I’m very new to the banjo.
Could you share some techniques or resources to enhance skills like relative pitch, recognizing chord progressions, and identifying sharps/flats? I’ve tried using an ear training app called ToneScholar [ https://tonescholar.com ], which has been really good in improving my relative pitch. It’s for singers and voice exercises. I’m not a singer! I’m not looking for another app, i’m seeking tips or advice on how to develop my ear.
Thanks!
Interesting question. While very new to the banjo, it doesn’t sound like you are new to music. As a beginning Beginner, I’m new to both.
So I don’t know of any apps that will help you, but maybe these two things will.
Good luck!
I did Rick Beato’s course for a while. It was fun and I was making progress in relative pitch work, but I quit after a few weeks or a month.
I’ve always wondered what his courses were like. Did you just do his ear training program or did you grab the full package?
Hey @invisiblewasp, the #1 thing that aided my relative pitch skills was just trial and error – listening and paying attention when I hear a song playing somewhere, and trying to identify intervals that stuck out to me and the chord progression.
You won’t be able to do it perfectly at first, but make your best educated guesses as to what the chord may be or what that interval is in the melody. Imagine what frets you would need to play to play the basic melody on your banjo. Then, when you get home and are back with your instrument, verify and test how good your guesses were. You may be surprised at how much progress you can make without even holding your banjo!
Eventually, you’ll hear songs and begin to think “that part sounds just like…” and recall another time you figured out the same interval, chord, etc. in another song. As you go on, you get more and more familiar with how certain intervals or chord changes sound (some are just so recognizable!), and your training will simply build on itself.
It’s funny you posted this @invisiblewasp. I almost created an ear training series for this next batch of content. A request from my last camp made me switch and create some sight training lessons which you’ll see over the next few weeks, which means using your eyes to know what chords/keys songs are in.
I will be doing ear training soon!
One thing I loved learning on this site was that the major 7th chord “points” to the 4 chord. This may be a much smaller answer than what you’re looking for, but I’ll tell you this:
I went to my first jam about a month ago and just played chop (mandolin).
For some reason, my ear really “hears” when the 7th chord is coming up or “fits”, so even on some songs where I wasn’t 100% sure of the chord progression, when my ears were perking up hearing that 7th, I’d know almost instantly that the 4th was next, and to me, that was pretty cool, and it really helped my confidence too, for my first jam.
Here’s the lesson if you want to know what I’m talking about:
https://banjobenclark.com/lessons/circle-of-5-ths-exercise-using-7th-chords-mandolin-beginner
Thanks so much, @todd2! That’s exciting!
To clarify, the 7th chord you’re referring to is called the dominant 7th. The major 7th chord has a different sound.
I can’t wait!!!
I grabbed a package. The theory is covered by a PDF book. It looks good, but I haven’t spent much time in it. There were a significant number of tabs. I don’t think I have played any of them (but there was a nice variety). The ear training is basically a gameified version of interval recognition. It does work. I am not sure how much more quick it is than learning intervals by common songs, but it does allow one to take tests which is nice.
Thanks you! During my exploration of the ToneScholar app, I encountered an article that delves into functional ear training. Do you think this method is as effective as the one you suggested? The article is accessible through this link: https://tonescholar.com/blog/functional-ear-training-explained.
I did the seven-minute read of your suggested article and believe it is very similar to the ones I suggested. That means I couldn’t make heads or tails of it, like music theory. Some days I get it, most days I don’t.
And on most days I find it’s like trying to explain humor. It’s very difficult to explains why a pie in the face is funny, but it is!
There are so many ways to approach ear training, all of them provide positive learning and can even be enjoyable. In college nearly 50 years ago, you had to memorize all your intervals up to a major 9th by sight (on a page) and by ear (hearing them) and by voice (singing the interval both ascending and descending). Then you had to be able to do that with a metronome at 60bpm. It is amazing the new curse words you can come up with during that test.
Then there was dictation. Single line dictation can be difficult enough when the melody is particularly rhythmic and angular (jumps large intervals). Fortunately for me, I was quite good at this. During class testing an 4 part dictation (writing four voices at a time), the teacher for the class did not have a particularly good sense of rhythm and would often play the same 4 part dictation 3 different ways (they would play the 4 part piece 3 times during testing). To clarify, I would raise my hand and ask the teacher “which one of those did you want us to write down?” and then I would clap out the 3 different rhythms. Inevitably the answer would be something like, “I meant the 2nd one”. 
I was a bit of a smart a-- but mostly I did not want to get anything wrong.
My suggestion for folks looking to work on their ear training is to do it. Use your ears to figure out simple songs at first (two and three chord songs). Listen to singers and try to mimic their melodies exactly. Listen to music and identify major, minor and dominant 7th chords. When you hear songs on the radio, see how fast you can identify the tonal center of the tune (try to hum/sing the key tone as fast as possible). That is the beginnings of training your ears to HEAR better. 
How will I know I have correctly done this?
“Generally” the tonal center or “key” of a song will be a note that feels grounded no matter what chord is being played at any given moment. It also “tends” to be the first and/or last chord of a song. Finally, you can test yourself by looking up the music to the tune online afterward if you have doubts.