Audiating techniques

Harmony & Theory
#1

not sure if i have this in the right forum, but i will settle it here.

what are some of the ways you guys practice this technique?

for myself if i am learning a song by ear i just take it one chunk at a time. i try to loop the soundscape i feel best will fit the loop. say for instance i hear something minor, i try to loop just this part, the soundscape color if you will.

then i will let it loop a few times, mind you this is all slowed well below the intended tempo (gypsy jazz you know the stuff that can sometimes be pretty speedy) but just fast enough to not lose context. i try to listen as best as i can, really try to listen, this can be quite hard if people around me are talking, yelling, beckoning for me, but once i feel i have a grasp for it i will stop the loop.

at no time during this do i reach for the guitar, or hit notes, no this stage is trying to get my mind ready to audiate. after it is stopped i then try to rethink what it was i heard, try to recraft the sound in my mind. hear it as clearly as i can with my pea brain. then and only then do i try to play it, now if i notice it is a certain sound say diminished well then that is good that means i am getting somewhere. but i dont dwell on trying to identify sound to harshly.

my problem trying to do this with chords is that they almost seen impossible to audiate so i try to learn this part through videos of rhythm players who break it down chord by chord. i hope eventually this will lead to being able to hear these chords if i consistenly play rhythm guitar parts anyways.

the other technique that i have been thinking about but havent done would be to take a chord probably a v7 or major/minor, and take a scale within its scope. start with 2 tones inside this scale, play the chord, and drone it. now after i play these 2 notes a few times, possibly try to create some little diddy, then i stop playing, and i return to my mind to do it without the instrument. still listening to the droned chord, but just trying to imagine something using these 2 notes inside my thoughts. you know then i could progressively add more notes.

do you guys do anything like this or what are some of your audiating technique practices?

#2

Here are a few, in increasing levels of difficulty:

  • Take a song you know well, e.g Autumn Leaves. Give yourself the starting root note and then sing the root note of each successive chord. At the end (or however long you can do) check that the chord in your mind matches what it should be.
  • Instead of singing just the root of every chord, sing the whole arpeggio. Can you do all of them? Is the last chord on target?
  • Same exercise but instead of the whole arpeggio try to sing just the root and then one of the chord tones. E.g. root → 5th, root → 3rd.
  • Now, try to hear the root progression in your mind but don’t vocalize it, instead sing only e.g. the third of chord as you move through the chord progression.

What’s the goal of all this? Well, if you’re improvising your want to be able to pre-hear what’s coming and you also want to be able to pre-hear what a specific note degree will sound like in relation to what’s coming. You also want to train the mind to keep three musical thoughts at once: the current root, the upcoming root and whatever it is that you’re playing in the present. Great jazz musicians are hearing quite far into the future, but even just one chord ahead is plenty difficult!

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#3

A few things I have used to work on this and my ear is pretty good, not world class like Rick beatos kid but I can hear changes in a song just by listening provided it’s not some complicated Wayne shorter composition and can hear common subs you need to listen for in a band context like bII, Dim suspension of the I etc.

  • doing ear training exercises with jazz chord progressions on your phone or take a class
  • a lot of transcribing and lifting entire solos or ex excerpts
  • practice singing what you play when improvising
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