April 8, 2025

LearningUkulele.com - Playing By Ear?

Learning the Ukulele — Invest 80% of your learning time in the fundamentals of music, the basics, the principles of music - the chords, the scales, rhythm, etc... Leave 20% for the songs.

Hearing The Changes?

"Hearing The Changes" is knowing what the chords of a song or chord progression are and when they change. This lesson gets you on the road to developing this ability. This involves knowing the chords of the keys and scales that are used for common progressions and songs. And the ability to recognize the sound of intervals, the distance between intervals.

This involves knowing the Chords of the Keys and the Scales that are used for common progressions and songs. And the ability to recognize the sound of intervals—the distance between intervals that make up the chord. The major, minor, diminished, and augmented triads — the foundation of just about every chord—each have a distinct sound that you can learn to recognize.

Learning a bit or a lot of the Principles of Music can go a long way in understanding how these chords and chord progressions move and interact together. There is actually A LOT more in common between songs than one might guess.

Here is a FREE Basic Open Position Chord Charts ⇒ to get started with.

Some Tips for Learning to "Hear the Changes"

Hearing and figuring out the chords to a song takes the same skills as transcribing a song and is limited to the chords of the song. You might be doing it in real-time as you are playing the song or listening to the song.

Without, in the least, some skills mentioned above, it's often a hit-or-miss, hunt-and-peck method of figuring out what the chord changes are for a song.

Here are a few tips for figuring out the chords:

• Find where the chord changes are.
• Locate the bass or root of the first chord.
• Is the chord major or minor?
  • Major chords, the most common, are passive and sound resolved and peaceful, happy, relaxed, sometimes a bit bold. The majority of songs are in Major Keys and the I chord of the key/scale, the Tonic, is typically the home chord and at the end of a verse or chorus.
  • Minor chords have a sad and mysterious.
  • Diminished and Augmented chords are a bit of an unnerving quality. Very suspenseful. I, (Curt) call the diminished and augmented chords one of the movie chords. The augmented chord is great in horror movies, used for when you know someone is not making it out of that scene.

Root Voicings

At the heart of the overwhelming majority of chords are the basic traditional triads, the major, minor, diminished, and augmented triads that form the foundation of ALL chords traditionally built in thirds.

If the song is simple, then start checking to see if the chord is a traditional major, minor, 7th or power 5 chord. Or, maybe a contemporary sus4, sus2 or add 2, add 9 chords.

If it is a more sophisticated rich harmony, a.k.a. chords. Then try 4-part chords maj7, m7, 7, dim7, aug7, etc… These are often called "Jazz" chords, which are just 4-part chords.

With each success, on to the next chord. NOTE: Sometimes it is easier to figure this out on piano then the ukulele or guitar. You don't need piano technique, you just need to know how to make Simple Chords on the Piano and knowing the names of the piano keys — pretty easy on piano.

Bass Voicings

If the chord not quite right, but seems like the right chord but not the 100% the right root. It might be a chord inversion or Slash Chord ⇒.

If it sounds like a C major chord but now exactly the C chord you are playing, the lowest note might not be the root C. Try C/D, C/E, Cm/F, C/G, Cm/G, C/Bb, C/B, with the notes after the slash the lowest note in the chord voicing. If this fails, it could be any bass note with C as the name of the chord.

Checkout [Classic Endings for Ukulele ⇒)[https://learningukulele.com/lessons/code/UL125c] lesson for a common use of slash chords to create a descending bass line. The root movement of a descending bass lines is a great harmonic clue when trying to figure out, "Hear" the chord changes.

Cliché and Common Progressions with Distinct Bass Lines

Here are some examples of this type of progression.

• Cm Cm/maj7 Cm7 Cm6 ( Cm Cm/B Cm/Bb Cm/A) — This progression is typically notated wrong. You'll hear it after you become more familiar with the correct notation.
• C Cm7+5 Cm6 Cm7+5 — I call this the Secret Agent sound and it is typically supporting the melody. Witchcraft is a jazz standard that has this movement.
• C Cmaj7 C6 Cmaj7 — A common substitution for two measures or 8 beats of C
• Cmaj7 Caug C6 Cmaj7 or C Caug C6 Caug C

Repeat the process until you have determined each chord. Overtime, this gets quicker.

Check out Jim D'Ville's Play Ukulele by Ear • Three Chord Club ⇒ for many examples of simple songs, we already know that you can learn by ear.

Links and Resources

• Hearing the Changes ⇒ • Hearing The Changes is knowing what the chords of a song or chord progression are and when they change. This lesson gets you on the road to developing this ability.
• Playing by Ear ⇒ • Mastering the art of playing music by ear represents the pinnacle of achievement for any aspiring musician. The objective of this lesson series is to guide you towards attaining this goal. Whether it entails mastering melodies or chords, rest assured that it is within your reach.
• Piano Chords - Traditional Triads for Non Piano Players ⇒ • Everyone Should Know a Little Piano. And it is a lot easier to know the names of the notes on a piano vs. the Ukulele.
• Slash Chords ⇒
• Classic Endings for Ukulele ⇒ • Common classic song endings that are used over and over in the standard song repertoire.
• Jim D'Ville's Play Ukulele by Ear • Three Chord Club ⇒
• FREE Basic Open Position Chord Charts ⇒ • A few handy-dandy chord and reference charts to have — "handy".

For someone new to ukulele, start with this Series of Weekly Lessons ⇒ that will help you create a core foundation for future development. And, fill in some gaps in your existing knowledge and skills.

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Six Essential Scale for Ukulele

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