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The ability to recognise notes, chords and chord progressions in music is one of the most important, and most useful skills that a musician can possess. The benefits are enormous. A good musical ear enables you to work out the chords to songs just by listening, jam with other musicians, copy melodies and lead solos, compose music and much more.
These lessons will focus on developing your ‘relative pitch’ ability, i.e., the ability to identify notes and chords according to how high or low they sound relative to each other.

One way to achieve this is by ‘graded pitch matching’ using self assessment tests. At its simplest, it involves hearing a single note and finding it on the guitar within a very narrow range. Gradually, as your ear learns to distinguish the distance between notes with increasing speed and accuracy, we raise the difficulty level until you are comfortable, not only with single notes but combinations of notes as are found in chords, lead and bass runs and chord progressions.

There are four main areas that we'll focus on in developing your relative pitch ability:

PART 1. Single notes
This involves hearing a note and quickly finding it on the guitar.

PART 2. Melodic phrases
This involves hearing a short phrase of notes and retaining it in memory for long enough to locate and replay the notes.

PART 3. Chord type
This involves recognising chord types by their unique harmonic effect.

PART 4. Chord tone - pitch matching
This involves matching the pitch of individual notes of a chord and finding them on the guitar to recreate the chord.

PART 5. Chord progressions
This involves recognising the effects produced by chords when we hear them one after the other.

Lesson requirements
To follow this set of lessons you’ll need a properly tuned guitar. Use an electronic tuner for the most accurate results or tune by ear to the six string reference notes provided here.

Tuning reference - The 6 strings (low to high)

(Note* If you can tune accurately to the reference notes by ear you can probably skip the first few parts of the lesson)

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PART 1: Single notes

Level 1: Open strings
This section gives you practice at matching notes that aren’t too close in pitch. The six open strings are quite widely separated in pitch and with a little practice can be easily recognised.
The self test consists of a series of notes corresponding to the six open strings played in random order. The notes are played slowly at first but with gradually increasing speed. You have to find the correct string on the guitar before the next note is sounded.
Don’t worry if you hit a wrong string before the right one. Use that to guide you to the correct string. As long as you get to the correct note before the next one is sounded it’s a pass.

Self test: Find the notes sounded on any of the open strings.
open strings

How did you do?
1 – No problem – too easy
2 – Very well. I got most of them correctly and in time.
3 – OK but quite a few mistakes.
4 – Not so well. A lot of mistakes, especially at the higher speed.
5 – I’ve no idea. I don’t know if I was hitting the right string or not.

What to do.
1 – Too easy, It’s not your starting level. Move on to level 2

2 – Well done. Move on to level 2 - but come back sometimes if you feel you could do with some extra practice at this level.

3 – Keep at it. Also try listening without the guitar and try to imagine which string is being played. As there’s no way to know if you’re right or wrong, it takes the pressure off. Pressure can be a two-edged sword, forcing you to develop quickly but at times hindering your development by stopping you listening correctly.

4 – Keep at it and also play your open strings one by one and listen to the quality of the sound. Try to sing the note that you hear. This will give it more of an identity in your mind.

5 – Go back to the tuning demo in part one. Get someone or an electronic tuner to check that your guitar is actually in tune. Play the correct strings on the guitar along with the notes from the tuning file. Listen to the quality of the sound. When the notes are the same there is a unique resonant quality that different notes can’t produce. Play it again and again until you can learn to recognise that resonance. Then try it on the test file.

Level 2: Single string - open to fifth fret
This takes you to the next level of difficulty. Notes within the first five frets (including the open string) are played on a single string and you have to find them before the next one is played. Again the speed starts of slow but increases gradually.
This gives a choice of six possible notes as did the last test – but this time the notes are closer together and harder to tell apart.
There are three tests each representing different pitch ranges from the high first string, the mid range third string and the low sixth string.
You may find your ear works better in one range than in the other but it’s just a matter of focus and practice to bring your level up in all pitch ranges.

Self tests: Find the notes
String 1 – open string to fifth fret
String 3 – open string to fifth fret
String 6 – open string to fifth fret

How did you do?

1. No problem
2. Quite well. I could match most of them
3. I missed quite a few especially at the faster speed.
4. Not well – I couldn’t be sure whether I had found the right notes or not.

What to do

1. Your ear is sensitive to pitch differences even when the notes are close together. Move on to the next level.
2. Move on to the next level but come back and practice more at this level
3. Keep at it. Guess the note – wrong guesses will help you find the right note.
4. Keep at it. Try to sing the note both as you hear the test note and again as you play the guitar note.

Level 3: The full range – all strings to 12th fret
This section presents pitches all over the fretboard. The choice of notes is greatly expanded. The sound you hear is a sustained synth sound rather than a guitar synth. This is to give you time to find the note on your guitar while the sustained note is still sounding rather than have it fade out. Again don’t worry about guessing wrong notes –Use them to guide you up or down to the correct fret.
Also bear in mind that with this self test, the correct note can usually be found in several positions on the fretboard.

Self test: Find the notes sounded anywhere on the fretboard up to the twelfth fret.
All strings to twelfth fret

How did you do?

1. Very well. I could match all or most of them
2. Quite well – but some mistakes
3. I missed quite a lot especially at the faster speed
4. Not well – I couldn’t be sure whether I had found the right note or not.

What to do
1. Single pitches in isolation are no problem for you. Now you need to move on to the next level where you will hear related pitches in rhythmic groupings.

2. Move on to the next section 'melodic phrases' but come back sometimes and practise more at this level. Especially if you find the next level difficult.

3. Keep at it. Even if you’re not sure, take a guess. Wrong guesses will help you find the right note.

4. Keep at it. Try to sing the note both as you hear the test note and again as you play the guitar note. You may be able to slow it down in your media player. (e.g. Windows Media Player 9 has this function)

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Part 2: Melodic phrases

The previous section was designed to help you develop your aural response to isolated single pitches. Real music, however, doesn't contain notes in isolation but in relation to each other, not only in pitch, but also in rhythm. This section will focus on melodic phrases (i.e., groups of musically related notes) of the kind heard everyday in songs.

Level 1: Phrases on a single string
At first we’ll focus on short phrases, or phrase fragments, within a very narrow range. i.e., on a single string played anywhere from the open string to the fourth fret. giving a choice of five notes.

These tests have a pitch range of one note less than the previous exercises (five instead of six). There’s a reason for that. As this section features tests that are musical, rather than just isolated sounds, you should think of them from a guitarist’s playing perspective and play them in a fixed position, in this case, the first position of the guitar. Technically, playing guitar in the first position involves using one finger per fret, i.e. first (or index) finger plays the note on fret one, second finger plays second fret and so on up to the fourth fret played by the fourth finger. Try to adhere to this fingering when playing the examples. Not only will you be developing your ear, but you will also be learning to associate pitch changes with efficient fingering technique.

Here are some test phrases on the three separate strings in turn. Each test contains four phrases and is confined to notes of the open string to no higher than the fourth fret. Each phrase is followed by a gap. Try to fill the gap by playing the phrase you’ve just heard. If the gap is too short, pause the file after each example and replay it as often as necessary.

Self tests

Test 1 – Four phrases on string 1 (frets 0-4)
Test 2 – Four phrases on string 3 (frets 0-4)
Test 3 – Four phrases on string 6 (frets 0-4)
(Answers below)

How did you do?
1. Very well – all or almost all correct
2. Ok – But I had to play the examples a few times
3. Not well – too many mistakes – or too slow

What to do
1. Well done! Move on.

2. Good – but you need more practice at this. Listen to the practice exercises again. Also try it without the guitar. When you hear the phrase, sing it back and try to visualise which frets are being held.

3. You need a lot more practice at listening to phrases. You might also need to drop back to the previous exercises. Listen to real music and notice how the melody has a shape. Follow the shape mentally as it rises and falls or stays the same. Try to notice if the melody changes by small steps or larger leaps (less common). Practice is the key.

Answers to phrase tests

String 1 phrases:
Ex 1 – frets: 013101
Ex 2 – frets: 310131
Ex 3 – frets: 420024
Ex 4 – frets: 2020420

String 3 phrases:
Ex 1 – frets: 0242420
Ex 2 – frets: 420242
Ex 3 – frets: 131134
Ex 4 – frets: 3131431

String 6 phrases:
Ex 1 – Frets: 023202
Ex 2 – frets: 320230
Ex 3 – frets: 242244
Ex 4 – frets: 2020424

LeveL 2: Melody
Tonal music
Most of the music we hear is what’s known as tonal music. All tonal music consists of a limited choice of notes that relate to each other in a special way, which is very good news for anyone wanting to identify notes and chords by ear. If music consisted of random notes, our job would be much harder. Tonal music, fortunately, doesn’t. Most of the notes of any tonal song or composition are taken from a ready-made series of notes (usually the major or minor scale) and music composed using those notes is said to be in the key of that scale. Simply put, it means that if a song is in the key of C major, it will consist mostly of notes of the C major scale, with special emphasis placed on the first scale note, C. If it's a simple song, it may not even contain all of the notes of the scale; if it's a complex song, however, it will more than likely introduce a few foreign 'out of scale' notes.

Major key melody
We’ll now extend our available notes to include all the notes of a major scale. The scale that we’ll choose (for no particular reason) is G major. G major, like every major scale is a repeating series of notes arranged in order of pitch. The notes of the G major scale are:
G A B C D E F# G
The note range that we’ll work on is from G on the open third string to G on string 1 fret3. The higher G is eight notes higher than the low G so we say it’s an octave higher (from octa = 8)

Here are the notes that we’ll be working with in tab form:

-----------------0--2--3-------
--------0--1--3----------------
--0--2-------------------------
-------------------------------
-------------------------------
-------------------------------
Notes of the G major scale

Play (and sing) the above scale over and over, both ascending and descending.

We’ll also include an extra low note on the open fourth string, because our example happens to include that note. You should be able to hear that when it occurs in the melody. It’s by far the lowest sounding note.

Now listen to the following well known melody (Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’) and try to find it on the guitar. If you keep practising, you’ll start to notice some of the essential and distinguishing features of tonal music, i.e., how some of the notes have a unique quality. For example, you might start recognising the note G because it sounds more restful or final.
There’s a good reason for that. It’s because we are playing in the key of G major. On its own, there’s nothing special about the note G, but when we hear it in the context of a G major scale, or as the key note of a piece of music in the key of G major, (i.e., music composed using notes of the G major scale) it begins to show this special quality.

Self tests

Ode to Joy (full melody)
Ode to joy (phrase by phrase)

Listen to the full melody version to familiarise yourself with it, then using the phrase by phrase example, try to fill in the gaps by playing the phrase you've just heard. Pause and replay the file as often as necessary.

Minor key melody
Now, to provide practice using a different set of notes and note spacings, we’ll try a melody in the key of E minor, i.e. using the notes of the E minor scale.
Minor key music is a little more complex because there are three slightly different forms of the minor scale, which means music in a minor key can be made from a combination of those notes.
The resulting set of notes of the combined scales of E minor is E F# G A B C (C#) D (D#) E and we’ll set them out as follows:

----------------------------0---
--------------0—1-(2)—3-(4)-----
--------0--2--------------------
--2--4--------------------------
--------------------------------
--------------------------------
Combined notes of the scales of E minor

Now listen to this melody by J.S. Bach from his Bourée in E minor. Again, there are two versions. First the entire melody is played from start to finish. Second, the music is played with gaps between the phrases. Again, try to fill in these gaps with the phrase you’ve just heard. Pause and replay the file as often as necessary.

Bourée in E minor (full melody)
Bourée in E minor (phrase by phrase)

You may notice notice that in the first half of the tune, the note E now has the feeling of finality that G had in ‘Ode to Joy’. That's because in the key of E minor, E is now the key note. Another note that displays a definite quality (or diatonic function to use the technical term) is the note D#. The function of this note (the seventh note of the scale) is to lead us to the key note, which gives it the name 'leading note' (US =leading tone). You may also notice that by the end of the melody, that feeling of finality has shifted from notes E to G. If so, well done. The music has in fact changed key from E minor to G major by the process known as modulation.
These are the musical signposts that we constantly look out for to tell us which key we’re in at any time. That, in turn, lets us know which notes and even which chords are likely to be used at any particular time. It can take a long time for these effects to become obvious. Don’t worry if you find it difficult to recognise them when you hear them, but the more you practise on real music (preferably simple songs at first), the more you will begin to notice them and be able to identify them.

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Part 3: Chord type

*note – Chord shapes are described in this lesson using the six digit method, in which six digits (left to right) represent the six strings (6 to 1) and the value of each digit represents the fret held, 0 represents an open string and X indicates an unplayed string. For example, the common four-string D major chord is shown as XX0232.

When it comes to trying to recognise isolated chords by ear, there are two things to look out for. One is the actual notes of the chords. If we can hear the pitch of the individual notes, we can easily reconstruct the chord using those notes. Unfortunately, that’s more difficult than listening to the pitch of single notes. The notes seem to get in each other’s way and it takes a lot of practice to mentally separate the notes enough to identify them. It’s like listening to two people talking at the same time – you don’t really catch much of either conversation unless you’re able to focus on one and block out the other.
That aspect of identifying chords by matching the pitch of their notes is dealt with in part 4. The other aspect to be aware of is the fact that when the notes of a chord combine, they produce a unique harmonic effect. It’s a sound associated with only that chord type. Recognising the chord type by ear is half the battle. All that remains after that is to find the pitch of the chord’s root.

Identifying chords by type

All chord types have a unique harmonic sound because of their individual notes combining with each other. Although all chords have different notes, it’s the gaps (intervals) between the notes that give the chord its characteristic sound. That means that, although all major chords, for example, have different notes, the intervals between the notes are identical (apart from octave differences). That in turn means that all major chords will have the same quality of sound, or harmonic effect, regardless of pitch.

THE MAJOR CHORD
For example, if you compare the sound of the chords, E major (02210) and F major (133211) they will sound different in overall pitch because their notes are different. However, the intervals between their notes are identical, so the harmonic effect of both chords will also be identical. Both chords will produce the unique sound of the major chord.

That sound is often described as bright, strong, positive, triumphant, etc
Often, you can be sure that certain songs must start on a major chord just by their title or mood, e.g.,
Happy birthday
Ode to Joy
All you need is love

Major chords can also sound sad, however, if played slowly.

Chord voicing
The voicing, of a chord refers to the how the individual notes are arranged. On guitar the arrangement is seen in the shape of the chord. If we compare two different shapes of the same chord, such as G major (320003 - GBDGBG)) and (355433 - GDGBDG) we’ll again hear a difference in the sound, but it's only a pitch difference between certain of the notes, simply because we’ve arranged them in a different order. The harmonic effect will be exactly the same in both cases, and also identical to the previous two examples E major and F major, i.e., the sound of the major chord.

Practice
Even though every chord type has a unique harmonic effect, some of them are only subtly different from others, and the huge variety of different pitches and arrangements (shapes) of chords can often obscure the character of the chord type. Practising listening to the harmonic effect of a wide variety of chords is necessary to be able to recognise the chord type by its harmonic effect.

Play some major chords on your guitar and listen to their harmonic effect.

THE MINOR CHORD
Now play some minor chords and try to hear what minors have that majors don’t – and vice versa.. The sound of the minor chord, especially in comparison to the major chord is considered dark, beautiful, sad, wistful, reflective, etc.

Here are some good examples of songs that start with a minor chord:
While my guitar gently weeps
The house of the rising sun
Comfortably numb
The Thrill is gone.

Major - minor contrast
Listen to the contrast when both chord types are heard in succession. Play the following chords in succession, repeatedly.
E major (02210) and E minor (022000)
Listen for a change of mood. Major to minor will appear to be darkening, or sinking – minor to major will sound brightening or rising. The difference is clear, yet the only difference in structure between major and minor chords is that the minor contains a note one semitone (half step) lower than the equivalent note of the major chord.

Self tests

Major and minor chords in pairs
Listen to the following eight pairs of major and minor chords. Notice the contrast between each chord and try to recognise by the change in mood (darkening/sinking or brightening/ rising) whether each pair is major-minor or minor-major.
Major and minor pairs

Single major and minor chords
These are isolated chords in various arrangements. This time, ignore any previous chord. Just listen to the quality of the sound as you hear it. If you’re not sure try to imagine singing a simple song with a strong major melody such as Frere Jacques. If the chord is minor, Frere Jacques won't sound right when heard against the chord.
Identify chord type as major or minor


Answers:

Major and minor pairs
1. Major - Minor
2. Minor - Major
3. Major - Minor
4. Minor - Major
5. Minor - Major
6. Major - minor
7. Major - Minor
8. Minor - Major

Identify chord type as major or minor
1. Major
2. Minor
3. Major
4. Major
5. Minor
6. Minor
7. Minor
8. Major
9. Minor
10. Major

How did you do?

If you found any difficulty with the first test, you definitely need to stay at this level for a while and practise playing lots of major and minor chords on the guitar while listening to them intently.

If you were successful with most, or all, of the samples in the second test, well done. If you found difficulty with the second test, don't worry. It's not really a fair test because the chords aren't strictly being heard in isolation. The previous chord heard can cloud your judgement because chords in progression have yet another distinctive quality which may be confusing you. Those tonal effects, as they're known will be dealt with later under the more advanced topic of chord progressions. For now, treat it as more of a practice session.

SEVENTH CHORDS

Seventh chords are the most common chord types after majors and minors, and they are all dissonant chords, i.e., they contain notes that clash. The level of dissonance can vary from subtle to jarringly obvious depending on the type of seventh chord in question, where it appears in a piece of music and also, to a lesser extent, on the actual arrangement of the notes within the chord, (i.e which notes are doubled or which is lowest, etc.) The note responsible for the dissonance is of course, the seventh of the chord. When it’s the highest note of the chord, the dissonance is usually more prominent than when it’s inside the chord.

Although there are several varieties of seventh chord, we'll focus on the most common types of seventh chord as they have distinctive harmonic effects:

The seventh (constructed from scale notes:1 3 5 b7)
This is by far the most common and most important type of seventh chord. This chord is also frequently called a dominant seventh. However, we'll try to avoid using that term until the final section dealing with chord progressions, where the term will be used with a more specific meaning. A distinguishing feature of this chord is that it sounds incomplete and often needs to resolve to a more stable chord.

The other seventh chord types that we'll look at are the The major seventh (I 3 5 7), The minor seventh (1 b3 5 b7) and The diminished seventh (1 b3 b5 bb7) .

Here are the above types of seventh built on the same root, played in succession:
A major7th, A7th, A minor 7th, A diminished 7th

Listen to the difference in sound and try to notice any distinguishing feature of their harmonic effect that may be helpful in recognising them in future.

Self-tests
Listen to the following paired sequences of three of the seventh chord types that are most likely to be confused (we'll leave out the highly distinctive diminished seventh until the next section as it's unlikely to be confused with the other types)

Try to identify which of two possibilities is being played:
Major or seventh

Seventh or major seventh

Minor or minor seventh

Answers

Major or seventh
Major, 7th, 7th, major, major, 7th
Major, 7th, 7th, 7th, major, seventh.

Seventh or major seventh
Maj7th, 7th, maj7th, 7th, maj7th, 7th,
maj7th, 7th, 7th, maj7th, 7th maj7th

Minor or minor seventh
Minor, min7th, minor, min7th, min7th, min,
min7th, minor, min7th, minor, min7th, min7th

How did you do?
If you found the tests quite easy, you are ready to move on to the other method of identifying chords - by the pitch of the notes contained within the chord.

If you found the tests (or certain sections) difficult, such as the minor and minor sevenths test, you can spend some more time listening to the differences between the different types of seventh. Notice how the chord containing a seventh has more of an unfinished feel. 7ths and minor 7ths sound more bluesy, and major 7ths sound more jazzy.

Other chord types
This section has been concerned with identifying the most important and most frequently encountered chord types by their unique harmonic effect, i.e., majors, minors and sevenths. Other chord types also have a unique harmonic effect (though often not so distinctive) and you should pay attention to the quality of the sound whenever you play any chord type. When you hear the chord in a song you'll have a much better chance of recognising it, as you'll begin to listen to chords in a more conscious way.

Coming next >>> Identifying chords by pitch matching

This will involve learning to hear and find the individual notes of a chord on the guitar. This method enables you to reconstruct chords on the guitar even if you can't figure out the proper name of the chord.

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Part 4: Chord tone - pitch matching

This is a useful method of identifying chords, especially if you're trying to work them out from a tape, CD or audio file where you can repeat the chord as often as necessary. While a chord is sounding, you play selected notes on the guitar and listen to how well the sound of each note blends with the chord. With practice it soon becomes apparent which notes are part of the chord and which aren't. As it becomes more apparent, the time it takes to find the right notes reduces significantly until you can almost do it in real time.

The key is to practise within a very narrow range, so that you have only a few notes to choose from. As you become more adept at finding the right note, you can increase the range of possible notes and reduce the time that the chord is played, forcing you to become faster AND more accurate.

Example:
Click to play chord

This particular chord happens to be played on four strings (XX????) and all of its notes appear no higher than fret 4.

Step 1: While the chord is sounding, play the open (1st) E string. How does the E note sound against the chord? Does it blend well, or does it clash? In fact, you might not know. It's hard to be sure. So what to do is play the other notes on that string, i.e., fret 1, fret 2, fret 3 and fret 4. Now it should be much easier to know which one sounds best. The one that sounds best in this case is fret 2. If you're not sure, play it over and over until you can hear that the note on fret 2 sounds 'right'
Now we know the chord, so far is XX???2

Step 2
Play the chord again and while it's sounding play string 2. Again the open string might not immediately sound right or wrong. Play the fretted notes up to fret 4 and decide which is best.
The one that sounds the best match is the chord tone you're looking for. In this case it's the note on fret 3.
So now we know the chord, so far, is XX??32

Step 3
Play string 3 open - and on frets 1 - 4 and find where the best match is. Hopefully you'll agree that the best match this time is found on fret 2.
Now the chord is taking 'shape' and we have XX?232

Step 4.
This is the final step as we happen to know this particular chord has only 4 notes. If we didn't know that, we could continue with another two steps to string 6. In practice, however, it's often not necessary to do that, as the chord shape virtually tells us what the chord is even before we've finished. You have probably already recognised the chord shape that you're holding as D major. So this step is probably more of a confirmation step. If the chord really is D major then string 4 will be played open for the best match. A quick check by playing it confirms that it is.
So the final chord is D major and it's being played as:
XX0232

Other possible notes
Even when we restrict the exercises to within the first four frets, it’s possible to find two possible ‘right’ notes on the same string . If you play string 4 on fret 4 you’ll hear a note that sounds good. That’s because it’s another chord tone (F#). The chord of D major consists of the notes D, F# & A, played in any order. The shape that we found is the familiar XX0232 consisting of the chord tones XXDADF#. If we had chosen the note on string 4 fret 4 instead of string 4 open, the notes of the chord would have been XX4232, which is still the chord D major - just a different shape. Very often, it doesn’t really matter if the ‘voicing’ or shape of the chord is exactly the same as that of the original or not. Just find the chord then refine it later if necessary.

The first four frets
You can focus your attention within the first four frets much of the time. That’s because most common chords have a familiar shape within that range. Even if a guitarist was playing a D major barre chord up at the tenth fret, you could still find it down at the nut as the familiar D chord that we found in the above example. It’s still a D major. If you decide that you want to play it at the same pitch as the one you’re hearing then, knowing the chord is D major, it’s simply a matter of using your chord knowledge to play it wherever D chords are to be found higher up the fretboard.

That's basically all there is to this method, and the rest of this section consists of exercises in the form of graded self tests to improve your speed and accuracy. All of the chords can be found within the first four frets. Your main aim is to get the chord, regardless of shape because in a real situation, it wouldn't matter so much. That would be even more true of chords originating on another instrument such as a piano, for example.

Double check that your guitar is correctly in tune before you begin. There is a tuning reference file at the start of these lessons in the single notes lesson.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Test your level

Chord 1 (hint: 5 string chord)

Chord 2 (hint: 5 string chord)

Chord 3 (hint: 5 string chord)

Chord 4 (hint: 4 string chord)

Chord 5 (hint: 6 string chord)

Chord 6

Chord 7

Chord 8 (hint: 6 string barre chord)

Chord 9

Chord 10

Chord 11

Chord 12

Chord 13

Chord 14

Chord 15

Chord 16

Chord 17

Chord 18

Chord 19

Chord 20

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

ANSWERS

Chord 1 = A major (X02220)

Chord 2 = C major (X32010)

Chord 3 = A minor (X02210)

Chord 4 = D minor (XX0231)

Chord 5 = E major (022100)

Chord 6 = E 7 (020100)

Chord 7 = G major (320003)

Chord 8 = F major (133211)

Chord 9 = G 7 (320001)

Chord 10 = A 7 (X02020)

Chord 11 = F major 7 (XX3210)

Chord 12 = B 7 (X21202)

Chord 13 = C 7 (X32310)

Chord 14 = B minor (X24432)

Chord 15 = F minor (133111)

Chord 16 = A minor 7 (X02010)

Chord 17 = G major 7 (320002)

Chord 18 = E dim7 (XX2323)

Chord 19 = F augmented (XX3221)

Chord 20 = F# major 7th (XX4321)

------------------------------------------------------------------------

How did you do? (If you can find the chord but it’s not the same shape as revealed in the answers, count it as correct.)

15 - 20
Well done. Especially if you find it before the end of the 20 second sequence. Go on to practise with real music. Play a track and try to find the chord in the time available before the chord changes. Use music styles that tend not to have chords that are too obscure, i.e. folk, country and easy listening pop, preferably slow ones. Then progress to styles that feature more obscure chords, such as Jazz.

8 - 14
Your ear is developing well. Stay with it and try to increase your speed. Use the remaining time to confirm your notes are correct. Trust your judgement more.

0 - 7
Keep at it. Remember you can also listen to the sound of the chord type as you learned in the last section. While trying to find the notes, see if you can feel the type of chord and let that guide you. If you make no progress, revise the previous sections and practise recognising chord types and single notes

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Part 5: Chord progressions

This final part of the ear training lesson looks at how chords relate to each other, and how they relate to the key of the song. With enough practice, and by knowing what to look out for, we can recognise many or most of these relationships when we hear them in songs, and then find the chords in any key.

Key
To recap some of what was mentioned in the melodic phrases section, all tonal music is music with a key and tonal centre. That means there is one note (and a chord built) upon) it that is more important than all the others. All the other note and chords relate to it in their own special ways. When we say that a song is in the key of C major, for example, it means that the note C is the tonal centre, or key centre and the chord built upon it, C major, is called the tonic chord or key chord, and often written as chord I in Roman numerals. In addition to that, most (if not all) of the other notes in the song, whether appearing as bass, melodies or as chords, will be the notes of the seven note C major scale (C D E F G A & B).

The chords that occur naturally on those scale notes are shown below and these are the chords that will be used most of the time in songs written in that key. Every other key's set of chords follows exactly the same pattern. If you know the chords of one key, you know them all.

I -------C major (the TONIC CHORD)
ii ------D minor (the SUPERTONIC CHORD)
iii -----E minor (the MEDIANT CHORD)
IV ------F major (the SUBDOMINANT CHORD)
V -------G major (the DOMINANT CHORD)
vi ------A minor (the SUBMEDIANT CHORD)
vii -----B diminished (the LEADING NOTE CHORD)

By convention, major chords are shown by upper case Roman numerals and minors (or diminished in the case of chord vii) are shown using lower case Roman numerals. The technical name of each chord is also given. This is mainly for reference, so don’t worry about trying to remember those. Just make sure you are familiar with the Roman numeral method of designating them.

The primary chords: I, IV & V
At first, it’s important to become familiar with the use of the three main chords that belong to every key: chords I, IV and V. As we are in the key of C major for now, those chords will be C major, F major and G major. One reason for their importance is that, in combination, they contain every note of the scale:
C major = C + E + G
F major = F + A + C
G major = G + B + D
So every note of the C major scale is present within those three chords. And that’s exactly why there are so many three chord songs in the world. Every scale note can be harmonised by at least one of those chords

Chord I - The tonic chord
This chord, called the tonic chord or key chord, sounds more complete, stable and balanced than the others when heard in context, and for that reason, the tonic chord is almost always the chord that ends any song or composition. It alone is capable of imparting the necessary sense of finality to the song. Choosing any other chord as the last chord will usually end the song with a feeling of anticipation – which could be a bit of an anti-climax if you’re expecting something more but don’t get it. The same chord is also capable of sounding strong and strident and for that reason is very often the first chord of a song too. To be more precise, it is very often the chord on the first strong downbeat of a song. This isn’t always the case though, but it’s common enough that, if you know the key of a song, you can be sure that the key chord isn’t far away.

Chord V - the dominant chord.
This is also very important as its technical name suggests. Chord V - The dominant chord, (unlike chord I, the tonic chord) is very dynamic and never sounds final – it wants to lead us back naturally to chord I, especially when it appears modified as the dominant seventh chord (G7 in our example key of C). Most songs end with those two chords: V (or V7) to I

Chord IV - The subdominant chord
This chord also feels active but in a different way to chord V. When we hear it after chord I, it feels like a strong, often emotional, lift up to a new level. Many songwriters take advantage of this natural effect by starting a new section of the song by rising to chord IV. Some well known examples include:

1. Wish you were here, by Pink Floyd – After the extended intro ending on chord I, the chord changes to IV for the verse. The accompanying emotional rise at that point is one of the highlights of the songs, and is purely as a result of chord I rising to chord IV.

2. The streets of London by Ralph McTell – As each verse finishes on chord I, the chorus then starts on chord IV. The strong emotional lift is often accompanied by people joining in singing.

3. Blowing in the Wind, by Bob Dylan. – The well known chorus “The answer my friend…” begins on chord IV having risen from chord I. The emotional lift makes it highly memorable, as Dylan obviously intended.

Play and listen
Try playing the following chord sequences on your guitar and familiarise yourself with the distinct sound of the progression, rather than the individual chords. To put it another way, we're not so much interested in how chord I sounds, but how it sounds after we've just heard chord V. As you’ll be using the guitar to play the chords, we’ll change the key to A major to make things easier for beginners, not yet comfortable with the chords C, F & G. First play an A major scale to put your ear into the key of A major. Your ear will then accept the chord A major as the key chord.
The scale of A major is A B C# D E F# G# A and the primary chords are (I) A major, (IV) D major and (V) E major (or E7).

Chord I moving to chord V (A / / /|E / / /||)
Chord V moving to chord I (E / / /|A / / /||)
Chord V moving to V7 then to chord I (E / / /|E7 / / /|A / / /|)
Chord IV moving to chord I (D / / /|A / / /)
Chord I moving to chord IV (A / / /|D / / /)
Chord IV moving to chord V7, then to chord I (D / / /|E7 / / /|A / / /)

Try some three-chord test exercises.
Find the right chords given a choice of only four, A D, E & E7. (or I, IV, V & V7). Each test contains only three of those. Try to identify them in the following sequences. They will all end on chord I, (A major):

Progression 1

Progression 2

Progression 3

The way to find the right chords in these exercises, and also in a real three-chord song is mostly trial and error at first. If you’re on chord I and you hear a change of chord is happening, then you’ve only two choices: chord IV or chord V. If you can’t tell which of the two is correct, try chord V the most common choice. If that doesn’t work then it must be chord IV. If it is chord V, you can try it with or without the seventh, both will sound right, but the seventh will make chord V want to go back to chord I more urgently..

Here are the answers:
Progression 1
I --- IV --- V --- I (A --- D --- E ---A)

Progression 2
I --- V --- IV --- I (A --- E --- D --- A)

Progression 3
I --- V --- V7 --- I (A --- E --- E7 --- A)

What are three-chord songs?
With practice it becomes easy to guess when a song is a three chord song. They have a simplicity about them that tells you they have three chords (or maybe four at most). Just about every nursery rhyme with a tune to it has only the three chords, I, IV & V, so too have countless country and western songs, blues, folk songs, pop and rock songs. Blues and Rock and Roll songs have countless three chord songs, but jazz, classical and more sophisticated rock music will tend to have many more.

Even if a song has more than three chords, you can approach it as you would a three chord song. That means, you should expect chords I, IV & V to be used most often and in predictable places. When it comes to finding a chord which apparently isn’t any of those three then it’s time to look further afield, to the secondary chords.

The secondary chords ii, iii & vi

(Remember chord vii is being ignored as it’s not so useful, and rarely occurs. When it does make a rare appearance it is almost identical to chord V7)

After chords I, IV & V the next most important chord is chord vi (The submediant). Many songs have just four chords and they are I. IV. V & vi. If we go back to our original example key (C major), then chord vi is A minor.

When we move from chord I to chord vi, or vice versa, the effect is quite subtle. That’s because those two chords are very similar. They share two notes: C major = C E & G and A minor = A C & E. However, the single note change from C to A or A to C is also quite distinctive.

Following chord vi in importance are the two remaining secondary chords, ii and iii. In our example key they are Dm and Em.

Minor keys
Everything mentioned so far, also applies to music in minor keys with a couple of differences. There are three forms of the minor scale, which combine to give us a couple more chords to choose from. For example, the key of A minor is the relative minor of C major and in its natural state has exactly the same notes and chords – (but starting on A rather than C). With the extra notes from the modified versions of the minor scale (the harmonic and melodic minor scales), we get the following chords.

A minor
B diminished (rare) or B minor (quite rare)
C augmented (rare) or C major (common)
D minor or D Major (both common)
E minor (quite common) or E major (very common)
F major (common)
F# diminished (rare)
G major (common)
G# diminished (rare)

Play this chord sequence of a typical song in the key of A minor.
House of the Rising Sun:
Am – C – D – F – Am – C – E – E7
Am – C – D – F – Am - E7 – Am – E7

Notice also how the last chord is chord V, which sounds unfinished and drives the song back to A minor and the next verse.

Cadences
Cadences are the equivalent of punctuation in music. They are two-chord progressions that mark the ends of phrases. If we can recognise the cadence we can know which chords are being played and often also the key of the song (which lets us know the other chords most likely to be used.)

The Perfect Cadence (UK) – Authentic Cadence (US)
chords V - I

This comes at the ends of phrases because it gives an unmistakeable sense of finality to the section – or to the whole piece of music. Almost all songs end with a V(7)-I cadence.
Example: Key of C major
Chords V – I G – C
Chords V7 – I (G7 - C) This time the dominant seventh chord makes the progression stronger and more urgent.

Note: To some extent, British and American terminology differs in the naming of cadences. While it's common in Britain to refer to any V-I cadence as 'perfect', American usage of this term requires that both chords are in root position with the highest note of chord I being the tonic note, the cadence then being termed a Perfect Authentic Cadence.

The imperfect cadence (UK) or half close (US)

These end on chord V preceded by any other chord. They have the opposite effect of the perfect cadence as they have a very unfinished feel. They are often used at the end of a phrase halfway through a verse or section, so that they can be balanced by a later perfect cadence.

Example:
I (C) --- IV (F) ----- I (C) ----- V (G)
I (C) ---- IV (F)------V7 (G7) ----I (C)

The plagal cadence

A softer final cadence is the plagal cadence which comprises the chord sequence IV – I. It’s also known as the ‘Amen cadence’ because of its distinctive sound as commonly heard sung by church choirs at the ends of hymns to the word A-men.

The Beatles' songs Let it Be and She’s leaving home are two songs that make distinctive use of the plagal cadence.

The interrupted or deceptive cadence.
This cadence gets its name from the fact that it deceives us into thinking that a perfect cadence (V – I) is in progress, and that the section is about to end. It doesn’t. The expected final chord, (chord I) is substituted by another chord (usually vi ) and the ending is delayed in a kind of musical pleasant surprise.
A good example of this cadence can be heard in Kirk’s fingerstyle arrangement of Silent night (either version) at bar (measure) 23.
The key is A major and the progression is from V7 – vi (instead of the expected V7 – I., (which comes soon after). Have a listen, the sound is distinctive and memorable. Whenever you hear that sound in future you’ll know it’s chord V or V7 moving to chord vi, whatever the key

Another example is the delayed verse ending often heard in Amazing Grace where the progression V – IV – I is heard at the end of every verse. Instead of V going directly to I, it goes via chord IV. In the key of C, that is G – F – C .

Out of key chords
Although countless thousands of songs conform to the key chords shown above, there’s nothing to stop a songwriter choosing out of key chords. The most common out of key chords are known as the secondary dominants. As we saw, chord V7 the dominant seventh has a strong, natural tendency to move to chord I, especially at the ends of phrases. Secondary dominant sevenths have the same drive, but to chords other than chord I.
For example in the key of C major, V7, the dominant seventh is G7, which has a natural tendency to ‘resolve’ to chord I, C major. Chord ii is D minor, but if we change it from D minor to D7 we’ll have created a secondary dominant. D7 is out of key as far as the key of C major is concerned because it contains the note, F#, which is not a note of the C major scale. It is, however, part of the scale of G major. If we were in the key of G major, that D7 chord would be its natural dominant seventh. We’re not in the key of G, though, we’re in C, so that chord is a secondary dominant, i.e., it’s the dominant of another key.
So what’s it doing here? The reason why it’s used is exactly because of that tendency to resolve to G. It destabilises the tonal centre. If it’s played with enough conviction it can actually cause the music to change key (modulate) to G. Often it just hints at a key change briefly. This is called tonicisation. The chord G sounds like a new tonic but stops short of changing permanently to the new key.
Examples
I (C) – vi (Am) – V7 of V (D7) – V (G)
Here we have Dm replaced by D7, which has a strong tendency to resolve to V (G)

Blues music relies on dominant seventh type chords throughout to give the music its distinct bluesy sound.

Mode mixture
Some songs in a major key borrow chords from the minor key based on the same tonic. This technique is called 'mode mixture'
For example, the Beatles song Hey Jude is in a major key throughout the verses. In the key of C major, it contains a range of expected chords associated with that key:
C(I) – G(V) – G7(V7) – C – F(IV) – C – G7 – C
C7(V7of IV – F – Dm (ii) – G7 – C
(C7 is actually 'out of key', because it contains the 'non-scale note' Bb. and is an example of a secondary dominant of the key of F major as described above.)

But the long end section contains the chords:
C – Bb – F – C - repeated many times.
The chord Bb is clearly foreign to the key of C major as that key doesn't contain any flats or sharps, but belongs to the key of C minor.

Extended set progressions.
Some progressions turn up again and again in songs and give the whole song a distinct sound with a recognisable chord sequence throughout.

I – IV – V - I
Examples: Wild Thing, Louie Louie, Dig it (Beatles)
Note. Louie, Louie uses v instead of V, i.e., a minor chord instead of major. This is another example of mode mixture, as explained above.

I – vi – IV – V
This was very popular (especially during the 50s). Sometimes chord ii is used instead of IV. Examples include: Diana, If I had a hammer, Happiness is a warm gun, This boy, Oh Carol, Sweet little Mystery.

The 12 bar blues – and Rock and roll sequence. (major keys)

I ------ I ------ I ------ I -------
IV ----- IV ----- I ------ I -------
V7 ----- IV ----- I ------ V7 ----

This is probably the longest instantly recognisable sequence around. If played slow with 7th chords it sounds bluesy. If played fast, often with no 7ths, it has the distinctive rock and roll sound. In blues, a common variation is that bar (measure) 2 might be chord IV(b7), instead of 1(b7) and bar 12 might be chord 1(b7).
Examples include: Blue suede shoes, Jailhouse Rock, Yer blues, Stormy Monday, Rockin' all over the world, Crossroads.

Minor key 12 bar blues
There’s no minor key equivalent of the rock and roll sequence, but there are some blues sequences using minor key chords. 7ths make it more bluesy. For example in A minor the same sequence is:

Am7 ------ Am7 ------ Am7 ------ Am7 ------
Dm7 ------ Dm7 ------ Am7 ------ Am7 ------
E7 ------- Dm7 ------ Am7 ------ E7 -------

Another one (used in “The thrill is gone") is:

Am7 ------- Am7 ------ Am7 ------ Am7 ------
Dm7 ------- Dm7 ------ Am7 ------ Am7 ------
F7 -------- E7 -------- Am ------- E7 ------
As with the major versions, expect differences from these models when listening to real music. Songwriters often make small changes to avoid their songs sounding too clichéd or predictable.

Chord progression test exercises
Test yourself on the following chord progressions and check the answers below. Then listen to them again and study the effect as one chord follows another. Try to memorise their unique musical effect so you can begin to recognise them when you hear them in real songs. Remember chord progressions based on the same scale degrees (I, V, etc) will always sound the same, whatever key the song is in.

Progression 1
Progression 2
Progression 3
Progression 4
Progression 5

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Answers
Progression 1: I - vi - IV - V - I - vi - IV - V - I
In the Key of C major: C Am F G C Am F G C

Progression 2: I - IV - V7 - I - IV - V - V7 - I
In the key of D major: D G A7 D G A A7 D

Progression 3: I - V - vi - IV - I - IV - I - V
In the key of G major: G D Em C G C G D

Progression 4: I - IV - V - IV - I - V - V7 - I
In the key of E major: E A B A E B B7 E

Progression 5: i - III - VII - v - i - IV - V - V7 - i - III - VII - v - i - V7 - i - i
In the key of A minor: Am C G Em Am F E E7 Am C G Em Am E7 Am Am

Conclusion
Recognising chord sequences can be practised whenever you hear music, with or without your guitar handy. For example, you’re driving home and hear a song on the car radio. There’s no way to know what key it’s in. That means there’s no way to know what the actual chords are in terms of A major, B minor, etc. But it IS possible to recognise the chords in terms of I, IV, V etc. As soon as you arrive home, you can choose any key and play the song on your guitar using the appropriate chords for that key.
Make a point of listening to lots of music actively, rather than passively. Listen out for those changes and try to recognise them in terms of I, IV & V. etc
If you practise all of the skills mentioned in this set of lessons, from recognising single notes, to melodies, chord types and, finally, chord progressions, you will make significant progress towards mastering this essential musical skill.

Further Practice
Practice recognising intervals by ear with the interval ear trainer tool at the end of the "All about intervals" lesson.