3 Advanced Ear Training Exercises You Can Use

You’ve made it; you’re at the height of your playing, and now the only way to go is up. It’s been a long hard journey, and it isn’t over yet. The peak is just within reach, but you’ve still got quite a ways to go to grasp it.

If you are truly ready for same advanced ear training exercises on bass guitar, take a moment and pat yourself on the back. It isn’t easy to get to this level, but you stuck it out.

You put in hundreds of hours training your ear. You built your skills from the ground up, and you are almost at the height of ear training.

Once you’re done patting your back though, it is best that you come down slowly; these exercises will be the hardest yet. They will test your ears in whole new ways, and they will take a lot of effort to master.

Exercise 1: Note Recognition Level 3

Krzysztof Penderecki.

This name will haunt you for years to come. Why?

Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima is one of the most disturbing pieces of music ever written by man.

It is also the ultimate test of your ear. Not only is it the ultimate test because it is so difficult to listen to, but also because it is so difficult to grasp the keys and notes being used within.

We told you it wouldn’t be easy to take your musical ear to the final level, and we weren’t lying; this is the hardest test your ear will ever face attempting to pick out notes. It will also be the most rewarding in the end.

Exercise 2: Interval Recognition Level 3

Jazz and fusion; yet another pair of words that will haunt you for months to come.

Jazz and fusion music are extremely complex forms of music. Not only do they use a vast variety of keys and concepts, but they also tend to alternate scales and switch into chromatics without a moment’s notice.

That, and there are the dreaded seventh chords.

Seventh chords are extremely difficult to pick out by ear. Your job is to learn.

Try to grasp the root note. This can be very difficult in some cases, as both forms of music tend to favor inverted chords, which can make it hard to pick out the key quality of a note. This means that you need your ear to be at its best.

The only way to do this is through exercise three, your ever favorite of all exercises:

Exercise 3: Practice

We cannot stress enough the importance of practice.

Practice will make or break your ear training. Without proper usage, just like any skill, your ear becomes rusty.

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