on half diminished permutations and began singing them as if they are ii function... 2, 4, b6, 1, the most common usage of half diminished quality. I do this as I sing along with my finger exercises based on permutations. Is this a good workout to help me learn chords until I can use 4 note technique. I also realized that because we construct chords on an interval basis, the tradition of ear training in most schools reflects this way of teaching theory... and unfortunately this tradition has missed the true 'gestalt' of melodic perception... scale degree tension... maybe the way theory is taught should also be changed... any way more about this in my big letter.

Which brings us to two note. Getting ready to make tapes for tritone, m2, m6, etc. Also would like them at an intermediate level. Maybe with a single playing of interval rather than two. Any suggestions as to tempo of cadence and interval articulation? Any other suggestions?

String pages are still proceeding slowly. Really want to work the tempo up and want to finish Lines, One Note, Two Note, before I do a key a day of string exercises. I really think Lines is great and a good stepping stone to the string transpositions.

Using Key Note technique on 'Bass Lines.' It was a little tricky at first, especially when I play the c in the middle of the line, but I'm starting to get it with maj. and min. blues lines. I can't tell you how helpful this has been in my work. And the look of admiration I get when I get a key right away and start playing the right stuff is a joy!!! I still have a tough time with a couple keys though, hoping this bass exercise will help.

Finally, I think its possible to hear root movement quickly. I've begun to sing root movements to help me hear progressions. Because harmonic rhythm moves relatively slowly, I really think I can hear root movement automatically if I can isolate the down beat of each measure. My automatic hearing range is about 40-50 mm. Anything that slow, I hear it like someone is talking to me... its great.... So I'm hoping this skill, coupled with pretty good sense of dom., sub dom., supertonic, and supermediant functions and a beginning sense of common modulation formula will make it possible to sit down with someone find the key and play along with the progressions with a high degree of accuracy. So, do think it is possible to isolate down beats from the bass line?
A I fixed the Music Theory File so it should be correct now. Sorry for the problem, just so many things going on at once.

You are correct that the way Music Theory is taught should definitely be changed to reflect how we hear sound.

For the 4 note permutations I would sing through the 24 possibilities in all keys using the Blues Progression assignment in the Fanatic's Guide. A very large assignment, but this is what I did and it made all the difference in the world. Not only do you build up a very fast theory recognition but your ears benefit immensely. I would do this with the 13 basic chord types:

Major 7th
Minor 7th
Dominant 7th
Minor 7th b5
Dominant 7th sus 4 (1,4,5,b7)
Minor Major Seventh
Diminished 7th
Major 7th #5
Major 7th #11 (1,3,#4,7)
Dominant 7th #5 (1,3#5,b7)
Dominant 7th b5 (1,3,b5,b7)
Major 6th
Minor 6th

This is at least a years worth of singing but it will do wonders.

To work on these chords in musical context I would sing through standards arpeggiating the chords for each measure. I would start this with a key drone note and choose non-modulating tunes first. Over time you want to work into modulating tunes and not having a drone. I did multiple tunes this way working through the progression and singing each of the 24 permutations or each chord. (i.e. take ABDC and singing it through an entire piece of music arpeggiating the chords). The book LINES will help you as a stepping stone to this assignment. Your minor 7th b5 exercises are very similar to the above stated technique and you certainly can isolate certain chords over a drone to start to hear, for instance, a ii-7b5 within the key.

Making additional 2 note tapes can be done in multiple ways:

1. You could substitute the I IV V with a I V I.
2. You should definitely work up to just playing the two note combination once.
3. You can work up to just playing the cadence very quickly.
4. You should also make very large and small distances between the two notes

Overall use the pitch class sets from Joseph N. Strauss's Introduction of Post Tonal Theory to make sure you are doing all possible multiple note possibilities. As you can guess this gets to be a lot of permutations. Sounds like your on track with everything else you mentioned. Keep up the good work.
 
Q First of all, terrific product! I bought all three CDs and have worked my way through the Advanced Level. I can identify the pitches with over 95% accuracy. (I will occasionally mix up D# and F#.)

I also bought and have been working through the Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing.

I have a question, though. I can readily apply the ear training to major keys. However, it's something of a struggle to apply the ear training to minor keys. I've been using movable do in the natural minor (Aeolian) mode: do re me fa so le te do, but I don't hear and sing the 3rd, 6th & 7th degrees of the scale with the same comfort that I experience in major (Ionian) mode. Do you have any suggestions?
A If you are at 95% on the advanced CD then you should move to Key Note Recognition which will use both major and minor keys. Let me know your progress with the Fanatic's Guide and I might suggest some other modes to work with in that book too.
 
Q I've recently begun working with your One Note Complete Method and also just ordered the Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing which I'm looking forward to. I feel like I'm getting a good handle on the concepts you've presented in the book and on your website, but still have some intellectual hurdles to cross as far as relating your ear training techniques to my knowledge of music theory.

For example, let's say you're improvising over a minor II-V-I in C. Theoretically, you could play D Locrian #2 over the II, G Altered over the V, and C Melodic Minor over the I. So in one sense you're playing in the key of C, in another you're playing the modes, and in still another you're playing through the keys of F Melodic Minor, Ab Melodic Minor, and C Melodic Minor.

If I understand your material correctly, you would hear this entire passage in C provided the tempo is fast enough. However, from an intellectual standpoint it makes more sense to think of an E note played over the II as the natural 2nd (or 9th) of the chord, rather than the major 3rd of the key of C (which in this case is minor). On the other hand, it would seem kind of strange to sing with a movable 'do' system where you're changing keys every two or four beats to fit the chords (especially at a brisk tempo). I imagine this approach would be even more tenuous with an atonal piece of music.

I guess I'm just trying to reconcile the fact that I'll often think of the notes more in relation to the chord I'm playing over, rather than the overall key. My hope is that with enough practice and conditioning using your system my ear will become refined to the point where it will be able to sort out such ambiguities on its own. As such I'm not really too worried about all of this. However, I would like to hear your thoughts on the subject, if only to satisfy my curiosity.
A It is unfortunate but understandable that many people think of notes more in relation to a chord rather than to an overall key center. With thousands of schools, hundreds of books and musicians telling you otherwise I could understand your dilemma. I believe I've laid out a logical argument for believing in the key center over the chord but really the only thing that will convince a person is their ability to hear it for themselves. You wouldn't be studying my system if the other one was working for you so I think you intuitively know that you need to at least try my method. The arguments I've presented that every chord isn't it's own world and that listening for intervals or for a note's distance from another is dicey are already within the books you own or on the muse-eek.com website. I think the important thing for you to think of now is that working towards my way of hearing will take discipline, keen deductive skills and an ability to think through your personal patterns of thought and recognition. I'm the first to say that this is not easy and this is why I've decided to not just write a book but to help people out via email. I know from experience that many questions will come up based on your previous conditioning and knowledge of music. I think my first suggestion would be to master the one note ear training and get a good bite into the Fanatic's Guide. Think of the One Note ear training like learning the alphabet. Learning how to make the letters of the alphabet into a coherent language will take much work and extra assignments from me that aren't contained in my books but are talked about within the FAQs. The important thing is don't figure because I gave one person a particular assignment that it's probably good for you. Although meeting a student in person is always the best, with many online students I've exchange hundreds of emails so I've grown to understand their needs over time and therefore make recommended assignments. So I urge you to take advantage of my assistance to help you answer the tough questions, self doubts and further paths of study. I find the students that do best with this method first practice very hard but think deeply about ear training and really want to reach a high place in music. I'm glad to hear you are taking the first steps and please stay in touch so I can help you with your journey.
 
Q I am working from Fanatic's Guide for 4 (15 minute) sessions a day. After each 15-minute session I do a 15-minute session of One Note Beginner. Currently for Fanatic's Guide I do this method for each of the 12 tracks:
1. Listen to cadence
2. Attempt to prehear and then sing Major 3rd. without first singing or playing tonic on guitar.
3. Check note by playing it on guitar.

If I was wrong.
1. Listen again
2. Attempt again but now correct pitch has already been played on guitar so I won't be wrong this time.
3. Continue to sing while occasionally checking pitch until I can stop singing and playing the pitch and can still hear it in my head.

My Question:
I seem to be able to sing the correct pitch (major 3rd) about 10 of the 12 tracks on the first try without having it played on guitar first. Lets say I continue diatonic now and start on the perfect 5th for each track and if so what would my 4 (15 minute) sessions consist of now? How many of my 4 sessions should I use to review my major 3rds? I can see in time that as a I conquer prehearing more and more degrees I may need to increase the amount of time on each session as I will need to review all previous degrees. Now if I go chromatic after working with the major 3rd should I start by next tackling the minor 2nd, then minor 3rd, then perfect 4th?

SUMMARY OF QUESTIONS
1. What should my 4 sessions consist of now?
2. How many sessions spent on reviewing previous degree.
3. Should I continue chromatic or diatonic for best results?
A I would continue working through the pitches. You could do this in any order but I often recommend this order

1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, b7, b2, #4, #5, b3

It's good to review notes but if you are consistent in getting the right pitch then only concentrate on the notes that are causing you problems. Sometimes people will need more time than 15 minutes for each session. If you have the time and energy then certainly add on more time. Sounds like things are developing quite nicely so add in more notes to sing as you feel your correct response rate gets around 80%. Keep adding till you have an 80% correct response rate and then it's time for a new exercise. Remember if you feel you have a note that is strong just concentrate on the weak ones.
 
Q Lets say each of the books/CDs of yours that I purchased are classes I am taking at a University. In which order would my classes be and for how long? I presently have all the time in the world for music, but unless I have a daily road map I sometimes get loose discipline. With the One Note and Fanatics I currently do each of them for 10 minutes one after the other for 8-10 times a day because I can only take them in small doses. So just insert 20 wherever in my routine that you think would be good to work on them.

I OWN:
1. One-Note Complete
2. Fanatics Guide
3. Music Theory Workbook One
4. Chord Workbooks One and Two
5. Rhythm Primer
6. Single String Studies
7. 19 Scales off of Arnoldjazz.com
** a lot of different style sheet music
A You want to build up to 6 to 10 hours a day. I would suggest doing this over a years worth of time in order to change your current life style and develop the mental and physical conditioning needed to work this hard. The schedule is below:

1. One-Note Complete and Fanatics Guide: Do short 10 minute practice periods 10 minutes for each book, alternating throughout the day.

2. Music Theory Workbook One: Work up to doing 5 pages a day. I'd break this up into a few different sessions each day

3. Chord Workbook One: Learn one new chord progression a day with associated chords. Play both the exercises with notes only and with chord symbols. Also, work your way through the book learning all chords cycle 5. I'd work through 5 to 6 new chords per week.

4. Chord Workbook Two: Learn one new chord type per week. Be able to play all the chords up and down the neck for each chord type. After completing this you will then work on the chord progressions.

5. Rhythm Primer: Follow directions in book. Play a new page each day. Try to work the tempo up as fast as you can using directions in book.

6. Single String Studies: One page per week moving to a new string, same key, each week. Do not look at the guitar neck as you play, try to feel where the notes are. Use midifiles to check your accuracy.

7. You should really have: Rhythms Volume One and Two and LINES along with a lot of different style sheet music to complete your sight reading studies. I want you to read one hour a day from the books and various sheet music. Download Beat Reading from the member's area, rhythm studies, and apply to various pieces of sheet music each day. Spend about 15 minutes doing this.

8. Learn the 19 Scales off of Arnoldjazz.com in all keys. I want you to learn all 19 scales in one key each week. Hopefully you have checked out Guitar Technique ebook so you don't go through all of this with bad technique and then have to start over later.

9. You need to apply the scales to real music. Make loops or vamps each day and apply the scales. Also download the Applying Music Theory from the Muse Eek member's area for other scale ideas to try when you improvise. You should spend at least 2 hours a day applying the scales.

Remember to build into this so you don't hurt yourself. Again please check out the ebook guitar technique so you don't do all this work in vain.
 
Q I do not only spend time in the key of C major but in all keys equally. Is that what I am supposed to be doing (I hope so because I have been doing it for about 3 months)? I will be learning the b7th next week. The subsequent scale degrees each week thereafter. That is if they come to me like the past several pitches have.
A You only have to do the ear training in the key of C major because all keys are the same. You can work in other keys if you want to help your music theory knowledge with, for instance, what is the b6th of Gb? But you will learn this information when you work in the Fanatic's Guide so working the one note ear training exercises in other keys isn't necessary. Again I would urge you to just listen to the ear training CD unedited at least a couple times a day.
 
Q I have been using your sight singing and beginners one note books. I have had correspondence with you before and your insight was great. Currently I have memorized the sounds of notes in the major scale (not the intervals but the unique sound of the notes). I have taken a break from learning new notes to explore the major scale (very slowly) while using my new skills. Next week I get back to learning new scale degrees but now they will be outside the diatonic scale for the major 7th cord. I was wondering if there was a reason that we do not learn notes such as the minor third against a minor chord. I have listened to a 5th against both a major and minor chord and it seems to take on a different character. How do you address this in your series of books?

P.S. My musicianship is improving by leaps and bounds.
A All notes sound the same no matter what type of key center they are heard in. You may not be able to distinguish this at your current ability but you will if you keep working at the ear training.

You will begin to work with minor keys when you do the book Key Note Recognition. For now I would concentrate on getting to know all pitches against a major key center. I also caution you from spending too much time on just the notes of a C major scale and not listening to the other 5 notes. To use an analogy, you can't truly know what the color Blue looks like until you also know the color Red.

Keep up the practicing and I'm glad to hear you are improving.
 
Q When you said play all the scales in one key each week did you mean A or B?

(A) DIATONIC- key of C Maj. C Ionian, D dorian, E phrygian, etc.

Or did you mean:
(B) C Ionian, C dorian, C phrygian, etc. and when playing 7 positions for C Ionian starting on first fret low E which is F lydian I should be thinking F=1 G=2 etc., right? And not F=4 G=5 etc.
A I meant B. C Ionian is not the same key as D Dorian or E Phrygian. The scales contain the same notes but are not thought of or heard the same way.

You do not think F lydian when you start a C major scale from F. You think C major so F=4, G=5 etc...

The fact that you have asked these questions shows me that you don't understand the ear training process that you are trying to master. I suggest rereading the ear training books. Remember just because you start on a note somewhere doesn't make it the root of some key. If you have problems hearing a C scale starting from F in the key of C then I suggest you record a C vamp or play the corresponding track from the Fanatic's Guide while you play the scale to make sure you are hearing it properly.
 
Q When I hear E in A Maj I think 5. If I were to hear C in G Maj, I think 4, no confusion. Here is the confusion: I have a video by Vinnie Moore that says F lydian is in the same key as C Ionian, just starting on a different degree of the major scale. He says 'So if someone says lets jam in D dorian you would know that you are in C Ionian.' Then he plays the 7 modes over a B note vamp so you can really hear the different tonalities of each mode. Then he says that they were all in different keys, that B Ionian is not the same key as B dorian or B phrygian but that they were played over the same root note.
A I haven't seen the Vinnie Moore video so I'm only going on your word but I assure you that the key of F lydian is a completely different tonality than C major. To use your examples, if you play a C in F lydian it will sound like the 5th. If you play an F in the key of C major it will sound like the 4th. Therefore, these key centers are not the same. If someone says lets jam in D dorian you do not think C major you think D Dorian because you are in the key of D dorian not C major. By the way if you understood my ear training you would have realized this is true.
 
Q Wow! It finally sunk into my thick skull. A mode is a tonality and not just one scale in one position like I thought, the 7 different positions you show for each mode are all in the same tonality (mode). And when improvising, many chords have avoid notes like F in Cmaj7 chord, so C Ionian would have F as the avoid note. Playing C dorian over Cmin7 there is no avoid note.

I really should have read the ear training book more carefully and not so much in a hurry to get to the CDs. I also think Music Theory Workbook 2 will help engrain this stuff. I have been enlightened.
A That's a real break through for you and it's one of the most important things an improvising musician needs to know to play musically. I'm very glad we got that cleared up because you had me worried there for a while.
 
Q So far I have been playing rhythms, melodies and progressions that are already written, but what about writing down in notation what I hear or create? Is this something I should already be working on?
A You can start transcribing anything you find of interest. If you want to develop a jazz feel you might start with Wes Montgomery's D Natural Blues. Whichever style you are interested in, playing and transcribing 8 to 16 bars and learning it note for note will help you develop a better sense of feel, phrasing, and articulation. Try to pick stuff that is not too difficult to start with.
 
Q I'm working on my last week (Key of G) of the 6 note Fanatic's Book exercise with the metronome (3 times a day for 10 minutes). I'm now able to sing the exercises up and down at quarter note = 40 bpm. Of course pre-hearing notes at this speed is quite challenging for now. Please send me my next assignment. I'm getting more comfortable with the singing, but of course still have some weak notes at 40 bpm.

I'm also working on the Single String vol 1 book (first page) 3 x a day for 5 minutes with the metronome. I'm currently in the Key of Eb and I'm working up to quarter note = 40 bpm. I'm getting better at singing the exercise and now It's taking me less time to learn the transposed notes when I change keys and I'm getting up to 40bpm in less time.

I've been getting at least 80% correct on the Advanced Ear Training CD for the past 3 weeks but still don't feel I really know the notes well enough. I've been listening to the CD 4-5 times a day. Should I take more time to let the sound of the notes sink in, or should I move on to the Key note recognition CD?

I've also been working on Right Hand Technique (2 x 30' per day, only elbow motion). I have a hard time playing the Sweep Picking exercises fluidly, and think I'll need 2-4 weeks to improve on that before moving on. I do all the exercises with a metronome and feel absolutely no pain or tension. I've been increasing the speed at which I play the various exercises gradually.
A Well my first concern is how quickly you can do the Fanatic's Guide and the Single String Book. We need to raise up the speed at which you can pre-hear notes and sing the correct note. So what I would like you to do is go back to the 3 note exercise in the Fanatic's Guide and start transposing the first note of each exercise up an octave. You then want to sing each measure in all keys. Overall we just need to speed the process up before we move on.

I think we should stick with the Advanced CD for awhile longer. It's important that your accuracy improve some more before we move on. You're close, so keep your nose to the grind stone - we are almost there.

With the Right Hand Technique it's important to move your elbow correctly to get across strings but remember that most of your technique will come from the forearm movement. I think you could start some of those exercises particularly the ones that are just playing one string.
 
Q I just recently started learning the guitar a few months ago, at age 35. First off, let me tell you that I appreciated your book 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist and Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One. They got me up to speed quickly. Following your recommendation, I also bought Ear training One Note. I've read through all the FAQs on your web site, but still have questions on the best method to learn the notes in the key of C major.

Two days ago I started with it. The first day I just listened to the CD, all 99 tracks, at random order, many times during the day. That was a bit overwhelming, and so I reduced the number of notes to listen to to C, E, and G - as suggested in one FAQ. On the second day, I started with this smaller set. I listen to it about 5 times every day, as you suggested - burned a CD and played it in my portable CD player in shuffle mode. Even with only 25 tracks, I still feel overwhelmed. I know I need to persevere hoping for the light of the tunnel. However, I'm wondering if I can further reduce the problem set to even fewer notes and fewer pitches.

So, please let me know if my following idea has any problems. I'd like to start with only two notes and four pitches (four tracks), say two pitches for C and two pitches for G. Then I practice on those. If I can clearly distinguish those four, I add more notes to that set (or more pitches, please advise). Also, the pitches I start out with would not be too high or too low, because those seem to be harder to memorize. Once I've mastered those, I either add another note, or add new pitches for C and G. I then keep growing the problem set until I've learned all notes and all their pitches.

If this is an OK idea, how would you advise to start out and how to grow the set of pitches (add notes or add pitches, start with medium pitches, then add low and finally very high ones)?

Instead of practicing something over and over for weeks and weeks, without feeling progress, I hope to be able to feel progress much sooner. I worry that I practice week after week without feeling any progress, which would decrease my motivation as well as confidence. I can also use a small MP3 player to easily add more files to it - the size of the MP3 player is also much smaller, making it easy to take it anywhere. It's great to have new technology to create a more effective learning process.

I'm hoping with this method I could see progress quickly, hopefully week after week. So, please let me know if this is a bad idea.
A Nice to hear from you and thanks for reading the FAQs before contacting me. I guess my first concern is your expecting to see light at the end of the tunnel after two days. Do you really feel like you have given yourself enough time? Many students don't see any progress for weeks, even months, but then their mind begins to remember and slowly but surely they master this technique. I should also mention that I've never had a student that could get this ear training that really tried.

All that said I'm wondering why you aren't working out of the Fanatic's Guide if you are having such a hard time. This book will greatly speed up your progress and would be a much better place to concentrate on smaller sets of notes.

You can limit your self to 2 notes if you want with the Ear Training One note CDs. Personally I think it will take you longer to get to 100% correct answers. Remember you can't know the true color of red without knowing all the other colors. Therefore limiting your palette will mostly confuse your mind in the long run. I will say that listening to fewer notes a few times a day is OK as long as you listen to them all most of the time. Overall I think your missing the point on how you learn this type of ear training. This is not referential learning where you are comparing one thing to other. It's more like the type of learning your mother used to teach you how to speak. You hear a sound over and over until you memorize it. It seems you have a type of mind that looks for other answers when something doesn't work right away. That's a good attribute normally. In this case I think it will distract from your over all progress.
 
Q I'm not expecting to see the end of the tunnel in two days :) I did not intend to sound like that. Those two days just got me thinking into how I can make this learning process more effective for me. I like to tune my practice hours so that I can monitor progress, because that helps me keep motivated and to have fun. Because I worried to work on ear training day after day for many weeks to come without noticing any progress, I was hoping I could change this and make it more effective for me.

Since you're telling me that it's not a good idea to go this way, I won't. I've already ordered the Fanatic's Guide, which will arrive here next week. I also ordered Right Hand Technique and Harmonic Experience by W. A. Mathieu (which seems to address many of my other novice questions).
A It is important to understand that each person comes to this ear training with past learning habits, conceptions and perspectives. It is of course much easier if you were here in person for me to analyze your situation and properly guide you. All I can ask of you is your dedication, patience and belief that you can change your ability to hear music. Please have some faith in yourself that you can change and that this change may require you to go the extra mile. Fanatic's Guide is a good book for focusing in on each note and really getting an internal grasp on the sound. I think it would be a good idea to really concentrate on the singing and pre-hearing involved in the Fanatic's Guide for a few months before expecting a break through. I realize this is hard for you to just go ahead blindly without seeing daily progress but some things don't change daily so don't expect them to.
 
Q I have a concern about the effects of this ear training on my musicianship. You often say that the goal of this training is to hear music in a different way. As I have progressed through 1 note, I have noticed that I listen to music slightly differently. And here in lies my concern.

A recent article in Scientific American talks about how the brain processes music. It talks about 4 or so main different areas of the brain that can be responsible for enjoying and processing music: on a tempo level, on a rhythm level, on an overall holistic emotional level, and on a per pitch or per sound segment basis (i.e. perfect/relative pitch).

Taking the two latter, it seems I have always enjoyed music on a holistic basis. I think that most of the population, the people I hope to touch with my music, enjoys music mostly on this level as well. With the ear training, I have found that per pitch way of listening to music is slowly taking over. Great, deep emotional music that may not have that many pitches suddenly seems stupid and simple, and the appreciation for the whole vibe, no matter how technically simplistic, fades. I fear this and don't want this. I don't want to create music primarily using this part of my listening brain. I find it too cerebral, not emotional/cathartic enough. Do you have any thoughts of this concern?

On a whole, I do want to further develop my relative pitch. As you say, it is probably the most powerful tool to have as an improvising musician. Your methods are amazing. But as you know it take lots of work, and therefore, requires 100% motivation. This concern above, even if potentially futile, has caused me to proceed with less vigor, as my motivation is at 98%. Can you ease my concern?
A I understand your concern. I think there are a few good ways to think about the technical vs. the emotional and it relates to ear training. Let me give you an analogy. When you read a book you can approach it from many ways. The most common is to read the book and be brought into the subject and have it effect you emotionally. You also could sit there and look at each word and sentence and see how it is put together. As I'm sure you realize you have a choice in this matter and can approach the book from either way depending on what you want out of the book at the moment. This is the same with the ear training. Ear training is a tool which you can turn off and on. You are not somehow taken into a world where you can only analyze sound and can't appreciate it from an emotional standpoint just because you have developed your ear training skills.
 
Q I've been doing the ear training for about two years now (one note), and sight singing for Fanatic's for a year. Last week I reached 80 percent for the first time on one note! I have a question about singing two notes, and also about hearing the 12 'signature sounds' in real songs that I listen to.

First, I was wondering if I should sing 'Do, Di, Fa, Fi, Do, Di, etc.' for the two notes in a chord progression C, F, C in the key of C? Or should I sing 'Do, Di, Do, Di, Do, Di, etc' and just know the notes I am singing are C, C#, F, F#, C, C#, etc. I don't understand this. I think this question is directly related to hearing the 'signature sounds' in the songs I listen to. . .

It seems like I should hear the notes (of a melody for instance) as relating to the current chord being played, not the key, since I have to store the key in my mind to hear each note. But, if the current chord played is the basis of the quality of the note of the melody, then the process seems to be in the moment and instantaneous.

So, if a melody is made of the notes 'B-flat, G, G, F, F, E / A, F, F, E, E, D / G, etc.' but the chord progression in the key of G (minor) is Gmin / Dmin / Amaj7, then would I hear 'May, Do, Do, Tay, Tay, La / So, May, May, Re, Re, Do/ Tay' or should I hear 'May, Do, Do, Tay, Tay, La / Re, Tay, Tay, La, La, So/ Do?' Could you clear up my confusion in this area, please?

Also, I would really like to be able to hear the these sounds in the songs I hear. I really want this a lot. I listen to tango, Jewel, Nora Jones, Brazilian Axé music, Gal Costa, Carlos Jobim, and piano music of Chopin and Rachmaninoff played by Ashkenasky. I would love to be able to hear all those pitches, to be able to sing them myself (by hearing each of their unique qualities) and play them on the piano and write them down on manuscript paper. I plan to continue doing this ear training and never stop because I really love music, but is there more I can do? Could you help me with more diverse exercises (for guessing the notes and eventually hearing notes in the music I listen to)? I am really excited about the exercises. That doesn't go away.
A It's very difficult to answer your questions about how you should hear in the examples you have given because I don't know how quickly the chords are changing and I don't know the tempo of the music. Both these facts will have a great influence on whether you will remain in the same key or modulate. In the final conclusion you must hear whether you are still in one key or have modulated. At your current ability of 80% with the one note ear training I think it would be pretty confusing to you to try and figure this out because you are still weak with the one note and haven't worked through the Key Note Recognition and started the Two Note books which will teach you how to modulate. If you want to use real music to improve yourself I would only work with songs that have one chord so that you don't get confused. There are thousands of songs like this including entire idioms such as Indian music.

One exercise that you could do to help you start to hear chord progressions in one key is to take songs that you know that contain only diatonic chords and sing the arpeggios over a key drone. You could use the Fanatic's Guide CD for this. Take a progression like C, D-, E-, F and sing the triads over the C drone so you would sing C, E, G, D, F, A, E,G,B, F, A, C. Then try different permutations of this progression by starting the root going to the 5th then the 3rd. This would be C, G, E, D,A,F, E,B,G, F, C, A. You will find a list of permutations in the 'applying music theory' file in the member's area. This will show you other permutations that you can use for 3 or even 4 note chords. Remember for now all notes you sing will only be over a one chord vamp and therefore the solfeggio syllables will all be related to the key of C or of course another key if you transpose these exercises to a different key and use a different chord as your drone.

Hope this helps. Be patient your probably 6 months to a year away from beginning to modulate correctly. You just need to work through the other books I've mentioned and of course keep in touch with your questions.
 
Q I am just starting out teaching guitar. I have a student that is only 7 years old, and I would like to eventually teach him your contextual relative pitch. The trick is keeping him interested and motivated. Do you have any suggestions on how to go about doing this? I know that there are ear training/video game programs geared towards kids, but I suspect that they drill using the interval method. So do you have or know of any good ear training software/game for kids? If not, how should I go about teaching him?
A At this time we don't have a video game for kids. It's a great idea and we will look into it for the future. You are probably right that any commercially available ear training video program would probably use interval training. I think the best thing to do is at least do the One Note Ear Training exercises in your lessons. Maybe over time you can get the children to start listening to the CD. But that seems like a long shot in the beginning anyway. If you could get the parents to help out at home with a piano that would be the best. Give the child some incentive by giving them 10 cents for every note they get right. So you might need to educate the parents a little. If they are made to understand the difference this can make in their child's musical development they might take some time each day to help out.
 
Q A couple questions:

I believe I'm using the 'crutch' you touch on in the FAQ section in the book. What I'm doing is listening for the C in the last iteration of the chord progression I-IV-V-I and matching it up to the tone being played afterwards.

This is wrong, right? LOL

If so, I'm trying to understand the purpose of the chord progression being played before every note.

So if I understand you correctly, simply listening fifteen minutes a day 10 times will eventually get this embedded into my memory... fini?

Do you recommend active listening or passive listening (letting the sounds pass into my subconscious)?
A You definitely want a more overall sense of key rather than concentrating on the tonic note. Remember most times in music the tonic isn't sounding at all times and therefore your 'sense of key' has to be there to help you identify notes. The chord progression puts your mind into the key center by playing a common cadence. You could use any common cadence to achieve this. You are correct that by listening a bunch of times throughout the day for short periods of time is the best way to go.

I think both active and passive listening could be of value but keep in mind that mostly active listening will improve your skills. I highly recommend you work with the Fanatic's Guide because this book will help you develop a sense of key. It seems like this is one of the things you are missing because your mind is trying to cheat by concentrating on the tonic which can cause people to use a distance or interval method to find the correct answer.
 
Q One more question: I also have Graham English's AbsolutePitchPower. If I complete that program, is One Note Ear Training still necessary to develop a good ear, or is it overlapping in objectivity? (I'm studying classical music.)
A Hopefully in the AbsolutePitchPower book it explains that you only learn Absolute Pitch on one instrument at a time. So you have a long ways to go to get through the whole orchestra. Another consideration is that most music through the Classical period is highly tonal so relative pitch would greatly help you with this music and would be fairly easy. Well, at least easier than developing Absolute Pitch on every instrument in the orchestra. When you get into 20th and 21st century music, relative pitch can still be used but your abilities have to be quite high to use it with Webern or the likes. I would actually suggest learning both methods if you have the time. Certainly if you want to improvise, which some contemporary orchestras require i.e. The Absolute Ensemble which I play with frequently, you would definitely need relative pitch skills when improvising.
 
Q I've done some extensive reading through both the FAQs in the book and online and have found them to be very helpful. I was hoping you could clear up a few more things for me before I get started. I just received One Note Complete in the mail and the Fanatic's Guide is on the way, now that I see how important it is to do both together. From what I've read, the Fanatic's Guide will help me with key retention, as my tendency is to rely on old habits and desperately cling to the C note so I can compare it with the note that follows the cadence.

I've been travelling down the ear training road for little over a half a year now. After playing guitar for five plus years and developing a knack for key friendly songwriting, I found myself frustrated and feeling limited by my inability to play by ear. I have become very good at taking the 'recipe' approach to song writing - give me a key, figure out what my chord options are, and I'm good to go. However, I always wanted to be able to solo, improvise, and layer notes and melodies between chords (or even over chords, using a multi-track recorder), rather than just strum chords... to have my musical ability catch up with my songwriting ability so to speak. I've always loved music, and having gained the ability to create it over the past five years has been a very powerful and satisfying experience. Yet, I feel confined to playing chords and scales by memory, always having to concentrate too much on the playing aspect of things and plotting what my fingers' next move will be. After several frustrating years of trying to learn scales and the many, many ways to play them on guitar (so many, that nothing ever sticks, thanks in part to the one fret shift between the 2nd and 3rd strings), I decided ear training was the way to go.

First came my attempt at the David Lucas Burge Perfect Pitch Course. Then I realized relative pitch was probably more useful for my needs and tried the David Lucas Relative Pitch Course. I gained a good understanding of intervals, but two months later was looking for an ear training program specifically geared towards the guitar and complexities of the fretboard. So I started on the Guitar and Bass Ear Trainer, convinced this was the answer. This ear training also required me to use my guitar while I ear trained, so I figured this was a very practical application. My computer would play an interval or sequence of notes as a question, and I would have to answer by playing the interval and notes back. Of all the ear training methods mentioned above, I started having mini break-throughs with the Guitar and Bass Ear Trainer Program. Progress was very slow but it was coming. I added one interval at a time (minor 2nd through perfect five) and the intervals were starting to stick. But I was having trouble adding on the rest of them when I hurt my shoulder and needed to take a break from ear training. This led me to do an 'ear training' search on Amazon one day where I came across your books and methods and was intrigued by the idea of ear training by key, especially with my knack for key friendly songwriting.

So, needless to say, I am glad to have stumbled upon your resources before I became too entrenched in learning by intervals. Based on my previous ear training attempts I have some questions I hope you can clear up -

1) In the David Lucas Burge Perfect Pitch Course, he has pianists learn perfect pitch on the key of C, and guitarists learn using the key of A. Do you have any insights as to why he thinks the key of A is better for guitarists? I thought of this because it seems there are some similarities between David's approach to learning perfect pitch and your approach to learning relative pitch (for each of the 12 notes in relation to a key). Your CDs use the key of C. Does this mean that the CDs are geared for piano players and not guitarists?

2) David's program seemed to suggest learning on your specific instrument. Will ear training to notes played on a keyboard hinder my ear training as a guitarist? The high notes on a keyboard particularly throw me for a loop, as they do not have the same sound quality as the high notes on the guitar, at least not yet. Those high keyboard notes just seem so faint.

3) The one thing I really like about the Guitar Bass Ear Trainer is that the program forces you to think in terms of finger positions on the guitar fretboard. This was a very practical application. The main reason I stopped the David Lucas Burge Courses and started the Guitar Bass Ear Trainer program was to utilize the more practical, apply it to your instrument approach. I figured that being able to identify a note or series of pitches by ear really would not help me unless my fingers automatically knew where to go on the guitar fretboard. How can I apply your ear training program to playing the guitar in a practical hands on way? To get the ear knowledge to match the finger knowledge, so to speak, without having to rely on learning the multitudes of scale patterns? (side note - I have a good working knowledge of theory but I do not read music and have relied on tab or chord diagrams to learn songs)

4) The David Lucas Burge Course spoke about how correcting mistakes was a vital part of 'culturing the ear.' In other words, if you guessed the wrong note on an exercise, take the time to stop, and compare your wrong note answer with the correct note answer. Should I be doing the same with your exercises, correcting my mistakes? Or is that just another way of developing interval based relative pitch?

5) Last, but not least - My previous Ear Training experience has told me that the learn it 'one note at a time' approach works well for me. Can I use this approach with One Note Complete? I saw a FAQ that suggested an order for learning notes for the Fanatics Guide - C - E - G - B - D - F - A - C# - Eb - G# - Bb - F#. Would this same order apply to One Note Complete? What would be the best practice regimen to learn the notes one at a time?

Sorry for the length of this email, but as you can see I have found my journey down Ear Training Road to be a confusing one with many twists and turns thus far. I am hopeful your course can get me on the right path to lasting success.
A Nice to hear from you and see that you have been giving Ear Training some taught. I don't think the David Lucas Burge or the Guitar and Bass Ear Trainer Program would be the right way to go to achieve your goals. Let me first answer some of your questions. For Perfect Pitch it doesn't matter which note you start on. The notes Burge chooses are more for convenience on the instrument rather than some great frequency secret. When you learn Perfect Pitch you learn it on one instrument, therefore Burge has you use just one instrument or sound to learn perfect pitch. As you develop Perfect Pitch on one instrument you can continue to other instruments or you can just imagine what the sound you hear would sound like on the instrument you have perfect pitch on to get the answer.

Keep in mind that the overall key an ear training exercise is in isn't based on instrumental considerations. It is important to work in all keys when your doing ear training because you need to develop the ability to quickly know what, let's say, the b6th in the key of Gb is. So ear training also requires a fair degree of music theory and knowledge on your own instrument in order to apply your skills.

When people start with the my ear training they commonly find that they have problems when they try to identify sounds played by other instruments. This problem goes away over time because your recognition skills improve to the point that the kind of sound doesn't matter. The Fanatic's Guide is particularly important for this. It is also common to have problems with extremely high and low notes. Again this improves over time as you focus in on the unique sound of each notes within a key center.

If you want to use a more direct approach with your instrument with the ear training try playing the note you hear on the CD rather than saying what you think is the correct answer. You could also do a direct approach by getting the book Single String Studies for Guitar Volume One. Playing the exercises over a drone will help you use your ear to know if you are playing the correct note. I would wait till your up to about 50% correct answers on the one note CD before trying this.

You can use the 'one note at a time' approach but I would always take some time out everyday to listen to all notes. To give you an analogy, you can't know what the color red is unless you also know all the other colors. Your mind will be adjusting as it learns more notes so it is important that it hears all notes often. You can use the sequence C - E - G - B - D - F - A- C# - Eb - G# - Bb - F# but really any sequence will work, there are no secrets here.

I think you're on the right track. Make sure to work out of the Fanatic's Guide and I suggest you get a book like Music Theory Workbook for Guitar to improve your understanding of music theory and recognition of notes on the guitar. This will go along way in helping you quickly apply your new ear training skills. Mostly be patient. You have started out wrong so it will take time to unlearn intervals and start relying on the unique sound of each note in a key.
 
Q I started working extensively with the beginner CD for One Note Complete this week. Due to the pause between the cadence, I find it helpful to repeat the cadence in my head during the pause, which makes it easier to compare the note I hear against the key. Is this an ok strategy or is this cheating per se? I find it almost impossible to hear the right answer without doing this. Right now I think my key retention is weak so I hope the singing exercises with the Fanatic's Guide will help with that.

So far I've been working mostly with the notes C, E, and G. I notice that I'm able to identify E most of the time, but mix C and G up a lot. Related to my last email, the David Lucas Burge course spoke about how correcting mistakes was a vital part of 'culturing' and developing the ear. If I'm listening and playing along with the One Note CDs and guess the wrong note (like C instead of G) is it ok for me to hit pause on the CD so I can compare the right answer with the wrong answer on my guitar while imagining the cadence in my head? It seems like this would help the different sound of the notes against the key sink in better.

In the meantime, I'll definitely heed your tip on listening to all 12 notes more often as well and will look into Single String Studies Volume One. Does this book require the ability to read music on a staff? I've done this on a limited basis before, but in the past I've played mostly original songs or just chords for covers, so I've haven't really needed to read music and solo much in the past. But, certainly it can't hurt and it sounds like being able to read music would help with the ear training?
A You may want to work with the Intermediate CD, which has less of a space between hearing the cadence and hearing the note. It is also an OK strategy to repeat the cadence in your 'head.' You can either repeat the tracks that you get wrong so you can hear the right answer or play the right answer on your instrument. You will also find that the Fanatic's Guide CD will help you a lot because it just repeats the tonality over and over so you can sing and hold notes to learn their unique sound.

You will have to read note on a music staff with the Single String Studies Book. It's actually a good idea to play the Fanatic's Guide CD and find each note in a particular key by ear. It's OK to play the Single String Studies very slow. Some people even write the names of the notes above each pitch until they get better at recognizing the pitches on the music staff and relating them to guitar. You should think of the Single String Studies Book as a long term project to learn all the notes on the guitar and where they are on the music staff. But it's also a great ear training tool when used over a vamp from the Fanatic's Guide book or make your own.

Remember that everything is interrelated. So ear training, music theory, fretboard knowledge all work off from each other to make music easier for you. This process takes a long time to develop but in the long run will make you a much better musician.
 
Q Just wanted to clarify ways to go about correcting mistakes while listening to the One Note CD, using the following example - the CD plays a D note, but I guess E.

1) I can focus on playing the correct answer (D) on my guitar while imagining the cadence in my head, and forget about my guessing E.

2) I can play a D note, and then an E note, to compare the difference between the two, while imagining the cadence in my head.

3) I can play the home key note (C in this case) along with the right and wrong answer (play C-D, the C-E, and listen for the comparison).

Is it okay to do all 3 of these things, and if so which option would be best? Is option 2 or 3 falling back to interval training?
A The best thing to do is play the entire cadence again, hear the note and play the correct note. Imagining the key center in your mind is fine too but are you truly imagining the key center in your mind. As a beginner with this technique this is questionable. So of your possibilities number 3 would be the best or as I said just repeat the track from the CD. Fanatic's Guide CD would be a good way to listen and compare notes because it sustains the tonic chord for up to 5 minutes.
 
Q I'm 18 and I have played classical piano for 4 years. But my ear isn't good and now it doesn't improve. I started to study contemporary keyboard, rock, jazz, fusion 4 months ago. I don't improve much because I don't know how I can study it. And I find it's hard to transpose music on a keyboard. I can hear one note sol-fegio but it is very slow. I can't use it when I'm playing. I wish I can play music not from sheet music and play it well. Yesterday, I saw my friend who is only 17, he played keyboard very well. He can play many songs without sheet music and he plays it without mistake. His listening skills must be good. Could you help me?
A I would start with two books. Ear Training One Note Complete and Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training to develop your ear. You should also get the book Music Theory Workbook for All Instruments. This will help to develop your theory which will help you when you transpose music. I would also read all the FAQs for these two books on the www.muse-eek.com Web site. Also remember to be patient with yourself when you do the ear training it won't happen overnight.
 
Q I've recently bought the Fanatic's Guide and Ear Training One Note Complete. As I was reading the FAQ section at the back you mention how perfect pitch can be developed but didn't totally recommend Mr. Burge's approach. I am 18 and have been playing guitar since 11. I am currently working hard on learning to sight read on the guitar and I am also studying theory and harmony, one of my goals is to study at Berklee. I am also interested in orchestral arranging and certain classical music, thus I am also very interested in developing perfect pitch (as well as good relative pitch). What do you recommend for developing perfect pitch? Do you have any plans to write your own perfect pitch series?
A Mr. Burge's course leaves out the fact that you can memorize the sound of any pitch by using more than color. For instance if you were coloring blind does this mean you can't get perfect pitch. For some folks there affinities lay with texture or shape etc... You could use these parameters to help you memorize sound too. So really the basis of Perfect Pitch is to keep hearing notes over and over again on one instrument and try and identify and remember the characteristics of each sound. Over time you stop with the characteristics and just remember the sound. Remember that anyone can develop perfect pitch and in some ways it's easier to achieve than great relative pitch. Remember you only develop it on one instrument at a time so you would then have to start again using a different instrument.

Sooner or later I'll get around to a Perfect Pitch method but for now I would recommend you develop your relative pitch because these skills will be highly variable with a career in music.
 
Q When learning one note ear training, is it better to stick to one key at a time and work on multiple tones within that key, or study one tone and jump around to all 12 keys very quickly to drill that note?
A It is better to work out of the one note ear training CDs in combination with exercises in the Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training. Honestly I get a lot of email like yours which in a way I don't understand. I give you two books with exercises that I have found advances the student at the fastest rate. I spend 20 years testing it and then put the books out with clear instructions. Then I get multiple questions with people trying to alter a method that they have only known about for a short period of time. While I salute your ingenuity I suggest you first try my method as laid out in my books for a year or two to see if it works. If you want to contemplate anything contemplate the following:

1. Your ability to memorize sound.
2. Your mind's ability to concentrate.
3. Your mind's ability to look elsewhere when things get hard.
4. Your perception of sound and how it changes as you learn new sounds.

These questions will ultimately help you more than trying to find other exercises and there are many references to these things in the FAQs for Ear Training One Note Complete and Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training. I often think about if a medical doctor gave you a prescription, would you go home, get out your chemistry set and start trying to change it? Of course not, not without going to school and learning all the subjects behind the medicine. I also get a few students who read the FAQs and figure they can do this on their own and don't need the books. This usually results in a limited understanding of the subject and ultimately bad habits and limited improvement. Bad habits is the key here. It can take years to undo bad habits - I know I've been there. This is why I set up the ear training and the FAQ the way I do. I'm trying to avoid students spending years undoing techniques that were either misunderstood or misapplied.
 
Q My apologies for my confusion. Today, I decided to re-read both books and all the FAQs to make sure I'm doing this right. I'm sorry, but I still have some areas of confusion that relate to my earlier questions about SINGING the pitches.

First: You say on page 13 of Fanatics Guide, 'A few things to remember as you work through each key trying to sing 'one'... when you feel you are getting the hang of it, try to sing all the other degrees.'

Does this mean that if you are working on the pitch of Do, that you should sing 'one' in the key of C, and then stay in C and sing the other eleven pitches? Or do you simply mean, when you've mastered Do, move on to Re, etc... ?

Second: You suggest mastering 1, then 3,5,2,4,6,7 etc... I tried this method but found that by the time I had gotten to #5, that I had forgotten what 1 had sounded like because I mastered it several months earlier. So I tried to remedy this by mastering 1, then practicing 1 and 3 on the same day, then 1, 3, 5 on the same day etc... Problem was that as I got further along, my practice time had ballooned to like 6 hours a day and I couldn't maintain it. What do you suggest?

Third: If I'm trying to sing 5, and my mind pre-hears 3 instead, is it a bad habit to correct myself mentally and then sing the pitch? When I do this I feel like I'm using 3 to find 5. When you've pre-heard the wrong pitch in your mind, you now have a reference point to jump to the correct pitch. Is this a bad habit?

I apologize if I asked any redundant questions. I am trying to stick to your book and instructions.
A When you master singing 'Do' in all keys then move on to singing other pitches in all keys like 'Mi.'

It is common to lose the sound of previously learned notes. As your brain hears new notes it adjusts its internal definition of each sound within the key. Over time and relearning of lost notes you will find that all notes will finally make sense and will go into your permanent memory.

It does help to review each note everyday. Keep in mind some days will be better than others and breaking your practicing up within a day is better than practicing straight through. You of course have to use common sense about your time allotments and also realize that this course of ear training will take some time so be patient. Everyone gets this ear training that sticks with it.

You don't want to reference another pitch when pre-hearing. If you consistently hear the wrong pitch, play the cadence, play the note you want to hear. Do this a few times then try to pre-hear the note. It should be in your short term memory at that point. Overtime you should find that you will hear the correct note without first playing it.
 
Q Here's what I own:
Music Theory Volumes 1 and 2
Jazz and Blues Bass Lines
Comping Styles for Bass
Single String Studies for Bass Volumes 1 and 2
Rhythm Primer
Fanatic's Guide
One Note Complete
Big Metronome

What kind of schedule would you recommend for someone who works two jobs and has a wife and three kids? I can give a committed hour everyday in addition to time in my car (delivery job). What would you recommend I do when I have additional time (very sporadic)?
A In your situation practicing in your head is the best solution. It is common knowledge among classical musicians that you can learn a piece of music or for that matter anything in music by visualizing it in your head. Many classical musicians don't even play a piece on their instrument before performing it live in front of an audience. You can use this technique to help you work on music when driving a car or waiting for a light to change. Of the books you have you could use any of them to practice in your head. For instance you could think through and finger in your mind any scale or arpeggio from the Music Theory Books. You could memorize a bass line from the Jazz and Blues Bass Lines or Comping Style book or you could work on hard rhythms from the Rhythm Primer. You of course can listen to the ear training and sing notes over the Fanatic's Guide CD as you drive. (You might want to get a chromatic pitch instrument to help you check notes.)

http://www.encoremusic.com/vocal/6630002.html

Just remember that mental practicing is exhausting when you first start it. It takes months before you can do it for any length of time. As it develops you will find it to be the most efficient way to learn. I would then spend your hour or instrument practicing playing the things you have mentally practiced or use the time to improvise with the scales you are learning in the Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume Two.
 
Q I have the Ear Training book and CDs. I started listening to it after reading it. I listened to it for about twenty minutes last night before I went to bed, and I've listened to it a couple times today. I have some concerns. First, I've never had any formal ear training, or much music training at all. I tried some simple computer program a while ago, but I had no idea what I should be doing with it, and did not understand what most of the terms were meant to represent, so that only lasted briefly for a day or two. The way you have described the goal of ear training is what I've been looking for: recognizing notes in a way like I recognize color. I thought of it in similar ways.

I also have your 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist. When tuning (5 fret method) I have no idea when the notes are the same, even when I tune them both with an electric tuner and see how they sound. I can still hear something different about them.

When I listen to the ear training CD, it seems as if I get C right the most. I don't know why, I had some ideas. Something about it being in the key of C. Had some other thoughts about it too. Also, the space between the note being played and the answer being given gives me a lot of time to think about what the note would be. If I'm to give the first note that I think it might be should I be using that much time? Once the note is played and I give a guess (it is usually a guess every time, which I anticipated before starting) then there is that relatively long pause afterwards. During that pause should I be rethinking my guess? Should I think about it more before guessing?

When I listen to the CD, sometimes I think I compare the note to the last one played. I'm not sure if I am or what, but during waiting for the answer sometimes I'm thinking of it sounding different than the last note, higher or lower, and wondering about things like that. Sometimes I end up changing my mind about my guess (often both guesses are wrong anyways). I also forget to include the sharped notes in my guesses, and usually only answer with them because a previous note reminded me that I haven't been using them. I don't recognize the notes anyways, I'm wondering whether it's a C or F, I'm not wondering if it's a C or C#. I'm thinking that I should just guess with the notes all in mind, but when I guess D# or whatever other accidental, I don't really have a reason. Many times I'm off by a half step or something. But I do think that maybe sometimes I'll hear a note and think it sounds like an F# I heard before.

I don't easily tell the similarity between the same note in different octaves. If it sounds different in some way, I start to think it might be a different note or I don't even sense any distinct similarity, unless maybe I 'equate' something between the two, not even sure if that is what is shared between them. (I've heard something about different 'color' notes, but any difference between them I end up getting confused about their apparent similarity). But I'm doing this with a progressive approach. It's definitely not review for me.

My main aversion to many of the methods I encountered in general was too much of leaving it up to the student to figure out a lot, and that all my technique will just fall into place somehow. Learning from mistakes is necessary, but no matter what advice I'm going to be given, I'm going to make mistakes anyways and have to practice correcting them. I work part-time as a tutor and many I have been acquainted with present an attitude about teaching that people have to figure out everything for themselves to learn it well, not even realizing that the large body of information and learning they have they were exposed to repeatedly when they were very young. Or they had enough support that engaged their innate styles of learning to get started. Why so many think they've figured out a lot of the things they understand largely on their own I believe is fairly ridiculous. The main thing I find from your books is your teaching. You use many mediums (video, computer and internet, print, audio, etc). Different perspectives and ways of understanding anything help to focus on the similarities. You're willingness to interact with those using your books I'm sure really helps many who previously felt left in the dark to blindly find their way (I was thinking of getting rid of the guitar, wondering if I was really up for figuring so much out for myself, with all the loosely covered guitar technique concepts in many books.)

I have about 7 or 8 method books, and most of them are filled with tons of exercises, with a few pages on technique (a word I didn't use much before). Whenever I came to an exercise, yea, I could practice it all I wanted, but I kept looking for information to give me more specifics ('How should this finger be?' 'Is my thumb ok this way? Or is this better?' 'This feels more comfortable. Do I just practice and use this as my own style?') All kinds of questions and the most articulate response I got was to keep working on it or experimenting and I'll get better. But work on what? I know what finger goes on what fret, your books says so on this 2-dimensional representation of the fretboard. I need clarification that explains how my three-dimensional hands should be interacting in time with this 3 dimensional fretboard, frets, set of strings, etc. I'm real glad I found your work, and I appreciate your correspondence from this and my earlier e-mail.

P.S. My wrist occasionally bothers me, (right/picking), which I am going to have to clarify in a later e-mail, when I figure out more on whether it has anything to do with guitar or something else (I write holding a pen very different than the traditional way). I will try to make note of other things to ask about as I practice (just started over yesterday) to elaborate and focus on so I don't just glaze over something nonspecifically.
A I can see that you have many questions and are confused about a number of things. I think some of this just comes from my method being new to you but I think there are a few things you can do to help educate yourself which should make many of your goals easier.

I first think you need to learn a little more about Music Theory. This will help you in the understanding of your instrument and music in general but it will also help you to understand the ear training processes which in turn will help you to improve quicker. Being you are a guitarist I would recommend Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One. This will help you to understand and build all chords in all keys. It will also help you to make the music theory like a second language. Remember that by making some of simple concepts in music theory clear in your mind your ability to practice and understand music will be enhanced.

For your ear training work I think it is very important for you to start working out of the Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training. This will help you to start memorizing sound and give you a fighting chance when you are listening to the Ear Training One Note Complete CDs.

You description of your mind's internal processing is common for someone starting off with this technique. With patience and the understanding that you will receive from the above books you will find your ability to focus and understand the ear training will grow over time.

For the guitar related issues I think you should take a look at the video chord files found under the 'Help Files on Chords' link in the free member's area. This will give you an in-depth look at each chord and the pitfalls and problems associated with each chord. This should help you to decide if the way your are playing chords is correct or if they need more work.

I think you should also get started playing scales on the guitar. Go to the scales folder in the member's area. Go to the Help files for Scales in the member's area and follow the link to the Video Scale files. Work through each scale position by looking at the videos and downloading the PDFs containing the fingerings. These videos along with the technique videos associated with the 1st Steps book should answer most of your questions on technique and how to play and think of each scale.

If you follow the suggested right hand technique in the 1st Steps book your wrist problems will go away because my right hand technique doesn't involve using the muscles of the wrist.

In general I think you should work on the above information for awhile and see what questions come up. Try to be as exact as you can when asking questions so I can really focus in on your problems.
 
Q I'm interested in getting back into choral music singing, and I was never anything beyond a beginner. You recommended the following to another singer:

Ear Training One Note Complete
Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training
Music Theory Workbook for All Instruments

I'm guessing that those are the books you would recommend. Is there any rhythm work in the sight singing book or would I have to buy the rhythm primer to get rhythm practice?

I also wondered whether you had any plans to come out with software versions of your books. As a language student, I've found software drills to be really helpful - especially for generating random drills of Greek verb forms. If you aren't planning to make one, is there a software program that you would feel comfortable recommending for a Mac User - that wouldn't interfere with your system? Are you familiar with Ars Nova's Practica? http://www.ars-nova.com/practica.html
A Currently we are not developing a computer version of our ear training program. We do have plans to do this in the future though. The books you mentioned would be a good place to start with the ear training. It will get you started with the ear training on two fronts and the Music Theory will help you process music and ear training much faster.

For rhythm studies I would start with Rhythm Primer and then proceed at least through Rhythms Volume One and Two. I do have more advanced books after that like Odd Meters but unless your going to be doing some advanced choral music you probably won't need a book like that.

I also have a choral ear training book called LINES but I wouldn't work on this book until you have worked through Ear Training One Note Complete and Key Note Recognition. You first need to understand how you hear before attempting to part sing. I also many times recommend one of my guitar books for ear training. Single String Studies for Guitar Volume One and Two are excellent books to use for developing your ability to sight sing. You have to do some octave adjustments but other than that it's a real good book to help develop key retention. I wouldn't use these books until you have finished Ear Training One Note Complete.

I know the program Ars Nova's Practica and I wouldn't recommend it as a replacement or as an additional program to my method until you have completed Ear Training One Note Complete, Key Note Recognition and the Two Note Ear Training Books. By the time you have gone through these books you will realize how you can use any program in the right way to improve your ear training ability. I will say that one thing nice and useful about the CDs that go with my books is you can do them anywhere as opposed to a computer program which can only be used when you have a computer with you. A little hard to do when you are taking a walk.
 
Q Ok, I've been listening to the CD, I'm quite lazy to be honest, but I'm slowly beginning to see improvement, but I think the one thing that hinders it is my understanding of 'identifying notes in relation to its key.'

You play the chord progression, then the tone. How do I aurally relate the tone to the key by the chord progression?

I'm confused... could perhaps give the theory spatial form in order for me to understand?
A Overall you need to realize that the process of learning my type of ear training involves educating and changing your perception of sound. For instance you don't relate the tone to the chord progression you relate it to the key created by the chord progression. This is a fine point but very crucial. I think this is a misunderstanding that many students have expressed in one form or another. Another misconception students have is that their perception of the key which is created by the chord progression will improve over time by just listening to the Ear Training One Note CD. In most cases it doesn't and it's only through working with the Fanatic's Guide Book and the various exercises contained within that your perception of key improves.

Honestly I was pretty lazy with the ear training too, many, many years ago because when I started playing guitar it was the sound and all the cool things that the guitar could do that attracted me to practicing not developing my ear. Only after years of realizations, which were mostly based on being surrounded by great musicians with great ears, did I realize I was really kidding myself. I realized I could interact properly with these musicians because I could hear what they were doing.

Sorry for my digression but to improve your concept of key I would recommend you work with some of the exercises presented in the Fanatic's Guide. Fun... they are not, helpful they will open your ears like nothing else will if you'll 1st be consistent with the exercises each day and realize this is the way to improve your perception.
 
Q Ok that helps explain it a little better... But you say the reason the CDs are in the key of C is because all scales are the same, but what about minor keys? A minor chord progression, say the tonic, is two minor thirds, whereas a major one is a major and a minor... could you explain that?

Also, I contacted the AbsolutePerfectPitch creator, and he says it works for all instruments... one individual who used the CDs said he could even tell the tone of car horns afterwards!
A You will work on Minor keys once you start the Key Note Recognition book. I limit your beginning studies to major to help you first understand and do the technique before adding in other key centers types.

If you believe the creator of AbsolutePerfectPitch then more power to you. I've told you what I have found to be true whether you believe it is up to you.
 
Q I have been using the one note method for about 4 months and in that time my average has gone up from about 7.5% to about 50%. I am very pleased with the improvements in my ear, thanks to your method.

I have noticed though that when I listen to the one note CD in the car or on a different CD player my average is lower. The sounds produced by the other CD players/ speakers/ headphones are slightly different to my regular one and this means the notes sound a bit different. Also I have noticed that when I hear a note on my keyboard it is not as easy to identify it, again I think this is because of the difference in the sounds produced by the CD and the piano.

Was this a factor for you when you started training your ears and how long did it take before you could identify a note perfectly irrespective of the instrument, CD player, speaker or headphone that produced it?
A It is common for people to have problems with other instruments and slight timbral changes when they first start this type of ear training. Overtime this will go away as you start applying the ear training and as you get stronger with it. I wouldn't worry about this. Many of my students notice this too when they come for their lessons. I play the exercises on a guitar and of course they are used to hearing it on a piano. Many students ask if they should start doing the exercises using different sounds. While this won't hurt you I don't think it is really necessary.

It took me quite a while to be able to do the one note ear training on every instrument because first of all I had done 8 years of interval training which I had to unlearn so I don't think I would be a good example of how long it takes. If we use students as an example I have students that get the ear training one note in a week and some that take 4 years. So to answer your question it all depends on how hard you work and your brains ability to remember the sounds.
 
Q I have not been practicing everyday out of the other book. I usually hit it had for about a week, and the singing always goes pretty well, but hearing the intervals. I get discouraged after about a week of doing it at least once a day, and only being able to hear a major third consistently. As far as practicing the intervals, do you recommend just going at it until it comes?

If that is what it takes, I will recommit to doing that. Right now time is really tight, but I REALLY want to get my ear together. In fact, I have to/ need to get my ear together. My only other main concern right now is expanding my repertoire.

So, I think we both know what I need to do, but if you have any other practice tips, they will be greatly appreciated!
A Well first please don't call the notes you are trying to hear intervals. I think even vaguely thinking that way is harmful. Remember there is a difference between hearing the 3rd on a key and a major 3rd. Yes I know the 3rd of a key is a major 3rd away from the root but it's the sound of the 3rd degree you are memorizing. Personally I think a lot of your problems are coming with inconsistency in your practice methods. Remember you are trying to memorize sound, if you don't work on it everyday you forget the sound. Sooner or later you will probably get the ear training using your present practice schedule but it certainly won't come quickly. That's OK but you need to realize that you get out of this ear training what you put into it. I know it's not easy to find the time everyday to do these things and for many students it takes years of learning about their practice habits before they find the balance that gives them the most gain while still working within their daily schedules.

I'll be putting up some standards in the member's area soon that will help you with expanding your repertoire. Look for them in the Help files for Chords in the member's area in a few weeks. You might also check out the Video Scale files in the Help files for Scales folder in the member's area this has some useful information.
 
Q In the sight singing book, I am memorizing the sounds of all 12 notes against a key center.

But in the ear training book I'm memorizing them against a key cadence.

I'm really lost. I don't understand what I'm supposed to be memorizing or how I'm supposed to memorize it.

In regular ear training, I'm memorizing intervals, a 3rd (G-B, A-C, etc); but in this program I'm memorizing all notes against a C?

And what is an adequate level for a professional musician, accomplishment of the one note series, or two note?
A A key center is created by a cadence therefore both books are working on the same thing. Basically getting you to hear notes in relationship to a key rather than in relationship to each other (i.e. interval training). Remember you are memorizing all the notes sounds against a key not against a C.

An adequate level for a professional musician would be to at least have the two method together.

I've given you some rather general answers to your questions. I suggest that you go read the FAQs associated with these books. I think will answer many of your questions on a deeper level but also may spark some more questions from you. The links for them are below.

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/ET_1_note_complete/eartrngfaq.html

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/fanaticsguide/fanaticsfaq.html
 
Q But all the CDs in the ear training book are in the key of C, so wouldn't I be memorizing it against C? Meaning if they were in F Major, I'd be memorizing it against F... If this is wrong, I'm afraid I'm lost. I am memorizing tones against a cadence... I don't know what to be listening for. Am I memorizing the tone against all three tones in each chord in the cadence? I'm utterly confuzzled.

Regarding the first statement above, isn't a key center created by whatever note is used the most? In the cadence of C, C is used the most ... So aren't I just memorizing it against the key center (which is what you say in the book) which in this case is C?

Also, meaning the two books I have, or the two note method?
A Remember all keys are the same. By this I mean when you hear a C# in the key of A it sounds like the 3rd. When you hear an E in the key of C it sounds like the 3rd.

Your statement "wouldn't I be memorizing it against C?" is wrong because it should say I'm memorizing the notes against the KEY of C. There is a difference although subtle here in the way you think about the ear training. Many students will think they are memorizing the notes against C so they hold the sound of C in their heads and then listen for the other note. This is wrong. You want to let the cadence create the key then just listen to the note and try to identify it. This is why in my first email I said "Remember you are memorizing all the notes sounds against a key not against a "C"." So because the cadence has happened you are already in a key, in this case C, there is nothing more you need to do but listen. Most people don't get the notes right right away, it takes time and also working with the singing in the Fanatic's Guide which will strengthen your ability to maintain the key center while you are trying to identify the notes.

A key center is not created by the note that is used the most. I could show instances where this is true and also when it is not true. Here is an example of where the most played note is not the key.

C, E, G, A a C6 chord to
A, C, E, G a A-7 chord to
D, F, A, C a D-7 chord to
G, B, D, F, A a G13 chord to
C, E, G, A a C6 chord

I have 4 C's and 5 A's this doesn't make the progression in the key of A it's in C.

The "Two note method" is what I meant to say in my last email. Of course this is all relative to how you define a "professional musician." Most artists are always attempting to improve their art and therefore would be always striving to improve no matter what their level is.

Once again I would recommend you reread the books and the FAQs found at:

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/ET_1_note_complete/eartrngfaq.html

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/fanaticsguide/fanaticsfaq.html

Many of the things I've said in this email are stated many times throughout the FAQs. You might want to consider (re)reading these files. Many times students find that seeing something explained in a number of ways helps them to understand.
 
Q I've been continuing to work on the advanced ear training CD for the past couple of months and I'm at the point where I can recognize the sounds of all 12 notes and get a consistent above 80% average.

Of course there's still room for improvement but I'm wondering if I could start work on the key note recognition CD.

I have 3 more weeks to go before I finish the fanatic's 3 note exercises (3 x 10' each day, first note transposed up 1 octave) which I'm currently able to do at 55-60bpm.

I'll also be finishing the Single String Studies first page in a couple of weeks (I work on each key up to 40bpm before moving to the next key) and I'm getting much better at transposing and singing the exercise (3 x 10' each day).

I'm also doing about 30' of the Right Hand Technique each day.

I've been working on the forearm movement on the one string exercises (16ths at quarter note=100 bpm) and also the 6 string exercises (16ths at quarter note=80 bpm) plus a bit of the sweep picking exercises.

I'm looking forward to your suggestions and assignments.
A I would move on to Key Note Recognition but also continue doing the Advanced Ear Training CD too.

After you finish the fanatic's guide assignment I want you to transpose two notes up an octave. Your bpm are getting better that's a good sign!

Continue with the single string studies, sounds like it's helping.

I want you to start applying your right hand technique to scales. Go to the member's area and follow the link to Help files for scales. Watch the video scale movies and try to learn a new scale every week in all positions. In other words, one key only so C major then C dorian, C phrygian etc.
 
Q I am a professor at a community college and have a few questions concerning your books. I hope that you might have a few moments to read my message and respond with your input. I have been teaching ear training here for the past year and am the designer of our theory and ear training curricula. I originally started out using a combination of dication and solfege, not so much because that is my method of choice but rather because the state colleges our students might wish to transfer to use solfege. However, I found solfege to be very difficult for our students anyway, so I switched over to a scale degree number system, which I believe makes more sense to American students.

While the number system I have used has been more effective than solfege, I am still dissatisfied with the results I am attaining. My students come from diverse backgrounds; some of them have not taken the prerequisite fundamentals class and can not read music at the beginning of the semester. Many of them do not play any instrument proficiently and do not have access to instruments at home. Several of them have never taken a music class before. On the other hand, some have taken Fundamentals, Theory 1, and are instrumentalists.

I realize that I am faced with a huge task trying to create an environment where these students can succeed in a college-level ear training class and actually get something of value out of it, but that is my goal. I was doing some research on textbooks and came across your series of books and was wondering if you would take the time to give me any feedback you might have concerning your ear training and sight singing books.

Do you think that your methods might reach these students, and if so, do you have any suggestions about particular books that we could try using?
A It sounds like you have a real up hill battle and I salute you for your dedication. As you may have read my ear training method is not based on the widely accepted interval training but on hearing notes in relationship to a key center. Through repeated listening and singing a student memorizes the sound of these pitches so that they can identify them in tonal situations. I should also mention that I don't believe there is such a thing as atonality so my method would work in all situations. (Hearing how tonality moves in the works of Webern may require many years of work but it DOES move.)

So first the positive stuff. I believe your students would improve immensely with my method and would actually be able to hear music going by in time and correctly identify notes/chords.

Now for the other side of the coin. In my many years of teaching at the college level I've encountered very few students who really improve their ear through interval training. This includes myself when I was a student; the only thing that I have found that really works is contextual ear training based on developing a fine sense of key and identifying notes against this sense. But if your students transfer to another college they will most certainly encounter the interval method so this may be a problem for them and for you.

I also believe that ear training should really be taught in a one on one basis because each student has their own set of preconceptions and perceptions that can really get them off on the wrong footing. Also you probably would get a lot of resistance from your department using a method like mine because it's not what everyone else uses. (Sometimes I feel like everyone is teaching that the world is flat and no one is willing to say it isn't) But anyway this could be a problem so I thought I'd mention it.

So with all that said, yes I have a couple of books that I think would work: Ear Training One Note Complete and Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training. I use solfeggio in the Fanatic's Guide book but it really wouldn't effect the method if you use degrees. It's not about what you call something; it's actually hearing it. I also have a whole series of rhythm books that I use to develop a student's rhythmic ability.

I wish you the best of luck with your ear training courses. I believe it's the most important thing a student of music can learn. Teaching it is a big responsibility because you directly effect a student's progress in music more than anything else. Looking back I know that if I had had access to this kind of training when I was a budding freshman back at the University of South Dakota my musical journey would have been less of a struggle, and a much speedier path to self expression.
 
Q I've been using your Fanatic's Guide and One Note Complete CD's for about six months. At first I found the exercises extremely difficult, but I've made significant progress, and I can now identify the pitch correctly on the One Note Beginning CD about 50% of the time. I feel I'm at a plateau, however, and I wonder if you have any practical suggestions for learning the sounds of non-chord tones.

With the One Note CD, the only pitches that I really KNOW upon hearing them are C, E, and G. I can make educated guesses on the others, which are sometimes correct. But I can never say with certainty, for example, "That's an A #," in the way I might say, "That's an E." Similarly, with the Fanatic's Guide, I can sing the 1, 3 and 5 of a chord, but I can't sing any other scale degree without cheating (moving up or down from a chord tone). If I simply try to imagine, "What's the sound of a major second (or fourth, or flat sixth, or whatever) over this chord?" I draw a blank.

Obviously, non-chord tones are much harder -- if nothing else, the chord tones are (or, with the One Note CD, just were) actually sounding in my ear. My question is if you can suggest any techniques to help ingrain those sounds in my memory? If I start playing the Fanatic's Guide CD and I want to learn the sound of a second over whatever chord is playing, what do I do?
A Learning the non-chord tones notes is usually harder for students so your case is not unusual. My suggestion is to do more work out of the Fanatic's Guide. I would do a combination of the exercises found on page 6 and either the two or three note exercises found on page 8-11 and 12-18. You will particularly find these exercises helpful when you start singing the exercises starting on the non-chord tone notes. In general I would focus in on one note at a time. This may help you to master the note. But don't be surprised if you work on a note for a month and still don't get it. In this case it's best to then move on to another note and work with that for awhile. Overtime you will find that all notes come into focus.

Everyone gets this ear training that sticks with it so be patient and don't miss a day of practice. In your current situation missing one day is like missing 3 weeks.
 
Q I'm determined to improve, so I will definitely keep at it. If I may, could I ask for one clarification: To do the exercises you suggested, I need some way to find the pitches at the outset. My approach has been to try to pre-hear and sing, say, a major second, get it wrong (my voice usually goes directly to the root or third), then move step-wise or use a pitch pipe to find the actual pitch. Then, once I've located the target pitch, I keep repeating it over the chord to try to memorize the sound. As you anticipated, I did this for about a month with the major second and saw no apparent improvement -- leading me to send my email to you. I'm happy to now move to another scale degree -- believe me - but do you recommend that I keep using the same basic approach, or try something different?
A I've included an FAQ that I recently received that I think directly applies to you. Basically you need to first realize that you need to improve your memory of notes. You improve short term memory by repeating notes until you hear them. I don't know what your daily life is like but having a lot of spare time would certainly help you at this time to break through your current stalemate with ear training. Read the FAQ and then I'd like you to try and see how long you can remember the second degree of a key center. First you will need to play the cadence and attempt to sing the second and then play the note as needed until you can pre-hear the second after hearing the cadence. This may take a few minutes but most people find that they gain an image of this note in their mind after 3 or 4 repeated attempts. Then wait a couple of seconds and try this whole thing again. You should be able to find out the exact amount of time that your short term memory will be able to hold onto the sound of the second degree. You would then want to keep repeating this process until you can wait longer and longer and come back to the exercise and still hear the second. Let me know how this works for you. The more times you can do this throughout a day the better.
 
Q I've been working on this for a few weeks now, so I thought I'd check in with you on my progress. If I use a pitch pipe to sound the major second over a drone chord, I can certainly pre-hear and sing that pitch a short time later. After a 30-second delay, I pretty much bat a thousand. After one to two minutes, I hit sometimes and miss sometimes, I think depending on how distracted I got during the silent time.

BUT -- I couldn't help wondering if I was really remembering the note's harmonic character (i.e., a major second over a key center), or simply the absolute pitch (i.e., a D). So I checked my ability to remember a pitch WITHOUT a major-chord drone in the background, and found that I could actually remember the pitch for a significantly LONGER time (3-4 minutes barring significant distractions). I assume this is because, with the CD playing, I'm constantly hearing other pitches, so it's harder to keep the target pitch in my head.

As a further test, I tried changing chords quickly -- that is, fixing in my head the sound of a D over a C major chord, then jumping to the F chord. I could not pre-hear or sing the G, even though only a few seconds had passed. This gave me further concern that what I was really hearing and memorizing was an absolute D, rather than the "sound" of a major second against a key center.

Maybe I'm overthinking this -- a vice to which I will certainly confess -- but tell me, should I simply keep playing the D over the C chord and trying to keep it in my memory for a longer and longer time? Should I use different chords?
A This is great that you are exploring your memory capabilities I salute you for your exploration. You are correct that not having the other notes there will make it easier to remember the pitch. This also brings up the fact that actually learning perfect pitch is easier than learning good relative pitch. It is common for students not to hear the sound of the second but the absolute pitch they are singing. This just means you haven't memorized the sound of the second yet and this is common. Don't get discouraged just keep working toward your goal. What is great is that you have realized this and that is the first step to help you search elsewhere in your mind to find that unique sound of the second. The quicker a student realizes what you have found the quicker they improve so this is a good thing. What I would recommend is you use the Fanatic's Guide CD and stick with the second degree and try to sing it in every key. Make sure you let the complete cadence happen before trying to sing the second this is extremely important. For now you should concentrate on the second but this doesn't mean you shouldn't also work on the other notes using the same exercise as well. Think of it like this. You need to learn what all the notes sound like in order to truly know even one because your inner memory needs to know the field of sounds it's trying to memorize. So do my recommendations and keep questioning yourself because this will help you improve quicker.
 
Q I bought the complete one note ear training guide. I want to make sure I'm approaching it right. When I listen, sometimes notes sound like something to me: e.g. a bell, a shimmer, a chisel hitting rock-- basically I hear a certain quality to the sound. I get these images. Visual not aural.

I do consciously avoid the solfege stuff altogether. I spent 4 months learning that way and it still didn't get me where I wanted to go in terms of real-time playing.

I would like to know what your opinion as to listening to the quality this way with the mental images. It is different from solfege, but still a mental event, although much quicker. Is this good, bad, indifferent? Should I cultivate it, avoid it, or just notice it when it happens?

Want to make sure I approach it right before I spend the long hours working.
A I have a feeling that the images you are seeing are more related to perfect pitch rather than relative pitch. Try seeing if you get the same images if you just hear a note without reference of a key center and let me know what happens.

You don't have to use solfege or any identifying thing to recognize the notes on the Ear Training One Note Complete CD and you could use a visual context. But you do have to use something to identify the notes when you sing them. (You should be working out of the Fanatic's Guide book too). Many students shy away from the singing side of ear training but if they only realized that this is how they develop their inner voice for improvisation and composition I think they would be more serious about it.

So to recap you can use visual identification for listening but obviously not for singing. Since it's better and quicker to have one system that works complimentary to each other I would recommend either solfeggio, note names, degree names or some system to make each note relationship to a key unique.
 
Q I just bought both the ear training one note and sight singing books and I am beginning to sift through them.

My question is: I already have perfect pitch. Will this program be more difficult for me as opposed to someone with no ear training, or will perfect pitch place me at an advantage in mastering your method? I fear my perfect pitch may make me lazy in fully grasping your theory.
A I think the important distinction you need to make is you need to know more than just what the name of the pitches are. You need to know how they are functioning within a key. By knowing how they are functioning in a key you can make intelligent choices as to what scale(s) will fit over the notes you hear. This is crucial in composition and improvisation.

It definitely takes mental discipline to learn this other method of note identification when you already have perfect pitch. The rewards are great though. I have found that musicians with perfect pitch have to work even harder to become great musicians. While they can quickly identify notes that is only a small part of being a great musician. Sometimes because perfect pitch musicians have this great note recognition ability they neglect feel, sensitivity, rhythm, relative pitch knowledge, embellishment, common sense and other important music considerations to becoming a great musician.

So to answer your question: Yes it's easy to get lazy when you have perfect pitch and it's the downfall of many musicians that have such a great gift by squandering it because of lack of understanding and artistic commitment to music. Just about every great musician in New York City is either a friend of mine or a friend of a friend. You would be surprised how few have perfect pitch. I'd say about 5 percent. How many have great relative pitch? I'd say about 99.9. What this should tell you is that many of the problems I've mentioned about perfect pitch keep musicians from succeeding. Conversely it also tells you how important dedication and hard work are to becoming a great musician. Personally I don't know a great musician that didn't work like a dog to get to their level of ability. I think most students don't realize this because most musicians don't exactly like everyone to know that music wasn't easy for them.
 
Q I have a question regarding the Functional Ear Trainer program. You answered a question on this program previously:

Q: There's a free software called 'Functional Ear Trainer' and it is taught this way: Hear the chord progression and resolve the note to the tonic whether up or down. For the diatonic notes, the bottom 4 notes resolve downward and for the top 4, the notes resolve upward. After a period of time your mind is supposed to be able to eliminate these steps and hear the note instantaneously. The software even has a random key selection and works in all octaves. Is it possible to learn the notes in this order?

A: I wouldn't recommend resolving notes to the tonic up or down even as a intial step. Hopefully you have my 'Ear Training One Note' and 'Fanatic's Guide' books so you can understand exactly what you are supposed to be doing and how. These books and the www.muse-eek.com website will also contain information on common problems and misunderstandings people have. Once you understand this information you could use the Functional Ear Trainer if it gives you similiar types of exercises. Since ear training is probably the single most important thing you can do as a musician, I suggest that you make sure you are investing your time and/or money with something that will be worth your time and effort. If you find an ear training program that just says "do this" with no indepth explanation I would be very wary that you are being directed in the proper way.

My question is: Why isn't resolving notes to the tonic a good technique? You just said you 'wouldn't recommend it' and didn't offer any proof to why.
A The short explanation is it takes too much time to resolve a note to the tonic as music is going by in real time. I give a long explanation of why it isn't good to resolve to the tonic in any of my ear training books. If you are still unsure of my method I might suggest you purchase Ear Training One Note Beginning which is the least expensive of my books. Certainly not the best deal though. Ear Training One Note Complete gives you three books in one.
 
Q Thanks for the quick reply. My experience counters your explanation: After practicing resolving to the tonic I was able to eventually eliminate this step in my indentification of the note. I have also done some interval based ear training, and it really helps my recognition of some of the intervals (the ones that I have gotten down so far) in the key-based method.

Lastly, I'm very interested in your books but I couldn't find the answer on your website to why key-based is superior to interval based.
A A little confused by your email. On one hand you state that in your experience you have been able to use resolving to the tonic as a pre-step to mastering the identification of notes in a key based exercise. I'm assuming you wouldn't write this unless you used your resolving crutch, have now discarded it, and have the ability to recognize all pitches instantly within a key center. If not then one would wonder why you would say such a thing. Therefore I'm assuming that you aren't misrepresenting your ability and have mastered one note recognition within a key. This leads me to the question of why you are contacting me with a question about it's superiority. It would seem logical that you already know it's ability.

Your comment on how much interval based ear training has helped you in your recognition of sound when music is being played goes against what every student I've ever had has reported. I'm glad to hear it's working so well for you and can only wish you the best with your continued work in that area. If you find later on that your abilities weren't quite what you thought you might try some of the books I recommended. On the other hand if you want to give me your true detailed background on your ear training abilities, the problems you are having I'd be glad to communicate with you on how my books might help you.
 
Q I'm quite intrigued with your ear training method. As a singer who does a lot of medieval music (I also sing more recent music) I am wondering how your method would help or hinder me in adjusting to mean/just temperament when working on my medieval music. Is the third in just temperament going to sound enough like the third in equal temperament for me to adjust easily, or am I going to get stuck in equal temperament with your method? Or, am I worrying about nothing and making it all more complicated than it needs to be?
A I don't think you will get stuck in my method and be unable to hear just intonation but I do think that some exercises would certainly help you to hear and memorize the differences. For example, if you had a CD with the just and equal tempered notes on it with a key reference to start so that you could start to hear and memorize the differences in relationship to the key center. Sounds like a great ear training book with a CD. Unfortunately, at this time, I wouldn't have time to make such a book and CD for you. Many synthesizers allow you to use just intonation so if you happen to have one of these you could use that to help you make a CD to listen to.

Basically the bottom line here is you would need to memorize the sound of the just and equal tempered notes against a key center. The key stays the same it's just the pitch of the notes.
 
Q I've been working on my singing exercises more and have been making some headway. I am currently working on all the diatonic notes, and am able to imagine a note in my head after playing a progression. Sometimes it takes a while, or I have to repeat the tonic root chord (like a drone) to be able to do it. I also find it hard to imagine a note in my head while playing a drone. I have to let the chord ring for a while before I can do it. I am concerned that letting a chord or drone ring may be lending itself to some bad habits delaying my progress. As I let a chord ring, I am imagining the root (solfeggio Do) note in my head which helps me get the right answer. Is this an okay way to establish the key center in my mind, or is it becoming a mental crutch for me to imagine Do in my head in order to imagine and then sing the desired note? (I hope that makes sense)

I'm also wondering what is the level of proficiency I am shooting for? Right now, if I hear a progression, am I shooting for instantaneous recognition to be able to imagine and sing the desired note? Currently, if I have a few seconds to hear that root Do note ring, I can usually imagine and guess the right note. I am hoping my speed recognition will improve with time.

What about playing a drone root chord? What is the optimal amount of time that should elapse between playing the drone and being able to imagine and sing a note?

Getting your thoughts on the above would help gauge my progress to determine when I am ready for the two note singing exercises.

My next question is regarding the best way to drill for Fanatics Guide. I've been doing these two things:

1) Playing the same progression over and over and try to sing all the desired notes in random order. (i.e. play C-F-G chord, sing re; play C-F-G chord, sing ti; play C-F-G chord sing la; etc)

2) Playing a progression in different keys, and then trying to sing a random note in whatever key I just played. (i.e. play C-F-G chord, sing fa; play E-A-B chord, sing ti; etic) I find this to be harder.

Your thoughts on these two methods, and are there any other methods that would help me along?

I've been learning my solfeggio syllables. Is there any value in my learning the corresponding number values (1-12) to each note? Or should I just focus on learning diatonic numbres 1-7, referring to the non-diatonic notes as b3, b7, etc.

Right now, when I listen to my One Note CD, I am getting about 50% right. For whatever reasons, I have almost 100% accuracy on recognizing the Fa note (F). I was really glad to be able to just hear a note, and no what it is. This was about two weeks ago. I was hoping the other notes would soon follow, but I've been kinda stuck. Any suggestions? Does an ear trainee typically aquire notes one at a time? Looking for some guidance on what to expect with the process of gaining note recognition.

I've been focusing hard on my ear training exercises, but would like some suggestions on how to apply my training to the guitar. I have already ordered a copy of single string studies and hope to incorporate that soon. I've heard in the past about other ear training exercises along the lines of imaging a well known tune in my head (like Yankee Doodle for example) and then trying to play it on the guitar. Do you think this kind of training is practical at this point in my training, or am I better off waiting to make more progress?

I am wondering when would be the best time to add non-diatonic notes to my training routine. Should I learn my diatonic notes better than 50% before I move on?

When I do add the non-diatonic notes, should I add them all at once or one at a time?

I am afraid of hindering my progress because I feel I am making a good head way on the diatonic notes after a slow start. But realize I need to do all the notes eventually.
A Well the problem you have is weak key retention. We can do a few things to help that. First keep in mind that focusing in on the root of the drone is not a great idea. This tends to make your mind reliant on doing that procedure and over time will slow you down when using ear training in a real time experience. What should be happening is the drone just filtrates into you head and solidifies the key center. You should be concentrating only on the note that needs to be sung and have faith that your mind will absorb the key center without concentrating on it so much.

You can also try building up your key retention by doing some singing exercises without a drone. I usually recommend the Single String Studies for Guitar Volume One for this but you could use the Fanatic's Guide too it's just a harder book to jump into with this exercise. Let me know which book you want to use and I'll give you an assignment.
 
Q I am working out of Fanatics Guide, One Note Complete, and Key Note Recognition (I've worked through one note advanced, but a few times a day I still review all of the one note CDs). I especially have a lot of trouble with Fanatics Guide. About 2 or 3 months ago, you had given me some suggestions for working with the first "one note" excercises, and it's going well. Now I am also beginning to work on the 3 note exercises. In the member's area, for the beginning lessons in Fanatics Guide, you stress that the first 3 note groupings are to be sung only in C Major. Why is that so? And also, when beginning to work on the 3 and 4 note exercises, is there any particular way you recommend doing them? Like for example, stick with one exercise in one key for a week, then do the same exercise in a different key the next week, etc...
A The reason I stress that a total beginning student should only sing in the key of C major when working on the recommended assignments in the member's area is that most people have a hard time doing the key of C major much less other keys. If you find that you are doing fine with the exercises in C major then of course move on. Keep in mind that the lesson on the website is for a total beginner that needs further direction.

You shouldn't look at the exercises based on a day or a week you want to work on each singing exercise until you feel you have either mastered it or you are at the point were you need to move on to keep yourself motivated and engaged. (You can always come back to harder exercises). But in general students tend to work in one key a week and then move a set of exercises to another key for the following week. This of course all depends on the amount you practice.
 
Q Since I have both books we can work with Single String Studies for Guitar Volume 1. Regarding my other questions, would you recommend adding on the non-diatonic notes at this point in time? Right now I'm training only with the diatonic notes, and am hesitant to add more without having fully grasped the diatonic notes.

Regarding note recognition, I'm wondering what to expect. For some reason, I can recognize Fa just fine, but the other notes aren't sinking in as fast. Just wondering what to expect in this area as I make progress. Have your previous students acquired the notes one by one, or gradually acquired them all over time?

And lastly, looking for some suggestions on how to incorporate my ear training into applying it to soloing on the guitar, and learning how to play chords on the guitar by ear. Right now I play chord progressions by memory and shy away from soloing cause it's all guesswork at this point. Any suggestions on things I could do, or am I better off focusing on trying to make more progress with developing my ear before I try to apply what I'm learning?

One ear training seminar I went to in the past recommended to practice playing a variety of chord progressions in all the different keys for ear training. Is this something you've recommended to students in the past?
A In Single String Studies for Guitar we are going to work on building your key retention. We will start on page one. I want you to first use the Fanatic's guide CD to play the cadence in C major and let the track continue. Sing through the exercise (do any octave transpositions that you might need for your voice). Once you have sung through it with the drone let's now try it without the drone. First play the cadence again in C major and then try to sing through the page without the drone. (Don't be afraid to replay the cadence if you lose the key). This may take a while so work on the first page until you can sing through it at mm=40 bpm without the drone. Remember it is always best to pre-hear each note. Don't be surprised if you are on the same page for awhile. Once you feel you are ready to move on let me know and I'll give you the next step.

I think it's best to add the non-diatonic notes as soon as possible. Many students stay to long on the diatonic notes which makes the non-diatonic notes weaker. They will already be harder so it's best to just jump in and start memorizing their sound.

The fact that Fa is coming to you every time is great. Some students don't get any notes for months. It's really hard to give you an idea of how quickly students learn. It really varies greatly. Usually students get one note at a time and usually as they get one note another note might slip. This is because your mind is rearranging it's impression. Think of it like this. If you only knew the colors yellow and blue and your mind thought one was light and one was dark and then all of sudden you learn red your mind needs to adjust what it thinks is light and dark.

You can try applying the ear training but it will probably be pretty frustrating until you get closer to mastering one note ear training. One exercise I give my students is to record a one chord vamp (i.e. repeating a chord over and over in some groove) Then have another source play random notes (Make sure both these sources are in tune). Try to find those notes on the guitar by listen to how they sound against the vamp. Muse Eek Publishing has a random note CD you could get call Ear Training Direct Application. If you want that check the website.

You will definitely want to play vamps in different keys. You will want to sing in different keys too. But remember as far as the ear training goes - ALL KEYS ARE THE SAME. The 3rd in C major will sound exactly like the 3rd in F# major. The 3rd always sounds like the 3rd. You want to do other keys mostly to build up your music theory ability to know for example what the b6th in Gb major is quickly. This is where I recommend using the Music Theory books so you can speed up your music theory knowledge so it's ready when your ears are.
 
Q Do you need/Is it better to work on Ear Training: One Note and Fanatic's Guide together or is best just to concentrate on Ear Training: One Note to begin with?
A It's much better to work on both the Ear Training: One Note & A Fanatic's Guide to Ear Training and Sight Singing at the same time. I have found that students progress at a much faster pace when they work on both their listening and singing skills.
 
Q I am a graduate of a four year music program at a state university, in which I passed quite easily the ear training/sight-singing program at that institution. However, having applied my knowledge and skills for the past three years, I am not pleased with my current level of ability in this area. I recently discovered your series of texts, and am interested in learning more about your method. In this regard I have two brief questions:

1. Are there any additional insights that might clarify your method other than what is found on the back cover of your books?

2. What is the proper sequence of books in your program of study?
A You can find out a lot about the method by reading the FAQ pages on the muse-eek.com website. For example this would be a good place to start.

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/ET_1_note_complete/eartrngfaq.html

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/fanaticsguide/fanaticsfaq.html

Overall I think you will find that the major difference between my ear training and the ear training usually taught in music schools is:

1. You don't measure the distance between two notes (i.e. interval) you memorize the sound of each note against a key center.

2. One's sense of key can be sharply improved to perceive any pitch in a key and can follow modulations.

3. A combination of 1 and 2 gives you a quick and accurate way to hear a sound and know what it's relationship is to the key of the moment.

I would suggest you start with Ear Training One Note Complete and Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training.

You have been educated as a musician already and that can be a good, and a problematic thing, too. First, you carry inculcated notions of what ear training is and so you may find your previous learning to come in conflict with what I have to teach you. On the other hand your experience has made you more aware of what it is you are aiming for, and how your previous approaches have not worked for you . As you might know I give free email support. Any question you have please let me know.

The smart students stay in touch with me and give detailed information on their progress. These are the students that progress the fastest and understand the method at a deeper level.  I could write a 1000 books on ear training but you can never foresee all the misunderstandings and quirks of each individual. This is why I feel that ear training should be taught on a one on one basis. This leads me to what the best book order for ear training study is. Start with the two books I recommend. You will find some references to different orders that I give in the FAQs. Honestly this all depends on the student and their problems. I frequently might suggest a different order, a book that addresses a certain problem or I might even suggest some exercises that aren't in a book.
 
Q I have been working through your ear training books for a almost a year now, and I think it is coming along well. I have worked through all levels of One Note Complete, but still continue to listen to the One Note CDs daily just because I have time and I think it will help, in someway. I am now working on Key Note and of course have been working on Fanatic's Guide all along. I still have a little bit of problem with this... When working with the Fanatics Guide, I have found that in order for me to truely know the sound of one note (even the root), I had to really practice singing all the notes one by one. But as this goes along I have a hard time hearing the note, and singing it perfectly in tune. For example, when hearing the 7th in my head, I hear a field of the 7th, and when I sing the note, I will sing pretty close to the perfectly in tune 7th, but it won't be exact. Perhaps you could suggest me some outside excercises or anything that would help me with this.

Also, a second question. Do you recommend at my current stage setting up a drone that will sound the 1and 5, and singing scales over it, lining up each pitch one by one. Esentially this and Fanatics Guide aim at reaching the same goal, but their methods are slightly different, and I am just wondering about your thoughts on doing something like this at my current stage.

I noticed that on your reading suggestions page on your personal website, you have made many recommendations for books dealing with psychology, neuroscience, and modern physics topics. Have you read the book The Large, the Small, and the Human mind, by Roger Penrose? It is a physics outlook of neuroscientific and psychological ideas. Based on looking at your book suggestions of what you have read, this might be a book you might like.
A Thanks for the book recommendation. I wouldn't worry to much about the intonation issue. Remember when a classical violinist plays a C# they usually play it higher than a Db so there is a range of pitches that we use to express each of the 12 degrees.

For the singing I think it's a good idea to set up a simple chord sequence, could be just one chord. One chord would be a good place to start or even just a 5th. Anyway what you want to do is sing the scale that fits over the chord vamp as it is playing and then spend some time improvising over that chord. Do this with a different key each day. You can use the vamps that are in the member's area if you want.
 
Q I am currently working on Beginners One Note and Fanatic's Guide. I have finally weaned myself from my bad resolving habits and am learning the pitches by their distinct sound. Horray for me!

I am having trouble with the Fanatic's One Note Exercise. I am just learning the 3rd and 5th and when I am trying to prehear the pitch (which I can do) I immediately hear the prospective note in the drone chord and I feel like I am cheating. Is this OK? Also, what is a good test to know when I should move on to the next scale degree?

I am currently ear training for 5- 20 min sessions with 13 on the One Note Beginning and 7 on the Fanatics Guide.
A Sounds like you are making very good progress. Beating the resolution habit isn't easy so you deserve a lot of credit for that.

It is OK if you pre-hear a note and then notice it within the drone. You don't have to be 100% before moving on to the next note. Just so you are around 75% it's probably time to move on. Keep in mind there are a lot of different exercises in the Fanatic's Guide to help hone your skills with hearing the notes.

I'm not surprised that you are making such good progress based on the amount of time you are putting into practicing. I wish more students realized that many short practice sessions will greatly improve your ear training skills.
 
Q Since we last spoke I ordered the random note CD and should be receiving it any day now. I am hoping to start applying the ear training to guitar. I do have a few questions on how to best follow your advice (see previous advice, and then questions below):

"You can try applying the ear training but it will probably be pretty frustrating until you get closer to mastering one note ear training. One exercise I give my students is to record a one chord vamp (i.e. repeating a chord over and over in some groove) Then have another source play random notes (Make sure both these sources are in tune). Try to find those notes on the guitar by listen to how they sound against the vamp.

1) When I play the notes on the guitar, should I focus on one string at a time (like Single String Studies), or just play notes on any of the strings? Should I hold off on starting Single String Studies for now, or do both this and sing string studies co-currently?

2) For the vamp, can I use the vamps in all 12 keys found on the Fanatics Guide CD?

3) Should I focus on one key at a time (like starting on the key of C, then F, then Bb, etc), or just work with all the keys at random?

Also have some questions on ear training.

4) In regards to my ear training, I've started to tackle the non-diatonic notes. I have been making progress with being able to pre-hear Di (D#) and Li (A#), but have hit a road block with Fi (F#). In the past, I've been able to pre-hear a note within a week of focusing on that note. But after three weeks, I still really struggle with Fi. I even tried making a tape up to listen to in the car where I played a bunch of progressions in random keys, leaving a pause to pre hear Fi before I play it on the tape. I've made some progress, but it's just not sticking. I've yet to attempt Si (G#) and Di (C#). Any suggestions for getting unstuck?


I've heeded your advice with using Single String Studies for key retention and do have my work cut out for me. I can prehear notes, but my speed is very slow, takes anywhere from 1-10 seconds to be able to pre hear the notes. (See advice, then questions below)

"In Single String Studies for Guitar we are going to work on building your key retention. We will start on page one. I want you to first use the Fanatic's guide CD to play the cadence in C major and let the track continue. Sing through the exercise (do any octave transpositions that you might need for your voice). Once you have sung through it with the drone let's now try it without the drone. First play the cadence again in C major and then try to sing through the page without the drone. (Don't be afraid to replay the cadence if you lose the key). This may take a while so work on the first page until you can sing through it at mm=40 bpm without the drone. Remember it is always best to pre-hear each note. Don't be surprised if you are on the same page for awhile. Once you feel you are ready to move on let me know and I'll give you the next step."

5) Would you recommend just using the drone for now to build up my speed, before trying without the drone?

6) Now that I've started on non-diatonic notes, what might be the best way to incorporate them into this excercise? All the notes on page one (Key of C) of Single String Studies are diatonic notes. Moreover, If I'm understanding things right, Single String Studies Volume 1 just focuses on the diatonic notes in each key, while volume II focuses on the non-diatonic notes?
A You can play the notes on any string any octave. I usually recommend a student just improvise with a backing track and catch each note as it comes along. You could use the Fanatic's Guide CD but that isn't a very interesting thing to improvise over. You could make your own vamps or you could use the vamps located in the member's area in the Help Files for Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume Two. The files are called MP3 vamp files. You can pretty much work on any key you want. Most of the MP3 files are in C using various modes. Certain modes will be much harder than others to hear the quality of each note. Be patient, this will take time. Considering your current ability I think I would stick to major and minor vamps until your note recognition gets better.

Certain notes like #4 or b6, b2 are usually pretty hard for students and can take months of work before they remember them. Your car tape is fine but overall it's keeping this note in your short term memory as much as possible that will finally allow you to memorize it.

If it is taking you up to 10 seconds to pre-hear a note then I think you should stick with the drone on the Single String Studies until you can pre-hear the note in a second or two. If you are still having problems pre-hearing with the diatonic notes with Single String Studies I wouldn't worry about the non-diatonic notes yet I would do the exercises in the Fanatic's Guide which concentrates on all notes.
 
Q When listening to the One note CDs (be it the Beginning, Intermediate, or Advanced) on certain notes, I hear sort of a resolution tendency. However not exactly. For example, with the 7, b2, 2, and b6, I do not hear in my head 7-1, or b2-1, b6-5, etc..., but I sort of hear an expectation of it moving. Like I sort of hear that "tension" in each of those respective notes to move somewhere (either the root or 5th). Obviously this is wrong to hear it that way because those notes don't always move that way. Any suggestions on what I can do about this? I have tried answering as quickly as possible, and doing more work out of the Fanatic's Guide. And, I am pretty much 100% accurate consistently, it's just this one little problem I have with the One Note excercises.

I don't know if I am simply thinking and trying too hard to NOT hear a "resolution" tendency, and that's why I am hearing this. Or whether this is actually how the note sounds, but for some reason my mind does not accept it. It is very hard to listen to each note as it is. I always tell myself before hearing each note, "Don't do anything extra, just listen to the note the way it is and just simply answer," but that doesn't always work. This is so subjective, that it is probably hard to give advice on, but any help you can give would be very much appreciated.
A It is hard to know for sure but one possibility is your mind is just improvising. In other words it is hearing that those notes want to go somewhere. Now if you always hear it moving the same way then that's another thing. My best advice is to continue to fight it if it is consistently wanting to resolving to one place if not then I'd move on to the Key Note Recognition or the 2 note exercises.

There is an interesting thing that happens as you work on the 2 note exercises. Any problems/misconceptions from the one note ear training will show themselves. For instance let's say you have problems hearing a b6th in one note ear training. Then when you do the 2 note exercises any key or note that is b6 will tend to cause you problems. This in a way is good because you can trace down which notes are causing you problems and work on them more with the one note or the singing exercises.
 
Q I just received Ear training One Note Complete (I'm waiting for Fanatic's Guide) and I'm a bit daunted. OK ... So am I supposed to randomly guess at the notes until I memorize the pitches? (The FAQ pages seem to suggest this). Just want to make sure there is no misunderstanding on my part. I'm wandering aimlessly when I hear the pitches. Needless to say I'm a bit lost. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
A Ah, you sound like me when I first tried this exercise. I was completely at sea and it took me quite awhile before it made any sense. The Fanatic's Guide was a good choice that will help you to zero in on each pitch and help you memorize it. I wasn't sure if the FAQs you mentioned were in the book or on the website. If you haven't read all the FAQs on the website I'd go to the muse-eek.com site and read all the FAQs for Ear Training One Note Complete and Fanatic's Guide. That should help you see your not alone in your quest and show you problems other students have had.

Best thing to do if you feel lost is to keep in touch and try to explain in detail why you feel lost. Overall you probably should give yourself a couple of weeks of doing the exercises then you should have a better idea about your problems.
 
Q I have a freeware software program that seems to do what your one note books and CDs are doing. It plays a cadence in a set key or random key, then a note, and requires a guess as to what the note is. It keeps track of the percentage correct for the session. It is called Functional Ear Trainer.

I am getting about 75% correct by just feeling the note and not trying to listen for the resolution. I can do this for most notes in under 1 second, although some notes (C#, F#, G# in key of C, mainly) are slower and are the ones I am getting wrong.

I would like to start working with your series, but want to invest my limited funds wisely. I believe the Fanatic's Guide plus the software program would be a good place for me to start. Can you make some recommendations?

I am a low-intermediate level Jazz guitar player, playing guitar for 25 years, but seriously studying Jazz for under two years. One of those years was spent at the Ithaca College Jazz program back in 1986. I learned a lot back then but was not really ready for serious music study, so dropped out.

Most of my current ear training work (just for the last three months really) has been around interval recognition, dictation and chord and inversion recognition (the ear master pro software, which I am going to stop doing for now). I am also doing a lot of singing and playing (separately and together) of root triads through the chord changes of tunes. This has seemed to help a lot - I can now sing and/or play root triads (with 7ths and flat 9s thrown in sometimes) with voice leading over "All the things you are" (slowly). A lot of this practice involves using a pitch pipe in the car to get a starting note for a progression I am working on and then singing through the change and then checking my ending note with the pipe again. I try to do this in a way that I am not always resolving to a new chord from the same note in the previous chord.

I am concerned after reading your FAQ that I may be "putting the cart before the horse" and possibly creating some bad habits by singing through changes. Also, while I can sing through the modulation like Am7 D7 Gma7 F#mi7 B7 Ema7, I don't know really get a sense that I am really hearing the modulation from Gmaj to Emaj.
A That's great that you are doing well with the Functional Ear Training program. My concerns are as follows. If I understand correctly you are using the FAQs and the Functional Ear Trainer as you sole means of understanding the one note method. I think you are missing out on the fact the the one note book contains information on how to hear that is not contained in the FAQs. If this is indeed true then you don't know what you are doing and that can have a devastating effect on your ear training ability. The absolute worse thing you can do is practice ear training wrong. Even if people own the books they many times do the wrong thing that's why I have the FAQs so I can try and catch these problems early. Furthermore your progress would be much enhanced if you had CDs that you could use with a Discman so you can practice these exercises away from the computer.

So this is what I recommend. Get Ear Training One Note Advanced and Fanatic's Guide. Read the books and then contact me so I can get you started in the right direction. Please stop all of these other exercises until you understand what you are doing. You're like a kid with a bunch of prescription drugs just randomly taking them in hopes that they will help without understanding their immediate or long term effect. By the way, the exercises in the Functional Ear Trainer have nothing to do with the exercises in the Fanatic's Guide and the directions given with the Functional Ear Trainer are incomplete enough that I would classify them as completely wrong. I'm not telling you not to use the program, I'm just telling you that it doesn't give you all the information you need, it's limited in it's scope. Please remember you only need to do one little thing wrong with ear training and you won't develop properly.

I certainly understand having limited funds and wanting to improve. To help folks with that I've created a member's area that has a ridiculous amount of free information and 100's of videos to help you get it right. This is were you can save money. But by all means contact me if your wondering about which books you need and which books you can skip and just use the website. It should be pretty obvious by looking in the member's area that we are not here to wring every dime out of your pocket but truly want you to learn and learn correctly.
 
Q I am trying to improve my skills to build up and make my melodies and solos more compeling! I need some exercises and advanced theory! I play a mix of bluegrass, funk and rock! How can you help?
A I'll do my best to help you. You might want to think about the limited amount of information you have given me to go on. The relevance of my comments are always inversely proportionate to the amount of knowledge I have about a students past education and specific goals.

First if you don't know the notes on your instrument or how to build and find complex chords on the guitar I would recommend Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One.

Second if you don't know all the 23 scales most used in improvisation I would recommend Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume Two.

Third I would recommend you start working on some ear training so any advanced theory you might learn isn't just a mental process but is accompanied by an ability to also hear these relationships in a musical situation. For this I would recommend Ear Training One Note Complete and Fanatic's Guide to SIght Singing and Ear Training.

Fourth if you don't know all the chords on the guitar and how they are used in a musical situation I would recommend the Chord Workbooks for Guitar Volumes One and Two. These books also contain advanced theories of reharmonization which is one of the corner stones of what I anyway would call advanced music theory.

Overall most of my books are not stylistic. For instance the Music Theory Workbooks are not specifically for a rock, jazz or bluegrass player. While certainly idioms use more of one type of scale or one set of chord types I'm figuring you will get this information by transcribing solos etc. from CDs. My books concentrate on teaching the basic building blocks of music which you can then apply to the style of music you are interested in.
 
Q I finally have both Ear Training One Note and Fanatic's Guide. I have a good idea as to how use them separately (I've read most of the FAQs), but could you tell me how to effectively use both of them together? You do suggest using them together.
A I would work out of each book 5 to 10 times a day for about 10 minutes each time and always keep a positive attitude about your progress.
 
Q In the handbook, it says that we preferably use the shuffle function so we don't memorize the order of the tracks.

I was thinking of putting all the C's on repeat, then C#s, etc until I memorize them all one by one instead.

Could I do that?
A You can do that but I have found that in most cases it can help a little but overall is not that effective and here is why. Although you don't think of notes as color let me use that as an analogy. If you had a bunch of colors to learn you would learn them is by comparing one to the other. Blue is darker than red etc... So even though listening to one note over and over may help a little it's really hearing how each one is different than the other that will make you remember the sound. This is why I recommend doing the exercise as many times as you can each day. You can limit the number of notes you are working on but always listen to all notes each day so you hear the bigger picture.

Learning just by sound by the way is how your parents taught you language. They said words over and over to you each day and sooner or later you remembered them. In reality this is the type of learning you are doing for the ear training and is what messes people up. You learned by hearing and repeating until you entered school. Then they taught you to compare things. One stick plus one stick equals two sticks or learning the letters of the alphabet. A "Q" is like an "O" with a line through it. Many people try to apply this type of learning to ear training and it just doesn't work.
 
Q 1. In your previous email you talked about colors. Would it be helpful to assign colors to each tone and think of it with every pitch?

2. When you said that I could limit the number of pitches I listened to, I was wondering if I could listen to all 12 notes within one octave? Why are there helter-skelter octaves on the CD? Would just listening to one octave of tones be hurting my ear training?

3. Even though I'm getting about less than 25% right, I've moved onto the second CD. I'm a hasty kind of person ... either I'm obscenely lazy or I catch on quick ... the higher speed of the Intermediate CD I feel might force me to catch on and learn quicker ... you know, pedal to the metal. Would you recommend doing this or no?

4. You know how you talk about traditional relative pitch, the distance between intervals? Will I develop this with this program additionally, even though I'm memorizing tones within the key? Or is that something I'll have to train my ears for seperately?

5. Also, I know there are some phenomenal musicians who can hear a piece of modern music and can hear what key the song is progressing to, even though it's like a crazy piece in so many different keys. How do I develop this ability, to go E maj, C#7, Bb etc. in real time? The sightsinging program (I have that program in addition to the ear training one) or the ear training one, two note or is it something else?
A 1. No that is not a good idea. Because you are then referencing something. By referencing you stand the chance of slowing yourself down because of the extra mental process. You want this ear training to be instantaneous. Reread what I said about how you learned when you were young.

2. Yes you can limit the notes within one octave. BUT also listen to all pitches in all octaves everyday too.

3. It is fine to use the intermediate CD. Some students find the intermediate CD easier because you hear the notes quicker after the chord progression. This is especially true with students that have weak key retention.

4. You do not need to learn intervals you will recognize sound based on key relationships. You will also develop a strong key retention from the Fanatic's Guide which will help you to stay in a key in your mind even when no music is sounding. There are many great things that will happen with this ear training you just need to apply yourself to it with consistency.

5. You will develop the same phenomenal ability by working through all the books in the ear training series. You will need to do other assignments along the way that I will suggest depending upon your progress. For now just concentrate on the Ear Training One Note CDs and the Fanatic's Guide. When you can do the Ear Training One Note Advanced CD with 90% accuracy then it's time to move on to Key Note Recognition. Many students want to know the exact path that they will take to gain great aural skills. This depends greatly on your past experiences, practice, personal self examination and commitment to seeing the process through. This is why I give email support in order to help you specifically as you progress. In your case you are just starting so you immediate need is to work out of the two books each day mulitiple times. Through dedication and persistence you will see amazing progress.
 
Q I studied EarTraining since a long time (5 years in Conservatory and after during my time at Berklee). Since the first lesson I suspected there was something strange about it. First I could never see the application of this in real life and second because I barely made progress. So it was always just a matter of passing the class.

I do understand your method and am very convinced, that's the way to go. Nevertheless I encounter some problems: I am working on the One Note Advanced and I am usually over 90% right but I'm not sure if I'm doing it right. First: Sometimes I feel I'm very rapidly resolving the non diatonic notes. Second: The "just knowing the Note" that you describe I think I'm slowing down by what I call "subvocalizing" using Solfege Syllables. I'm forming the Syllable whitout really saying it. I see there is a difference between this and "just knowing."

Both of these problems are in a way rediculous since resolving a note or singing down to the root or the described "subvocalizing" proves that in fact one hears the note. Is this just a terrible habit? Do you have some advice to eliminate it?

I also got the OneNote direct application CD I couldn't find any suggestion on how to work with this. Could you give me some advice or tell me where I can find it?
A Your problems are common the important thing is that you are policing yourself to catch these bad habits.

I'm unsure about your statement "these problems are in a way ridiculous since resolving a note or singing down to the root or the described "subvocalizing" proves that in fact one hears the note." I think that resolving a note, singing down to the root both prove that a student doesn't hear a note. I'm sure that's what you meant but thought I should clarify.

The one note direct application CD can be used in many ways. I would start using simple one chord vamps. You can find some of these in the member's area under Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume Two or you can record your own. Once you have a repeating one chord vamp you turn on the one note direct application CD as you hear each note on the CD try to identify what this note is in the key of the vamp and find it on your instrument. I also have students improvise while they are waiting for the next note so you can build the feeling of a real live playing situation.
 
Q You mentioned that you had to unlearn the traditional interval recognition method when you started doing the One Note Ear Training. Now that you've reached an advanced level with the note recognition do you still remember the sounds of intervals at all? For example if you heard two notes without reference to a key center would you recognise the interval between them or have you completely forgotten intervals?

I ask this question because a professional musician, Ron Gorow (author of the book Hearing and Writing Music) told me yesterday that he uses both the interval based method and the note recognition method and subconsciously "chooses" the method which is best for the moment.

Is it possible to use both and do you still recognise intervals now that you have mastered the note recognition technique?
A I would have no idea the level of a student's ability to hear intervals before or after doing my ear training. I can tell you that interval training has no part in developing the type of relative pitch I teach. Since there are twelve intervals of any type hearing intervallically can at best only give you a very general idea of what is happening musically in any situation. If you feel that a very general type of aural recognition is good for you then that is your choice. I will mention that in many cases previous or ongoing student interval training can really hinder your relative pitch development. It's up to you to decide whether it will or not and accept the consequences of your actions.
 
Q I was actually referring to your own experiences rather than your students i.e. do you still remember and recognise intervals, and if so do you sometimes use that knowledge or do you sole rely on your pitch/note recognition skills?

I have completely abandoned interval ear training methods in favour of your methods, however when Ron Gorow mentioned he has and uses both methods I wanted know if you also sometimes use interval hearing and when it is necessary to do so. I wouldn't know if having both methods will have negative consequences and that's why I want to find out what your own personal experiences are.

I am convinced by your methods so if you say you never use interval hearing then that will be good enough for me.
A I worked on interval training many years before doing the type of ear training I teach. So I could hear the sound of all intervals. This strong background in interval training plagued my progress when developing in the new ear training for years. I'm not saying that it would plague everyone's progress but it did plague mine and many of my students.
 
Q I have purchased the Complete One Note book. I have been listening twice a day every day for about 12-15 minutes. I plan on purchasing Fanatic's Guide soon.

Two things have come up and I would like to ask you about them.

1. I have found that the beginning level CD moves a bit too slow, and I get about the same amount right on the intermediate level (even though much of it is still guessing), so I went ahead and started on the intermediate level. Will this cause problems in the future?

2. Before purchasing your book, I had studied independently, with particular attention to pitch, and pitch characteristics -- i.e. the "sound" of each pitch of the chromatic scale. I have been studying this for the past three years, and have made significant progress. Although I cannot name all the notes when I hear them, I know several, and I find that when I listen to your CD I end up simply listening to the sound of each note. I know there is no "definition" of how a note sounds, but can you shed some light on the difference between how each note sounds alone and how each note sounds in a key?

... And finally, speaking of the sound of each note, I noticed in one of your FAQ's that you believe Perfect Pitch can be learned. I agree with you, but I was wondering what other insights about this you might have. You said in the same FAQ, that a certain program (Burge???) didn't look at all the different ways to hear notes. Being a beginning choral conductor, I am most interested in Perfect Pitch for rehearsal purposes.
A It is fine to start working with the intermediate CD. The beginning CD is meant for students that have no prior knowledge of music and therefore need the extra time between the cadence and the note in order to figure out for instance what the 5th would be in the key of C.

Every note when played by itself with no tonal reference has a unique sound. If you study and learn the sound of each note of a chromatic scale you will develop perfect pitch. There are many ways to define the sound of each note. This definition should depend on your affinities.

The common way as taught by some perfect pitch ear training courses is to relate the sound to color. This of course is only one of the many things you could use to define sound. For instance you could use shape, texture, sound placement in a room etc ... You gain perfect pitch on one instrument or sound source at a time therefore you would only want to use one "instrument" to develop your perfect pitch. You can obviously move to other instruments as you perfect your perfect pitch. There are many other listening and singing exercises you can do to help develop perfect pitch quicker which is something I'll put in book someday.

A note that is heard in relationship with a key has a unique character which you will hear in each key.  For instance a third will always sound like a 3rd. So a C in Ab major sounds the same as an E in C major. Because there are so many ways to hear notes as you can see from all the above examples it takes your mind awhile to focus on the right relationship. This is one reason why I recommend listening many times a day so you can start to hone in on the relative pitch sound of each note over the other possibilities.
 
Q I have recently started listening to the One Note Beginning Ear Training CD and trying to guess the notes. I have never had any ear training before. I have only been listening a few days, and I am not getting any better at guessing the notes. On the other hand, I have long spells when I am always within a whole step or so of the correct note. I usually guess a whole step lower than the correct note (whether diatonic or not). It cannot be any previous interval training sneaking into my hearing, because I have never had any. But I am worried it is not good for me to be so close to the correct note and almost never exactly right. Do the characteristics of the notes that are close together have similarities that would make me guess a whole step flat so frequently, or am I unconsciously doing it wrong? I am planning to get the Fanatic's Guide and start working in it soon, too. I know the process is long and not so easy, but I want to be sure to do it right.
A Notes that are close together do not have similarities. Even though you haven't had interval training it is common for people to unconsciously think distance rather than the sound of each note. It is also common for you not to get any notes right when you start this ear training. There are 88 different notes on the CD, 12 pitches in different octaves. Just think of this like learning a foreign language. If someone gave you 88 words that you had to memorize it would certainly take you more than a few days before you would start to remember which is which. Keep in mind that over time you will only have 12 pitches to memorize and all octaves will sound the same to you but in the beginning this isn't the case because of your aural weakness.

The Fanatic's Guide will help you a lot but you must be patient with your progress. Everyone gets this ear training that sticks with it.
 
Q I received One Note Complete and Key Note books a few days ago. Waiting for shipment of Fanatic's guide. First I should say that your books are really giving me some hope about advancing my playing. I have long held that the belief that I would never be able to develop my ear and time, that I just didn't have the talent. It is so refreshing to have such a thorough and organized plan to follow.

I am getting 80-90% on one note advanced and doing several short practice sessions throughout the day. I am noticing that my mind habits are to listen for resolution or internally sing a path to tonic. By using the Advanced CD and answering as fast as possible (before the habits can start to work), I find that I am getting alot more wrong. I have read alot of your FAQs, so I have faith in the process, and just want to make sure I am doing this correctly. I understand that what I am practicing is a method of listening, not trying to guess right every time using a trick.

A few questions:

1. I still notice my mind attempting to rely on resolution tendencies or singing a path to tonic. Is there any other way to control this tendency, other than answering quickly? Or will these habits gradually be replaced by the correct listening? I know from the FAQs that the Fanatic's Guide is important in this process, so I will contact you when I get it.

2. You talk of listening for the unique sound of each note against a key center. Isn't a note's resolution tendency a part of that experience? What are you really talking about here?

2a. When I get one wrong, is it appropriate to repeat that track several times to strengthen the memory of the sound of that note? I tend to mix up F#/G#/C#, F/A#, F#/B and sometimes E/G. I have instant recognition almost always of C D D# E G A A# B. Most of the very high notes I do not get correct. I know from the FAQs that it will take time to develop the high range.

3. I have been working with the Key Note CD some. I am finding that I get very few correct and that I can rarely hear the C notes relationship to the key. Is this because of the cadence? Or have I not spent enough time with One Note? Or do I just need to guess a lot and keep listening?

4. Also, with the Key Note drills, I am finding that my theory knowledge is not fast enough to get the answer in time. If I do hear the C relationship with the correct technique, it can take me some time to calculate what the key is. (eg, I think: I am hearing C as the 5th, C is the 5th of ... F, answer = Fmaj or min) Should I stop the CD to do that calculation, as long as I am properly listening for and hearing the way C relates to the key? Or should I first memorize on the relationship of C in all 12 keys? (5th of F, 4th of G, #3 of A, etc)
A 1. Working with the Fanatic's Guide to strengthen your recognition of each note and forcing yourself to give quick answers is the two ways I recommend to fight resolution tendencies.

2. The uniqueness of a note can only be based on aspects of that sound that are universal. Since resolution tendency pulls a note in a particular direction it is not a good thing to use. Any note can move to any other note and resolution tendency is based on prior listening habits not on any universal truth.

2a. Yes you can repeat tracks to ingrain the sound of a note.

3. Key Note Recognition presents the one note process in a different situation and you are noticing how changing a situation can effect your accuracy. It will take time but you will begin to hear these same relationships in the Key Note as you do in the One Note CDs. You are handicapped by the fact that you haven't been working out of the Fanatic's Guide so I would say that all note listening CDs are going to be harder for you until you have mastered some of the exercises in the Fanatic's Guide. For now just guess and keep listening.

4. Sounds like you need to work through some of my theory books to speed up your knowledge of interval relationships. I would recommend Music Theory Workbook for all Instruments or if you play guitar Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One. This book will give you hundreds of exercises to improve your music theory knowledge.

Keep practicing it sounds like you are on the right path it's just going to take time and patience.
 
Q My son is 18, a senior in High School, has been taking voice lessons for less than a year and has already received two scholarship offers to study music beyond high school. He is a bass baritone with a natural talent. I want to help him with ear training and sight singing in preparation for college auditions -- he has studied neither. After reading reviews of your books, I believe this is the direction we should take -- but which one? He reads music -- sight singing comes fairly easily, ear training is what we need to concentrate on. Any suggestions?
A I would recommend Ear Training One Note Complete and Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training. While I believe this to be the best type of ear training your son could do to become a great musician it is not the kind of ear training commonly taught in colleges. Therefore he should keep in mind that the "interval" based ear training method will most likely be his course of study once he enters a University. I would still recommend he work out of my books first because it is harder for students to start with intervals and then go to the sound of each note within a key center. Overall I believe that he should work on things that will improve his musicianship which sometimes will be in direct conflict with what he learns in music school. Ear Training is a prime example. An analogy I commonly think of is the teaching that the world is flat and the sun revolves around the earth. It took along time after it was proven wrong before people accepted it. Ear Training is the same way. Many heads of ear training departments know their ear training programs don't work but are usually forced to stay with their current method because of class size considerations, ignorance or lack of caring about their student's development. This is the unfortunate state of college music education now days.
 
Q One question about genre and the ear training program. I'm learning tonal classical music (Chopin, Beethoven, etc). Is this or traditional interval training more ideal and how so?

I am also into pop music, so I know it'll help in that area. Also, I'm starting composition classes, and my tutor wants me to have the interval relative pitch thing down. Could I do that and your program simultaneously? Figure it couldn't hurt.

The thing I was wondering is that more people have traditional relative pitch, not your method. So wouldn't playing with others that don't have this skill be a little confusing?
A There is no ear training that is better for one style of music than another since all music is within a key center. Granted these key centers may change quickly in contemporary classical music but nevertheless all music in tonal.

As I'm sure you realize I don't agree with interval pitch training and with many students including myself I have found that interval training will hurt your development of the key related ear training.

From your comments I truly believe you don't understand the short comings of interval training as set out in my books and in the FAQs found on the muse-eek.com website. I suggest you (re)read these sources.

I sympathize with your dilemma though. Most schools teach interval training and are unwilling to change so I know this puts you between a rock and a hard place.

As far as playing with others, someone who knows the sound of each note within a key will be worlds above someone who is just using intervals to navigate through a piece of music. This is especially true if any improvisation is involved.

Again please (re)read the FAQs because I feel your questions point out a limited knowledge of my ear training and if you are going to make hard choices you should at least make them being as informed as you can be.
 
Q I think I understand your program well. Aside from the repeated put-downs, you haven't answered my question: Can I train my ears on both your method and the traditional method? I see no conflict in learning both ways. I can't just flat out refuse to do what my tutor tells me to do, my parents are paying lots of money and he's one of the best in the country. This isn't a school and I can't go seeking out a composition tutor until I find one that agrees with you.
A Wow, what repeated put-downs are you referring to? I would never put down a student though I would point out if their questions suggest that they don't understand the subject. So first please let me know where the repeated put-downs are in my previous email.
 
Q Suggesting not once but twice that I don't understand your program. I understand your program perfectly: I have reiterated it articulately twice off the top of my head to my composition tutor, who is a composer and virtuoso pianist who has performed at Carnegie Hall and was a student of not one but two of the most famous 20th century American composers.

My questions were prompted by 1) the fact that your argument (your one example, at least) against traditional pitch training is based in popular music; and 2) Beethoven, Chopin, Bach and all the other greats were probably not trained with your program.

I find it interesting you don't specify what I asked that gives you the idea I didn't know what I was talking about.

If you want me to read your goshdarn FAQs, then kindly point me to them and what I need to learn. You're more likely to encourage a student that way, without getting into your ideas about what he or she does and does not know.

Which brings us to the fact you still haven't answered the question from my first and second emails. I'll just assume your answer by omission is no, you don't want me learning both methods. Which subsequently brings me to the assumption that that capitalizing off of your program takes priority over a music student's dilemma.
A Well I think we are into a classic case of email misunderstanding. You make many accusations that are just not what I'm thinking or my intent. This is a common problem that happens sometimes and I'm sorry if this has created hostility towards me. It seems like when I make recommendations or comments you think I'm criticizing you. I don't know you, your current abilities, history of studying music so if my recommendations seem inappropriate it's because I'm making comments based on the questions you ask and filtering them through other questions students have asked when I did know their background. Not a perfect process I admit but seems to be pretty successful based on the hundreds of emails I've answered. You provided me with very little about your background so in your case your questions seemed to suggest that you didn't understand my method and hadn't read the FAQs.

You can find the FAQs for

Ear Training One Note Complete at:

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/ET_1_note_complete/eartrngfaq.html

Fanatic's Guide:

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/fanaticsguide/fanaticsfaq.html

I recommend reading all of the FAQs. Some may not apply to you but I think there is good information in each FAQ and this sometimes make you think of things you hadn't considered yet. Hopefully the FAQs will also give you some insight on the tone of my responses to you so you can see that I mean no ill feeling towards you.


Now to a couple of question you are asking.

I stated in my first email.

"As I'm sure you relalize I don't agree with interval pitch training and with many students including myself I have found that interval training will hurt your development of the key related ear training."

This means I don't recommend interval training because I've seen many problems develop. From your statement:

"I can't just flat out refuse to do what my tutor tells me to do"

I figured you probably don't have a choice in the matter because your teacher is demanding you learn intervals. So there is not much more I can tell you except that I've had bad experiences with students learning both methods. So it's a moot point, you have to learn intervals. By the way my answer has nothing to do with financial gain. If you feel this is my intention then please send back information on the total amount paid for the books of mine you currently own. Provide a mailing address, person the check should be payable to and we will refund your money.

No one knows how Beethoven, Chopin and Bach heard music my guess would be they heard it similar to the method I teach. I say this because most great composers and improvisers I work with seem to have a similar ability to just hear how a note is functioning within a key center and from my questioning them they don't believe they are using intervals to identify these pitches. But as I've stated there is no way anyone will know how Beethoven, Chopin and Bach heard sound. I also should say that I believe my method of aural recognition is not new but something many musicians have used for a very long time. I've just presented a method to help students learn this type of ear training which is new.

Overall I have found that students understanding of key based ear training only really starts to make total sense to them after mastering Two Note Ear Training. This is mostly because at that point they start to see the bigger picture on how this ear training applies to all aspects of aural recognition. Reading my books and FAQs will help you to get to this place sooner but there is no replacement for having the skills this ear training will teach you. Once you have practiced and gained these skills I think a student has a much better understanding because they have first hand knowledge and this knowledge is applied directly through their own senses.
 
Q I'm still approaching my ear training with a Zen like attitude, i.e. with no expectation of an outcome, and just experiencing the total moments of frustration for what they are. I'm trying to learn all the pitches and how they relate to the key of C as you suggest. I just had some general questions, and I am hoping that you can help me out or point me in the right direction.

1. For starters, am I supposed to memorize every note in the key of C, with C humming along in the background? Am I hoping to; with who knows how much amount of time, eventually have these notes so engrained, zapped, in my head because I've been listening to these notes every freaking day like a lunatic, that when I hear a note, I can instantly say that's a sharp 5, or b3, or a 2? It seems that I have to be relating this to the key of C, because this is the only way that I can really relate or come to know these notes right? What I'm really wondering is, is this the correct approach that I should be taking? Is this why they call it "relative pitch?"

2. Once I have these notes in my head, I should be able to sing all 12 pitches, however at this point it doesn't really seem like I can really sing yet because I don't know how all of these 12 pitches relate to each other in their respective key? For example, if I hear a note, I will instantly know what note it is because of my fanatical memorization of the Key of C, but how will I be able so sing it so that it fits in with whatever Key (other than C) that I'm in? When I do my ear training I have a tendency to not only sing the note, but I'll attempt to sing its volume (if that makes sense) and its degree as it relates to the key of C. I have trouble singing the same note in different octaves. Is this a problem? Should I just blindly sing the pitch and not worry about how melodic it sounds, and just focus on matching the pitch?

3. I hope these questions don't seem too elementary; I simply need some guidance as to whether or not I'm approaching this correctly. Is this the direction that I should be taking? As a final question, when you play something in your head, or a musical idea enters your mind, are you also figuring out its time? Since I first began learning music I have never bothered to keep time, I simply would play anything that sounded nice to me. Should I fit the time with the tune, or make the tune fit the time? I always have little musical ideas that I'll play on my guitar, but I never really play them in time, I just play them because they sound good. Should I fix this?
A 1. You need to memorize all 12 notes against a key center which is humming along in the background. This is what you get with the Fanatic's Guide CD and the exercises contained within. You shouldn't think of it like lunatic behavior though. They have done studies that show that the right frame of mind definitely helps your memory, so keep a positive spirit when listening. Basically you have the correct approach. They would call both this type of ear training and ear training with intervals "relative pitch" ear training.

2. There are multiple ways of interpreting what you are saying in this paragraph and I don't want to assume anything. I think the best thing for you do to is give me a specific instance of when you hear a note. For example, is this a note by itself, a note within a band that is playing, if you are in a band situation do you know what key is being played or is this something you need to figure out too? The point of the singing exercises is to sing the sound a pitch as it relates to a key center. you say, "I have a tendency to not only sing the note, but I'll attempt tossing its volume (if that makes sense) and its degree as it relates to the key of C." These are three things, you are only supposes to being doing one, so you should elaborate on that too.

3. Once again this could have a few meanings but you should develop your time and your ear training. I would recommend the rhythm series of books and would recommend you start with Rhythm Primer. When I figure what pitches are being played I'm also aware of the rhythm being played and I can see this rhythm in my mind as it would appear on a staff. This is from many years of playing through the rhythms found in my books.

Get back to me on the other questions and we will examine that further.
 
Q I'm a casual singer trying to get better at all my musical aspects. I also want to write songs as there are often the times when tunes come up in my head but I have no idea how to put them down. For this, I figure I need to train my skills in music theory and ear training, and that's how I found out about your books.

My preference leans toward rock, and there are times when I feel frustrated that I could only sing, so I decide I would pick up the guitar, too. (Seriously this time, because, in fact, I've played it on and, mostly, off for several years already but made little progress.) I also love the colors added to the music with the sound of synthesizers, as those found on electronic and progressive music, so I feel compelled to also learn the keyboard. All this should be valuable also when I later have the ability to compose my own music on computers, as I'll be able to perform most of the parts myself. I think I'm ready to put in 2-3 years or so before I'm at least beginning to be able to do that.

I've read through the FAQ archive, which took me a few days. And my questions are as follows:

1. I figure I need to start with the following books:

1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist
Ear Training: One Note Complete
A Fanatic's Guide to Ear Training and Sight Singing
Music Theory Workbook Vol. 1
Rhythm Primer

As for keyboard, I think I need to look elsewhere since I don't feel the Jazz Piano Vocabulary series are for a complete keyboard beginner like me. I also need a book to improve my singing, such as breathing techniques, resonance, range widening, etc ... I'm currently looking into "Singing for Dummies," "Singing for the Stars" and "Jeff Allen's Secrets of Singing: Male." Do you have any suggestion/recommendation for my selection, and for the books on keyboard and singing?

2. I'm currently working in the field of computing and I often have to do work over-time, so I think I could put in only at most 2-3 hours each day. Do you think that amount is enough for practicing the guitar, keyboard, and singing all together? Or would you recommend I choose only one or two? What is your recommended practice schedule?

3. As for Music Theory Workbook Vol. 1, which one would you recommend for people who play both the guitar and keyboard? What is in the "All Instruments" version that the "Guitar" version does not have, and vice versa?

4. Just my curiosity, do you still practice ear training everyday, or has this already become your second nature so that you don't need to practice anymore?
A 1. I don't have any recommendation for keyboard or singing. I think the books you picked for guitar and ear training are what I would recommend.

2. I think two would be just right.

3. I would do the guitar theory book.

4. In a way I do because I'm using it everyday to understand the music I encounter.
 
Q To sum it up, I decide to go for these books:

1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist
Ear Training: One Note Complete
A Fanatic's Guide to Ear Training and Sight Singing
Music Theory Workbook Vol. 1
Rhythm Primer
And other two books on keyboard and singing.

You've recommended that I choose only 2 of the 3 things (guitar, keyboard, and singing). I still feel like I would first give it a try doing all three. I think I have 2-3 hours each day for these, with several short breaks for ear training. Do you have any recommendation for a schedule for such a crazy undertaking?

Regarding your recommendation on Guitar version of Music Theory Workbook over the All Instruments version, does the Guitar version also include stuffs and practices on Bass Clef?
A Well here is what I would recommend for the books you want to get. I can't recommend a course of study for the other books because I don't know their method.

1. 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist

Learn a chord progression each week. You may have to first learn the chords which I would recommend learning 3 or 4 per week but it is always best to apply them to chord progressions. This book has multiple resources so join the "member's area" for additional help. I would study 30 minutes from this book daily.

2. Ear Training: One Note Complete

This should be done with a discman and listened to mulitple times throughout the day.

3. A Fanatic's Guide to Ear Training and Sight Singing

15 minute singing 2 to 3 times a day.

4. Music Theory Workbook Vol.1

One page a day would be great but at least one page a week. The time this takes greatly depends on your ability to understand music theory. At least 15 minutes a day

5. Rhythm Primer

At least 15 minutes a day developing your rhythmic understanding.

Both versions of the Music Theory books are trying to get you to know the notes in any chord. Neither book works on bass clef recognition. The most important resource you need first is a quick recognition of what notes are in any chord.
 
Q I followed your advice (a bit more I admit) and I now have in my possession your following books:

Ear Training One Note Complete Method
A Fanatic's Guide to Ear Training and Sightsinging
Rhythm Primer
Rhythms Volume One
Music Theory for All Instruments (Will arrive in 2 weeks from amazon)

So now that I have the books I'll be glad to receive some study plan for them so I can be organized with my studies. I already for 2 days listen to the One Note CD trying to identify notes.

I just want to stress that my sole (soul) aim right now in the musical world is to be able to read/sing from a music sheet as if I was reading a text book. I know it's a high aim right now but I'm willing to work hard to attain it provided the working plan is clear in my mind. I'll appreciate any advice you could give.
A Hoping that you would have a couple of hours a day to practice. Here is the schedule I would recommend.

Rhythm primer and Rhythms Volume One do 3 pages a week. Read the rhythms at a tempo that you feel you are getting about 80% of the rhythms right. Use the midifiles or the mp3 files for these books found on the muse-eek.com website under the books title to aid your progress. Use a metronome. You can start with the metronome on every beat but over time you want to work towards using the metronome on beat 2 and 4 especially with the Rhythms Volume One book. You should also read the suggested ways of study in the Rhythm Primer for a more detailed practice schedule.

Music theory for all instruments I would do one page a day. You may have to build up to that but that is your goal.

With the Fanatic's Guide and the Ear Training One Note Complete you should work from these books many times throughout the day. They are good books to work with when you are taking a brake from practicing or anytime when you have 5 to 10 minutes.
 
Q My current progress is a follows:

One note advanced: about 90+% correct. Still mixing up C# and G# frequently. Most other pitches are heard correctly all of the time, some most of the time.

A. Given this, I am using the One Note less and working with Key Note instead. I am getting less than 40% with keynote, and really having trouble with "habits", like silently singing to tonic or resolving pitches. I was thinking of editing the sound files to shorten the time before the answer comes to help with this, so that I don't have time to do habits, just to guess. Is that advisable?

B. My practice schedule is typically about three to five 15-minute practice sessions devoted to ear training of some type. I split that time between Fanatics, Keynote and One note, in order of frequency. I spend one hour per day on the guitar, practicing single note technique, chord voicings, comping, improvisation and time-sense.

C. I tried the Fanatic's exercise you gave me for about four weeks. I was able to prehear Do Ra Mi Fa Sol La Ti and Ri very easily and had them down in a few days each at most. Now I have been working on Fi for 3 weeks. I have no trouble holding the pitch in short term memory without singing for as long as I choose, even up to 10 minutes (or longer). I can only very rarely actually prehear Fi, so I am relying on a pitch pipe. I assume I should just keep going with this and eventually it will just come? I have not attempted any singing beyond the one note exercises.

Here are some questions about proper method:

1. Should I work on Fi by allowing the drone to play and holding the pitch in memory for awhile, perhaps five minutes (the length of the track)? Or, should I go through several or perhaps all 12 keys in a single practice session, attempting to prehear Fi and failing that, playing on the pitch pipe, hold in memory for a short time, then moving on to the next key? Or both?

2. Should I work on one pitch exclusive of the others until I can prehear it easily? Or should I review the other, easier pitches on occasion. How often? When and how should I attempt 2 note exercises?

3. I have been transcribing a Grant Green solo lately. Mostly my method is to slow it down and isolate a phrase and pick out on the guitar pitches and phrases after listening and singing the phrase several times. Lately I have been using a "One Note" approach by memorizing short phrases (Grant does a lot of that) and then singing the phrase while playing the chord of the moment on guitar, identify each note by its tension against the chord, then notating. Any suggestions? Do you have a method for transcribing?
A A) You could edit the files to see if that helps.

B) That all sounds good.

C) Some notes can take longer than others. Keep at it and let me how it develops.

1. I would try repeating the exercise of hearing the cadence and singing the pitch until you can do this a few times in a row and get it correct. (You may have to give yourself the pitch a few times to get your memory going). Then I would try doing a few other notes and coming back to the problem pitch to see if you can still remember it. Keep experimenting until you find how long you can remember the pitch and build up the time from there.

2. I would following the directions above for now. You wouldn't do the 2 note exercises until you can sing all pitches from memory and can get 100% correct with the Key Note Recognition.

3. Excellent idea. Applying your ear training is extremely important. Try applying it as often as you can to as many situations as you can come up with. Over time you will begin to be able to transcribe by hearing the notes in relationship to the underlying key. This will take awhile and certainly won't happen soon. But trying this with easy solos that or vamp or modal based is a good place to start.
 
Q I am a choral singer who has been relying extensively on memory to sing choral works. My poor sight reading/singing skills are holding me back in audition situations. Do you have suggestions as to how to improve my sight reading skills so that I can continue to become the best musician that I am able to be? As you know, most choral auditions require fairly good to excellent sight reading ability. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
A To be a great sight singer you need to work in the following areas:

1. Rhythm
2. Pitch Recognition
3. Intonation
4. Key Retention

It will take awhile to get all of these things together. I would start with the following books:

1. Rhythm Primer
2. Ear Training One Note Complete
3. Fanatic's Guide to sight singing and ear training.

I would suggest that once you get these books you contact me and give me a run down on how much time you have to practice each day. I will then give you a suggested course of study. I would also strongly suggest that you keep in touch and let me know your progress so I can help you improve at your fastest rate.
 
Q I am developing a proposal to include the Muse Eek Ear Training library in a new ear training class being developed at Spokane Falls Community College. Could you tell me how many colleges are using your ear training books as reqired educational material? You include Princeton and NYU on your book covers but is there any others of note?
A Besides NYU, Princeton, New School University, NYS City College the following Colleges using our ear training materials:

College of the Ozarks
Highway V
Point Lookout, MO

Bloomsburg University
University Store
400 East 2nd Street
Bloomsburg, PA 17815

Northwest Vista Campus
3535 North Ellison Drive
San Antonio, Texas 78251

Community College Southern Nevada
3200 East Cheyenne Avenue
North Las Vegas, NV 89030-4296

California State University Bookstore
6049 East 7th Street
Long Beach, CA 90840

University of Nevada Reno
JOT Travis Student Union Building
Reno, NV 89507

Emery-Pratt
1966 West Main Street
Owosso, MI 488671397

Lee University
Paul Conn Student Union
120 11th Street NE
Cleveland, TN 37311

Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst.
Sage Ave. & 15th St.
Troy, NY 12180
 
Q Got your email concerning the use of the functional ear program. I have been using it and found it helpful. You said that for example the MI sounds the same in every key so you do not need to practice it in every key. Would it not be better to practice the different "relative notes" in different keys? Why not?

Please tell me you opinion on my summary:
1. Learn the "functional sound" for each of the 12 notes in many keys
2. At the same time: learn how to "inner hear" and sing out loud the functional notes in many keys.

i.e
1. Play tonic (or accord sequence to establish tonic) then play a note. Say note.
2. Play tonic (...) and then sing a certain functional note. For example, pick MI and then play tonic and sing MI play another tonic and sing MI (for that Tonic) etc ... All MI's will, should sound "similar." Then choose SO etc ... and do all 12 notes.

The above 2 can be called functional hearing and functional singing.

For more advanced: 1. play faster 2. Play tonic once and then play more than 1 note (mini dictation to full dictation). Play notes harmonically etc ...

For some of these exercises the fuctional trainer can really help. What do you think?
A You can work on hearing MI in all keys. It's not better but it won't hurt you. Personally I have found it's a waste of time but if you have time to burn then go ahead. The exercise you refer to in number two is one of the exercises in Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training.

I applaud your willingness to try and figure this ear training out on your own. I think your questioning of things is a positive thing. But I have to say that it is very easy to do the wrong thing or to waste time with ear training. I have set up a method that I think uses your time in an efficient and practical way and avoids many of the problems that students run into. Some aspects of Functional Ear Training will compliment my ear training but for example:

"Play tonic once and then play more than 1 note (mini dictation to full dictation)"

Can possibly lead to problems if done at the wrong time in your development. You of course are free to do whatever you want but as a good teacher I must warn you that practicing the wrong thing or practicing something good at the wrong time in your development can lead to bad habits that you will have to spend time unlearning later. I think the thing that inexperienced students don't realize is that just because something seems to be working doesn't mean it's the right thing to be doing. Only hindsight will tell you whether your practicing regimen was correct.

I hope these comments help you to understand that logic isn't always the best method to use when deciding what to practice with ear training. Many times things seem to make logical sense only later to find out that they don't make logical sense because you didn't fully understand your current ability and/or the ability and direction you need to get to for the next level.
 
Q I just received One Note Ear Training and I was wondering if it would be better to respond to each note played with a number instead of the actual note name. It seems to add an additional step in the thought process. If you get use to calling the 6th A, would you not start associating that sound in a different key with A and not the 6th? It seems that keeping everything in numbers might help reinforce the idea of relative pitch. Please let me know what you think.
A You could respond with the 6th rather than A. This really shouldn't matter if you have your theory skills together. If you feel you need more work on quickly knowing for example what the b6th of Gb is then let me know and Ill recommend something for you.
 
Q I have a pretty good grasp on theory, but my ability to name the notes in uncommon keys isn't very fast, I'd appreciate any advice.

The One Note Ear Training and Fanatic's Guide are very helpful and challenging... I just started working with these books about a week ago. I've been doing interval training for the past 2 or 3 years, I didn't realize how weak my ear was until I took a background vocal class (I'm a guitar player)where I had to sing harmonies, it was virtually impossible. I'm able to sing in key (for the most part), because my ear can hear the notes as I sing them...I have to "slide" to the right note quite a bit. I think this is do to my inner voice being very weak and not being able to hear the notes before I sing them.

I also have a very difficult time hearing individual pitches in a chord, I can identify the quality of the chord, but not hear each note. I can't sing any of the notes until my voice finds them, then I'm not sure which pitch it is I'm singing, but can somehow tell that I'm singing a note in the chord (if that makes sense).

Anyway, your method seems to directly address this problem... I'm going to stick with it!
A You could work out of the Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One to strengthen your quick knowledge of all notes and there relationship to all keys. This applies the information directly to the guitar so it will help your guitar playing too.

Two note ear training will help you to hear each note from within a chord. You first need to master the One Note Ear Training and the Key Note Recognition work first.
 
Q I'm a choral singer - working on the Rachmaninoff "Vespers" at the moment - and also a folky-rocky guitarist/singer, who's trying to learn to sight-read, and Bruce Arnold's books have come to my attention, and I'm intrigued. But there appear to be many of them, and from e.g. the Amazon descriptions it's not exactly clear to me which to start with, where one leaves off and another picks up, etc. Is there a horse's-mouth description somewhere of the intended audience for each volume and what the hierarchy among them is, if any?
A Sight Reading really involves 3 things. Rhythm, note recognition and ear training. To get all 3 of those things working together for a singer takes a few years of study. I would be glad to recommend some books to get started with this but first I just wanted you to know that it won't happen over night. Give me a more detailed description of your abilities and past educational experience with music and I'll recommend some books for you.
 
Q I've been singing in a chorus for a couple of years now and can "kind of" get along - i.e. I can read the rhythms (I'm sloppy and lazy about it, but when I put my mind to it I can get the rhythmic part right), but am fairly at sea about the other two elements. If I "lean" and listen to the record long enough, the rising and falling notes on the page start reminding me of the melody I've practiced, but I don't really read them. (I sing bass, by the way, so I use the term melody very, very loosely.) By concert time, I can get the notes, pretty much, but the entire rehearsal period is devoted to learning them instead of singing them well, which should be the point. Is that enough to suggest where I am?
A I'd start your work with:

Ear Training One Note Complete
Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training

These two you definitely need I would also highly recommend you improve your rhythm recognition for this I would get

Rhythm Primer

With the ear training books try to practice out of them many times through out the day. Make these practice periods 10 to 15 minutes. But if you only have 5 minutes do that multiple times. With the rhythm work if you could spend 15 minutes a day on that and work your way through the Rhythm Series of books you will be all set.
 
Q I looked through your FAQ section and found some great information, but I do have a question for you regarding my specific situation. I am a classically trained vocalist looking to improve my sight reading skills. I also have some experience playing piano, and guitar, mostly self-taught by ear. My strong suit is that I have always been able to learn music when I hear it, have strong relative pitch and good pitch recognition, but because of it, my sight reading skills have suffered. I would like to be able to sight read music off the sheet, so I can learn music more easily without always having to hear a recording of it, and so I can do this better at auditions that require it, etc ... I found your books and website, and would like to implement your program but I have a couple of questions:

1. I am planning on going back to university to get my degree in music in a few months. I have had some musical theory training, enough to know the basics, but not enough to say I learned the interval training method that is most taught in schools today. If I begin with your course of study, will I be totally confused when I then take a college music class where they teach the other method? I have about 4 months or so of lead-in time, do you think this would be enough time to get grounded in some of the basics of your program with diligent practice?

2. Which books would you recommend I start with, and how should I use them? I would like to order them ASAP so I can get started. I am not afraid to work hard at it, I love music, have just started to get back into lessons again and am excited to be back on the musical path again after being absent from it for several years. I just want to be the best musician that I can be in every aspect.
A I would work out of the following books:

1. Music Theory Workbook for all Instruments. This will help you get your theory working quicker which will help in all aspects of musical training.

2. Ear Training One Note Complete. I'd start with the intermediate CD (book contains 3 CDs).

3. Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training. Both of the previous mentioned books will go against your learning in school. I look at school as a place to learn as much as you can and to also realize that everything that is taught is not particularly to your advantage but is dictated by poorly run programs and poorly educated teachers. Don't let their mistakes be yours. Always question everything you learn and remember the best place to hang out at school is the library. The library will give you alternate sources of education to help you find the truth.

4. I'd work through the Rhythm Series of books to get your rhythm totally happening. I'd start with

Rhythm Primer
Rhythms Volume One and Two

If you can play/sing the rhythms in these books you will be well on your way to feeling comfortable with the common rhythms you will run into. I'd also recommend you work through Odd Meters once you get these basic rhythms together.

With the Music Theory Work try to do one page a day. With the Ear Training do it many times through out the day in 15-20 minute increments. With the Rhythm books spend 15 minutes a day working from each book.

This will really give you an advantage on your musical ability. It won't always jive with what you are required to do at school but it will make you a better musician. I think being a better musician should be your goal not how well you do in school. Unfortunately they don't always coincide.
 
Q I have been working through singing one-note exercises.

Progress with Fi had been very slow until I emailed you, and received some suggestions regarding how to work.

You suggested I sing other pitches and then return to Fi, to test my memory.

I did a some of that, but mostly what I ended up doing was switching back and forth between two keys until I could remember Fi against each key. Once that became easy, I started progressively adding keys around the circle of 5ths. When I was able to remember Fi against 6 keys, it seemed that suddenly I was able to do so against all 12 keys. (and this only took a week, where I had been struggling with Fi for over a month). I repeated this process with Ri and had very similar results. Once I get all 12 keys, I play the tracks randomly to test my memory.

Do you have any idea why this method would seem so effective? Does it exercise memory in a different way such that the pitches enter long term memory more quickly? Why would it be that memorizing a pitch in 6 keys would seem to immediately transfer to all 12?

Also, at what point can I declare victory for a specific scale degree? Ie, is there an effective way to test that a pitch relationship has indeed entered long term memory? (at least for where I am at now in the one note singing). I do realize that ear-training is a long term commitment, and that I will be reviewing old things and practicing new ones constantly. But there must be a point where I have mastered one note singing to the point where I can move on to two-note singing. When is that point?

One thing I have found - since I have moved on from Fi - when I go back to review it, I find that I sometimes cannot recall it immediately and that I need a pitch reference. Once I get the reference, then it seems I can get Fi against all 12 keys with out any help.
A The exercise you describe of course is one of the first exercises in the Fanatic's Guide. Your mind remembers things that are repeated a lot especially if this is throughout a days work. The reason you now know Fi in all keys even though you only worked through half of the keys is because Fi sounds the same in every key. I get a lot of email from students wondering why the one note ear training CDs don't come in all keys. This is precisely the reason. All keys are the same. The Fanatic Guide exercises help you memorize the notes by working through all keys. As you can see this helps you memorize theoretically what each note is i.e. what is the flatted 6th of Gb but also helps you not to use vocal tension to know what a note is.

Hopefully now you have Fi memorized but don't be surprised if it slips a little as you learn other notes. Your mind is still categorizing these sounds so as new ones are introduced sometimes others will slip. Overtime you will remember them all permanently. Best thing to do is keep reviewing your memory of each note through the exercises in the Fanatic's Guide and listening to the One Note Ear Training CD. Once you can do the one note exercise in Fanatic's Guide it's time to move on to the two note. It doesn't have to be perfect to move on but make sure you are in the 80 to 90% range.

When you say "sometimes cannot recall it immediately and that I need a pitch reference" I'm not sure what you are referring to. The only reference you are using is the key center you have established before you attempt to sing or hear a note. Any other pitch reference is bogus.
 
Q I've been focusing on pre-hearing both diatonic and non-diatonic notes following my playing a the progression or playing a drone. I do this a few minutes in the morning and again at night before I go to sleep. I've made some headway - I am pretty accurate prehearing the diatonic notes, and am starting to hear the non-diatonic notes. Just need to work on speed and consistency. I've also been listening to the one note complete intermediate CD in my car twice daily to and from work. I would say my accuracy is around 30-40% depending on the day. It's the non-diatonic notes that really throw me off.

Currently my practice time is limited, and I am looking to change things up a bit to maximize my skill development as well as start applying my ear training to playing the guitar. My ultimate goal is to be able to play by ear - to think of a melody in my head and be able to play it on the guitar.

One idea I had was to use the Single String Studies volume I book and do the following:

Starting with the low E string in the key of C, I play the C major drone from the fanatics guide CD, and sight read the notes on the page by pre-hearing them in my mind and them playing them on the low E string without looking.

I would think this is great practice at pre-hearing what I am going to play. However, my speed is very slow and I find myself using mostly my first finger to jump from note to note. I know my speed will pick up with time, but do not want to develop any bad fingering habits. Any suggestions?

I also have the random note CD and was wondering if that was a better tool to utilize for helping my progress. If so, might you have any exercise suggestions on how to use it?

Lastly, Single String Studies volume one does not have any non-diatonic notes. I wanted to figure out a way to incorporate them so that I do not fall any more behind knowing them from the diatonic notes. Any suggestions?
A I commonly recommend people use single string studies as an ear training supplement you can do this by using a drone from Fanatic's Guide or from other vamps. If you want to use non-diatonic notes you have two choices. You can get Single String Studies for Guitar Volume Two or you can for example sing the F# examples in single string studies volume one over a C drone.

As far as fingering goes with single string studies. I'd use your first finger when you are on the lower pitches, your 2nd and 3rd fingers in the middle of the neck and your pinky for the high notes.

If by the random note CD you mean the Direct Application CD I would use the MP3 vamps found in the member's area under Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume Two as a backing track as you improvise with the Direct Application CD being played in a CD player. As you hear new notes on the CD try to find them and/or incorporate them into your improvisation.
 
Q I just picked up Single String Studies Volume Two. The book recommends working with Volume One first; however One Note Complete and Fanatics Guide recommend learning to recognize and pre-hear both diatonic notes and non-diatonic notes before moving to more advanced exercises. This seems like a contradiction of sorts. By that I mean focusing on just Volume One would reinforce the diatonic notes and ignore the non-diatonic notes. Since the goal is to learn all the notes, I figure I should just dive into Volume Two. My goal with using Volume Two is to help me master the non-diatonic notes while applying the ear training skills to the guitar. Just wanted to make sure I'm not hindering myself in the long run by jumping into Volume Two without having mastered Volume One.
A You can use either volume of Single String Studies to aid your ear training. If you use Volume One you would want to read each page in all keys. Start page one in the key of C with a C drone. Next you would sing the same exercise in the key of F with an F drone. This will make every B a Sharp 4 and help you work on that note. As you go through all keys it will get progressively harder with fewer and fewer notes being diatonic with the drone.
 
Q I am practicing five 30 min sessions on the week days and three 30 min sessions on the weekend. Split up into 10 min of Fanatic's singing one scale degree among many keys, 10 min of Beginning One Note (around 75% correct), and 10 of singing many scale degrees against a C major drone (careful no resolution or melody tricks). What do you think?

I am now to the point where I feel like I want to start improvising (major scale) with my new hearing skills. When I hear a line in my mind it is melody and when I try to pinpoint the scale degrees I am hearing I lose the line. Also the melodies I am hearing are "mushy" i.e. when I am trying to pinpoint the scale degrees sometimes I feel as if I have changed the original line or that the line becomes something else. Do you have any remedies?

Also, will the scale degree sound start to become so automatic that the lines that I hear will be intuitively made up from them. I am having a hard time explaining this. Currently melody and the scale degrees are two different things. Will that subside? (Thats better).
A I think it is a good idea to start improvising and trying to follow what you hear. Keep in mind this will take sometime before it becomes proficient. I would of course also work with the Direct Application CD while you improvise to help this process along.

I understand what you are saying by "will the scale degree sound start to become so automatic that the lines that I hear will be intuitively made up from them." There are so many things converging when you hear things and then play them on your instrument. The most important thing to do is to improvise everyday and work on hearing melodies and finding the melodies you hear. Overtime this will become a more natural process. Keep in mind that you tend to hear only the types of sounds you have practiced. Therefore if you have only practiced scales then you tend to only hear scales. This is why adding new types of improvisation is important once you feel comfortable with the scales.
 
Q Earlier you stated:

"I want you to learn all open position chords and be able to switch between them fast."

My original question was "What did you mean by all chords and change between them. My question was basically: "Certainly you are not saying that I need to memorize every chord and be able to make any change between them including all major, minor, 7th, maj7th, 9th, aug, dim, including inversions, etc. for every possible chord A through G, flats and sharps included." That does not seem realistic to me. Now that I actually have the book. I have to assume that you meant to learn all the chords in the ten progressions in the book and be able to make those 10 sets of changes quickly. Did I understand correctly?

Anyway, I now have all of your books that I ordered and am ready to get started on a very comprehensive practice schedule as you mentioned. I have copies of the following books:

1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist Vol 1
Music Theory Workbook For Guitar Vol 1
Ear Training One Note Complete Method
A Fanatic's Guide to Ear Training and Sight Singing Vol 1
Single String Studies for Guitar
The Essentials

I have looked through the books and Fanatic's Guide and Single String Studies seem over my head completely right now. Essentials looks like simply reference material all gathered into one place. Therefore, I would assume I will be working with mostly 1st Steps for now and beginning Music Theory Workbook shortly. The Ear Training beginning seems to be something almost separate from the other two topics. So I guess that I will be working with technique, theory, and ear training simultaneously (eventually)? Getting through 1st Steps should be fairly fast since I know a good number of the chords already. That is the book I plan to begin with, using the videos to ensure technique. Any other guidance that you might have to offer? Did I misunderstand any part of what I was to do?

Yes, I still have issues with playing back the videos but can work around the problem. I have not found any real fix yet. I can open them in a separate window (just takes several extra steps each time) or save to my disk (inconvenient as well); but I can see them. I will let you know if I find the solution to just viewing them in the open browser.
A Yes you want to learn the chord progressions 1-10. So it would be great if you could work through one chord progression every few weeks. I'm not there to know your ability with each progression so you are going to have to police yourself and make sure you are able to play each progression. I'm sure you noticed that each progression has 3 different ways to play it each getting progressively harder. See how you do with each progression and remember there are ton's of audio files and video files to help you learn these progression in the muse-eek.com member's area.

Music Theory Workbook for Guitar you should try and do one page a week. So 3 or 4 exercises each day just to keep you thinking about how chords and intervals are build and how to find them on the guitar.

The two ear training books should be done throughout the day in short 10-15 minute intervals. Once again I don't know your daily schedule but it would be great for instance if you had a CD discman and could listen to the Ear Training CD while commuting, eating lunch etc. The singing stuff will have to be done at home but if you could find 3 or 4 five minute spaces of time throughout the day that you could work on the first exercise entitled "One Note" that will really help you over time. Keep in mind that the Ear Training and the Music Theory will take sometime before it sinks in so be patient.

I would also like you to download some scales from the member's area and learn how to play them. Go to the Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume Two folder in the member's area and follow the links to Video Scale Files. You should watch the movie for all the positions of the C major scale and also download the C major fingering chart. I'd like you to learn the C scale in all 7 positions. I'd learn a new position each week. You could also download some of the vamps that are listed in the Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume Two folder and improvise using the scale you are learning that week so you get some real application of the scale you are learning.

You should skip the Single String Study and Essentials for now.

I know you are having video problems but there is a lot of information in those movies so if possible use them they will help a lot.
 
Q Do you have any CDs for training the ear to recognize inverted, minor, augmented, diminished chords etc.? This is with regards to being able to pick out a song on the piano or guitar.
A Do you have any CDs for training the ear to recognize inverted, minor, augmented, diminished chords etc.? This is with regards to being able to pick out a song on the piano or guitar.

Our ear training program builds up your ability to hear the structures you have mentioned by first developing your ablity to identify the sound of one note, then two then three or more. Currently we haven't produced books and CD for the 3 notes and beyond. Mr. Arnold makes recommendations on how to do that for the students that have mastered hearing 2 notes. I would advise you to work through our method from the beginning in order to gain the ability to hear entire chords and inversions.
 
Q I recently bought your two books One Note Ear Training and Fanatics Guide to Ear Training and Sight Singing. This material is a fraction of the cost of the David Lucas Burges course and is infinitely better. It also makes a hell of a lot more sense and even after a couple of weeks I am getting a lot out of it. I have, however, a couple of questions and it would be really helpful if you could address them;

1. I play the violin. The excercises use the piano. There is quite a bit of difference in the timbre. Are there excercises that I could do on the violin itself?

2. The course is designed to teach note recognition within a key. The notes in an actual piece are dynamic. When playing in C , for example, scale step 4 in its subdominant tuning compared to its role as a seventh of a Gm7 chord is a very different note. They ARE NOT the same notes and they have very different roles. How do I resolve this (pardon the pun)? The problem compounds because it is typically around these points that the key can be changed and one needs to lock in on a new tonic quickly (ie. in this case switching from C to G).
A There are some exercises you could do on the violin but I really think you should first develop your aural recognition on the One Note CD with a piano sound. You will find there will be a period of time when you are better at hearing notes on a piano but in a very short time you will see that this ability begins to happen for all instruments.

When you feel you are getting about 80% on the advanced CD I would recommend you get the Direct Application CD which is available on our website. This CD will allow you to play the violin and identify notes on your instrument as you improvise. I really think you should wait for this until you have more skill with the Ear Training One Note CD and then move on to the Direct Application CD. When you begin the Direct Application CD I would also recommend moving on to the Key Note Recognition book.

In your second question you have a few misunderstandings of how this ear training method works. If you are in the key of C and you hear the 4th you will identify it as the fourth. If you were to hear a Gminor chord and heard that chord in the key of C then the F in the Gminor chord would still sound like the 4th. If you heard the F in the Gminor chord as the b7 then you are hearing the Gminor chord in the key of G not the key of C. In order to hear the change of the F (4th) in C to an F (b7) in Gminor you would have to modulate. You will learn modulation when you do the 2 note ear training CDs. For now I'd recommend concentrating on the One Note CD and singing out of the Fanatic's Guide. As you gain ability and work through the other books you will begin to understand modulation and hearing multiple note structures etc...
 
Q If you don't mind I would like to rephrase my question.

Assume we are in the key of C. We hear the subdomonant chord IV. No problem, I hear the 4th. Then comes the V7 chord and the same note has changed - it's flattened. In memorizing the chromatic scale do I just categorize in my mind this note as simply the b7? I may be getting confused because I have taken the Burges Perfect Pitch course and in my playing I definitely have and use perfect pitch on the violin (I don't have this ability on the piano which I don't play). Your approach is definitely much more superior in a sense that it puts all this in context. The only remaining problem is this sticky issue of the dominant seventh chord and how to categorize it in my mind.

After two weeks I am getting about 40% on your beginning One note course.

Finally, one last question - are you familiar with Gerald Eskelin's books? If you are, what do you think of his work?

P.S. From your phone number it seems that you are in NYC. I work here and was wondering if you have any courses that may speed up my progress.
A When you go from the IV chord to the V chord the 4th does not change it still sounds like the 4th in the key of C. The V chord is 5, 7, 9, and 4th in the key of C major. If you are hearing the 4th as b7 then you have modulated to the key of G.

I don't teach any courses in ear training in New York. I do give private lessons in ear training.
 
Q We are in the key of C. We are NOT modulating to G. Dominant seventh chord sounds. The seventh of the V7 chord is flattened 4. Do I think of it as flattened fourth in the context of the chromatic scale?
A The seventh of the V7 chord in the key of C is the 4th not the flatted fourth. The flatted 4th is the 3rd (E natural). The 7th of the G7 chord is an F. If you hear the G7 chord in the key of C major then the F is the 4th. This has nothing to do with a chromatic scale. If you hear a G7 in the key of C then all notes in that chord are heard in that key. Therefore the G7 notes G, B, D, F are all heard in the key of C major and would be heard as degrees 5, 7, 9, 4.
 
Q When listening to the CD I am associating the sound of different notes within the C scale (the sound of A, A# and so on). When I switch to another scale I will have to transpose those letters to different scale names (letters) within that scale. As you point out the individual notes (ie dominant, subdominant, mediant etc) sound the same in each scale. Wouldn't it be more efficient to call out notes in the CDs as 4, 4 sharp, etc so that one doesn't have to transpose and get confused later on. Also it kind of locks in the actual sound in ones mind more permanently.

Am I getting this right?
A You can call the notes either way. By name or by degree. If your music theory is up to stuff it shouldn't matter which method you use because you should have developed the skills to use either method in any key. If you need further work on this part of your music theory let me know and I'll recommend a book.
 
Q I am wondering if I am doing this right. After you play the cadence I listen to the note played and then try to fit it within one of the chords played. So if a note sounds like its a part of IV I try to then determine if it is a F, A, C and then finally if it is sharp or not. I find that I am around 60%+ and very quick. Also I can cross reference between chords to zero in on the specific note ( ie C in I and IV, G in I and V etc).

Am I doing this correctly?
A No that is not correct and I strongly recommend you don't do that. I would also suggest you read the FAQs for both the

Ear Training One Note Complete

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/ET_1_note_complete/eartrngfaq.html

and the Fanatic's Guide

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/fanaticsguide/lower.html

Along with the information in both books. You will find that I don't at anytime recommend your course of action.
 
Q Does listening to the CD while doing other things have any beneficial results? I am thinking of it in terms of connecting to the subconscious memory.
A Yes listening while doing other things is fine. Just remember you want to just guess if you don't know. You are just trying to memorize the sound of each note by repetition and nothing else. So just listen a lot and you will get it. It just takes patience and perseverance.
 
Q I have a question or two about the One Note series (and all the ear training series for that matter). I understand the concept of learning to recognize a note from a sense of key to some extent, although I have not worked with the cd (One Note Beginning) enough to yet be successful at all. It will come in time, I realize. I also understand how the concept will work in different keys, once one learns to do it in the key of C Major. What I don't understand is how it will work for different chord progressions. I don't even see how it will work for the key of C if other chords progressions are played after conditioning oneself to a key center progression. Obviously, this must go beyond the scope of One Note and Fanatic's Guide.

The basic question is: How does this work when you start getting into music using chords other than the Major chords? How does one get that same sense of keys if the progression does not follow a pattern that one has programmed in their head as the way to acquire a sense of key? What about Minor chords or 7ths?

I am not questioning your method. It is very obvious that you know your material and more importantly know how to impart it to students. I just want to understand how it is going to work.

Also, I have not had ear training before so in a sense, I think I am at an advantage to those who have had interval-based ear training. I do have to say that it is not simple though. Perhaps the entire concept of ear training is just a bit foreign to me. I always thought that you either had it or didn't (referring to relative pitch or perfect pitch). It is refreshing to find out that it can be learned.
A The Ear Training CD uses a cadence to put your mind into a key center. Overtime what happens is you develop a sense of key and this sense of key will happen without you playing a cadence. So for example if you heard a few notes randomly you would say, "I hear that as the b3rd and the 5th," for example. As you progress in your ability and work through the 2 note ear training books you will be able to recognize whole chords and then chord progressions. This is a long way down the road but it really all works the same. If you knew you were in the key of C major and you heard a chord and the notes within the chord sounds like the 6th, b9, 3rd and 5th then you would know that someone is playing a A7 chord.

Key Centers can certainly be more than just major. Any combination of notes can form a key center so you can have dominant 7th centers, l-7b5 key centers etc... When you begin to work on Key Note Recognition you will be introduced to minor key centers. When you do the 2 note books you will be introduced to multiple types of key centers.

For now you shouldn't worry to much about this stuff you should just concentrate on learning the sounds of each note within a key center. It may also help to read the FAQs for Ear Training One Note Complete and Fanatic's Guide because there are answers to a lot of concerns that students have had over the years.
 
Q I will take your advice and just not worry about that for now. I am a very analytical person and always want to understand everything about what I am working on and that is not realistic. I am sure that it will all fall into place eventually if I put enough effort into it. Walk before you run.

I will admit one difficulty right now, besides finding enough time (holidays only complicate it). I am finding that I am a little burned out on only reading and doing exercises and workbooks. I was working in other workbooks (mainly piano) before I started yours and I don't remember the last time I sat down and learned a whole new song for fun. Do you have any suggestions for balancing that out? For me (as I am sure it is with most others), there has to be some time that I play for fun. Otherwise, it becomes a chore and I will eventually lose interest. I have to emphasize the word play as opposed to practice. Conversely, it is easy to get caught up in just playing, losing track of one's studies, and not improving. Any words of wisdom on that topic such as allowing X amount of time for play for every 2X amount of time practicing or whatever?

It is particularly pertinent to people like me that are doing this for fun and not a career. It also seems like a silly question to me even as I type it, but I know that I am not the only person that faces that quandary. There has to be some balance where I can play and still keep my thirst for learning. At the same time taking enough time away from practice so that I don't burn out. I once read in a forum where another person had asked basically the same thing of another instructor (that did not give what I considered to be any answer at all). That person said he had gotten to where he had forgotten how to play and only practiced now. He was obviously not enjoying it but forcing himself to continue out of determination. I have not quite reached that point.

I know that I used to enjoy playing more when I was not hung up on improvement. However, I got frustrated with not being able to do what I wanted on the guitar. Quite the paradox, isn't it?
A I think everyone is different when they come to balancing practicing with just playing. In general I'd say I practice 1/3 of the time and play 2/3. But in that 2/3 there are many short little practice times when I realize I need to improve something for a few minutes. But like I said everyone is different. I think the most important thing is to always feel like you want to play so whatever balance does that is the right balance.
 
Q Somewhere in our correspondence I thought I remembered your saying to use the "vamps" in conjunction with learning scales. Did I remember incorrectly? I cannot find that statement and as I review the videos and the C scale videos, I can not understand what I am supposed to use the vamps for and how? And which vamp? They just seem like little looping motifs or something and I don't understand what to do with them. Sorry for the dumb questions.

I have to admit that at this juncture, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. The chord progressions will not be a big deal and will not take long, if I can stay in town long enough to sit down with a guitar and practice. Holidays will be rough. The theory information and the scales, on the other hand, will take some time. The ear training seems absolutely beyond me, but I know that it takes time and patience is required. It is just a lot of info at one time. I am just taking it slow.

What I don't know is how one will get proficient with the scales if they don't learn them as patterns. Unless I misunderstood, I am to learn them as note names or degrees of the scale (the degrees thing seems even more difficult). To play a scale quickly, don't you eventually have to know it as a pattern? I know the pentatonic scale was that way. Every book taught it as patterns ... or boxes. Is that simply bad practice? Or is it that I need to learn it as notes (even if it is agonizingly slow to learn or play) and eventually the pattern is engrained and the note names come naturally? Please say yes... at least to the part about it eventually coming naturally.
A Yes you should improvise with the vamps. As you learn each new position of the scale you should should first spend a little time thinking slowly about what each note is and it's degree. After you have done that for awhile then you want to improvise with that scale using the vamps on the website. Go to the Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume Two folder in the member's area and follow the links to the MP3 vamp files. Pick an MP3 file that matches the scale you are working on. Play along with one of the vamps and improvise and get to know the scale by trying to make some music with it rather than thinking about it so much. Give yourself time to develop the improvisation part it won't sound great right away but if you keep at it you will find it very enjoyable. I usually suggest picking 4 or 5 notes on the upper (high pitch) strings and just play around with those notes and see if you can hear some melodies. Might take time but it will happen.

Just take everything slow. It's a lot of information but if you keep at it you will find great success over time. Remember learning patterns is fine once you know the notes.
 
Q You suggest to pick four or five of the higher notes. Isn't that something like what the pentatonic scale does? I think I remember that it is basically the diatonic scale in a key leaving out the 4th and (I don't remember the other degree, maybe 2nd?) of the scale ... As I recall, they were the notes most likely to clash with a chord progression within that key. Therefore, that is why the scale works so well for improvisation; it is not easy to hit a wrong note due to the nature of the scale. Then the blues scale is (if I remember correctly) just the pentatonic scale with a flatted fifth added in for good measure (no pun intended). Maybe I am getting things all mixed up. Happens at my age...

Anyway, the important thing is that I understand what you want me to do with the vamps (is vamp an acronym?). When I feel that I know the notes as well as I do the pattern I will start experimenting with the vamps. I have tinkered around for years with the standard 12-barr blues and improvised over it with the pentatonic box and the occasional blue note thrown in. But I can see that this way is much more fundamental and I will eventually have a better foundation to work with. Most of the time I can not tell you what note I am on, I only know where I want the solo to go. I think that a lot of us hobbyists go through our playing lives doing just that ... knowing what sound (pitch) we want the next note to be but not having a clue what the name of it is or why we want to go there.

Thank you again for all of your patience with me. I think I have finally found a way that I can actually learn this stuff. I have a shelf full of books and literally hundreds of dollars invested in books that give me a little piece here and a little piece there of what I want to know; but I think your methods just may be the way to go.
A Here is some information on the word Vamp:

It has nothing to do with vampires, but its origin is almost equally weird. The word comes from the medieval French avant-pied, literally "before the foot", in reference to the forepart of the foot, in particular the part of hose or stockings below the ankle. It became corrupted in English to vampe, said as two syllables, and then vamp. (In the eighteenth century the old pronunciation was revived through a fashion for short stockings that covered only the foot and ankle, which were called vampeys.) This sense of vamp is preserved in the meaning that denotes the part of a boot or shoe that covers the upper front part of the foot.

It seems that in the middle seventeenth century the word came to be used for anything that had been patched up or refurbished (like darned stockings, we may guess), as in the old phrase to vamp something up for repairing or improving something. This is more commonly now found in the verb to revamp, an American term invented in the 1850s from this existing sense of vamp. Nearer the end of the nineteenth century vamp was adopted by musicians for those short simple phrases, usually improvised, that one plays quietly in the background or as an introduction, presumably because they were patching up a gap or silence.
 
Q I am back to listening without dissecting the chords and have promptly dropped down to 30% or less. Am I supposed to keep the key as a reference or do I just take the cadence and without thinking to the prompt guess the note? In other words do I focus on remembering the sound without referencing back to C? This is turning out to be quite a project!

I have been using Mark Phillips's Rhythm book. Is your approach similar and should I try your Rhythm Primer? I see that you have guitar books. Do you have anything that would be applicable to the violin?

In one of your FAQ's you talk about the modulation (typically dominant chords ie 1, 3,5,b7). You mention the progression C to A7 to D to A7 to D. You mention that depending on the speed you could modulate to either D minor or D major. Do you have any theory books that get into more detail as to how speed determines modulation? I find this very interesting. What theory books do you recommend?

Let me know if there are any other books of yours that I could find of interest.
A I wouldn't reference the C I would just listen to the note. I know it's hard but it will pay off over time. You should definitely be working out of the Fanatic's Guide because that will help your key recognition skills.

I don't know Mr. Phillips Rhythm Book. My Rhythm series is quite challenging and I would highly recommend it. Starting with the Rhythm Primer is a good place.

Modulation is a personal thing. It all depends on your prior musical experiences. Therefore a book wouldn't really make sense. You need to go through the ear training until you start to hear how each chord and melody sounds and when these sounds modulate. This will take years of work. The best thing to do now is just get the Ear Training One Note book and the Fanatic's Guide totally together so you can progress to the next level. I will have a series of books coming out next year that I think you would benefit from. Contact me in March or April and I'll give you some recommendations.
 
Q I want to get back to learning/playing the piano after 20 years, having stopped due to a finger injury. I want to get back into it by concentrating on ear training and have read good reviews on the net about your training books. I have the following questions:
 
1) Are the Ear Training One Note and Fanatic's Guide books meant to be used together? I'd rather start out with just the One Note guide and than progress to the other books later.

2) Can I practice the method using a synthesizer or do I also need to sing the notes?

3) Can you give me a ball park figure on how much time is needed, e.g., daily or x minutes or x times a week?

4) I travel a lot for my job. Is it possible to use a chromatic scale pitch pipe with your method when I am on the road?
A Yes the Ear Training One Note and Fanatic's Guide books are meant to be used together. You will listen to the CDs with the Ear Training One Note and sing with the Fanatic's Guide. You will not need a synthesizer just yet. I would recommend many short 5 to 15 minute sessions a day. The more you do it the quicker you will improve. This method is perfect for travel and a chromatic scale pitch pipe would be a great addition to use with the Fanatic's Guide book.

Hope you enjoy the method and improve quickly. I recommend you read the FAQs at:

Ear Training One Note Complete

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/ET_1_note_complete/eartrngfaq.html

and the Fanatic's Guide

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/fanaticsguide/lower.html


They can help to understand the method better.
 
Q I took a quick look at the FAQ and saw that the training requires an enormous time effort. I was figuring on perhaps a 10-20 minute per day time investment, but it seems that an hour or more is required. So now I'm wondering if the time-reward will be worth doing. Here is my dilemma. I am not a music student or have any desire to play music professionally. I just want to play the piano for my own enjoyment. When I first started to learn, I did scales and sight reading, which I hated. Then I had a piano teacher who taught me that each chord type had its own unique formula no matter what the key and about chord inversions. My playing and practicing then turned into pure joy as I would just ignore the bass line and only look at the melody, playing that with my right hand, with some improvisation, and with my left hand by improvising using this chord theory. Gone was the rigidity of sight reading and trying to play exactly what was written with both hands. My playing noticeably improved and it was fun. Unfortunately, a finger injury occurred that caused me to quit playing. That was 20 years ago, but now, thankfully, my finger isn't locking up anymore, and although it will never be 100%, I am able to comfortably play again. So, considering my humble goals, is the ear training worth doing? By doing it, could I realize much quicker gains with my chord theory style of putzing around on the piano for my own enjoyment? Could it possibly enable me to learn to play by ear? That would be my goal.
A The method will help you play by ear. The amount of time you put into it is equal to how quickly you improve. I can't guarantee improvement with 10-20 minutes a day. But then again any time is better than none and you might be surprised how you find more time once some things start to click and you begin to play better by ear.
 
Q I am a 15 year old student a few weeks into the one note series. I've had seven years of piano instruction, which I discontinued when I was twelve, and am currently in my sixth year of fingerstyle guitar study. My sister, 18, has had about thirteen years of piano and seven years of violin. She is currently in the first violin section of our city's youth orchestra. She is beginning the one note series as well. Neither of us have perfect pitch (not even close) and the only instruction we've received is a lot of interval training. I have been doing your course for a little while longer than she has, so currently I'm better at it (yay!), but we both started out the same. We would sing the tonic against the note and guess the interval, we would resolve anything that we thought needed to be resolved, we would start to sing the scale, etc, and, of course, we usually never got it right. Your course has given us hope that we weren't simply born with bad musical ears. We're beginning to unlearn all of our bad habits. Thankyou!

I have two questions. If we're simply listening to music for pleasure and don't actively try to put the melody in context (like the way we've been doing our entire lives), will we be, in effect, countering the what we're trying to accomplish. If so, should we avoid listening to music when we're not thinking about the music (like when we're studying).

My other question relates to the speed at which one could supposedly comprehend which scale degree a tone is. Let's say you've got a song at 110 bpm in 4/4. Is it possible to figure out what all the notes in a 16th note pattern are? Or maybe 24th notes, 32nd notes, etc. Is there a point at which you have to just start trying to think about the contour notes and not every single note? What is your "cutoff rate?" A corollary to that question is this: when we're listening to jazz or something, if we hear somebody play some really, really fast run can we assume that player has either played that particular run before or thought it out before his performance? I mean ... there are some things I hear people do, and I say to myself, "there is no way that was spontaneous." Anyway, thanks for giving us an alternative to those evil intervals.
A You should think of the ear training as a skill that you can use when you need it. So it's OK to just listen to music without analyzing its content. As the years go by you will find that with hardly any effort you will be able to just hear the pitches being played but still you will be able to turn the analysis off and on at will.

There is a limit on the human perception of sound. As the tempo speeds up fewer and fewer people will be able to identify sound instantly. There of course is also common sense. For instance you couldn't even speak what all the notes would be at 110 bpm when you hear sixteenth notes so it's obvious you wouldn't be able to hear them instantaneously. BUT you can use your memory to hear a section of music, remember it, and go back and say what the notes are at a "human" tempo. So now we are getting into your memory ability as opposed to your ear training skills.

Improvisation has two sides. One is playing things that we know and then there is being truly inspired and playing something you hear. The speed of these melodies can vary to the extreme. Don't discount the possibility that someone hears and plays something spontaneously that is incredible on the other hand it isn't that common to hear truly inspired improvisation.
 
Q I would really appreciate some clarification of the method that I should be using when listening to the One Note cd. I use a portable player programmed to random and listen to the cadence. I hear a note and try to guess what it is. I have read all the help files and the book that came with the cd. I don't get it. Sorry... If I am listening to a cadence, I am going to try to reference the tone to the Tonic or (the "color" of) one of the chords (intervals). I don't see how you avoid this. It is something of a moot point, at this time, considering that I am not getting any more correct than the first time I listened to the cd. Yes, I know it will take much longer. I simply want to be using the correct method to guess the wrong answer until I can guess the correct one.

In order to name the note by name, I would think that I need to retain the cadence in mind and relate the note to the cadence (one of the chords in the cadence, specifically the one closest to the note). However, that does not seem to be what is instructed. Am I to ignore/forget the actual chords and just listen for the "color" of the note? In that case, what relevance does the key and cadence have? A Bb is a Bb, regardless of the key, but it takes on a different place (degree) in each key. It almost feels like I am trying to develop perfect pitch ... at least for the key of C.

We are shooting for relative pitch here. I don't get it. If I name the note, that is pretty darn specific, not relative. Relative would mean that I would guess the degree of the note, not the note. Without using intervals, and scale knowledge, how does one get anywhere with this? It is all relative and it all relates to a scale within a key. How do I guess the note without mentally using this information?

Can you please shed a little light on this for me? Do my questions even make sense? I refuse to be your first ear-training flunky...
A With the ear training you will hear a cadence. You will then hear a note. The cadence has set your mind up in a key center. You are referencing the key center but you are not doing this consciously. In other words you are just allowing the key center cadence to put your mind into the key center but you are not trying to extract any of the notes you hear in the cadence or reference it in a conscious way by singing or holding onto the tonic in your mind. When you hear the cadence your mind is automatically in a key and the note you hear will therefore be referenced against this key. What you don't want is to try and bolster the key center by consciously concentrating on it. The reason for this is that it is not what you would do in real music. In a real music situation you would hear a note and say what relationship it has to the key center. You would not first concentrate on the key center and then hear the note and then say what it is. This would take to long and make the whole ear training method useless. Most students have weak key retention so when they hear the cadence they feel they need to strengthen it by concentrating on the notes of the key center or the tonic. As stated this won't help you hear better but it probably will help you get the right answer initially. We don't want the right answer we want the right process so later the ear training can function correctly with real music. What you can do is work more on the Fanatic's Guide singing exercises. These exercises will strengthen your key retention over time and help you hold on to the key center in a more natural way.

Hope this helps. I know some of these things seem weird but these small directions make all the difference over time. A lot of this early ear training is just going on faith that I'm correct in what I tell you. As time goes by and you begin to get more notes correct and understand a little more how things are working you will realize that what I'm saying holds true. The most important thing is don't get discouraged and keep a positive attitude when doing the ear training. This whole thing is based on your memorization skills and if you are discouraged your mind will not remember as well as when you are positive so you need to help yourself learn by staying positive. Everyone gets this ear training who apply themselves so just keep listening and singing from the Fanatic's Guide some people get this ear training in a few weeks some take years. If took me a year and 1/2 to get it. Don't think about the time it's going to take think about doing it and improving your skills that should be your goal the time it takes is irrelevant.
 
Q Trust me ... faith is all I am running on right now for ear training. If I did not have the level of confidence that I do in your abilities, the ear training CDs would already be coasters or frisbees.

I am merely trying to make sure I am using the correct ear training method, even if all my answers are wrong. I remember reading about key centers before but will need to find that definition again. Exactly what a key center is is not clear. I find that I tend to get more C notes right when listening to the cd than any others. They are the only ones that feel correct naturally and without any thinking. The others are pure guess. I am trying not to relate the pitch to the Tonic by counting up intervals mentally. I don't know if that is correct or not. I am just listening and guessing. I do find that I look for the Tonic in my head as I hear the cadence.

I suppose that what I don't understand yet is how I will get a note name when I am trying to work on relative pitch. At some point in the mental analysis, I have to reference the pitch against something such as the tonic of the key. You say to "hold onto the tonic in my mind" and that much I can comprehend. I can't do it most of the time, but I understand the principle. But without using intervals, I don't understand how to extract the other notes, particularly by name. Everything is related to that tonic note and therefore would seem to be extracted from a relationship to that note. Part of this may be the memorization that I don't have down. If I had all the intervals in the key of C committed to memory such as E is a third from the tonic C, then it would be easier to instantly recognize the E tone rather than thinking "that sounds like about three half-tones from the tonic", but that is still using intervals as an intermediate step, indirectly and I don't think that is the point of the exercise. Additionally, there are notes on the cd that are not in the major scale (sharps) and in those instances, even intervals within the key are not useful. Am I making any sense?

Keep in mind that my degree is in technology and that I have worked as an Engineer, Trainer, and Technical Writer for almost 30 years now. I am used to working in absolutes, not abstracts. Things in my professional world are very black and white. They are binary... on or off. I am asking my mind to do very unfamiliar things, and yes this ear training feels weird and abstract at this time. However, I feel that it is going to be something that drastically impacts my playing in a very positive way, once I can start to get it.

I have not spent any time with the Fanatics Guide. I was trying to limit my number of things that I am working with at any given time. It will be very easy to get mentally scattered by trying to do too many things at once. I don't feel that I have good singing tone and shy away from it. However, I realize this exercise is not about singing ability. It is all about pitch recognition. I guess I will spend a little time with the Fanatic this weekend and see if I can understand what I am to do with that.

I don't mind six months (maybe a year) or so of study, during which time I am not getting to play as much as I want, if I can truly advance in that time where I will be much more capable as a player. (I have a very limited amount of free time.) I just don't want to burn out on the theory and such to a point of disinterest. As I mentioned before, if I am not playing music in addition to exercises and lessons, I will not stick with it. Right now, all I am doing is studying and very little actual time with a guitar in my hands. I can do that for a while but...

Originally, my goal was what I thought was a simple and modest one. I wanted to be doing some free open-mic nights at a local pub next summer. That would only require an acoustic, solo repertoire of a half dozen songs that I have memorized in concrete and then prove to myself that I can still get up on a stage and not freeze (I used to play drums in local bands when I was a teen). Within another year, I wanted to find a group of people with which could do some open mics at blues clubs (electric blues) or be able to jump in and jam with the house band on open mic night. This is all for entertainment, not money. I just want to play. Are these goals and timeframes realistic? Yes, I know it depends on time spent. Let's say practice/study time averaging 10 hrs a week (not including time listening to ear training while commuting or at lunch).

I am still planning to go to the National Guitar Workshop (for blues guitar) next Summer, as well. Have you heard of it? Do you have any workshops that I can consider attending? I am willing to commit one week of vacation to a workshop next year. My girlfriend and I are talking about taking the Acoustic Guitar Cruise next year as another possibility. I want this to be an entertaining thing, and not just another chore. I have enough of those.

By the way, as a writer and trainer, I have had some thoughts about your course and methods. If you are ever interested in some suggestions, let me know. I don't want to be mistaken as a "know it all." I only have some ideas and concepts that have come to mind. My ideas may be useful and they may be rubbish. I really have nothing much to suggest regarding content, you know that part, I don't. It would strictly be in the area of delivery of the material. I would even be interested in eventually working with you on this once I have a better understanding of the material. All and all though, you have the best thing available out there and you may not be interested in a broader audience. I don't know.
A You want to just listen and guess. It's great that you are getting the C's correct that's a good sign a lot of people can't even get that when they start.

Maybe if you think of it like this it will help. You are already in a key as soon as the cadence stops therefore it is redundant, unnecessary and actually harmful to consciously think about the key center. It's already there because you have just heard it so you should just concentrate all your attention on the one note you are hearing and simply ask yourself "what does this note sound like." You will automatically be hearing it against the key center because once again you just hear it. If you don't know for whatever reason just guess that is fine. Sooner or later you will start to hear what each note sounds like.

If I'd said "hold onto the tonic in your mind" then that is not completely correct. The tonic is already in your mind because you have heard the cadence therefore it will effect the one note you hear and therefore you shouldn't consciously hold the key center in your mind you should just let it naturally be there which as I've said will naturally grow over time by doing the exercises in the Fanatic's Guide.

Maybe this will help. In Object Oriented Programming the Object is at the top of the pyramid where the data flows. When your programming you don't think so much about how a method or subroutine is going through the Object but you know it is. You are spending your time more immersed in the actual bits of code you are working on at the moment. The "key" is the Object. It's in the background and is repeated on each exercise therefore just let it be there and concentrate on just saying what the note is. You are automatically referencing the key center because you have just heard it therefore you don't need to concentrate on it just as you don't need to concentrate on the Object as you are programming subroutines.

I think your goals are attainable but I think it's important to not put a time limit on your progress and to look at your musical development as a lifelong process where you are improving everyday. And remember it will all happen over time you just need to work on the right things in the right way and progress will happen. I'm very interested in ideas and concepts that you might have concerning any aspect of my method or delivery of my method. Personally I thought that a website with more 'programmed' content would be a great asset but I'm unsure how many students would benefit from this. Your thoughts on this or other things would be welcomed.
 
Q Okay, I think I have a gross concept of how it is to work. Let me give the ear training some time. Quick question: Why are the notes indicated (not sure how to word it) for the intermediate level CD including which octave note such as E1 or C2 or G#3, while that information is not included in the beginning or advanced levels? Just curious...

Just FYI, I was demonstrating your method on the piano last night for my girlfriend, using the cadence (at middle C), just to explain what I was trying to do. She actually did pretty well at guessing and yes, (like myself) she got more C notes correct than others. I may try to get her going on the one note cd...

Accidentals are particularly troublesome (I can often tell it is a sharp, but not which one). Perhaps that is a good sign too. May mean that I am hearing that it is not in the key.

You have very valid points regarding puting timelines on musical progress. My issue is that there are modest things that I wish to accomplish and puting a deadline on certain accomplishments make them more real as goals for me. It is difficult for me to just say "eventually I want to do an acoustic open mic." That leaves it too open ended and there is such a vague target to shoot for. I will try to just stay in the process (or however they put it) as one of your FAQs alluded to in Zen fashion. I do recognize that these goals that I am looking at are not the end of the journey but rather are merely destinations along the way on a lifelong journey. I did not mean to imply otherwise.

Regarding ideas for your material delivery and website, I am not clear what you mean by programmed content. Do you mean interactive? That is certainly a possibility. My thoughts were more along the lines of cohesion and packaging sets of what you have already developed. One of the things that I have discovered is that I keep discovering things on your site. Meaning that I find bits and pieces of useful stuff under the label of things that I don't instinctively think would be relevant. The videos are good and illustrate things just fine. As you mention in one of the first ones, they are not very polished. I don't know how you can get away from providing the videos and still provide the same high level of instruction as you do now. I often have shut off my computer and thought, "Wow! That was more info than I would have gotten in three private lessons!" because I was able to hop around and read and watch the videos as I wanted. I think that the combination of video and workbooks work. I have to admit that there are times that I don't have easy access to the net and wish that I could work completely from a book. However, I have never found such a book and your video/book/e-mail process is by far the best solution I have found. Perhaps the next best thing would be packaging videos for distribution with the books.

One of the ideas that came to mind... Remember, I am only making suggestions... presenting ideas, not criticizing. Entire lesson sets could be packaged for the beginner, the intermediate, etc. You have catagorized the users very well (your FAQs indirectly illustrate that) already and generally they need the same subsets of your books. The videos could be produced with just a little more polish and be attractive to a much larger audience. A lot of people care about that stuff and would judge by the production level of videos. I have seen a lot of tutorials and none are Hollywood material. I am just talking about a little polish and then present them with the appropriate books in DVD or CDROM formats so that one can enlarge the picture a little. It may also be more cost effective to combine some of the books and pace the student across what are now multiple books. You then open the door to pacing the student on the video or pacing them in the book (or both).

I find myself printing off a lot of material off the site. Sometimes it is a little confusing in that one stumbles over new stuff all the time. You know better than me or any other student when that material should be presented. The basic ideas are to include most or all text in the book or accompanying CDROM/DVD and to possibly package the materials by audience to reach a bigger market. Again, that may not be in your business plan. I don't know. These are just things that came to mind as I go through your program. I recognize that some of this material is evolutionary and will change. There is nothing wrong with that and that material can be made available online.

Structured programs, based on student profiles, would actually free up some of your time that you now spend on e-mails and such. Most of what I am talking about is mostly relevant to a true beginner... Someone just getting a guitar and learning to tune it and such. They don't even know what questions to ask yet. Structure is pretty important at that point. There is some variety of audience, but the basic beginner probably has particular needs.

Your advanced students will probably do better with something resembling your current online/personal attention methods. Frankly though, I will tell you that this e-mail contact is what will keep me buying your books and watching your videos, regardless of production quality. I know I can get my answer here. I would strongly recommend that remain part of your system. If you mass market on a large scale, you may need help answering all the e-mails from a mass market. Again, I don't know if you want that. However, with your expertise, you could set yourself up for a very comfortable retirement, when that time comes in the distant future. You know this stuff Bruce. In and of itself, that is not nearly as unusual as your ability to impart this stuff in an understandable fashion. In other words, you not only know it, but you can actually teach it. That is very rare. And I am extremely glad that I found your material and site. My suggestions are merely presentation of rough ideas that have flown through my head while going through your material. Please do not be offended.
A Thanks for your email and ideas. I think they are very good. Let me first answer a couple of your questions.

In the ear training books one set of answers has the octave and the other two don't. This is just an oversight which I haven't fixed because I haven't had many request for the exact octave of notes.

"Programmed content." would be interactive. I have many ideas for this but very short on time to implement them.

I've been looking into including DVDs with my books, it is once again a matter of muse-eek finding time to put it together. Currently I'm working on a new series of books that combine many of my other books for the new NYU summer jazz guitar intensive program which starts next summer (see www.nyuguitar.com). This is taking most of my time at the moment but has a lot in common with your suggestions about bundling some of my books. One thing I should say is that you would be surprised the number of different types of let's say beginning guitarist there are. They have so many personalities, strengths, weaknesses, attitudes, learn disabilities etc... This is one of the reason I started both the email and the videos. There are just too many types to be able to make one perfect book or video and crazy me wants them all to learn correctly.

I realize the videos are not Hollywood quality and honestly probably won't be able to change that in the near future. What is interesting is for 99% of the videos you see there is a student sitting on the other side of the camera who just asked a question about what I'm explaining. If at the end of the video the student still has questions I make another video explaining the further questions This makes sure that I'm addressing the common questions students have but also takes the video thing away from some guy sitting in a fancy studio and talking about what he thinks student should know in a way that God only knows if the student will understand. Because my teaching situation is what it is I have to keep the video productions standards to a minimum and also not use up valuable teaching time dealing with video production. That said I totally agree that many students base the content of a video by the production standards. This is unfortunate and is why I appeal to folks like you who just want answers and can overlook the production standards because they want to learn.
 
Q I have bought your book One note Complete Method and Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing... And I'm doing it for 3 days since I got it.. What is the difference between your method and moveable solfege? Sometimes I think I'm guessing using the distance of the interval. Sometimes too, the pitch will resolve itself going to c (because I ever practice to resolve all to the key center) but I stop it, how to deal with it? And, when I'm guessing.. sometimes my mind makes two or three decisions. Sometimes too I'm guessing with only one note for many times in my practice session. Is this okay? And when I'm practicing it when I'm doing other work, sometimes I can't put my mind to guess the pitch.. What can I do about these problems?

And for the Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing. I'm still doing for one. Sometimes I'm not sure what I'm hearing in my mind because I think my mind is disturbed by the voice of the chord. If I pause the cd, I can hear it in my mind easier. And another question, when will I move to the other pitch? If I can do it with ease? (But the hearing in the mind is the problem that makes it difficult). I have been playing in an amateur band as a keyboardist for 1 year and before playing in the band I couldn't hear chord progressions... but after playing in the band I think my ear is improving, and I can guess simple progressions (but sometimes I make mistakes) like I - IV - IIIm - VIm - V and some like that... And I like to train myself with playing a chord and make melodies from my mind with that chord. And I think I use distance for guessing the melodies in my mind... Do you think, I have to stop practicing like that? And why isn't your method widely used if it is good?

And then because I'm practing piano, what do you think must I learn in piano? For now I'm learning jazz chord and progression. Is this good, should I concentrate more on ear training because I want my ear become better? Yeah, maybe my questions are many, and my English is not good.
A It's good that you have stopped guessing using the interval distance between notes. It is common that people will have two or three notes that they think are the correct answer when doing my ear training. Overtime your correct answers will improve you just need to practice and be patient. It is also common that you may not have any idea what a pitch is. If that happens you can either guess or just wait till I give the answer on the CD and try to remember the name of the note with the sound you have heard.

It's OK if you want to stop the chord on the Fanatic's Guide CD because it's disturbing you. This problem will go away once the notes gets stronger inside of you. You can move to another pitch when you can sing the right note 80% of the time. But you could even work on more than one note at a time too. Which ever works for you is fine. I wouldn't do too many notes all at once but 2 or 3 is fine. With all notes you want to come back and review them even after you get better with hearing them. It will take your mind a while to organize and remember all 12 pitches. But remember you need to hear all notes against the tonality. This doesn't mean you can't turn off the Fanatic's Guide CD but just make sure you aren't hearing examples as melodies rather than the sound of each note and how it relates to the key center.

When you are trying to hear chord progressions for now you can use any method but over time you should start to change over to this new system. You of course are just starting so it will be awhile before you will have to tools to understand how to hear chord progressions. You will need to work through the 2 note method and then you will understand how to hear two or more notes.

I'm not sure exactly why my method isn't used more. I think partly it's because we don't advertise and also people might be afraid of a method that isn't like most other ear training methods. It's unfortunate because they are missing out on really hearing music but you can only hope that they realize this at some point.

For piano I would recommend Roberta Piket's Jazz Piano Method books. You can take a look at them on the www.muse-eek.com website. She is a great musician and teacher and her books really give you all the basic information that is so hard to come by. Like good chord voicings, how to finger scales and jazz improvisation concepts.
 
Q "I also think that many of your problems would disappear if you just concentrated on practicing and didn't let your mind wonder into the what if's, maybe etc.. It's good to think about what you are doing in your case I think it's going to the extreme."

I think you are very right. This is hard stuff, so I am always thinking/hoping to find short cuts. It reminds me of when people try to get fit. Because working out is so strenuous, most people strive, often irrationally, to find shortcuts to reach their goals, and will waste lots of money and time on things that are unnecessary (pill, infomercials machines) instead of actually doing the work. I can now relate.

So thanks for the pointer, I'll remember that. I have already invested months in trusting you and your method, and I even got a feel for the end result. So I will be focused and zen about all this, and I'll suck it up for the moment.
A I can't stress how important daily dedication and a bulldog "I'm going to get it" attitude is to becoming a great musician. Also don't put time limits on yourself. You should work on ear training the rest of your life because there is always a new complex situation of notes that can use more work.
 
Q I have software that slows down the sound by 50% or more whithout modifying the pitch. I use it to practice and it's real good. Would it make any sense to use that to learn the sounds faster. In other words it would play the actual note at half speed.

Also, if I guess D and it's E am I getting closer or is it completely different? For example, D and D# sound pretty close to me. Yet F sounds very different than E or G. Should I try to decifer in my mind all this or will it simply come to me out of thin air? I am also having a hard time seeing parallels between the octaves (ie B3 vs B5) In addition the high notes are hard to tell appart although A is quite distinctive.

Finally, I have been reading scores while playing the music. I find that I can start to pick out some notes (especially the tonic and the fifth) and can recognize the repeating pitch in a piece. Is this a helpful excercise? I try to do the same while improvizing. The difference now is that I am trying to recognize the sound (pretty much what I have been doing with your CDs). When reading a score I am beginning to hear the note before it is actually being played. It's real cool.
A Software could be useful later on but right now I think you should follow the directions and use the CDs.

You are not getting closer if you guess D and it is E. Each note is completely different from any other note. Don't conciously try to compare notes just listen to the notes until you memorize them. Octaves will be a problem for awhile don't worry about it just practice.

That's great that you are starting to recognize pitches in scores.

I think we have a problem here of either communication or misunderstanding on your part. You keep writing to me with alternate methods and additions to the methods found in the book. If I felt you need additional methods I would have put them in the book. I feel that the time you sit around coming up with these alternate ideas could be better spent practicing. It's great that you are being creative with this but why not put that creativity into playing music rather than making up ear training ideas when you haven't worked with the method long enough to have any ability and therefore a limited understanding of what would be a good or bad thing to do.

I'm trying to improve your ability as quickly as possible but in order to do this I need you to concentrate on the exercises I've presented in the book. You need no other exercises just do these as I have suggested and you will get this ear training. Also don't think of ear training as something you will master as some point in the future. You will never master it. It is a process towards perfection that all great musicians work towards, they realize it always can be better.
 
Q Sometimes I guess g# for g and d for d# and like that. Is this okay? I have read about another of your books. About Rhythm Primer and Rhytym One, I just know that they are teaching rhythm... how important is it and whats the function of these books? And what is your fact that tapping your foot isn't very good? I`m considering to purchase it, because I have a habit to tap the foot. And I'm asking about, if I have learned your ear training method, how can I use it because I have to learn about the solfege in all other scale, right ? So I must learn the solfege in other scales?
A As I'm sure you know it's not OK if you guess g# for g and d for d#. It doesn't mean anything if you are close to the correct answer. All notes have a distinct sound none are like others.

Rhythm development is extremely important. Rhythm Primer will teach you all the basic rhythms and Rhythms Volume One will introduce you to rests and ties. These are excellent books for developing a strong rhythmic sense and I recommend you get these to start developing your rhythm. Tapping your foot is OK if you are still having problems playing a rhythm or are just a beginner. Overtime though you want to stop tapping your foot as your recognition of the rhythms you are playing improves.

You need to learn all scales and chords in all keys in order to apply the ear training to all keys. I would suggest you work through Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One and Two or Music Theory Workbook for All Instruments if you don't play guitar. This will help you memorize what all pitches are in every key so when you are doing your ear training in any key you will know the correct answers.
 
Q Is there any value in just playing the chromatic scale on a piano and listening to the actual sound of each note, perhaps saying the note? As I listen to the the one note beginning, I can't help but wonder if I am not hearing C and E regardless of key (as an absolute pitch). Okay, maybe I am grasping at straws... All I know is that the tone of a C and an E on the CD seem much more obvious than any others. Is there another reason for this, in the key of C? I know they are both diatonic notes in C. But there is something different. I don't get all of them, but commonly the notes that I get right are C or E. I also wonder if the instrument makes any difference. There is obviously a world of diffence in tone between a piano and a guitar.

What I am trying to do (hope this is right), is to actually memorize just the way the note sounds and associate a name (i.e. G#) to it. I am wondering if it might help to play that G# (perhaps repeatedly while saying, or even singing, the name to make an association).

Okay... Is there any harm in doing this? I don't want to try something that is actually setting up a bad habit. The only harm that I can see would be that I might be learning absolute pitches instead of relative pitches.
A I believe you are thinking too much about the ear training as you practice it. This is a common response in students when they first start. Rather than just listening and singing and experiencing the sound they try to come up with other methods and practice schemes. This behavior can usually be traced to a feeling that they aren't getting the notes right. Therefore, that is bad and something different has to be done. Most people have been programmed all their life that if they don't get the right answer something it wrong and must be fixed They feel they must immediately seek another answers because they are a special case or some other reasoning. You are using a learning method that requires memorization through repetition not unlike how you first learned to speak when you were a child. You hear sounds over and over again, you don't even know what they are or what they mean. Overtime you remember this sound and over a even longer time you realize how they work in multiple situations. Not unlike learning a language.
 
Q Point taken. You are correct. That is the sensation. "I am ___ing this up. I am almost never getting the right answers, therefore my method must be flawed. How can I fix it?" Okay... doesn't need fixing. I got it...

That is okay, there are plenty of things I can fix around my house to make me feel better about it!
A Start working on that one note exercise in the Fanatic's Guide. Also learn to be able to give yourself the cadence on the guitar so you can quickly check yourself and therefore do it may times throughout the day. Even if it's only for a minute. You could also get a pitch pipe

http://www.wwbw.com/Kratt-Master-Key-Pitch-Pipe-i19422.music

and a portable CD player and be able to use the Fanatic's CD when commuting or other places away from the home.
 
Q Well I have been at it diligently for two months now. It is one of the more frustating and humbling things I have done. I am now at around 40% although I get hot and cold in terms of which notes I am getting more often. If you dont mind I have a few questions:

I am an amateur violin player. I have only about an hour a day that I can devote to practicing on my instrument. The ear training is great in a sense that I can do it anywhere with my walkman. So I am able to do it five or six times a day when I have a few minutes. The Fanatics Sight Singing is a different story. I can only do it at home and that would eat into my valuable practice time. I was wondering if there was something similar that I could do on my instrument (ie singing along with my scales or something like that)? My intonation on the instrument is really good.

I am using the Intermediate ear training CD. I find that my acuracy is identical to the beginner one. I think you either know or don't know the note. Hanging out and thinking about it just opens up a can of worms of trying to disect the chords and/or trying to find shortcuts. What do you think?
A Sounds like your make good progress. I know it's a long road but you will get there if you keep at it. For the Fanatic's Guide related practice with your instrument you could sing along with the notes you are playing. You would just want to make sure you have a chordal vamp outlining the key center playing in the background. You can find a bunch of vamps in the member's area under the Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume Two folder. You could also use a chromatic pitched instrument when you are driving or away from home to practice exercises from the Fanatic's Guide. Here is a link to a chromatic pitched instrument.

http://www.encoremusic.com/vocal/6630002.html

The Beginning CD from the Ear Training One Note Complete book is meant for students who are just starting with music and need extra time to figure out for example what note would be the 5th of C. For you the Intermediate CD would be best because you have played music for awhile. You are correct that you just want to say what you think the note is immediately. This will help you stay away from the crutches that develop when you think to much about the pitch.

Overall things sound like they are moving along. It would be great if over time you could build up your practice time but it's great if you are religiously getting in an hour a day. See if you can work in any of my suggestions while commuting or other down times.
 
Q I have noticed something odd about this process. In almost every case where I have the wrong answer it is a fifth off. This can't be coincidence. In other words, if I guess A it's E, if I guess D it's A and so on. Almost nine out of ten wrong answers are off by a fifth. Any ideas?
A That is very good news. Usually students start missing things by a 5th shortly before they start making real progress. Time to really keep at it you are close to a break through.
 
Q I have not worked with hands-on stuff lately due to holiday schedules, but I am still working with the One Note Beginning. I tried the Fanatic's
material a few times as well. As an aside, I purchased your Chord Workbook Vol 1 and Music Theory Vol 2, I wanted the scale material to try to begin sorting out modes and such. I now have quite a collection of your material. I also left a glowing review on Amazon for First Steps. I felt that I had worked in it enough to write an accurate review. At any rate, now that the holidays are over and I almost have my office (at home) straightened out where I have room to really get down to work on the workbooks and practicing; I am lookingforward to some quality practice time.

I was reading some of the FAQs about ear training and ran across one where a student was having difficulty. You said he could reduce the set of notes down to a small number and try those. However, you said that most (or all, I don't recall) persons doing this usually end up back at the same place when they add back all the notes. I know that you are already aware of this, but frankly the entertainment value is wearing off of listening to these cd's about now. Don't get me wrong, I am determined. I just keep thinking there has to be a way to get my brain to start registering this stuff. By the way, I tried the intermediate CD as you recommended. That was even worse. Much too fast. I have the most difficulty on the very low and very high notes. If they are close to the cadence, I have a chance at guessing the note. I have thought about putting together progressive sets and work up through them. For example, from simplest to most difficult: first set would be about a half dozen naturals close to the key (obviously, that also puts them IN the key), second set could add the accidentals between the notes the first set, third level could add another 3 or 4 notes (natural and accidental), etc. until all the notes from the CD are included. My reservation of using this is that it would seem that it would be easier to begin using intervals to guess. There are simply so many tones to memorize and it is not as though I can remember from one time to the next when I hear the same tone. Right now, I find that I can almost always hear the root note in my head after the first chord in the cadence. This is why I can sometimes guess the C notes more often, if they are close to the cadence octave. Otherwise, I find myself thinking of the C note and trying to guess the note played based upon what it sounds like against the C, but that is still basically intervals.

I have honestly tried to ignore the C note ringing in my head and just listen to the note and guess. I get zero correct. Should I try not to catch the C note in the chord played? I don't mean to be so dense, but this just feels futile at the moment and I am trying to pump up my positive attitude on this.

And as for Fanatic's I can often sing the root, but that does not seem to have helped me with the One Note material.
A I think what is missing in your problem is the Fanatic's Guide practicing. Along with having a hard time identifying the notes you have weak key retention by working with the exercises in the Fanatic's Guide your key retention and your knowledge of the notes will improve.

One thing you can try is to play a track over and over again and just listen to sound. This sometimes also takes the pressure off from getting the note right because you know you are going to listen to it again to get the note more ingrained in your mind. You can't really expect much from the listening CD until you can sing at least the 1,3,5,7 (hopefully more) in any key at anytime using the Fanatic's Guide CD.

Also remember you haven't been doing this very long. Most students find if they religiously listen to the CD and do the Fanatic's Guide everyday that within a few months they start to remember notes. Not all the notes but occasionally they start getting them right.
 
Q I had misinterpreted the role of Fanatic's Guide. I considered it simply an adjunct to the One Note and not that important. I will put more effort into that. Additionally, it is easier for me to find 5 minutes here and there for listening to the One Note CD on headphones, but far more difficult to find the time and place to listen, sing, and check my pitch. I bought a pitch pipe for that, incidentally. That is the easiest way and it fits in my pocket better than a piano for the Fanatic's Guide material.

Could you please clarify one point for me? What I am not clear on is that you are telling me that my success with the One Note series is dependent upon being able to sing the 1,3,5,7 degree of major scales (minimally) in any key (the Fanatic's Guide material). Yet, I am not supposed to use intervals to identify the notes. I am sorry, but I don't understand. That seems contradictory. Could you please elaborate? If am singing intervals, that would seem to be the way I am going to identify the notes on the Single Note series.

You are welcome for the review. I will continue to provide feedback as I get far enough along in each book that I feel I can be accurate in my assessment. I am glad to take the time to do it. You earned it. I believe in promoting the work of those that really produce a quality product and care about their customers.
A You can hear the 1,3,5,7 or any note for that matter as a note within itself without thinking an interval. I think one problem here is that you are trying to rationalize something before you have worked on it. Therefore it's not going to make sense to you because you haven't put the time in to just learn the note as the Fanatic's Guide suggest. If this helps. All notes have their own sound. You will memorize this sound by continually singing and listening to the pitch. This pitch's interval distance from the tonic has nothing to do with memorizing the sound listening to it over and over does.
 
Q I have your Ear Training One Note Complete and the Fanatics Guide. I just started a month ago and I am slowly improving. I am finding that if I try to keep the sound of the root in my head after the cadence is played I can get more notes correct. However, I am not sure if I should be doing this. You mention in your FAQ that you shouldn't be humming or singing the C note while trying to recognize other notes, but is it ok to try to keep the C note in your head? Will this mess me up in the future, or is this actually what I should be trying to do?
A It seems kind of onerous to be listening to music in the future while trying to have the root drone on in your head, but perhaps this is how people with good ears work?

Keeping the sound of C note in your head will help you in the short run but not in the long run. I know it's more frustrating but I'd advise you not to do it.
 
Q I bought your book One Note Complete Method for my 12 years old daugther who is studying here in the "Conservatorio Simón Bolívar", she has a very good ear and she likes the challenge that your book represents, is like a challenge for her. The problem is that her school teaches using the interval method. What should we do? Talk with the teacher? Or use both methods?

Second I suggest you to improve the site for a members area with more than articles and music files, you can for example, print a page in your books like the one I am sending to you so that people can check their improvement, once filed, they can fill a form in the web page with the results - in their own personal area. You could make a web app to score each user improvement and you can test your method as well have a statistical probe of your method.
A I sympathize with your problem of which ear training method to concentrate on and a 12 year old daughter trying to figure out what she should do. I often tell some of my students with the same dilemma that for many years they taught that the earth was flat way after they found out it was round but because some didn't believe they still taught the wrong thing to their students. Seriously though I solute you for providing this alternate way of hearing music and hopefully some day your daughter will thank you.

Thanks also for your suggestions for the member's area. I think they are quite good and I appreciate the time you took to create the forms for tracking improvement. Currently we wouldn't have the time or the resources to create a personal area for each book owner but I still think it's a great idea to look forward to in the future. I wish your daughter and you the best and let me know if I can be of further assistance.
 
Q I have been a student of your ear training on and off for about a year now. I am very motivated to learn the concepts presented in your book, and I am very grateful to the work and time you've put into creating the course. I have a question about tone retention and temporary tonicizations.

It seems to me that my tone retention is very weak. I realize that the main concept behind your ear training system is hearing the notes relative to the tonal center or tonic, and that modulations make hearing the notes more difficult. I know that later in the course I will be able to identify modulations, but it goes without saying that the more a piece of music stays on a certain tonal center the easier it will be to identify the notes. In certain pieces when the music comes to a temporary tonicization, I cannot help but feel a full blown modulation. I realize that there is no real boundary between tonicizations and modulations, but it seems that to me that certain passages that one person would consider a tonicization come across to me as a little more permanent. The only conclusion that I can draw from this is that my tone retention is somewhat weaker than most people's. What sort of things can I do to help improve my tone retention? Do you see problems like this in your own students?

P.S. I would have sent this to your muse eek members area address, but it has been a while since I last accessed it, and I have since lost my password. You may certainly post the answer in the member's area, but I would appreciate it if you would send a reply my email address. Thanks again for all the work you've put into this method, and thanks for being so accessible to everyone.
A A couple things to keep in mind.

1. Everyone hears modulations and tonicizations differently. In any given song at any given moment it is common that different people will hear that moment in different keys. In other words there is no correct way to hear. But on the other hand if you have a ii V7 I repeating over and over at a fairly quick tempo then you should hear this all in one key. As the tempo slows down you will start to hear each chord of the ii V7 I as a different key. Exactly when this happens will vary by individual.

The best thing you can do is to just continue to work on the Ear Training One Note CDs, sing out of the Fanatic's Guide and move on to the Key Note Recognition when you get around 90% correct answers on the One Note CDs. Once you get past Key Note Recognition I'll be able to recommend a lot of other things you can do to strengthen your sense of key.

Most importantly you need to change the working on and off to working every day religiously. This will greatly speed up your progress so that we can get into the stuff you are worried about in your email.
 
Q I just picked up Single String Studies Volume II. The book recommends working with volume I first; however One Note Complete and Fanatic's Guide recommend learning to recognize and pre-hear both diatonic notes and non-diatonic notes before moving to more advanced exercises. This seems like a contradiction of sorts. By that I mean focusing on just Volume I would reinforce the diatonic notes and ignore the non-diatonic notes. Since the goal is to learn all the notes, I figure I should just dive into Volume II. My goal with using Volume II is to help me master the non-diatonic notes while applying the ear training skills to the guitar. Just wanted to make sure I'm not hindering myself in the long run by jumping into Volume II without having mastered Volume I. Let me know your thoughts and thanks for all your help!
A You can use either volume of Single String Studies to aid your ear training. If you use Volume One you would want to read each page in all keys. Start page one in the key of C with a C drone. Next you would sing the same exercise in the key of F with an F drone. This will make every B a Sharp 4 and help you work on that note. As you go through all keys it will get progressive harder with fewer and fewer notes being diatonic with the drone.
 
Q I've been working on ear training on an ongoing basis. I've made a lot of progress with the diatonic notes, however the non-diatonic notes have been coming a lot slower. Unfortunately my current work schedule limits my ear training time. I do 10 minutes or so in the morning before I leave, 30-45 minutes on the bus ride home, and 10-15 minutes before I go to sleep.

I have been working exclusively with the one note complete CD. In order to practice pre-hearing notes (in addition to listening), I have been trying to pre-hear and guess the note immediately following the cadence before your voice on the CD gives the answer. On the weekends when I have time I try to practice more. One thing I just started doing is using the Fanatic's Guide CD to play the C drone and singing and screaming the non-diatonic notes out over the drone to get them in my head (as I recall reading this could be helpful). My questions are how to best fine tune my regimen to get these non-diatonic notes in my head.

1) I read in the book an exercise that talked about using intervals or intervallic movement to help with this. However I am unclear how this works.

2) Is my pre-hearing practice method of trying to pre-hear and guess the note after the cadence an effective way to practice pre-hearing the notes? Unfortunately, my time schedule doesn't allow me to use the Fanatic's Guide exercises and methods of prehearing over the drone, and having an instrument handy to double check myself. So in essence I use the CD player to double check myself, but am limited to doing one note at a time.

3) Another thing I did is burn a one-note complete CD of just the non-diatonic notes to emphasize them more. I am wondering if this is helpful or hindering me.

This summer I am changing jobs and hope to have a lot more time to practice. I hope to dive into the single sing strudies book and really start working on applying all this to the instrument. But I really want to get a better grasp on the non-diatonic notes before then.
A You can use the interval based methods on page 10 and 11 to help learn the notes. Just remember you always have a drone chord going on underneath the exercises and you are only hearing the notes by how they sound in the key not by their intervallic distance. If you want to do this type of ear training when traveling I would recommend getting a Chromatic Pitched Instrument so you can check the notes you sing.

I'd get the C to C model

http://www.encoremusic.com/piano/6630002.html

Sometimes making a tape or CD of the non-diatonic notes helps students and sometimes it doesn't. I do think it's a good idea to go back and listen to any note that you miss on the regular CD so you reinforce the sound.

Overall I think your real problem is not having enough time to practice. Sounds like the summer which will be here soon will be the time that you can really apply yourself. Remember each person is different and sometimes it takes some intense practice periods to get over humps in your musical training. I once spent 12 hours a day for two weeks working on b6 because I just couldn't get it. After the 2 weeks I had it. Pretty drastic stuff but I just got sick and tired of not getting the note right.
 
Q I've been working on the non-diatonic notes slow but sure with an eye on really listening to the CD through out the day starting this summer. Meanwhile our band has our first gig on June 1st and I've been struggling with my singing, keeping pitch and maintaining correct pitch during a harmony. The biggest improvement I've noticed with my ear training is the ability to recognize when I am singing off pitch. Usually singing by myself I can do pretty well. It's when I have the noise of an entire band going that it becomes more difficult. Or if I am multitasking (playing guitar and singing at the same time). Or, in the case of a harmony, the harmony throws me off and I start singing the harmony and/or off pitch because my notes fade out of my mind. It's as if the signal transmitting in my head is not strong enough.

I am wondering if there are any exercises that can help me with singing harmonies. I have been recording the harmonies and practicing singing my part against the harmonized notes for starters.

In terms of singing, I am afraid that my singing may be memory based (memorizing melodies), not genuine from the ear. How can I practice my songs similar to the Fanatic's Guide exercises? Would transcribing the notes to sheet music notation be of any help? And if so, would I sing the notes as solfeggio syllables, or just sing the words?

Another question I had related to singing is how the notes apply to chords in the given context of a key. For example, take a song in the key of D with a chord progression of Bm, A, D. Now when I sing a D note, the D has a different quality of sound when sung against a D chord than it does sung against an A chord. But we're still in the same key here. How would you explain this?

I am concerned that the Fanatic's Guide exercises emphasize singing against a drone of the same chord in a key, not challenging the ear to sing over chord changes. Any insights or suggestions on how to remedy that?

I recently picked up the Key Note Recognition Book to get into this summer. I have a decent grasp of one note complete (around 60% accurate and improving). Can I start getting into the key note book, or should I wait a little longer.

Lastly, do the two note ear training books help with developing the ability to sing harmonies?
A There are some exercises to help you sing harmony. For example the LINES book is all about helping you sing harmony. The problem that this book and any other exercises I might give has is your inability to sing and/or identify all 12 pitches accurately with the one note method. You can practice sections of tunes that are all over one chord by recording a drone, recording one part and singing the other part thinking of the pitches in relation to the key with or without syllables. But given your current ability this could be hit or miss too.

Your current ear training ability also relates to the reason you are hearing a note sound different when you play a D chord and then an A chord in the key of D. You haven't worked through all the exercises you will need in order to strengthen your sense of key which will help you hear multiple chords with a melody all in one key. Basically everything you are trying to do isn't really possible yet until you work through:

Ear Training One Note
Key Note Recognition

Plus we will probably have to do some singing out of Single String Studies for Guitar and sing through some jazz standards to get your sense of key even stronger. You have a long way to go before you will get the ability that you seek. The good news is you are doing it and you are already seeing the benefits just hang in there and you will get it.
 
Q I have had some correspondence with you before but it has been a while, since then I have improved a lot. My practice regimen consists of 5 30 min sessions of ear training. 15 of Fanatics and 15 of one note. I am still on the One Note beginning CD (I have an easier time with the intermediate but I have read that you have to have a better sense of key when using the beginners) but I have about 75 to 80 % average and split my time between the altered notes subgroup and the full CD. My Fanatics work is still on the one note (although sometimes I do groups) I have all the diatonic notes down but am still working on the altered notes. I do another 45 to an hour of improvisation practice (just rehearing melodies and playing them) or transcribing.

I have been transcribing simple tunes that don't change key. These tend to be the "Jam Band" thing such as some Scofield tunes and fusion songs I have found. I want to start transcribing some jazz blues (today I tried a benson version of All Blues) but I am swimming. I want to hear the whole tune in the key of G. The reason I say that is because especially when I play a G note I immediately hear tonic regardless of what chord in the tune I am in. Many of the other notes my ears do not seem to register in my brain as a note of any key (I just think "I don't know").

1) I am not playing this tune fast so should I be hearing a key change?
2) Is this too much of a step forward for me currently?
3) Lastly my training regimen is getting stale (I have been doing this for a while). I can tell by my rate of improvement. Do you have any suggestions (I can't increase training time though). I am pretty hard nosed I can keep plugging away if that's what it takes.
A I really wouldn't attempt any transcription with more than one chord until you are into 2 note ear training. You might try changing from day to day from the Beginning to Intermediate to Advanced CD. Each will help you in different ways. When you get 80 to 90% on the advanced CD you should move on to the Key Note Recognition book. To change up the singing I would try various singing exercises from the Fanatic's Guide. In any case keep plugging away because it sounds like you are getting close to getting the one note ear training.
 
Q I've been using your One Note Ear Training Advanced CD for about a year now and routinely get 95+% correct (by the way, I think it's a very good system). Encouraged by the results, I decided to try your Key Note Recognition CD. What a surprise!! I've listened to it 3-4 times now and still have NO idea how to approach it. Initally, I had the same reaction to ONET, but decided to break it down into bite size chunks of 2-3 notes at a time -- a system that worked. My question is, is it possible to skip the Key Note Recognition CD and instead go directly to Two Note Ear Training?

If you have any suggestions for how to get started with KNR, I'd appreciate hearing them.
A Many students have a problem when they start KNR so you are normal and just need to continue to practice it along with working out of the Fanatic's Guide. You absolutely can not just go directly to Two Note Ear Training you will be totally lost. I guess my only suggestion at this point is to give it more than 2 or 3 sessions. Work with it everyday for a few months if you still find you can't get anything get back to me. Usually within a few weeks students start to hear to correct answers. By the way you should also continue with the One Note Ear Training to keep that strong. You can stop the One Note Ear Training when you get to the Two Note Books.
 
Q I have been using the One Note method CDs for a short time now and I am already impressed with the results, but I am concerned about associating notes from C major with the tones I hear. For instance, if the tonic of every scale sounds identical to me, and I am listening to a piece in the key of A, then wouldn't I at first think C when I heard the tonic in A, which is actually A. It seems like I would have to correct my answer based on the key I am listening to, which would add an additional step to the process. If this is the case wouldn't it be better to associate the tones on the CDs with some key neutral words rather than notes from a specific key (such as tonic, or 1. Anything that generalizes to all keys)? I understand that in the grand scheme of things, if you were playing alone, then it would not matter because I could always transpose the piece into C major and be none the wiser, but if I am playing with other musicians that are working in a key other than C ... Maybe I am just confused about something.
A I think you need to realize that you need to gain an ability to think of any note in any key both as a degree and as a note name and be able to associate those names to a place on your instrument. Therefore whether you are saying the note name or degree when you are listening to the ear training CD you would be able to associate this with any key you might find yourself in. The fact that you are asking this question probably means you need to work on this ability. If you think I'm correct and if you are a guitar player I would suggest working out of Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volumes One and Two. If you play another instrument I would recommend Music Theory Workbook for All Instruments. These books will help you gain the ability to quickly think in any key without referencing the key of C.
 
Q I just recieved your One Note Complete Method and Fanatic's Guide books. First off let me say that I'm excited about developing my ear through your techniques.

I have a couple of questions. First, I noticed that in both books you mentioned that if you are more of a classical musician, that perfect pitch is probably better to develop. I've looked through your FAQ and I saw that you mentioned that perfect pitch takes less time to develop, but how does one develop it. Do you have any books or references on acheiving this?

My second question relates to school. I am going to take music theory I and ear training I at my school in fall 2005. If taking this course will this become a detriment to my ear training since you disagree with the ways they teach relative pitch?
A Perfect Pitch is a completely different way of hearing notes. I have a method for this but haven't put it into book form. Obviously it's more than what I can write in an email. There are plenty of methods out there some of them much better than others but I believe most of them miss the mark as far as addressing all students and their affinities.

My ear training will certainly conflict with most music theory/ear training courses. I believe you could work within these courses if your have developed my method to a point that you can use it to give answers rather than the interval methods they will present.

I also wouldn't recommend trying to develop perfect pitch and relative pitch at the same time unless you have 3 to 4 hours a day to do ear training. Even if you do have that much time I think most students don't have the mental understanding of what to listen for and how to organize such a challenge.
 
Q I think I have completed the one note exercises in Fanatic's Guide. I can prehear all pitches about 80%-100% of the time, depending on the pitch and key.

The last exercise you gave me, singing 3 note exercises always starting on "di" was very helpful for unblocking progress with that pitch.

At this point I feel I need to keep reviewing one note singing. I have created a practice routine that includes 4 different pitches each day of the week, with the more difficult pitches (di, fi, si, mainly) getting plenty of extra slots in the routine.

I am also singing these as 4 note singing exercises, rather than just individually.

I get 95% correct on one note recognition (very high pitches give me the most trouble, plus si and di). I get about 90% of major keys and 40% of minor keys correct in keynote recognition.

Questions:

1. Should I make up a CD of minor key resolutions to practice prehearing/singing all 12 pitches against a minor key? With the keynote recognition it seems I have the most trouble with keys where C is the Major 3rd and Major 6th, as well as others.

2. When doing sight singing exercises with a chord progression, why do we use a drone? Why wouldn't you record the chord progression itself and sing against that?

3. When prehearing multinote exercises, should I hear the first note then sing, 2nd note, sing, etc or is it also ok to prehear all the notes together (sequentially), then sing? Seems to me both ways of working would be valuable.

4. You say not to sing multinote exercises as a melody. What really does that mean? Don't use vocal tension?

5. Any creative suggestions for working, other than what is in the book?
A 1. Yes you could do that or you could also work with the direct application CD (see www.muse-eek.com)

2. You could use progressions BUT you would want to make sure those progressions are heard in the right key and don't modulate

3. One note at a time for now as you get better you can hear them all then sing

4. You can memorize a melody and not have a clue about what you are singing. Best to stay away from that until you are very solid with the ear training skills

5. Use direct application CD. Apply to any music you listen to. Start with one chord vamp music.

There will be much more application once you get into the 2 note books.
 
Q I have developed my own technique for fretboard visualization, based on the goal of instantly being able to mentally view entire scales/interval patterns across the entire fretboard, in one view. (I will be using the word interval here as oppose to "note against a key center" just for convenience sakes. I know the issue ;).

Anyway, I am getting very good results from the various methods I have compiled, much faster than trying to learn all the note names along the fretboard. I truly believe that the guitar is an instrument better suited to the logic of intervals and their patterns, as opposed to the piano which is, in my opinion, an instrument geared more towards the logic of note names. Reading music for the moment is not my priority.

Anyway, I need an intermediary representation of the intervals for the viewing exercises that I do. Either numbers or colors. The color scheme for the moment is working great. I am using colors that would often unintentionally pop into my head when doing the ear training (4ths bluish, b3rds soft/reddish etc). I know that this might be a no-no, but more on that in a bit.

Once I get the vision thing to become second nature, and instantaneous, I plan on trying to substitute colors for the actual sounds of the intervals, which is the goal here. In order to do that, I will have had to perfect your ear training methods so that they too are second nature. The goal here being that whenever I hear a guitar or any music for that matter, I not only hear it as everyone does, but that I view what is happening on the fretboard in an effortless real time fashion. I have had brief tastes of it, so I know it can happen.

Is there a danger in using colors as an intermediary? Will I be able to let go of this intermediary once I will be able to generate intervals in my head? Will my personal emotional perception of a certain color forever interfere/pollute with the pure emotional property of a certain interval?

I personally suspect that I will eventually be able to let go of the color intermediaries without too much problem, as the pure sound properties will be continuously re-enforced automatically whenever I pick up my guitar and play. Besides, during those brief tastes of success, I did not notice any colors in my mental viewing. But do you see any serious problems in this technique?

My second question is about lessons. I am so committed to music, and so convinced that you are probably the most powerful ear training teacher out there, that I would really want to save up and stay in NY for a bit to take lessons. The internet thing was good, but I really feel I need something more intense and hands on. I could hopefully save up in order to afford a few weeks worth I think. Would you be willing to go along with that? Would spring /early summer be a good time for you? Do you have any package deals/scholarships for the young starving musicians?

I am a part time teacher for mostly young inter/beginner guitar students. I have already gotten a few students to buy/order your ear training one note books (I do not teach ear training, as I am still a student, other than to advise them to contact you and occasionally regurgitate and reinforce what you say). Anyway, do you have a bulk deal on the books? If not, it is absolutely not a big issue to keep ordering it for students through stores, especially if it will increase the likelihood of them permanently stocking them.
A Well sounds like you have been hard at work on your project. Using an intermediary step with ear training can be dicey. The big question is will you be able to "forget" the intermediary step. This isn't that crucial when you are dealing with things out of time but if you want to hear music as it goes by it has to be quick with no intermediary steps. I also think that if you consider first learning the sounds of notes within a key from my books and then applying that to real music it really takes years to develop so I wonder about how practical it is to make this diversion. I also should mention that seeing color for sound is highly subjective. Some people can easily associate sound to color while others have no affinity to color so it's not something that will work great for everyone.

As far as studying in New York I think that would be great. You might consider doing the NYU summer intensive because it's a very cheap way to spend 3 weeks in New York City. See www.nyuguitar.com for details.

If you want to see about a volume discount on the books I would contact sales@muse-eek.com and tell them how much you would be ordering and see what they say.
 
Q I am looking to do some ear training. Primarily I would like to do this in my car during my commute, but I don't want to have to reference the book during that time. I can certainly review the book at home, but would like to know if the bulk of work can be done using the CD alone. Hope that makes some sense...
A That's great then I would recommend Ear Training One Note Complete and Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training.
 
Q My one note singing seems to have stalled. I have more or less memorized all pitches except Di. I work on Di every day, and review the others on a rotating basis.

I am finding Di to be extremely slow going. I think it has probably been 6 weeks now and I have memorized Di in 4 keys, although even those are not 100%.

My usual procedure is to start with C major, prehear the C#, then go to the next key etc. I can do this up to Eb, but then when I go back to C major, I often cannot prehear the pitch. (even though I could hear it on the first listening to the key) It seems my ear gets easily confused by the other keys. One the problems that is coming up with this sequential key approach is that the Di for the key of F is a 4th up form Di in the key of C, so I think my mind is beginning to cheat and use the interval sometimes. Which is why I think my memory breaks down when I skip around the keys of C, F, Bb and Eb or when I go back to C from Eb.

I also will stay in one key and prehear and sing other pitches and then come back to Di (this was your suggestion). With this way of working it is usually easier to keep Di in short term memory.

Anyway, this pitch is going much slower than the rest so I was wondering if you have any other techniques to suggest other than "Keep working", "Some pitches take longer", "don't cheat" and "practice more frequently" (all good suggestions of course).
A In addition to your current exercises you might try skipping up to the 3 note singing examples and sing them in the key of B. All the exercises start with the note C so you will always be starting on the pitch you are having problems with. Make sure to sing up and down the example. Other than that I went 6 months not being able to get Lay until I spent 12 hours a day for two weeks just working on ear training and specifically that note. Hopefully you won't have to go that far!
 
Q I thought, by the way, that ear training was more effective in small 10 minute chunks. How on earth did you structure a 12 hour ear training practice day?!? Just curious really. I am not intending to try something like that, but how you did that may shed some light on a question I had. In my ear training routine, I usually have about 20-30 minutes in the car twice a day, sometimes 4 times a day. I usually break each time slot into different activities: One note singing, key-note and onenote recognition, and singing along with the solo I am transcribing at the moment. I guess I am wondering if the effectiveness of doing eartraining in small chunks happens from doing ear training for a short time, then taking a break of no ear training. Or, is this small-doses approach also effective by addressing several different exercise over a longer period such as my 30 minutes, or even a hour or 12 hours.

I guess that is long-winded way of asking what is the importance of resting the ear and memory and how is that best accomplished when several different exercises need to done. If rest is necessary, does resting happen by switching between exercises? It seems to have an analogy with strength training where one would work a circuit of machines to work different muscle groups. Does this analogy also apply to ear training?
A The 12 hour ear training practice day was put together much like your currently schedule. In otherwords do an execises let your brain rest a little move to the next exercise. Just remember with all this ear training that by consently reintroducing these sounds into your short term memory it will over time move to your long term memory. Sometime people have blocks with certain notes and this usually can be solved by reintroducing the sound more often throughout the day.
 
Q I bought your book Ear Training One Note Complete Method for my 12 years old daugther who is studying here in the "Conservatorio Simon Bolivar", she has a very good ear and she likes the challenge that your book represents, is like a challenge for her. The problem is that at her school they teach using the interval method. What should we do? Talk with the teacher? Or use both methods?

Second I suggest you to improve the site for a members area with more than articles and music files, you can for example, print a page in your books like the one I am sending to you so that people can check their improvement, once filed, they can fill a form in the web page with the results in their one personal area. You could make a web app to score each user improvement and you can test your method as well have a stadistical probe of your method.
A I sympathize with your problem of which ear training method to concentrate on and a 12 year old daughter trying to figure out what she should do. I often tell some of my students with the same dilemma that for many years they taught that the earth was flat way after they found out it was round but because some didn't believe they still taught the wrong thing to their students. Seriously though I solute you for providing this alternate way of hearing music an hopefully some day your daughter will thank you.

Thanks also for your suggestions for the member's area. I think they are quite good and I appreciate the time you took to create the forms for tracking improvement. Currently we wouldn't have the time or the resources to create a personal area for each book owner but I still think it's a great idea to look forward to in the future.
 
Q I have another question: Can my daugther practice listening only the natural notes and once mastered them add the altered ones? I mean, here only the C, D, E, F, G, A, B and after she has a good sense of them, add the C#, D#, F#, G#, A#. Is that good?

A last note for the members area: You don't have to make a page for every book owner, you only have to build a web application in such a way that when you log in with a password and a user name, it recognizes you and prints your information to the web browser window. Is a dynamic web, just like ebay or any other.
A Yes you can concentrate on the natural notes but I wouldn't exclude the altered ones completely just spend more time on the natural notes. You might also check out the FAQ pages for the two books your daughter should be working from

Ear Training One Note Complete

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/ET_1_note_complete/eartrngfaq.html

Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/fanaticsguide/fanaticsfaq.html

These links we provide you with a lot of information on questions that have been asked.
 
Q I have been using 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist and on page 54 you recommend for ear training Ear Training One Note Beginning. You recommend the same thing in the pdf on your web site about training recommendations. However, you never mention Ear Training: One Note Complete Method. This book looks newer. Is it supposed to be a updated replacement for Ear Training One Note Beginning?

What I'm basically asking is which of the two books is better for a beginner, Ear Training: One Note Complete Method or Ear Training One Note Beginning?
A Yes the references you mentioned are old. The Ear Training One Note Complete is a newer book and a better deal than purchasing each book individually. You might also consider Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training which is a book I often recommend to help people speed up their progress.
 
Q Sorry for not mentioning this earlier but I was also going to buy the following (as you suggest):

Music Theory Workbook for Guitar: Chord and Interval Construction (Music Theory Workbook for Guitar) ISBN: 1890944521

And it looks like there isn't a newer version of your music theory books (I need one especially for the guitar, I already have a general one) like Ear Training One Note Complete is newer than Ear Training One Note Beginning. Is that true? Is the book above the one I should purchase?

While I'm asking, is there also newer versions of Chord Workbook for Guitar: Chords and Chord Progressions, Vol. 1 ISBN: 1890944505 or My Music: Explorations in the Application of 12 Tone Techniques to Jazz Composition and Improvisation ISBN: 1890944106. I am only interested in an improvisation book if it is specifically for guitar.

One last thing, like the guy in 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist asked, do you like the Fretboard Logic books (in addition to, not as a replacement for your books)? I realize his books are just for moving up the neck.
A There is only one version of the music theory books and the chord book information is correct. The My Music book is easy to understand but the improvisational concepts are quite advanced. If you're interested in at least seeing what these concepts are or just hearing my music then I'd get the book.

My problem with Fretboard Logic is it is a book of patterns with no names attached to the notes. I think you would be hard pressed to find a professional guitarist out there somewhere that has used this book to learn the guitar. If you find one let me know. Let me give you an analogy about this book. Let's say you were moving to a country and needed to learn their language and someone told you there was a new revolutionary, must own, changed my life, book that taught you this language that worked the following way. You are given a bunch of sentences and paragraphs that say some general statements like "Can you tell me where the metro station is?" But nowhere in the book does it explain how this sentence is built and what the individual words mean or how they are put together "Logically" so that you can understand the language. Would you buy this book? Music is not a visual art form. Learning it like a visual art form is certainly revolutionary but not "logical" and certainly not something a serious musician would do.

Also hopefully you realize that 99% of the reviews on amazon.com are bogus. Certainly the ones that don't give a reviewers real name or are dated before 2005 are certainly fake in many cases. Even those should be viewed with suspicion if they say "It's the best book on the planet" etc.... Amazon recently changed it's review policy because so many authors were busted for putting up fake reviews. Also up until recently if someone put up a legitimate bad review a publishing company could get it removed most of the time. Now it's just the opposite, someone could say that my Chord Workbook contains food recipes and no chords and as long as that person has a credit card and a active account on amazon it stays up there no matter what. You can do a search in the New York Times for an article on these policies to read more. Therefore never ever never believe anything you read in a review on amazon.com. Especially guitar books, because authors get their students to post reviews and that's not exactly an unbiased review. The best thing to do is read the description of the book. If it seems right order it. You can always return any book to amazon.com so you are never stuck with any book you order. That's why amazon is great it's a hassle free return if the book is B.S.
 
Q I've been working on ear training for almost 8 months now, it seems to be coming along slowly. I've completed One Note Advanced, get very close to 100% each time, and have spent the last three months working on key note recognition, I get close to 100% correct, but I'm not hearing the minor keys totally correct just yet. I often hear their relative majors (C sounds like 4 on E min), but I can always identify it as E minor, even though it doesn't sound like the flat 6 yet (although it's starting to).

I've been working with the first four, three note exercises from Fanatic's Guide, I've gone through starting the exercises on 1, 3, 5, 7, 2, and now I'm on 4. I also try singing a tone (relative) over the different keys, usually one tone a week. I'm starting to pre-hear some of the notes while I'm doing the 3 note exercises, usually the diatonic ones. I still struggle pre-hearing the one note over the different keys, especially the non-diatonic ones.

It seems that my voice isn't quite connecting with my internal ear, sometimes when I can pre-hear a note, it is hard to sing it correctly without singing a random note first to get my bearings (if that makes sense). Lots of times my voice will default to the root even if I can hear the note I want in my head. Also, trying to sing a line independently of what I'm hearing is very difficult (harmonies). So, my questions are:

1. Should I start on Two Note or keep working on Key Note Recognition until the minor tones sound like the major tones?

2. Do I continue with the 3 note exercises, starting on a new note as I progress, eventually having started on all 12 notes in the key of C? After that do I move on to the next 4 exercises staring on 1?

3. Would you recommend Lines Volume One, it sounds like it will help with singing harmonies independently and connecting my voice to my ear?

4. Am I missing anything?
A Sounds like you have been doing quite well and your problems are normal so you should be proud of yourself that you have gotten this far.

You can start the Two Note but be prepared it could take some time.

I think you should start working on the Blues Progression listed under the 2 note exercise. You should start by singing m7ths through the progression. If this doesn't make sense let me know and I'll explain further.

I wouldn't recommend LINES right now but I would recommend getting it.

Single String Studies for Guitar Volume One. This is a guitar book but I often use it to help students gain a better key retention ability. Let me know when you have it and I'll give you an assignment.
 
Q I am a totally amateur 'play along to my CDs in the house' type of guitar player. Since I don't have much contact with other musicians I was wondering if you can give me some indications regarding the possibilities of acquiring what I call 'direct apprehension of musical content' as a result of ear-training from the starting position of a typically aurally endowed person (cf. Mozart, Pierre Boulez etc) and what techniques would be best for this.

By direct apprehension I mean that in listening you are directly and uncalculating aware of what the content is without having to make overt inner additional mental representations and simplifications (mental 'humming along') and then reading the content off from these. I started ear-training a few years back using totally home improvised methods (intervals up and down, melodic and harmonic etc. and I specifically focused on what I called chain-interval recognition using a deck of cards to randomly generated note sequences since I figured this was the ultimate skill level - now I have picked up on alternative approach of contextual listening and have ordered your Key Note recognition book to see if I need to graduate down to the one note etc. I play everything by ear and largely 'refind' a piece each time I play along to it. I can play straight off fairly competent versions of stuff that many would regard as hard (Zappa, Hendrix, fast country James Burton, Jerry Reed etc.) but most of the time I feel I am relying on my on the orientation from my own guitar notes my than I would like. Ideally I would like to just be able to hear the content from the music without using the guitar probe notes to get me under way.
A I think my method will work well for you considering your goals. I don't think you are going about it correctly though. I strongly urge you not to start with Key Note Recognition. I would get Ear Training One Note Complete or Ear Training One Note Advanced and Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training. I would make sure you can do the exercises and understand completely what you are supposed to be doing. I would also read all the FAQs for these books on line at www.muse-eek.com

Only after gaining a 90% or above ability on the one note CD would I move on to Key Note Recognition.

You don't want to approach this ear training haphazardly. It is important to understand it from the ground up so that you don't make a mistake and have to either start over or spend months/years reprogramming your mind if you train the wrong way.
 
Q I have started practicing and seem to be to be getting more answers within a tone or semi-tome of the correct answer. Is this a good sign? Or is it a sign that I am trying to work out the answer rather than feel it?
A It's hard to know for sure but yes you could be working it out. Just try to listen and guessing with an attitude that you don't care if you are right because you know it will come over time. Do this 5 to 10 times a day and you should see progress. Remember it's just memorization so you need to hear these notes over and over until you remember their sound.
 
Q I just got One Note Complete a couple of weeks back. I found I could get 90+% straight off on the advanced disk ( I also have Fanatic's but I have not as yet delved too far into this). Despite this I think I am definitely going to forestall 2 note for a good while - it seems to me that there might be an intermediate step for me that needs a lot of attention, especially for a current interval-based-play-by-ear person like myself. Here's a few notions I came up with which perhaps you can confirm as being ok/ wrong etc.

How do you combat using interval identification - possibly the answer is to slow down to such an extent that it becomes impractial to use intervals? I made a sequence where the progression plays followed by the tonic-chord droning on for 15 minutes or so. On top of this I played identification notes only about once every 30 seconds (also I used separated octaves to further counteract interval use). Attempt ID using keyboard asap - don't use the 30 seconds to think about it! Although I can do fairly well on this it is obviously not as good as on One Note and the imperfections with more problematic intervals (min2, dim5, min6) in particular show themselves - as well as the interval thing I suppose this is removing a possibly short term memory cheat being used by me in One Note whereby I get it because it is the same as a one I heard a few back earlier. The next stage would be to gradually reduce the time intervals so that I eventually come back to normal tempo hopefully keeping the proper identification method.

A way of thinking about your concept that I came up with (possibly reinventing the wheel!) is that is in some ways a form of modulating absolute pitch. A note can/should be identified totally in isolation purely by the subjective sound quality (qualia, phenomenology!) that results from it's current position relative the key centre. Unlike true absolute pitch a different pitch can be assigned to each sound quality but this should only happen when a modulation occurs. If key-offset-qualia and key centre stabilisation are well developed then you should be able to go on naming pitches indefinitely regardless whether the could progression is playing or not ? I have tried this with Functional Ear Trainer by playing a dozen or so with a progression and then switching to the note just by itself mode (Basically One Note but you just keep on going with more notes to identify instead replaying the progression) I find I can do this to a certain extent, however, the score level is much lower. Factors coming in seem to be repeating non-tonics cause de-stabilisation so I have to play a tonic to get me reorientated. Also the fourth often sounds funny in a way that never occurs if the progression has just been played - especially if it is coming of the maj 7 it will sound like a 'tritone'. However, after even a few tries I can feel this improving so it seems like a good stabilisation route to follow before attempting Two Note ?

Last question concerns what you have found to be general upper the limits in this area in terms of tempos, complexity of music etc. In general people can instantly hear and recognise a number if someone speaks or shouts it out - however there is still going to be a limit to how you can respond as the speed of delivery increases... and then if more than one person starts speaking at once all sorts of confusion will arise! Have you ever thought of doing a DVD or something showing the results of different innate ability students etc. - one of the things that is problematic for the isolated non-academic environment person like myself is knowing whether my expectations are actually in line with reality - Flight of the Bumblebee, Captain Senor Mouse, Inca Roads!
A If you are getting 90% correct on the one note advanced CD and you are not doing this by thinking intervals then it is time to move on the Key Note Recognition book. Before you go there though you might check out some of the various exercises in the Fanatic's Guide and see how well you do.

You are very creative in your various ear training exercises you invent on the fly. It's cool that you are creative but I don't always find that to be the best solution for actually improving with this method. Many times students read a little about this ear training method and it spurs creative ideas on exercises that they might try. If I might give you an analogy imagine you found out that you could cure diseases by making a drug out of bread mold. Your creative mind then starts making drugs out of every mold you can find. Well some might be helpful and some might kill you. My point being that I have found that most students don't understand this ear training until they have worked through all the books I offer and communicated with me extensively. You on the other hand are filling your mind with all kinds of alternate exercises and from your descriptions I don't feel you understand my method yet. This makes me worry that you will not get the great benefit that this course of study has to offer.

So my suggestion is to work through the exercises in Fanatic's Guide and get the Key Note Recognition book. Also read through the FAQs for all these books on the muse-eek.com website.
 
Q My goal is very specific... improve my ear for hearing "good" chords for backing up traditional irish music, e.g. in pub sessions. I already know the fundamentals of theory, and can typically identify the key, though not always the mode (irish music uses mixolydian and dorian a lot, in addition to major and minor)... and most of the tunes are in G, D, or A (or relative minors thereof).

Often, I hear that the chord is changing, but have trouble telling if it went to the IV, the V, the iii, etc.

I play in a non-standard tuning (DADEAE), so books specific to EADGBE aren't so helpful.

I have a trial version of Ear Master Pro software... but I'm not sure if what I'm learning from it are really the most directly useful skills... and it also doesn't explain HOW to hear the differences... you just keep practicing trying to hear them.
A The only books I would recommend are:

Ear Training One Note Complete
Fanatic's Guide to Ear Training and Sight Singing

You won't notice an immediate change in your ability to hear but over time you will be able to tell what people are playing and then adjust your chords to fit their melodies.

Once you get the books I would also suggest you read the FAQs for these books on www.muse-eek.com website so that you can learn from the many questions I've answered.
 
Q In doing the One Note I got to thinking about what is actually required to unambiguously establish the key centre, eg. Is there a minimum number or essential scale degrees required? I just played around with this for a few minutes so far from a systematic study but I found that the tonic chord is not actually required and in fact in the case of major just playing the VII dim chord seemed to be enough to set it up. Have you done any work on this yourself or know of a reference?

I was also wondering what your/others experience is of the transition between hearing everything relative to the key cf. current chord. Is there a period where it just gets ambiguous for a while and cannot tell what a note is till you switch over the key centre mode, or do you begin to hear relative to both simultaneously, or do you hear an oscillation between the two versions etc. etc. ? Perhaps some scale degrees have a tendency to transfer over more readily so you end up in a confusing interim where some are presenting against the key centre and some still against the current chords?
A The basic requirements of establishing a key center vary with the individual. Their ability and past listening experiences also play an important roll. Student experiences transitioning to contextual ear training vary so much that you can't make generalizations as to the amount of time or which notes transfer quicker. Once again this is all related to a persons life experiences and ability to practice effectively.

Once again I solute your creativity but I think your time would be better spent practicing the ear training in the books rather than venturing out to other ideas before you have mastered the material that has a proven record of working.
 
Q I'll approach the question from a different angle - let's say a student has only ever learnt your method so theoretically they have no ability to detect the intervals between notes... they come to transcibe, play along with a flute solo which is essentially a random sequence of notes - what content from the flute line do they use to establish the key centre and how far into the piece might they necessarily be before they are able to do this?
A I think you are missing the point here. As I stated in my previous email each individual will use their past experiences. Once again I suggest you apply your time more beneficially by practicing rather than coming up with musical situations that have no single answer.
 
Q I have been learning the major, major pentatonic and minor pentatonic scales and am trying to use them to improvise. However, I'm not sure how to switch between the different positions in a given scale. For example, if I'm playing a major pentatonic in the position that starts on the 6th degree of the scale on the sixth string, I would easily get lost if I tried to move to a different position like up one position to the position starting with the root. Or even worse, sliding up or down a step in the middle of a position. Is the only solution to keep track in your mind at all times what position you're in? Or am I supposed to know what note/degree of the scale I am playing at all times? Also, do the lead positions come into play in linking the different scale positions? I'm guessing musicians can also know where they are in a scale by ear and that must help tremendously in playing but I do not have that ability right now. There must be some kind of method to this. I only ask because when I study solos written by other artists, I can recognize the notes and position of the scale they are using, but then they start switching/linking positions and I wonder how they know how to do that (other than having it pre-written before playing). I imagine that eventually I would think of the whole scale at one time on the fret board and just selecting to the play the available notes, but it is too early for that.
A This is a common problem that students have. In general you should think of your knowledge of music and the guitar fretboard as if it was a language like english. If you don't know all the words and you need to make a coherent statement then you aren't going to be understood. So the next question is how do you get fluent with a language like music so that you can just play and not have to think about (or think very little about) what you are doing. The answer is you need to know three things:

1. Music Theory so that you understand the structure of let's say the pentatonic scale. By this I don't mean you can kinda say the notes of the scale if given a minute or so I mean you say the notes quickly of any scale in any key and find those notes of the guitar in any position either across the neck or up and down each string quickly.

2. Aural recognition by working with an ear training method that will teach you how to hear notes against a chord progression so that you not only know what notes you are playing but know what they sound like.

3. Technique so that you can easily express yourself on your instrument without your hands hindering your progress.

So how do you go about doing this? I've written 3 books that will help you with gaining this ability.

Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One for chords and Volume Two for Scales
Ear Training One Note Complete
Guitar Technique (an ebook see:
http://www.muse-eek.com/books/guitartech/lower.html

Basically these books give you 100's of exercises to ingrain the aforementioned information into your brain so that it becomes second nature.

You may ask "well I'm sure many guitarists haven't used your books and they seem to be able to play OK" This is true and it's because they spent many years working through the same information on their fretboard until they knew how to play. I'm just trying to speed up your ability by giving you concentrated exercises.

So this is what I see as your problem and the above books are what I recommend. Most of this work is not fun but it will give you the ability you seek. If you end up getting the books write back and I'll give you a practice schedule.
 
Q I luckily inherited your Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Vol. 1 because my brother lived above some people who were suddenly evicted and had to throw out all their stuff, and its exactly the type of book I've been looking for. I am going to buy your Vol. 2 and study them together, and I have arranged my classes in school (I am a senior in college) so that I can give three hours DEFINITELY a day in the mornings of actual playing, sufficient time in the afternoon to do at least a few exercises a day in the books, and if extra time allowed at night I will practice as well. On a side note, I want to say that even though I am 100% capable and willing to pursue practice like this for perhaps the rest of my life, it becomes tough when people who are around me in my life feel alienated when all I wanna do is play the guitar. I guess thats life and I need to just find a balance. I am a math major, music minor and am studying the guitar simply because I love it and know it will be so rewarding to see how much I have learned over the years. My music theory is pretty good, I've aced all my theory classes, but am lacking in the ear training and sight reading department. I feel slightly behind the ball since I didn't get into music until freshman year at college, and if I won the lottery today I would enroll in Berklee school of music next year and get another bachelors in music to pursue music and specifically the guitar. Realistically, since I consider myself somewhat behind the ball (I've only seriously been playing the guitar for about 1 and a half-2 years), I can't risk devoting myself to it completely with the hopes that it will put food on the table. So I plan to carry it with me with whatever career I have (ideally with this 3 hours a day regiment) and see if maybe something could happen with it. If not, I will always enjoy learning the knowledge anyways. 1) I guess this leads me to my question which is that is there a strict age after which learning to become an accomplished musician is impossible? I know there are of course ideal windows in life, the earlier the better, but can this be overcome with persistence? Have you seen it happen? I would like one inspirational story of such to keep as supplemental motivation, regardless of whatever I become. 2) Secondly, I was wondering something about learning various keys. What do you think is better: learning a scale/song for the first time and then proceeding to learn it in all keys right away (which can take a while, I've learned) or to sort of stick with a few basic keys to learn concepts and then when I have become very advanced later on, start to transpose them to different keys. I started a circle of 5ths routine where I devoted a day to a key and learned all scales (modes) that day, doing different sequences as I learn all the way up and down the fretboard, then moving up a 5th the next day. I am willing to do this drudge work, but am wondering if it may be sort of overload and too much focus on technical rather than creative (it takes me an hour and a half, then I spend the next hour and a half doing some fingerpicking and acoustic guitar exercises along with learning a bach minuet or something like that.) I read some FAQ's, and so I guess I am wondering if your one scale per week method is enough to INGRAIN a scale into my implicit memory so that I can move on to the next one?? 3) Lastly, should I look to buy some software for my computer so that I can record some vamps and solo over them? I am not exactly surrounded by people in my life right now with whom I can practice the guitar, so I need something to give me a riff that I can solo over. I have the money now, should I get it now or wait until I have gotten through your books? If so, any suggestions on good software for someone who isn't looking for Protools or something that advanced but rather something pretty standard and basic for practice?
A To answer your first question there is no age limit for learning music. Most younger students get serious about music in their 20's so it sounds like you are part of that group. Becoming a great musician is more about the amount of time you give to it each day and how long you continue to work. Hopefully you can find 4 to 5 hours a day to do music and plan on doing that for the rest of your life. If that is the case then you can be as good as anyone. I recommend learning all your scales in all keys and improvising with each of these scales as you learn them. You can use the following program to record vamps into your computer: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ I'd balance the technical work with the creative side as much as possible. Doing one scale a week is a good way to balance out these considerations. As far as what books to work out of. I'd recommend the New York Guitar Method books because you seem like you are serious about learning the guitar. To start with I would get the following: http://www.muse-eek.com/books/nygm_v1/lower.html http://www.muse-eek.com/books/nygm_eb1/lower.html I'd do a chapter every week or two out of this book. These books are very hard but give you a complete study of the guitar like you would get at NYU or Berklee. I'd also recommend getting an ear training book. http://www.muse-eek.com/books/ET_1_note_complete/lower.html With those three books you will be well on your way to becoming a great guitar player.
 
Q I'm a hobby guitar player who is recently studying Jazz. I always feel I'm not good at recognizing a pitch.

That's why I was looking for a good method. I found your book from amazon and One Note Complete Method has arrived yesterday!

My first impression of your book is that your method is a much simpler concept than I expected (most of theory books are written in latin, maybe) and your explanations in the book make me sense a lot but your method is way too hard to do.

As you may be able to imagine from my e-mail, I'm not a native English speaker (I'm a Japanese). In your book, you mention something like studying a pitch is similar to studying a language. This may be a hint to me.

When I started studying English (actually after I graduated from University), I felt that English conversation was almost random sound. In fact, I've learnt English in school for more than 10 years but it has never helped me. Reason? I think that the most of English classes in school are designed to pass an exam. seems similar to the interval class in music school that you mentioned?


Anyway, I started your CD from yesterday. I can only recognize a few of pitches. Too high and low pitches are all same to me now. Actually I expected this results and it stirred my memory of the time when I started learning English. a kind of deja vu :-)

So, I have a couple of questions.

1. Is your method basically designed for self-studying? or appropriate music teacher help me?

2. I often transcribe a song using guitar. I tend to fish around on the fret board to find a pitch. It completely relies on guitar. Is it not recommended?

3. Does playing other instruments help me to understand a pitch? The pitch range of guitar is limited. I'm not familiar with too low or high pitches. Currently I can recognize a few pitches only in the middle 2 or 3 octaves.

4. This is an idea. Choose a single pitch randomly (maybe by rolling the dice). Play a cadence by guitar. Then, sing the pre-selected single pitch in the voice (or may be in my head). Do you think this idea help me to understand more pitches?
A My ear training course is designed for self study to help you with your progress. There are a few things that I think you need to understand:

1. You are memorizing the sound of each pitch against a key center. You probably won't get any notes right when you start because you haven't memorized the sound of each note.

2. Memorization comes from frequent hearing of the notes against the key center.

3. Just because you don't get the notes right at first doesn't mean you need any other help (except maybe using the Fanatic's Guide book which will help your progress) it just means you have to be patient and listen to the CD every day, many times each day.

4. You may want to improve your music theory abilities on the guitar because this will help you identify notes later on when we progress to other ear training exercises. I would recommend Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One to help you improve your Music Theory.

5. I would also recommend reading the FAQ's on Ear Training One Note Complete found at:

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/ET_1_note_complete/eartrngfaq.html

Transcription by picking around to find notes on the guitar isn't going to hurt your progress with the ear training but certainly isn't a method that I would recommend for developing your ear.

Playing another instrument will not help your ear training.

Play a cadence on your guitar and then attempting to sing a pitch is one of the many exercises that are found in the Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training. I would highly recommend you work with this book to help you improve quicker.
 
Q Well it's been nine months. No breakthroughs yet but I have days when my percentages are up there. I am not consistent, however, and still mostly miss by fifths and half steps.

I have a question. In establishing a key the two most important chords are I and V7. Would playing a cadence with V7 be more effective in terms of locking in the key in ones mind/ear so to speak. In other words would it not make it easier to identify the individual notes using V7.
A I don't believe that will make a big difference. I think singing more out of the Fanatic's Guide book would help you develop a better sense of key in general which is part of your problem. Also keep in mind that it takes some people quite a while to get a foot hold with this ear training. It took me 1 and 1/2 years to get one note ear training and I have other students that have taken longer. Usually in all cases it's because they either don't do it everyday or they only work on the listening rather than both the listening and the singing.
 
Q Well it's been nine months. No breakthroughs yet but I have days when my percentages are up there. I am not consistent, however, and still mostly miss by fifths and half steps.

I have a question. In establishing a key the two most important chords are I and V7. Would playing a cadence with V7 be more effective in terms of locking in the key in ones mind/ear so to speak. In other words would it not make it easier to identify the individual notes using V7.
A I don't believe that will make a big difference. I think singing more out of the Fanatic's Guide book would help you develop a better sense of key in general which is part of your problem. Also keep in mind that it takes some people quite a while to get a foot hold with this ear training. It took me 1 and 1/2 years to get one note ear training and I have other students that have taken longer. Usually in all cases it's because they either don't do it everyday or they only work on the listening rather than both the listening and the singing.
 
Q I took your advice and decided to get both One Note Complete and the Fanatic's Guide. I finally received my copies of and am so excited and enthusiastic about working through them.

Already have had a taste of literally guessing and getting so many answers wrong, but I know this is normal and I'm not going to give up! The more I listen to One Note, the more I realise that sometimes when I do get it right, I really do feel as if I knew that it had to be that. Does this mean that I'm on the right track?

Also in singing along to the Fanatic's Guide CD, I'm currently attempting one of the first few exercises that involves my listening and singing the tonic with the drone in the background. I'm taking quite a while, but finding a good success rate with identifying, pre-hearing and singing the tonic. What I found especially helpful was how in taking the short time to listen to the cadence, I begin to find that a particular pitch resonates and the whole chord feels like it's built up on it. And in singing against the chord, after checking of course to make sure it actually is the tonic, I find it helpful to listen to what it feels like when I sing with the backing and it enhances and confirms what I just described, as if the backing and singing the right pitch within me interact in a very resonant way that feels right. I also try to think of the same tonic an octave up, prehear it first, and sing whilst checking it.

Hehz to cut a long story short, because I'm so new to all of this and have never attempted any form of ear training. Am I on the right track? I'm happy to keep working at it, just needed some reassurance that this is what it should feel like.

Oh one last question, I think I'm beginning to see how this will help in sight-singing, but just wanted to clarify.

Does it mean that when one has better developed his ear to listen contextually, in future when he looks at a new piece of sheet music and plays a cadence to have a feel for the key, using his knowledge of music theory and scales, he will be able to identify for eg, the A is the 3rd in F Major so it should sound like this (recalling the right pitch) and since that process happens very quickly, he should be able to map his memories of the pitches to the written score, prehear everything in his head, and then sing it accordingly?

If so then this must feel so different from trying to sight-sing by intervals!
A You are right on track with your observations. That's great most students don't understand so quickly. Keep practicing and great things will happen.
 
Q I've been in love with guitar for so long, and in ignorant isolation learned to play some classical guitar on my own, and then with some private instruction. While I can play some pretty sounding things, I feel I am an imposter when it comes to really playing the instrument. I never developed myself as a real musician. I discovered your site a while back but didn't think I could do what you recommended. But my desire to become a real musician will not go away, so here I am trying again. I want to come out of this limited little closet I've been stuck in and interact with others. I want to be able to play in any key, to do interesting strums with interesting progressions, to really know chords and scales and to improvise. I've been doing your recommended ear training and the singing (Ear Training One Note and A Fanatic's Guide to Ear Training), and working my way through the first theory book and the 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist to fill in the huge gaps I have. The first questions I am discovering have to do with improvising with scales:

1. Should I really concentrate on knowing which note I am actually playing, or can I just play around in the scale pattern? Sort of let my fingers randomly come up with something.

2. When I hear where I want to go in my head with a melody, should I know which note it is by ear? Shoujld I first hear and know what I am going to play? I hope these questions make sense to you. I am so appreciative of what you are offering with your books and website.

Also, I saw that you have a book called Comping Styles for Guitar Vol. 2 and I was wondering if there was a Volume 1?
A You should concentrate on which note you are playing when you are practicing the scales. I would do this in two ways. First I'd play the scales saying the note names (A, Bb, C etc...). Second I would play the scales saying the note degrees (7, 1, 2 etc...). You could alternate these methods every other day. Each day after you have finished playing the scales like this I would then just improvise with them over some sort of chord vamp that you make up or one that I recommend in Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume Two. There are also many vamps that you can use in the member's area of the muse-eek.com website under the Help files for Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume Two.

In the long run you will find that the ear training (specifically the Fanatic's Guide work) will help you to identify what notes you are hearing when you improvise or compose. This usually takes of few years or more so you should just do your best in the meantime as your ear improves.

There is no Volume One in the comping series. Maybe in the future but it would be awhile because I'm in the middle of some other projects. Volume Two is really useful for learning how to play funky rhythms and develop a pick/finger style of playing chords.

I think you are on the right track. If you learn all the theory presented in the books you have and improve your ear you will be among a the select few musicians that really know what they are doing and are able to communicate effectively with other musicians.
 
Q I've been skimming through the FAQs and the Music Theory 2 book to try to find the answers, but haven't seen them yet. I have a huge gap in what must be some very basic understanding that most guitarists have, that of having to do with the relationship of all these scales to keys. I'm literally confused as to the reason for the use of all these modes when playing in a key. If a piece of music is in C major, why would we need to think in terms of dorian and lydian, etc.? Wouldn't we just need to know the notes and play what sounds good? Is this something specific or unique to guitar, this way of thinking? I genuinely want to understand something here and will put in all the time necessary once I do, so please bear with me.

Also, here's another very basic question. When improvising, which is *very* new to me, so I'm starting with the very first C major scale starting on G with the vamp on your website, should I make sure the fingering I use is exactly that of the one learned with the scale, even if it's a little awkward? For instance, if I want to go back and forth quickly between the E on the second string (played with 3), to the C on the fourth string (played with 4), it can feel tangled.
A All the scales you find in the Music Theory book can be key centers. So you could have a C major key center but you also could have a C dorian key center etc.... You will also have situations where there are a few chords being played in a progression and all those chords will be heard in one key. For instance a chord progression which is moving by fairly fast with the following chord changes C, A-7, D-7 and G7. You would probably hear all those chords in the key of C so you would just play those notes and "think" those notes in the key of C major. But you could have a progression that was moving really really slow with those same chords and you might modulate on each chord so then you would have C major scale for the 1st chord, an A Aeolian scale for the 2nd chord, a D Dorian Scale for the 3rd chord and a G mixolydian scale for the 4th chord. Yes all of those modes/scales really just contain the notes in C major BUT you should think of the notes like you hear them and when you modulate in the slow example above you should also think of each scale in it's own key.

How do you know if you have modulated or not? Well that's where the ear training books come in so if you don't have the Ear Training One Note Complete Book you should get that and getting working on improving your ear so you can hear as well as you can play.

When improving with these scales you can use any fingering that you want.
 
Q I've been skimming through the FAQs and the Music Theory 2 book to try to find the answers, but haven't seen them yet. I have a huge gap in what must be some very basic understanding that most guitarists have, that of having to do with the relationship of all these scales to keys. I'm literally confused as to the reason for the use of all these modes when playing in a key. If a piece of music is in C major, why would we need to think in terms of dorian and lydian, etc.? Wouldn't we just need to know the notes and play what sounds good? Is this something specific or unique to guitar, this way of thinking? I genuinely want to understand something here and will put in all the time necessary once I do, so please bear with me.

Also, here's another very basic question. When improvising, which is *very* new to me, so I'm starting with the very first C major scale starting on G with the vamp on your website, should I make sure the fingering I use is exactly that of the one learned with the scale, even if it's a little awkward? For instance, if I want to go back and forth quickly between the E on the second string (played with 3), to the C on the fourth string (played with 4), it can feel tangled.
A All the scales you find in the Music Theory book can be key centers. So you could have a C major key center but you also could have a C dorian key center etc.... You will also have situations where there are a few chords being played in a progression and all those chords will be heard in one key. For instance a chord progression which is moving by fairly fast with the following chord changes C, A-7, D-7 and G7. You would probably hear all those chords in the key of C so you would just play those notes and "think" those notes in the key of C major. But you could have a progression that was moving really really slow with those same chords and you might modulate on each chord so then you would have C major scale for the 1st chord, an A Aeolian scale for the 2nd chord, a D Dorian Scale for the 3rd chord and a G mixolydian scale for the 4th chord. Yes all of those modes/scales really just contain the notes in C major BUT you should think of the notes like you hear them and when you modulate in the slow example above you should also think of each scale in it's own key.

How do you know if you have modulated or not? Well that's where the ear training books come in so if you don't have the Ear Training One Note Complete Book you should get that and getting working on improving your ear so you can hear as well as you can play.

When improving with these scales you can use any fingering that you want.
 
Q It's still hard for me to put my finger on what's gone askew in my thinking. I've had a couple of years of college-level music theory, so I do understand about modes and scales being the same thing and about modulation, usually with various modes of major and minor (ionian and aeolian). And when I said an acknowledged key center within a key center, I was trying to make sense of analyzing a piece that was in the key of C with the changes you mentioned: C A-7 D-7 G7, and depending on the speed of the changes, whether you hear it in changing modes or the overall C. It sounds like there's something really basic I'm not getting, some simple duh moment. Perhaps you could recommend two pieces to listen to that you hear the difference in. Maybe it's that in all the pieces I've analyzed I haven't come across all these modes being used, perhaps because I've studied Western classical music? Or again, maybe this is specific to the way a guitarist thinks in order to hear and efficiently use patterns of scales with improvisation? Like I said, I'm new to improvisation, and maybe my classical background is tripping me up and blinding me unnecessarily to the use of these modes.
A Well I think we are getting closer. Here is a couple of more things to think about:

Just because a chord, group of chords or notes can be intellectually analyzed and determined that they all exist in a key center doesn't mean that they in-fact do exist in that key center. Theory and ear training courses tend to use intellectual analysis to determine key center rather than teaching students how to hear key centers and determine for themselves how they hear a passage of music. This is mostly because any two students could hear a passage differently based on their ear training skills, past listening experience and cultural upbringing. On top of this tempo, range, and even melodic contour can effect perceived key center. This usually doesn't make that much difference unless you want to improvise over a piece of music then the key center considerations become extremely important because you want to think and hear the appropriate scales the same way. In other-words if the musical passage is heard by you in C major then you want to think C major so that when you hear a melody in your mind that you want to play you hear it in the proper key and can then find it on your instrument. If we go back and look at our example of C A-7 D-7 G7 C this progression could be analyzed as a progression in C major. If it was moving at an extremely slow tempo each chord would become a new key. This does not mean that these new key centers are key centers within a key center it means that you are modulating to a new key center on each chord. Intellectually you could say that all the chords are derived from the diatonic chords of the key of C major but that doesn't mean once again that you are hearing a key center within a key center.
 
Q First was wondering where I say that getting key note assures that any cheating is behind you. If you could give me the quote from the website I'd appreciate it.

I got that from reading through this quote on the KNR faq site:

"I think you will know that most of your interval problems are behind you when you can do the Key Note Recognition book."

Perhaps that answer was specific to the questioner's problem of interval habits, but I guess those habits might also be the problem I am still having to fight off.

"Do not think the root of the key after the cadence with either one note ear training or key note. If you are ever going to use this with real music you can be hunting around in your mind for the key center and then listening to the note(s). This is stated all over the website and mentioned to you multiple times while you were in New York so I'm not sure why this is even a subject."

I figured that, but I was worrying that I might not be modulating between the example. I had no intention of singing up from the root or anything like that. In a sense what I was trying to do is force myself to modulate. What I meant to say was to focus on the sound of the key in my head while hearing the cadence, as you put it on the FAQ (last sentence):

"It is common for students - particularly those with previous interval training - to have interval relationships popping up in their mind. This is one of many reasons why I feel that interval training can be detrimental to your progress with this type of key based ear training. When you are listening to the CD what you want to keep in your head is the sound of the key not the sound of the note in the previous example."

Perhaps "thinking" the root while hearing the cadence is the wrong way of saying it. But in that case I am a bit lost about the difference.

In any case, I have not needed to do this at all over the last few days and am getting about 80% correct.

About playing multiple single notes: wouldn't the vamp in the background prevent any modulation? I will stop doing this though.

I recently have been singing more than in the past. I am dividing it up 50%-50% with listening. The only thing is that listening is more convenient as I can do it on the go. Just yesterday, I bought a metronome that can generate pitches. It has an earphone jack so I will start using it against the FG's cd.
A First let me put it this way. If you had cancer and someone told you you have two choices.

A. People can be assured that they will die from cancer
B. Most people die from cancer

Which would you choose?

You have obviously misquoted me and even after pointing it out to you you still insist. To me this shows a lack of understanding language which is what we are using to communicate and what you use to guide yourself through learning music. I have thought for sometime now and particularly after your lesson in New York that communicating with you can be a very fruitless endeavor. From playing patterns on the guitar to working on made up ear training exercises you consistently go against my advice and do things that are harmful to your development. It has it's consequences too. For instance this is why your ear training has taken so long and why your guitar playing is behind where it should be. You consistently try things I haven't recommended and misunderstand the things I do recommend. This is highly unusual and have never had a student that was so misguided. Sorry for the harsh words but someone has to tell you that you are your own worse enemy when it comes to learning music and you have to control your impulses, think don't assume, and follow not change directions if you ever hope to succeed.

Second your "current" problem has nothing to do with intervals it has to do with singing or thinking the tonic after the cadence. The sound of the key is not the tonic. When you do the one note ear training and you hear the 3rd, you don't know it's the 3rd because you have the sound of the tonic in your mind. You know it's the tonic because you have the sense of the key in your mind which makes the 3rd sound like the 3rd. This also doesn't mean you are sitting there holding something consciously in your mind. It's like when it's daytime you have a sense that it's daytime because you are awake, generally there are more sounds around you and you have more energy etc.... You don't have to go outside and look in the sky and say "Oh gee it's daytime now".

In any case because of this history I wouldn't recommend moving from one note to Key Note Recognition until you get all notes 100% right consistently for weeks. Same is true with the Key Note. 100% correct for a sustained period before moving on to two notes. I would continue singing as much as possible because this will help your sense of key and I would really think about the things I've said above.
 
Q I've been working diligently out of both one note complete and fanatic's guide to sight-singing.

3 x 15min/day of one note (first thing in the morning, midday and before bed) 2 x 15min/day of sight singing (all keys, certain pitch, eg. tonic in every key)

It's been about 16 days now... Not looking for quick progress but haven't noticed much improvement.

Strangely enough, 2 evenings ago late at night I consistently kept getting all the answers right immediately, "just knowing", as you said and not having to think about it at all. But the very next day, I had dropped to maybe 50% or less and now it's even worse... in the most recent set I had got almost none right!

Is it just that I'm tired with everything else in life to juggle with or am I not practicing hard enough?
A Sounds like you have been hard at work but to expect much progress after 16 days I find amusing. Some students take months before things start to work at all. Sounds like you at least had a glimmer of it working for one evening. It is common to have a small breakthrough and then find it gone the next day. Over time these breakthroughs will last longer. One thing I will say is your practice schedule looks good but keep in mind that my recommendations are only a guidepost. Each person is different and some people have to practice 10 X 15 singing, 10 X 15 listening before they break through. So if you don't see any progress after a few months then you need to start doing it more until you do see progress. Keep in mind that EVERYONE gets this ear training that sticks with it. I do find that people (maybe you) that expect progress quickly, get upset that their learning isn't linear (maybe you) or get emotionally upset (maybe you) when they don't get the answers right don't improve very quickly at all. This is in part due to the fact that your mind puts up memory inhibitors when it gets upset as a natural defense. Therefore practicing ear training or anything you want to memorize when you are emotionally upset is pretty much a waste of time.
 
Q Well after ten months of this I think it is finally starting to happen! I have had about half a dozen sessions where I hit above 80%. I am not consistent though and I continue to have problems confusing fifths. When you hear the same note but different octave do they register as similar and/or related notes?
A Your question is a little vague. In one note ear training the same note in different octaves will eventually sound the same. In 2 note ear training the octave that a note is in can effect the perceived key of the 2 note group.
 
Q I guess it has been a couple of weeks, so I am firing this email about the Fanatic's Guide CD back to you, but I think I have solved the commuting problem for now. I just stay on the same key/track until I stop the car. In case you are interested, I bought both your guitar theory workbooks and I have been through a few pages of the first volume. I think it will help me out a lot. It almost feels like a physical workout sometimes. I don't see why every guitar player doesn't buy one.

I am making very slow but certain progress with the One Note Beginning CD and with the first exercise in Fanatic's Guide. Many times I hear notes on the One Note CD and they sound so familiar, but I can't remember their names. It is like the feeling I get when I see a face in a crowd that I remember from somewhere. I can't put a name to the face, but the familiarity keeps me upbeat about the One Note progress. I just had a little epiphany the other day. I noticed that when I really, really concentrate on the cadence, the name of the note after the cadence just forms itself in my mouth. I don't have to concentrate on the note so much if I have the cadence in me. I suspect it has something to do with key retention. I have resisted taking your advice in the FAQ's about going to the intermediate or advanced CD's to make it easier. I might get the answers more often if I tried the other CD's, but I would just be ignoring the real problem which I believe is the development of key retention. Instead I have been working with singing the Fanatic's Guide every day as well as listening to the One Note CD. Incidentally, I was reading an abstract in some science or medical journal about memory. The article claims that most of the memory experts have abandoned the idea of short term memory. They claim there is not a place in the memory for storing things in the short term. It all goes to one place. The difference in short term recall and long term is the accessability of information. What the article claimed was that there is an etching process that occurs in the part of memory that accesses stored information. The etching is intensified by repetition within certain time limits. A well etched bit of information is easily recalled. So, the application of the science to the study of music is the same; practice in short sessions throughout the day. Anyway, I have forgotten the name of the journal or the authors or even where I read the journal.
A If you are interested in my progress with One Note and Theory, I shall keep in touch. By the way, I have forgotten my username and password to the members' section of Muse-eek.com. If you could send it to me, I would write it in the front of the One Note book so I'll have it with me all the time.


It sounds like things are going well so continue on in the same direction. I'll forward your email to Muse Eek and have them send you your username and password.

The subject of memory is fascinating. One book to check out is "Mind to Molecules" by Eric Kandel.
 
Q I am a guitarist who has been playing for a few years, and have been constantly frustrated by my inability to relate music (heard either in my head or on a player) to my instrument. This often leads to me looking at tabs and memorizing solos or chord progressions.

I was often told to simply try and transcribe songs by ear and things would soon fall into place, but that doesn't work, especially when it comes to feeling the satisfaction.

Please give me your thoughts/inputs on the following:

1. Do I directly try all 12 notes against the key, or should I start with one note and add more as and when the feeling of each note gets ingrained? I tried the first set of exercises yesterday, and got nothing right, especially because I was trying to avoid listening for resolution. Resolution seems to be a hook to hold on to, and once that is gone, things seem to get pointless.

2. How will this method help me hear a chord progression in a song, and the additions to individual chords (like sevenths, ninths, etc)?
A FIrst I think I would go to the FAQs for these books and read the questions other students have asked.

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/ET_1_note_complete/eartrngfaq.html

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/fanaticsguide/fanaticsfaq.html

I'll give you some short answers to your questions below:

You can do the 12 notes or divide it up. Personally I have found that dividing it up is a mixed blessing but some students say it helps them. You definitely do not want to use resolution.

When you start to do the 2 note ear training you will develop an ability to hear two or more notes. This is when chord progressions will become easier to hear.

Best thing you can do is practice for many short periods throughout the day. Ear Training is like learning a language you have to hear it over and over again and then you will just remember the sound of the notes. THERE ARE NO TRICKS THAT HELP only listening to the point that you remember.
 
Q I am getting a little confused. As this has become a long term project requiring a lot of time I was wondering if you could clear one thing up for me. At the outset I had two objectives that I hoped your courses could fullfill.

1. Being able to recognize any note sounding within a specific key.  To that end your One Note course is obviously the firs step.

2. To be able to hear a modulation to a new key. I am not sure if the two, three etc note courses actully prepare one for this and if so what is the theory behind it. Typically its when a new tritone sounds that one modulates to a new key. I don't see what a different octave has to do with a percieved key in the two note course. Clearly I must be missing a key point (pun not intended).

I am very close to getting the one note program down and am quite happy with the results. Its been a lot of work but there is no question that your course is the only one with the correct approach.
A Learning modulation is a multi-stepped process. You will need to get through Key Note Recognition and the 2 note books before you will have much accuracy when modulating. I don't think explaining how you will modulate will help you at this point. I think it will become obvious as you progress that there are many ways that note(s) can make you modulate. You have mentioned a dominant to tonic relationship as one way. The octave that a note is in can also effect a modulation. For instance if you are in C major and someone plays the lowest Eb on the piano for 5 seconds this will have much more of a tendency to make you modulate than playing the highest Eb on the piano for 5 seconds. You also don't have to have a tritone existing to cause a modulation. Just going to another chord or group of notes and staying there for awhile and you will commonly make a modulate. Best thing for you to do right now is concentrate on getting through the books and then we will have plenty of time to discuss musical scenarios.
 
Q I've successfully gone through all your one note books. Toward the end I was getting 95-100% on different runs of the advanced CD.

Keynote has been a struggle though, and after months of trying to do it I've been making slow progress. I know keynote is supposed to be difficult for those that have bad habits, but I'm not aware that I had any with the advanced on note CD. My recognition of those notes is almost instantaneous.

The issue I have is that I still haven't been able to use my ear training skills to pick out melodies in the music that I listen to. I still have to noodle around on the guitar to figure out notes. I've noticed that I seem to noodle less than I used to, so maybe the ear training is helping, but I still can't listen to a long note against a key center and figure out what that note is without checking on the guitar.

Is there anything that I can do to improve this? After all, the whole point of this is to get train my ear so I can pick out notes of a song. I've always wished to have a good enough ear to transcribe music directly.

I have the Fanatic's Guide, and I know doing those exercises could help, but it is difficult for me to find time to do them. I have been thinking that maybe I should take songs that I know how to sing and notate them with their relative note values (1-7) and perhaps by going through this exercise I can start to hear how these notes sound sung. Do you think that would help?

I will continue on Keynote in any case, but I have to say that after all the months I spent working on the one note books, it's been discouraging that there hasn't been any concrete payoff.
A This whole process of developing ear training is a long term project. Think of the CDs and books I've written as your guide to "How" to hear. You then need to apply it to real musical situations in order to have practical benefits. Even if you didn't apply it this process of hearing music would develop over time using the books and CDs but you can considerable speed up the process by applying it to real world situations.

First thing I would do is start singing songs that you know and analyzing what pitches you are singing with the words. I would start with easier ones like Jingle Bells and work your way into White Christmas.

Most people put off the singing in the Fanatic's Guide and singing in general. Bad mistake. Once you do it for awhile you'll notice a marked improvement in your recognition skills, your creative abilities and your overall musicality.
 
Q Just got all my books and am getting started. Re: Ear training- For someone with an ear as bad as mine, the cd is much too high a gradient. I have no idea what note those sounds are, but an interesting thing happened while i was listening. I started making a game of something that i thought i might be able to do which was to tell if the notes were natural or sharp and found i was beginning to have some success with that. Any suggestions on how to get anywhere near the ballpark on what the actual notes themselves are?
A The ear training is a long process and should be attacked from a listening and singing practice schedule. It doesn't matter if you aren't getting the notes right now you will later if you apply yourself. The technique to learn this ear training is different that what you are use doing when you learn an instrument. You are just memorizing the sound just like you memorized language when you were little. At the beginning you will have no idea what the notes are but over time you will start to remember them. I would recommend listening to the beginning CD 10 times a day for 10 minutes and just guess if you don't know the correct answer. Do not try to find ways to help yourself get the correct answer just listen and over time you will remember just like you did with language when you were little. You can make a smaller list of notes to listen to if that helps. i.e. just listen to 3 or 4 notes in different octaves. For singing I'd work on the "One Note" exercise on page six. Once again 10 times a day for 10 minutes. You probably will have to work up to this amount of time for both books but ANY amount of time is better than no amount.

I would also read through the FAQs at:

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/ET_1_note_complete/eartrngfaq.html

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/fanaticsguide/fanaticsfaq.html
 
Q I am finding your ear training method to be extremely helpful and productive, but I am wondering how much it will help me to hear harmonies as it seems that much of it is melody and single-line focused. After enough time and study, will it enable me to identify harmonies as well? I am wondering if you ever advise your students to take a similar approach to learning harmony, perhaps finding a CD that uses several progressions in different keys and inversions and encourages the student to identify them by listening to their sound, rather than identifying bass notes, etc. Do you recommend any additional studies for those of us who want to develop a better ear for harmony, or will this come after enough study of your method.
A The ear training method you are doing is working towards hearing both melody and harmony. Remember harmony can be thought of as just a bunch of melodies played at the same time. When you get to 2 note ear training this will begin the process of hearing multiple notes at once. See:

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/ET%202-note-vol%201/lower.html

You would need to work on Key Note Recognition be you move on from One Note Ear Training:

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/keynote_recognition/lower.html

Sound like it would be a good idea to read through the FAQs for all these books so that you understand the method better and realize what is involved. Here are the links:

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/ET_1_note_complete/eartrngfaq.html

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/fanaticsguide/fanaticsfaq.html

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/keynote_recognition/eartrngfaq.html

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/ET%202-note-vol%201/ET2Nvol1faq.html

I will be giving you additional studies once you have completed these books so for now just buckle down and listen and sing.
 
Q 1. Ear Training. I'm confused. First, wouldn't you know what key you or yr group were playing in- I'm relatively new at this aspect of things, never having played music with anyone before, but I would think that the 1st thing you'd establish would be what key you were going to play in. If you know that and the basic theory of scales, don't you know which notes are best to play in each key.

2. Secondly what exactly is the purpose of ear training? Maybe that's part of my confusion.

3. Third, what is the difference between perfect pitch and relative pitch- seems like perfect pitch is just being able to identify which notes are being played by knowing the 12 different sounds by heart. If that's correct what then is relative pitch? Sorry to sound so lost but I really don't get what I'm doing or why. Help!!
A Some of your questions suggest that you haven't read the Ear Training One Note Complete book or the Fanatic's Guide book. Is this true? I give many many examples of how to use this ear training and why you should use this method within each book. Therefore some of your questions seem odd.

1. Many times people tell you what chords to play but not what key(s) these chords are in. Some times the key is obvious based on the chords but other times it is not. Also one person could hear a group of chords in one key while another could hear it differently. This is one reason why developing ear training helps you to know how you hear music. Once you know how you hear a group of chords you can then develop and remember your ideas in relationship to the key.

2. Good creative musicians hear melodies in their head and want to play these melodies. They also want to interact with other musicians so they need to know what the other musicians are doing. Ear Training helps you reach these goals.

3. Perfect Pitch is knowing the sound of all twelve notes regardless of key center. Relative pitch is either telling the relationship of one note to another (interval training) or identifying each note based on a perceived key center.
 
Q No need to respond to this email (unless to correct me perhaps) and I don't wish to take up much of your time but I thought I'd let you know that I was quite skeptical of your method when I first purchased the Fanatics Guide after initially thumbing through it and I wondered why so many faqs should be needed if the method is explained correctly. Since actually starting to use that book and now also the one note series I've had a complete, most welcomed, change of attitude. No small part of that change is due to the fact that you continue to interact with folks who have bought your books after the purchase and do your best to help them along. Believe me, that is not too common now-a-days and I'd like to say that I, and likely many others, appreciate that very much. Thank you.

I also believe that your method is better than others because it considers all notes in all keys and therefore is musically 'whole' in its approach which makes a lot of sense if you ask me.

As far as the exercises are concerned I think I have a good understanding of what is expected of me and also what I shouldn't be doing from re-reading the introduction several times. I can now see why the faqs are possibly the only way to correct students, i.e. namely because each of us has different 'cheating' thought processes. For example, at first, I tended to try to maintain the key chord in memory as long as possible in order to have notes present to compare the test note to, until I realized that this is not really a good mental process to identify the note even if it happened to be one that was in that chord and also would likely lead to my attempting to resolve the sharps a half step either way.

I seem to have better results if I don't really focus in on the cadence chords so much other than to generally set up the key center and then when it goes by I focus on hearing the note against that background.

With the Fanatic's Guide my biggest concern is singing the pitch well so a lot of checking will likely be required.

In closing I'd like to say that I'll give every effort in order to make this system work and gain better note recognition. I'm determined to improve my musical ear from now on until the day I die and I have the utmost confidence in you and your method.

P.S. In my original email I realize now that I may have sounded like a teacher but I am in fact the student. I was mainly asking if mimicking the process you have on the cd on the keyboard at times when practicing would help the pitch recognition along by more re-inforcement of the sounds as the cd interaction does. Perhaps also to concentrate on consistently incorrectly identified pitches.
A As I'm sure you have realized from reading the FAQs everyone learns differently and you can have two people read the same sentence and they will have two explanations of what it is saying no matter how well it is written.

You are correct to just let the sense of "key" envelope you rather than concentrate of specific notes within the progression. All though this ear training may seem like a simple process most students have some misunderstandings along the way so keep in touch as you progress so that you don't take a left turn.
 
Q A couple of questions on the two books I've recently purchased from Muse-eek: Ear Traning one note - I've read all the FAQs, but I still find that with certain notes (D, G, D#, B, Bb) I seem to be relating them to the tonic (as in thinking the given note, then the tonic, and knowing those intervals fairly well from previous training). Is this going to be detrimental to my learning? How would you suggest getting around this? I think it might benefit me to move up to the faster CDs so that I don't have time to think of those things.

Also, I have the latest Berkowitz sight singing book. Should I still order the muse-eek one, or will this suffice?

Right hand technique: So far I am only on the introductory excercises, but I am concerned because my right hand seems to tighten up and my right wrist and hand feel tense after the excercises (sometimes for the rest of the night, even when I only do them for 5 minutes a day). Am I doing something wrong? What should I do?

Lastly, for my left hand technique, the exercise to lighten my playing seems to help, but I don't know how to apply it to chords. It seems that my thumb still stiffens up after playing chords.
A I think two things will help you not relate notes to the tonic but rather hear them in relationship to the key center. 1st I would recommend the "one note" exercise found on page 6 of the Fanatic's Guide book and second you could move to a faster CD in the One Note Complete book.

Berkowitz sight singing book would not suffice as your singing method.

If you are tensing up doing the right hand exercises then you are doing something wrong. First you are probably trying to progress at too quick a rate by playing the exercises too fast. Working on these right hand exercises does require you to concentrate on relaxing your entire body as you play. This may require you to really think about where your tension is coming from. No technique will help you unless you take the time to control your physical behavior on the instrument.

To apply the lighter playing on the guitar use the same technique of pushing 10 times with each chord that you use in a song until you learn the least amount of tension needed to make a chord sound. After you feel you have this under control start to play from one chord to another. Keep in mind that your old habits will try to take over. This is once again a place where concentration and mind or matter control will help you in your progress.
 
Q I recently bought your books One Note Complete and Fanatic's Guide. I have been using them for a few days . It seem to me that i have already made some progress . As you know guitar players have certain keys they prefer( c-a g-e-d) .Given that this is so would it be ok to just concentrate on these keys when using the Fanatic's Guide (tracks 1,9,10,11,12)
A It would be better if you worked in all keys. This is the way I set up the book so that each exercises you sing has a different relationship to the drone. Also remember that you will need knowledge of all keys for identifying notes when you get to "Key Note Recognition" and the "2 Note Ear Training" books. Remember that if you get a singer in your band they may need to sing in non-guitar keys. If you have problems thinking the notes in these keys then I would suggest working from the Music Theory Workbooks for Guitar Volumes One and Two to improve your theory knowledge.
 
Q When I listen to a song and say, in the key of D minor, and then there is a chord change to Gm, should I be trying to hear the notes against the G or the D? In some strange chord progressions like Emaj to Gm, something strange, the note E would sound completely different against the two chords. Also, all the exercises in the Ear Training One Note Method are Major, but wouldn't a minor 3rd sound completely different against a minor chord? So, should I practice against major chords, minor chords, diminished, dominant,etc...?
A If you have a song in D minor and then there is a chord change to G minor you may stay in the key of D minor or you may modulate. This will all depend on the tempo of the song and how long you stay on the G minor and your personal "key retention" abilities, your amount of ear training and your personal history of hearing various types of music. So as you can see there isn't an easy answer to your first question.

If you had a chord progression like E major to G minor you may hear the note E on the E chord as the "root" if the E chord lasts for a sufficient amount of time in order to create a sense of key in E major. When you hear the G minor you may modulate or you may hear the key of E major change to the key of E Locrian. Again this will depend on the different situations I mentioned in the first paragraph.

A minor 3rd sounds the same against a major, minor or any other modal tonality. This may not be be apparent to you now but it will be in the future if you continue to work on your contextual ear training skills.

When you state:

"should I practice against major chords, minor chords, diminished, dominant,etc...?"

I have no idea what exercise or book you are referring to so can not answer this question.

My recommendations is you follow the suggestions for practice exercises in the books. These exercises have been developed from over 30 years of teaching and have proven to work very well with students that apply themselves daily.

Over time you will work with all types of tonality and musical situations in order to apply your contextual ear training skills to different situations. The important thing is to first know the sound of each note against a key center. As this gains in strength your abilities in the various musical situations will become clearer.
 
Q The question I had wanted to ask is how the (wonderful) system in the Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing relates to a minor key? Hearing a note against a minor tonic chord is different to hearing it against the major tonic chord isn't it?
A There is no difference between the sound of notes over a major or a minor tonality or any other modal tonality for that matter. When you are just starting with this course of study you may think there is a difference but over time you will realize that there isn't. You will begin to work with minor tonal centers when you start your work on "Key Note Recognition".
 
Q I'm having trouble getting my one-note recognition to be truly instantaneous. I can currently do one-note advanced without any errors. I have made some recordings of random notes (over a drone) at various tempos. I can currently identify notes with accuracy up to 80bpm yet I still have the feeling that the process is far from instantaneous. When I push the tempo above this my accuracy is dramatically reduced.

Some notes are very strong (e.g Do, Sol, Ti) and do feel instantaneous but for more difficult notes (e.g. Di, Si) I think the use of resolution tendencies is holding me back - a habit I have developed to double-check my answers when testing myself on real music. I don't think the resolution tendencies problem is my only problem. Some other things that I believe are impairing instantaneous recognition are:
- being distracted by the notes preceding the one I'm trying I'm trying to identify. These preceeding notes sometimes seem to color my perception of the current note.
- getting distracted by rhythm or changing harmonic background
- falling back into listening in my old non-analytical way where I will listen more to the "contour" of a line.

Do you have any suggestion for overcoming these problems and getting my one-note ability to be truly instantaneous? I have worked with your method for some time now and really feel I am ready to push my abilities to the next level - whatever it takes.
A Seems like you have been analyzing your processes and that is good. I'll make a couple of suggestions.

In order to stop resolution tendencies you have to control your mind. I often suggest that students answer immediately after hearing a note. Seems like when that happens with you you get wrong answers and therefore stop answering immediately.

This is one place were you are going off track. Don't worry about how many notes you get right worry about doing the exercise correctly. You will never proceed if you don't let go of the resolution tendencies.

You haven't mentioned how far you are along with the ear training as far as what books you have worked through. If you haven't started on Key Note Recognition I would suggest you start that right away. Remember that learning the sound of every note is like looking at a sphere. Just because you can do the One Note Ear Training at 100% doesn't mean that you can hear notes in every situation. You need to work with the other books in this series but you also need to apply the ear training to songs you know and try to identify the sounds you hear. This is a long process but in the end you will be a changed musician.
 
Q You mentioned that if a song has chord chages my ear may or not hear the melody against the new chord (it may hear it against the overall key), but which am I shooting for, to hear the melody over the key or each individual chord change? As a bass player, I am always hearing things from the root of whatever chord I am on, so it seems like it would be more logical to hear how the melody relates to each individual chord. Also, this method will eventually let me hear what any given tone is against a chord, but how am I supposed to go about hearing chord changes? Lastly, I am a fifteen year old student and between studying for school and practicing music, I have about no free time, I was wondering if you have heard of learning things as you sleep, for instance I know that while Steve Vai was with Frank Zappa, he would listen to music in his sleep. So my question is not only, do you think this would work, but what we be good to "asorb" while I sleep?
A You know I'm getting the feeling your going off track here. Your questions show me that you have not grasped the ear training method or at least you are jumping ahead of yourself. It's great that you are thinking about the method as it relates to music BUT if you don't understand it yet then most of my answers won't make sense. Many of your questions depend on the exact circumstance and don't have simple answers. I think our correspondence would be better served if you talked about where you are with the books. What exercises you're doing and how they are going. This will help us move you from a budding ear training student to a higher level where you will be able to answer many of the questions you ask yourself and/or bounce this realizations off from me so I can confirm your observations. I realize that you are young and it's really great your getting started so early with this ear training your going to be really great if you keep it up for a few years. But you have to organize yourself and keep your eye on the goal. This is hard when your young so keep at it.

As far as having very little time I would recommend listening to the ear training while commuting or other down time. You also may have to give up some things in order to gain other abilities.

Also as far as I know there is no evidence that you can learn in your sleep.
 
Q Just a note about my experience with the one note method for your general information. I started with the beginner cd about two months ago and started making progress very slowly, in my opinion....maybe because I spent the first few weeks cussing back at the cd (ha). It was frustrating at first being wrong so often and I really didn't gain anything until I adopted a better listening attitude. My guess became secondary to calm well focused listening to the tone just to absorb it (not analyze it, but just associate the tone with its name). Whether correct or incorrect on the guess I mentally hold the note and continue to label it correctly nearly to the end of the following cadence.

I'm still with the beginner cd but I find that I now know many of the notes and that has given me confidence that I will eventually learn them all if I keep at it. Of course, like others who have written in the faq the learning process has some ups and downs and some twists and turns. Some of the notes I knew first are now missed every so often and others that I had no clue on are now front and center. The low notes made no sense at all at first and now I find that they are clearer than the high ones. I suspect that this is part of the normal learning process. This is very interesting I have become an addict to the cd having to listen to it at various times for 20 or 30 minutes throughout the day.

My weakest ability, in my opinion, is having no confidence in voicing tones and for that reason have neglected the Fanatic's Guide cd. I had started that too a while back with the first tone in each key but was lost when it came to voicing a 3rd or 5th let alone the other tones...I would have no idea if I was voicing the tone correctly and thought it may be more harmful than helpful if I was off the tone. Your thoughts on that might be helpful.
A http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002M6N3O/qid=1138281076/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i2_xglna/103-2829618-9723033?v=glance&n=507846
 
Q I am a 25 five year old conductor and you can be sure that I am a working fanatic. In the last time I have been sometimes slightly frustrated by the fact, that it is quite hard for me to play music by ear (or just play what I hear on the piano) and by difficulties in reading scores. The more complex the music gets, the more difficulties occur.

Now my question is: Can you honestly recommend your method for the whole repertoire there is (let´s say from Mozart to Strawinsky) or is the line until it works Bruckner, Mahler and Wagner with their extreme modulations?

The next thing is that my main problems start in imagining harmony and harmonical progressions (apart from easy cadencas or quintfall sequences), so my question here is if your method will lead me in the end to hearing and producing all harmonic sequences I want to, also romantic ones?

If it does, please give me suggestions on which book to buy and in which order to follow your ear training path. I am willing to put a lot of work into this, but want to be rewarded by being able to sight read scores without playing them on the piano (at least until end of 19th century) and by writing down all the music instantly that comes to my mind, even if it will take time to reach this goal.
A Yes my method will work with any style of music. Of course as you work your way further into the 20th century you will have to have mastered quite a bit of the ear training to take on Schoenberg and Webern. But it can be done and you would be surprised how tonal the 2nd viennese school becomes as your ear improves.

I would recommend starting with:

Ear Training One Note Complete
Fanatic's Guide to Sight Reading and Ear Training

As you get further along in the method I can also suggest various classical pieces to start singing but first we need to get you through the books mentioned then "Key Note Recognition" and once you start on the 2 note ear training books I can give you more specialized assignments to get you where you need to be. The 2 note books are where you will begin to understand harmonic progressions so we have a ways to go before that will make any sense to you.
 
Q I just started using the one note ear training cd today. The book says to try not relating the note to anything but the sound. Don't relate it to a song or to the cadence the cd plays?

I play electric bass guitar.  I find myself locating the note on the fretboard after I make my guess at the note and the cd tells me the answer. Is that a good or bad thing to do? If it's bad how do I stop?
A Locating the sound on your instrument after you guess what the correct answer is fine.
 
Q I want to thank you, because I have only been on the program for about three weeks and I notice a big improvement. I have three questions, my first one is about the One Note Complete Method Series. Just to see how I would do, I popped in the intermediate cd (I am only on the beginner cd), and I started doing just as good or better on the Intermediate cd as I have ever done on the beginner cd. I will stay on the beginner cd until I can get it really well, but the actual question in this is, once I pass the beginner cd, will I progress through the Intemediate and advanced cds very quickly? This next question is about the Fanatic's Guide, you mention screaming a note is an effective way of learning to prehear a note, but everytime I try that, my voice goes way up in pitch, in otherwords I try singing, say, a root, and end up with a fifth. Is that something that I should see a vocal instructor about, or do you know what could be going wrong? My last question pertains to the Fanatic's Guide also, would it be bad for me to practice prehearing the root and prehearing the 3rd at the same time, and by the same time I mean, going through the entire cd and prehearing the root, then going through and prehearing the 3rd?
A People's progress really varies a lot but I'm glad to hear your moving into the intermediate CD.

As far as scream singing I think you should try and just sing very loud first that will also have a similar effect as the screaming. Also it's fine to go through the entire fanatic's guide cd and prehearing the root, then going through and prehearing the 3rd etc.
 
Q I have a question about memories. I remember reading one of your answers to another question a while back where you touched on this subject, but I can't seem to find it anymore. (Your FAQ section is getting quite large!)

Are one's previous musical memories translated (for lack of a better word) into this new way of hearing as one becomes more proficient? For instance, would I be able to hear the scale degrees of, say ... some melody from my childhood, even though I would not have listened to it since changing the way I hear? I'm trying to be specific; I realize that this is a broad topic.

I'm concerned about my ability to come up with ideas by ear with this method. I have no doubt that I will become much better at comprehending what I physically hear and hearing scale degrees that I read on paper or think of in my head. However, I wonder how my spontaneous, creative ability will be aided.

Let me put it this way. When I was little, I used to go to the piano and just start coming up with little songs by ear with no regard to theory. These songs were, necessarily, just little bits and pieces of songs from my memories put into a blender and spewed back out wherever my brain thought they fit. I imagine that this is true at all times when coming up with things by ear. Of course, hardly anyone composes music or improvises in a strictly analytical mindset; we all draw from inspiration and feel it out at least part of the time. I guess my question is this: how is this aspect of musicianship affected by changing the way I hear? Will I be able to use this method to identify things just popping into my head from a lifetime of musical memories?
A If you either sung a melody or heard a melody from your youth you would have to listen to it with your new ear training ability in the same way as you would any new melody you might hear. You ear/mind doesn't automatically know something. For an analogy, if you learned algebra you don't automatically know the answers to algebraic equations unless you do the math.

On the other hand once you can hear and you start listening to and processing melodies you will find they are easy to remember because you now have a system of organization of pitch via the contextual ear training.

Your creative ability will be revolutionized with this ear training. Once your mind has a firm grip on what notes sound like it will have a much greater ability to to put together melodies of higher complexity. But remember these things don't just magically happen you have to work with your creativity like it's a muscle to develop it. A good book to read on this is "Matisse on Art"

AUTHOR Matisse, Henri, 1869-1954
TITLE: Matisse on art / [edited and with an introduction by] Jack D.Flam.
EDITION: 2nd ed.
PUBLISHED: Oxford [England] : Phaidon, 1978.

Once your ability with the ear training improves you will be able to identify things just popping into your head from a lifetime of musical memories. Once again you need a conscious effort to do this it doesn't happen automatically until you are many years down the road and you just "hear" contextually as a natural event in your musical life. Once you get there you will still run into complex situations where it takes your ear time to grow into the situation. Take the improvisations I do over my 12 tone music or the music I record with the group Spooky Actions. see:

http://www.muse-eek.com/record/record.html

These note combinations and harmonies can take time to settle in your mind because of their complexity. I would also recommend you read Eric Kandel's book on memory so you start to understand what is going on up stairs in your mind.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0805073450/qid=1138891810/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-2290163-0362448?v=glance&s=books
 
Q 1) Your audience seems to be mainly adults. At what age would it be appropriate to start ear training with your program? What's the youngest age that you would suggest?

2) If your books/CDs are not appropriate for children, is there some other resource that you could suggest? Or some other training besides formal ear training that would benefit a young person who may have some singing talent?
A I think with parent supervision a child around 5 or 6 could start on the One Note Ear Training CDs. I think a child would have to be 8-10 to understand the Fanatic's Guide Singing book. If a child could be exposed to the concept that all 12 notes have a unique sound and that they need to memorize that sound I think you would find small children would pick this up quickly. I know one friend who offered their child a quarter for every note they got right on the CD. Within six weeks they had to stop because the child could get all the notes.
 
Q Just a little update, I've received KNR and had a bit of a listen to it. Couldn't identify any pitches. They all sound the same. Realise that it will take a while for my ears to adjust but I think it's just a little too advanced for me right now and I'm happy to keep working on the fundamentals. Remember you advising someone in the FAQs to practice more out of the Fanatic's Guide till his key retention improves.

I've been working diligently out of One Note Advanced and am definitely averaging more than 80% and possibly 90% on good days. Experiencing some major phases where I'll drop to low 80% for a few days then climb back up again with greater clarity and a marked improvement. I suppose this is part of the process of reprogramming your aural perception that you speak about in your books.

Have had good progress with Fanatic's Guide and worked through the pitches as recommended 1, 3, 5, 2, 4, 6, 7, b3, b7, #4, but I'm stuck with #1. Have been keeping at it for about 3 weeks now with almost no improvement. Can't pre-hear the right pitch at all and can never remember the right pitch when I come back to it a few hours later. Only possible improvement has been that I can now sing it in tune most of the time, and if there's any slight wavering I notice and correct it immediately (checking with a pitch pipe).

Re-read relevant bits of your books just to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong and came across the particularly inspirational bit on 10% talent and 90% fanatical hard work.

Decided that I've got to increase my practice time:-
Started at 3x10min One Note Advanced and 2x15min Fanatic's
Increased to 4x10min One Note Advanced and 3x15min Fanatic's
=> Noticed improvement on One Note and slight progress on Fanatic's (but only very slight)
=> Can't concentrate for 15min stretch on Fanatic's, 10min works better and is more effective

And this evening just decided that after another week at the previous mentioned level that the practice time somehow isn't enough and I'm not really getting anywhere.

So... I remember you saying possibly an ideal schedule is 10x10min (5min One Note + 5min Fanatic's each time) spread out through the day.

Might seem a little extreme, and is going to take up loads of time. But I'm still going to work at it and think little steps each day.

Am I on the right track here? Hope so ... music is an all-consuming passion. But is also such hard work ... If it helps I've been working at this diligently for about 6 months now.
A That all sounds good. I would do some work out of the KNR everyday too. Think of the sound of each note as a sphere. The one note ear training and the singing show you one part of the sphere. KNR shows you another. At the end you will realize it's all the same sound but it takes time for your mind to hear sound in many contexts before it realizes it's all the same. I'd also recommend doing the Direct Application CD. That will give you another side of the Sphere.
 
Q I'm enjoying the beginner ear training very much. It's like a trivia game. I keep track of my results each time I practice and I'm currently at 10% correct.

Two questions:

1) If I were to construct a staff notation with ledger lines to help me visualize the sounds, what would be the lowest and highest notes and how many octaves would it span.

2) Is this visualization of the notes a good thing to do?
A The notes on the Ear Training CD cover all 88 keys found on a traditional piano. This covers the range of all acoustic instruments.

It is fine if you want to write down in staff notation where each note is existing. I would recommend using 8vb and 8va symbols when the notes go out of the grand staff range. see:

http://www.music.vt.edu/musicdictionary/text1-9/8va.html

The grand staff is a treble and a bass clef together. see:

http://www.musictheory.halifax.ns.ca/1gs.html

Visualization is a good thing but an extra step to take. Many students find it easier to just concentrate on learning the sound of the notes first and then tackle the visual placement on a music staff.
 
Q I've been working on ear training for over a year now, it's slowly starting to come along. I can pre-hear the major scale pretty consistently (struggle with the 4 sometimes), and the non-diatonic notes are slowly coming in, not very consistent yet, I usually have to guess then sing up or down to find it. I can tell it's right when I get to it.

I've been working on two note for a month or two, volumes one and two. I can hear almost all of the modulations, regardless of the register. I'm starting to pick the notes apart as well, it's not very clear though. I've been singing out of the Lines book , I can usually hear the note I'm singing relative to the key center but can also hear it relative to the other note I'm playing, kind of like a way to check. The other exercise I do is singing each tone over a different key center (this is the pre-hearing that I mentioned in the first paragraph).

Basically, I just wanted to give you an update and see if there was anything I'm missing or should be doing differently.
A Please do not sing up or down to a note if you sing a note check it on a instrument if it is not correct do the exercise again.

If you are also hearing notes relative to one another then you are doing two processes one after another. Please do not listen for the distance relationship between notes.
 
Q I have almost passed the intermediate stage of the one note series. I am able to hit 90% overall (100% on the diatonic notes). There are two things that I needed to talk about.

I haven't been trying to hear resolution, but it is something that seems to have just happened (and I know that it is something that you frown upon). When I hear a note after the cadence is established, in my mind, I see something like a "horizontal scale or line", with the root "do" at the extremeties. The note that is played appears somewhere in the middle and I am able to tell what it is. If I am not able to tell immediately, the note seems to move towards one of the extremeties, telling me its identity. Note that I don't sing up or down to the root, it just happens in my mind. Is this something that I need to consciously work against?

I have also been trying to apply my training to a real song, and haven't quite got the idea of how I need to approach this. Take a simple song in the key of G. Assume it starts with a couple of bars of G, which establishes the root. Then the song moves to a D7. If
the bass plays the D note, I am able to tell the new chord quite easily. However, how is the C note in the D7 chord supposed to be heard? Is it as a minor seventh of the D chord or is it the 5th of the key, which is G? A progression like C-D7-G is often apparent because we hear it in so many songs, but that is not the way I want to approach transcription of songs?

How does it happen for you? I know that ear training is something to be repeated until the sounds get memorized, but I am trying to apply the one note studies to music that I listen to everyday.
A You need to consciously work against hearing a resolution it will be very bad for you and you will never properly understand nor profit from this ear training. You stop this by controlling your mind.

If you don't have the one note ear training down I don't think it's a great idea to start applying it to real music. That's like not knowing the alphabet but trying to read and write. If the C note in your example is heard in the key of G then you will hear it as the fourth.

If you go against my advice and still feel you must apply this before you understand it then please do it only to melody notes against a repeating one chord.
 
Q I do hear a difference between notes. I should just listen to the notes, memorize what each sounds like and worry about their relationships in music later? I'm just wondering if i need to know this stuff before hand to do the ear training correctly. if it's just a matter of memorizing what each note sounds like then I'm set.
A Yes it is just a matter of listening and memorizing the sounds to start with but as you develop through the various levels of this ear training program you are going to need to know many music theory relationships in order to use this ear training effectively. Here is an example. You hear a melody and you recognize that the notes are the 5th, b7 to the b3. You realize that these notes are in the key of Gb. Can you quickly recognize that these notes are 5th=Db, b7=Fb, b3=Bbb. If you don't know these notes in the key of Gb quickly then the ear training is not that useful. This is just one example of many where learning music theory will help you to apply your ear training abilities.
 
Q I have a lot of respect for anyone who forces us to regard music in a novel way especially if it adds to our understanding. I must say that after reading your Ear Training One Note Beginning Level, I can only conclude one thing: Your method is also about intervals but, quite rightly and cleverly, you are relating the intervals to the key center and not to different notes in the key.

The anology you give about learning colors as a child is not the best one or it needs clarification. Children probably learn blue is blue in relationship to other colours where the "color center" is probably white.

Your method is an interval method but the right one because it uses the key centre. What do you say?
A Glad you are finding the Ear Training helpful in developing your aural skills.

An interval is "the difference in pitch between two tones." A sense of key or a key center is not a tone therefore your understanding of the word interval is incorrect.

The purpose of the analogy about color is to get students to realize that they shouldn't use referential learning to memorize the sound of each note against a key center. It is also used to help students realize that they need to have instant recognition of a sound just like most humans have when they see a color. If you would like to learn more about recent developments in the understanding of how memory works in the human mind I would suggest the following book:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0805073450/qid=1141358956/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_4/104-5388660-9935955?v=glance&s=books

or any of the other books by Eric Kandel

I would also suggest you read the FAQs about the ear training method on the muse-eek.com website. I'm sure the questions other students have asked will help you understand the method further. Here are a couple of links:

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/ET_1_note_complete/eartrngfaq.html

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/fanaticsguide/fanaticsfaq.html
 
Q I have bought your ear training one note complete and love the concept. However, for all the discussion of learning the context of notes in a key - the answers (given on cd - and in the book itself) are the actual notes - G, B flat, F sharp etc. Not 'a majpr third' 'a perfect fifth' etc. Would it not make more sense to give the answers in interval form as we were told throughout the book that that is what is important?
A I suggest that a student should be equally interchangeable with notes and degrees in all keys. As you progress through the various ear training books you will see how this is a requirement. Your question was actually already answered in the FAQs for the Ear Training One Note Complete book. You can find that answer and many more discussions at:

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/ET_1_note_complete/eartrngfaq.html
 
Q I went to the FAQ and read many of the questions related to perfect pitch. It's nice to know that only about 5% of your talented musician friends have PP. Despite playing guitar and studying music for over 20 years I always felt outside of the "inner circle" because I don't have PP, but no more! I will continue to work on relative pitch.

I once read that according to the overtone series, an A note in the key of C is not exactly the same pitch as an A note in some other keys. But with tempered tuning there is a kind of compromise to allow playing in all keys. As you mentioned, people with PP can tell if a C note is a little sharp or flat. Do you think a singer with PP sings/hears notes in agreement with the natural overtone series of a key center, while a guitarist with PP hears notes in relation to a guitar which uses tempered tuning?
A I think you are confusing the natural phenomena of the overtone series with how someone develops perfect pitch and identifies sound based on perfect pitch. You are not born with perfect pitch you develop it, usually in your childhood, by hearing pitches on a musical instrument and through hearing music. While the timbre of sound and our recognition of instrumental qualities has a lot to do with the overtone series people do not develop perfect pitch based on a system of frequencies that aren't represented in the 12 tempered notes used in western music.

I would also like to point out that the email support I offer for my books is suppose to be about the subjects in my books and not about tangential subjects. If you have a question related to one of my books I would be glad to answer it. If you have questions or want to learn more about the overtone series I suggest you read The Acoustical Foundation of Music by Backus, The Harvard Dictionary of Music and the Computer Music Tutorial by Curtis Roads. All these books will help understand the various aspect of music and sound.
 
Q I'm a guitarist and have played for many years. I recently decided to go back to school for music. I'm doing pretty good but I'm having trouble with my ear training class.The teacher seems like a good teacher but I'm struggling. My sight singing is getting better little by little but I tend to get intervals and chords wrong often. Some intervals I hit everytime but others I keep missing. I was figuring there has to be a better way and I came across your books.They seem like there what I'm looking for and they had good comments on the reviews. My question is what book or books do you recommend me starting on? Do they work on recognizing different seventh chords too?
A If you wanted to use my books to help your ear training I would recommend starting with

Ear Training One Note Complete
http://www.muse-eek.com/books/ET_1_note_complete/lower.html

Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training
http://www.muse-eek.com/books/fanaticsguide/lower.html

Since my type of ear training is different than the interval training taught in schools I'm not sure of the immediate benefits you will receive from my ear training. For instance you won't be identifying seventh chords until you do multiple note ear training which is quite a few years down the line for most people. On the other hand if you do work through my books you will find that you can actually hear music and know the pitches you are hearing. The interval method taught in schools will only bring you limited success. So I guess the bottom line is I can help you become a better musician but probably won't get you a better grade in school.
 
Q I have a few questions regarding your ear training method and its application. I know little when it comes to ear training, but what I read from the Internet and other books puzzle me. Here they are:

1. Is your method in accord with what they call functional ear training? There's a book called functional hearing which seems to train one to hear notes and chords in the context of its key, but they use only a root note as opposed to the cadence used in your book. Does this sound more like interval training?

2. You teach how to hear the note degree in relation to the key. I think this works in ensemble context. But does it work for sole melody line? For example, will I know the degree of notes when I hear someone sing Amazing Grace without music accompaniment? Or, in other words, do I hear the key when I only hear melody?

3. Although you advise against interval training, aren't there any merits to it? I think interval training is not that bad and should be applicable to several situations, otherwise lots of musicians would also banish it. Perhaps singers can benefit when using it to harmonize the lead singer? Could you give some examples of when one method is better than the other? Although I can see that your method should be superior, but in every way? I'm not really sure about that.

My questions might seem like an attack, but please understand that these are out of my curiosity with no negative intention whatsoever.
A I haven't seen the functional hearing book so I'm unsure if it's the same. I would really doubt it because the exercise of hearing one note against a cadence is only one part of the series of books I have for ear training.

If you have music that doesn't have chords behind it you will develop a "sense of key" as you work more with my ear training so that you will recognize even one random note as some degree of a key center that is currently floating through your head.

There are merits to interval training though I'm not sure why you would need intervals if you know what the notes are in a key center. Please remember that if you hear an interval like a perfect 5th there are 12 possible 5ths in western music. So, hearing an interval in most cases doesn't do you much good. I find that many students that work or have worked a lot with intervals will have a very hard time with my ear training. This is especially true when they get to the 2 note exercises. An explanation of this goes well beyond what you would understand if you haven't worked through the ear training course.

Your concerns about the ear training are warranted but what I find with most people is they don't really understand ear training on a very deep level. I mean no attack on your understanding but most students really don't understand the subject. In some cases it takes people years of work with my method before they seem to really understand. Maybe that's a reflection of my teaching ability but I think it's mostly a reflection of ignorance of the subject and preconceived ideas. You can read some of the FAQs at:

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/ET_1_note_complete/eartrngfaq.html
http://www.muse-eek.com/books/fanaticsguide/lower.html

By the way about musicians banishing interval training. Just remember that it took 2 or 3 hundred years after Galileo discovered that the earth was not the center of the universe or our solar system before it was accepted as truth. I find very few musicians in NYC that have much good to say about interval training. Mostly because they find it has limited use but I also find that many musician just develop the type of ear training I teach after 30 or 40 years on the bandstand. I'm just trying to speed up the process. So you can get it now or you most likely will get it later if you are lucky enough to have a career in music that allows you a lot of performing and interaction will high quality musicians.
 
Q I just received your one-note complete method ear training book. I do think it will be a preferential way to learn ear training, but I would like to reiterate what one member in your FAQ section already stated. I feel strongly the cd's would be much better if we were naming by scale degrees instead of note names. I realize you said that most beginners can't understand scale degrees and it would be easier to use note names, but how many beginners are going to be using an ear training method like this seriously? This is for advanced musicians, or at least those with advanced goals and those people would be able to learn scale degrees.

You say yourself, a 3rd in the key of C will sound like a 3rd in the key of A. I agree 100 percent. And to me that is the goal of realization your cd's try to instil. So why aren't we naming the sounds by that method? I do agree you should be able to know what the third actually is in a key, but that is a different topic altogether. For ear training, we want a method that will translate easily to any key, and by naming with notes, this cant be achieved. I have to translate every answer in my head to a scale degree, which isn't hard, but is a disappointment.

Just my two cents. Thanks for a great product, nonetheless.
A I know when you are starting out with something it may seem like you have discovered a great idea or flaw (whichever way a person may be looking at it). I think you will find as you move through the ear training course that indeed whether the notes were given as notes or degrees will not effect your progress or ability. Most of the time I find that students need work knowing what every note or degree is in every key. There are of course the Music Theory Workbooks for improving that aspect. You will find that both degrees and notes names have to be totally second nature especially when you move on to the Key Note Recognition and 2 note ear training. Of course day to day application of this ear training also requires an equal ability with both systems.
Q  I am a beginning singer, and I have been working with the David Burge relative pitch CDs. Your approach to ear training sounds different.
Would your method work in conjunction with interval training? Would I need a teacher to help me, or could I work with my guitar only?  As a beginner who has started learning to sing rather late in life, I have been using CDs of scales to sing along to and help with my pitch matching. (Brett Manning's
"Singing Success"). Is it ok to continue with this if I start your method?
A     Nice to hear from you.
    My method of ear training would not work in conjunction with interval training.  It is my belief through experience that interval training will have limited use when applied to hearing music in real time.  I find that most people who are able to hear music really have memorized the sound of each note within a key center and are not relying on the distance between notes to identify pitches.  I also find that people who have worked with my ear training have a harder 
time at the beginning if they have spent too much time learning intervals.  So it actually can hurt your progress towards hearing music by practicing interval training.  That said one would wonder why 99% of universities use interval training.  Since I've taught at most of the prestigious music schools on the east coast of the USA I could give some reasons but they wouldn't be that flattering.  At least NYU has begun to change because the head of the Ear Training 
program is one of my students.  Anyway it took 2 hundred years before the world believed Galileo

http://library.thinkquest.org/22584/temh3003.htm

when he said the earth wasn't the center of the universe so things take time.  If you are interested in switching methods I would recommend  starting with:

Ear Training One Note Complete
http://www.muse-eek.com/books/ET_1_note_complete/lower.html

Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training.
http://www.muse-eek.com/books/fanaticsguide/lower.html

I would also read the FAQs at:
http://www.muse-eek.com/books/ET_1_note_complete/eartrngfaq.html
http://www.muse-eek.com/books/fanaticsguide/eartrngfaq.html

These books and other helpful materials in the member's area of the muse-eek.com website make distance learning without a teacher a real possibility.  All my books have been designed to allow students to raise their musicianship to incredible high levels.  If you are serious about becoming a great musician then get started with the ear training and if you want to improve your guitar playing I would work through the New York Guitar Method which takes a guitarist from the 
very beginning and improves their level to the highest possible state.

The first thing we have to get working for you is the ability to recognize what different notes sound like within a key center.  Just singing a scale may or may not do this depending on first what you are listening for and second the type of scale you are singing third how you actually hear the scale.  So you can see it gets a little complicated.  If you were to play a drone (like a low C for the key of C) and then sing the scale that would at least give you a context for the scale sound.  This type of exercise is one of the things that is found in the Fanatic's Guide that I recommended earlier to you.  Remember over all you want to memorize the sound of all 12 notes against a key center.  Once you can do that you can sing any scale because you know the notes.  It's the same as language once you learn the letters of the alphabet you can spell words.  Singing scales before you know the notes is like memorizing sentences before you know what the letters are or for that matter what the words mean.
Q
 Hey, I hope you don't mind my asking for a bit of direction, but I've been looking all over online for a list of all possible tone rows for further sight singing practice. I know that in terms of the 12 absolute pitches, the number of combinations is 12-factorial (a pretty big number), but I was thinking in terms of tone rows from a single key, in other words, removing the redundancies of transposition, retrograde, inversion (which I can and should be able to do in my head anyway). I figured this would narrow things down just a little bit.

Do you have any sort of compilation like this among your books?
A
     I would recommend Sonic Resource Guide:

http://muse-eek.com/books/sonicresource/lower.html

This will give you the 220 possible pitch class sets in prime form.  Your initial step would be to  work on each set and make each degree a key center.  Therefore if you had the pitch class 027 you would need to sing this where C, D and G were the key centers.  Obviously pitch classes with more notes would have more key centers.  For instance if you had an 027 C,D,G this could also be sung over an F#7 chord because C,D and G are available tensions on that chord so there would actually be many more possible key centers to apply these prime forms.  Sonic Resource Guide lists these possible key/chord superimpositions so each set could be practiced in all relevant key centers.  You could use the vamps in the member's area as backing tracks for singing each of these key/chord combinations.
    `Sonic Resource Guide would also give you all 3 and 4 note chords where applicable along with other unique set information for different groups of notes so that could also be included in your sight reading practice.  As you can see this would be a very long project but would be a great education into key centers and of course enrich your understand of how various pitch class sets can be used.  I would also recommend

MY MUSIC: Explorations in the Application of 12 Tone Techniques to Jazz Composition and Improvisation

http://muse-eek.com/books/musofba/lower.html

So you can see some examples of applying various pitch class sets to modern music which is really where all this would lead you to.