Play Gospel Music By Ear
May 31st, 2008
Years ago when I first started playing I had trouble hearing chords and the different things that where going on in songs. So I was unable to figure them out. I could play but it didn’t sound exactly like the song actually sounded (back then) on the cassette tape. If was a sort of remix on my part. People could tell what I was trying to play but it just didn’t have everything there.
It has been a while now but as I reflect I can remember the process that I went through in developing my hearing. Now on most songs (Some songs still throw me for a loop) I can listen to them one time and be able to play them pretty accurately. Is this because I am so gifted? NO! I took the time and developed my ear on purpose.
As I look back this is what I did to learn songs by ear.
It helps to have a good radio with nice size speakers so you can hear the details of the song!
#1 I would first try to fiqure out the key of the song. The key of the song is the main note of the song. In a sense it is home base. This is something that you have to hear for yourself to understand. As you listen to a song and someone plays the particular key note of the song you can hear that it is the main note of the song. I figured the key of the song out by starting on C and moving up the keyboard in halfsteps slowy not skipping any notes until I found the note that sounded like the main key of the song. The more you do this the better and quicker you get at it.
#2 The second thing I did after finding the key was listen to bass guitar or bass line. Now I understand that It was good to find the key first because most songs bass notes are for the most part found in the scale of the key of the song.
What I mean is for example if you fiqure out that a song is in the key of C many times (not all the time) the bass notes will be notes that are found in the C major scale which are C D E F G A B. This helps your chances of finding the correct bass notes. Of course sometimes you will have notes that are outside of the scale being played but the main or majority of the notes will probably fall within the notes that are in the scale.
That’s why it is good early on in your development is to learn your major and minor scales in every key (all 12 keys). It will make it easier to learn songs by ear if you know your scales. If the song is in a major key you use notes of the major scale and If it is a minor key you use the notes of the minor scale.
#3 I then would listen to the choir in the song and what notes that they where singing. I didn’t know it back then but most choir songs are arranged with the choir singing the main harmony to the songs. In other words the choir notes can give you a pretty good cue of what the chord is that goes with the bass note. (I think BASIC choir songs are a good starting place for learning to play by ear. Not Tye Tribbet LOL)
Most basic gospel choir songs played on the radio are arranged in 3 part harmony for the choir to sing. (Saprano, Alto, and Tenor) I would listen to what the sapranos were singing and try to play it on my keyboard. I tried to play the exact notes that they sang. I had to keep rewinding and listen very closely. Its almost like you have to tune everything else out and just focus on that one part. I then did the same thing for the tenor part.
So now I had the outline of the chord and the bass note. When I played it together it started sounding kind of like the song. YEAH! If I could hear it I would try to plug in the alto note as well.
You can get pretty far with just doing these things. But you should keep going.
#4 I then would listen for riffs and licks. Most songs have licks and riffs in them. What I mean is most songs have licks that you will hear played by horns, guitars, strings, or whatever. I would try to figure these licks out within the song. This gave me more to play than just the choir parts and bass lines.
Putting all of this stuff together makes the song start to sound like the song.
#5 I started listening for the piano and what was being played other than the choir harmony. What I mean is the piano would play more than the harmony that the choir sang. I call those fill in chords. Chords that are not sang by the choir but are important chords to the song. Now this is a little more advanced to figure this out but you can.
The way I did it was I got people to write out chords for me for various songs. Over time I learned a lot of songs and my chord vocabulary got bigger. I knew various chords because I learned the songs that were written out for me.
I remember noticing that many of the gospel songs shared the same kind of chords and progressions (including feel-in chords). For example one song may have a particular chord progressions and another would have the same progression just maybe a little different.
You will soon realize that most gospel songs are similar to other gospel songs and many of the chords are the same for different songs just rearranged differently.
As you keep learning songs by ear and from other people (chord charts) you start to remember what particular chord progressions sound like. It’s just like when you where a child and you saw the color red for the first time. You probably didn’t know the name of the color. You kept seeing the color red and you learned the name of it. Now it is a part of you. When you see something that is red you without even thinking about know that it is red. So my point is likewise with music. The more songs you learn by ear, sheet music, chord charts or someone showing you will start to remember the sound of certain chords and progressions that happen alot in gospel songs.
So when you hear them in another song you say “oh yeah that sounds like the song I learned”. It probably has similar chords.
Remember we where talking about how to fiqure out fill-in chords.
To make a long story short you try different chords that you know to see if it sounds right for the fill in chords.
That’s basically it starting off.
Your ear is like a muscle and the more you do this the stronger and keener your musical hearing will become.(Your ability to hear the fine and subtle details of the music)
My first song took me about 2 weeks to learn to play. And it really didn’t sound like the actual song. I kept trying to learn songs and it developed my ear.
Now I can be in the car and hear a song on the radio for the first time. When I get to my destination, if there is a piano there I can sit down and play it pretty accurately.
Why can I do this? Because of years of doing the things I mentioned above.
It is a process but if you stick with it you will get better.
Let me know if this helped anybody. I will post more tips and things I did to develop my ear If anyone is interested. khollins@hmpi.net
Be Blessed,
Kenny Hollins
