Nostalgia here! Back at it again trying to learn something that I think will benefit me greatly on my musical journey. In recent years, I’ve learned to play guitar, and earlier this year, I’ve learned to play the ocarina. I’ve also learned to read the treble clef pretty fluently this year. But now I want to learn to play by ear Instantly. Let’s see how that goes!
My Musical Background
If you’re new here, long story short, I dabbled with a lot of instruments (keyboard, recorder, clarinet, viola, drums) in my youth, but I wasn’t great or talented at any. Give me a few days or weeks, and I can learn a song well enough to perform it, but I couldn’t read fluently, I couldn’t create or improvise, and I definitely couldn’t jam out with a band. I would usually write down notes, or take my time to figure out the notes, and then memorize it.
In 2020, I picked up guitar to bring my band dream to life. The fretboard made patterns easier to see, so theory finally started to click in my head. As a logical learner, understanding that scales all have the same pattern, and that a lot of songs use the same progressions in a different key, it just allowed me to learn and memorize things a lot faster. I also was able to improvise and create my own licks, which was really cool and brought up my confidence, but I had no real use for it.
In 2021, after bringing a rookie group together, I started this blog and documented my journey learning the instrument, sharing everything I’ve learned on the way, and my experiences performing on stage. We actually got to perform a few times at anime conventions and a Japanese festival, and fulfilled the mission of the band. In 2023, I came back to my Christian faith wholeheartedly, and vowed to use my newfound musical talents for God.
In 2025, I joined a new church which mainly plays hymns, and is against electric instruments and contemporary songs, so I decided to learn my ocarina. This was the first time I really pushed myself to read music more fluently as it wasn’t possible to memorize and perfect 4 hymns in 4 days. Within a month, I felt confident enough with the ocarina and reading to play, and it’s only gotten easier with time.
So that brings us here. I understand theory, I can read music, I can play the guitar and ocarina well enough to be considered intermediate……but there’s one skill I still suck at, and that is playing by ear.
Why I Want To Learn To Play By Ear
I’ll admit, I’ve been a strong advocate for learning music theory and progressions and the lingo of this realm as I think it is very important when playing in bands and orchestras, or working with producers and song writers. A lot of musicians, especially in the guitar realm, are people who learned by ear, and they are proud of that. They don’t care about theory, they don’t know how to read sheets, they don’t care. As long as they can play what they like and it sounds good, that’s all that matters to them. To me, that sounds really selfish, especially when I consider music a social or group activity in most genres….but I’ll also admit, perhaps I’m a little jealous of their ability to do so.
All my life, if I ever wanted to learn a song, I had 3 choices:
1. I Needed The Sheets. Growing up, when I was playing the keyboard as a child, I would have to write down the notes, and take my time learning to play bar by bar, and I could be spending weeks to learn only half a song. In band class, we would play beginner songs, and we often had a few classes before our teacher would try to conduct us, so it was more than enough time to work out the notes and memorize the song. Our drumline had sheets too, and our sections would also take our time figuring out the beat, and then just memorize our parts. So when I picked up the ocarina, I wasn’t new to sheet music, I just never had a reason to learn to read fluently and play instantly until now.
2. I Would See And Copy. Growing up, the keyboard I played had over 100 built in songs and a little screen that would show you what buttons to play. It also had a lesson feature in which you could learn each hand individually or together, and there was even a function where the song wouldn’t move forward until you were pressing the right buttons. A lot of the keyboard songs I still remember are songs I’ve played countless times on my keyboard as a child. I think this option also applies to guitar tabs or ocarina charts where they show you what buttons or strings to play, but you don’t know what notes or chords you’re playing.
3. I Would Take My Time Figuring It Out By Ear. My ears are trained enough that I could figure out if my pitch matches what I’m hearing, but usually, I would be trying out multiple notes to figure out what note that is. Sometimes, I could make a lucky guess, but I’m usually trying a few notes before finding the right one. So yes, I could learn a song by ear, and I’ve done so in the past like when I played viola in high school, but the amount of time it would take me to figure out the notes, write it down, and then memorize it, was embarrassing. Chords are a lot more difficult. Even if the progression is simple and predictable, figuring out that first and second chord can take me a while. It’s usually a lot easier or faster to just look up chords if they’re available, and I’ll force myself to figure it out if it’s not.
So what makes #3 different than what I’m trying to learn now? Fluency. I don’t want to have to have to play 2-8 bad notes before figuring out which is the right one. A full song probably has at least 30 notes in it’s melody, so that takes up a lot of time. I would have to write down these notes so I could play it faster next time, or spend time memorizing it. But even if I memorized it, I could forget it in a week, and now I have to go back to my notes or spend time figuring it out again. That isn’t fluency, that’s a guessing game. And if I was around other musicians who wanted to jam, I don’t have that time or option.
So my goal is to be able to hear a melody, or have a melody in my head already, and be able to play it on my first attempt. No rehearsal, no guessing, no bad notes.
Right now, I need rehearsal. I need time to review the songs in my own time before I feel confident playing in front of others. Sheet music or chord charts certainly allows me to play more instantly, but those won’t always be available for me. When the sheets provided don’t match the key of the song others want to sing in, it stresses me out because I can’t play fluently by ear.
For now, I’m just going to focus on melodies on my ocarina. If I could figure out the scale of a song, figuring out the chords or progressions wouldn’t be hard, but maybe I’ll take on learning chords by ear in the future as well <3
My Starting Point (September 2025)
My goal is to be able to copy melodies. While being able to hear a note and know it’s “Ab” is certainly impressive, I don’t think it serves much of a purpose for me when it comes to playing songs and improvising, so I wanted to focus on hearing and matching melodies. After all, if I could match the melody, I would know what notes I’m playing anyways.
I found a beginner and intermediate playlist from the Visual Ear Training Youtube channel. They play 3 notes back-to-back, so I thought they were perfect for what I wanted to do.
I tried the first 2 vids which were super easy. They stuck to basic notes and melodies like ‘Hot Cross Buns’ which I’m well acquainted with so it was easy to match. I was feeling a little cocky honestly, like perhaps I’m much better than I thought I was….
But below are videos #3 and #4, and I was already struggling. I had to pause a bit in the 3rd video to work out the notes, usually I was just a bit off and just had to correct myself. But by video 4, the jumps were high, and there were a lot more flats and sharps. I was able to get close, but still couldn’t match the pitch. To be fair, I’ve only had to go lower than C once on the ocarina when playing hymns, so I’m not familiar enough to play them….but I had to accept defeat when I couldn’t even match the higher notes. I think I was also tired after doing thiese 4 tests back to back.
At times, I did have a note that sounded right, but on the ocarina, if you blow a little soft, it can sound flat. So even though I’m trying to figure things out and may not play things confidently, I definitely need to play with more vigor to ensure I’m at the right pitch.
My Gameplan
So, what’s my gameplan? While doing a lot of tests can certainly help, I think tests are meant to be just that, ‘Tests’. There needs to be some kind of training and studying before you’re truly ready to be tested and can pass with flying colours. I’m clearly not at that point yet, so I’m planning to work on other things to train my ears and my hands.
1. Memorize More Songs
So far, I’ve only been reading and playing sheets on the ocarina. I’m happy with how much I’ve grown in that department, but it allows me to be quite lazy when it comes to understanding the music. After all, I can just see a note and play it. So I do plan to memorize more songs and work on recalling them, as this would help me be more aware of how each pitch corrolates to the holes I’m playing. I can also attune my ears to certain jumps in degrees.
2. Learn Scales (Major, Pentatonic etc.)
Scales are definitely great as it helps your hands and your ears align with one another. I think it’s very easy to only learn a couple scales and trap yourself in those, but I would like to be more thorough with my scales. If I know a song is in D major, then that already eliminates a lot of bad notes, and allows me to guess better.
3. Practice Improvisation
Improvisors certainly have a talent. They can play what they hear and imagine, and that also means they can copy what they hear and imagine. Even if I don’t really have a need for this skill in my musical career, I’m sure it will come in handy, especially if I make mistakes or I have to fill up blank space.
4. Count The Degrees
I’m so used to guessing around on my instruments til I find the right note, but perhaps a slower, more mental exercise is needed. When I do the tests, I will hear the notes and count how many semi-tones are between them, and then try to accurately play the note. I am a logical learner and thinker, so it may be a little more helpful for me in particular.
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