3 Tricks to get the Most out of Listening to Music

Now, we have so many tools that can help us play our favourite songs and artist However, in the midst of technology we should not forget about one of the main component in music which is Ear training A good musician has a good auditory skills To develop this skill you have to listen to a lot of music but to really hone the skill, you have to know how to effectively listen to music. How do you train your ears by listening to music?

1. Isolate the instruments

One of the very first exercise you should do is to be able to recognise different instrument in a song and understand how they are contributing to it. For example, start with bass, listen to the melody it is laying and then hear the drums, listen to the beat and tempo it is following. Once you got the beat and flow of the rhythm, listen to more complicated arts like the guitars and keys. Vocal should be the last thing you should concentrate. This will help you develop your musicianship and also understand different ways you can use your instrument to contribute in a song. This will make you a better musician as well as a better user of your instrument. However, it takes a little bit of time and sounds daunting when you are beginning with it, but once you have done it a couple of times, you will be able to segregate them in ease and understand each musical component in the song Yes, it will take out the leisure of listening to music as enjoyment but if you are looking to be a musician, you have to train your ears to differentiate different components of music.

2. Play what you hear

Now the next stage is to be able to interpret what you hear. Play a very small melody part of a song and then try to emulate on your guitar. You can do the same with chords, however it will be challenging for the first few months to exactly recognise the chord, but once you keep doing it and get familiar with the different sound of different chords and their relation between them, you will be able to figure out the basic chords that outlines the song. This exercise will help you even more if you know your theory and know the scales. Then you can relate the notes in reference to the scales which will help your own creativity and strengthen your understanding about the usage of scales. You can also keep some of the licks that you listen in a song for your own creativity. Also, in case of drummers, they will understand the way to use their rudiments in more practical and effective ways. Once you get used to it, it becomes easier to find the melody and chords you hear which is a great sign of a good musician.

3. Play what you see

Now that you are able to pick up melodies, chords and different rudiments, it is time to polish your techniques. For this, you will have to not just listen but also watch your favourite players play their lick or fills. Every technique has a different purpose to it and those techniques help you showcase different melodies with more dynamism Copy your idols or someone who has put up a video on that song Listen very carefully, what kind of musical sound each technique is making and try to emulate that in your playing. That way you will have a reference and also practicing to execute in the correct way. So along with your auditory skills, you have to also develop your comprehension ability to be able to take the most out of any song that you hear.

BlueTimbre is a unique Music Company that provides Music Education and  Recording Studio services. BlueTimbre also works with schools to provide end-to-end Music Education solutions for schools. 

The BlueTimbre team comes with decades of cumulative experience in running Structured Businesses, Music Curriculum Development, Music Education and Performance.