I’ve made it through Module 5.1 of the Music Theory course and am taking a break from that to now integrate Ear Training into my guitar journey. The practical value of that integration is very rewarding. Looking forward to the road continuing ahead.
I never got a notification for this reply, so sorry for the late interaction!
I think I understand your reply… I’ve been noodling around on the guitar sussing it out since just reading it wasn’t enough for my beginner brain, I had to hear it. It is odd that my brain just swapped octaves though… I tried singing to compare the B3 and B4 and I couldn’t even match the B4 an octave lower until I had sung the A3 and then gone a step up… 
I’m not up to any other intervals yet… not sure how long I’m supposed to spend on this one, although I’m using the Flintstones to sing the descending and not mucking up. So I guess I can do it but I’m not sure if it is enough to have to always compare it to a song in my head, first, or if I’m supposed to be able to suss it out without the reference to have ‘got it’.
Good to know my stuff up was still some sort of pattern recognition after all, I guess!
1 Like
I’m glad I am not the only person who confuses the Superman Theme with the Star Wars Theme
1 Like
Super exciting lesson- I love the material oriented towards developing intuition. Thank you!
Hi Justin and team. I signed up over the weekend and am enjoying the content so far. I can hear melody intervals and pitch pretty well. E.g. If I have a chord sheet I can sit down at a piano and play most songs straight away, provided I have heard the melody. Likewise on a fretless bass I can play a note and sing the next note I want to play and hear whether my intonation is ok or not. Where I struggle with a song is being able to identify the chord sequence. I can hear where the chord changes are, but not whether it’s e.g. a 1 to a 4 or a 1 to a 5 I am hearing. Do later modules address hearing chord changes?
1 Like
Hello Simon, your first post - welcome to the JustinGuitar Community.
There’s a new series of live events for people joining JustinGuitar and the Community hosted by Fanny. More info here.
Having ability and ear-sense from playing bass and piano will be a massive help as you learn guitar. Hearing intervals and being able to play them on an instrument is a great thing.
In terms of hearing chord changes - when is one aspect, what (as you ask) is another.
I will offer two thoughts …
When playing bass, does your life will revolve around marking the chord changes by playing / referencing / dancing around the root notes?
Hopefully that with embellishments and walking bass lines and additional parts that enhance the piece.
Or at least root notes and 5ths if it is a simple bass part.
Following the path of the root notes is telling you which chord the harmonic structure is moving to.
If you are playing only roots, or only roots and 5ths, you will not be playing to the charcter of the chords - be they major or minor in type. That will only come out in your bass playing if you also play the 3rd of the underlying chord (major 3rd or minor - flat - 3rd).
I ask these questions and make these prompts to try to help you connect one instrument with another.
In terms of developing an inherent sense of chord movement, as you learn and play more songs (my mantra - learn songs, learn songs, learn songs) you will begin to know and recognise certain chord moves that happen all of the time. There are some chord progressions that are so ubiquitous that you will learn them bery quickly.
Example:
I, IV, V … rock & roll, blues and more … in any key … so that could be A, D, E or C, F, G or G, C, D etc.
I, V, vi, IV … everywhere in modern music … C, G, Am, F or D, A, Bm, G or G, D, Em, C etc.
@Richard_close2u thanks for the response. On bass I can play triads starting on 1st, 2nd and 4th fingers for major and minors and use them regularly. I occassionally use a 7th. I think a main part of my job as a bass player is giving the other band members the harmonic structure so that we don’t get lost in the song (or at least if we do it isn’t due to harmonic structure). I also use approach notes for the same reason. My start point when learning the song is roots, then I build the harmonic information once I have the chord sequence committed to memory (I’m not sure when I start thinking about groove, but that’s a different topic).
With a 12 bar blues and closely related 3 chord progressions I can hear the progression and am happy getting up on stage for a Jam. That’s a big improvement in the last 12 months for me. It’s when I get to 4 chords and beyond, that I struggle to hear the chord progression. Based on what you’ve said I think I’m probably not paying enough attention to chord sequences and relating that to other songs that I know in the same or related genres - I’ll try that.
1 Like
@simon_plays_bass
Do you ever write out structured song chord charts that allow you to see the repeating patterns and sequences?
As opposed to thinking of them / viewing them as long linesr sequences that you are forever chasing after?
See this post to understand my meaning. Trouble Memorizing Songs - #4 by Richard_close2u
@Richard_close2u sorry about the length of this.
I sometimes use a similar approach. I’ll write out repeating chord sequences using Roman numerals, and colour code each repeat sequence. Using the chord numbers makes it easier for me to transpose (a regular requirement in a church worship band) without having to think. The colours highlight the chord sequences. However I’ve been lazy and not done this much recently.
I can learn chord sequences quickly if I see them written down. A 4 chord song with 2 or 3 repeating sequences will take me 30 - 60 mins to memorise the chord sequence. I once depped for a gig that had a 16 song set, and learned all of them (including 5 originals that I’d never heard before) in less than 3 weeks, such that I could play them all confidently from memory.
However, if it is a new song that I have to transcribe it will take me much longer. e.g. “Everything but Love” by Jaime Kyle (the one I’ve most recently transcribed) took me all evening to transcribe the chords , and then most of another evening working out if I’d transcribed it correctly. It’s a pretty simple sequence for most of the song (I, iv, v and 1, v, iv for most of it with a couple of vi, and a vii in one place). Someone with a really good ear would have been able to play it almost straight off the bat (maybe missing the vii); a half decent ear would have been able to transcribe it more quickly than I did.
My chord chart for “Everything But Love” looks pretty similar to your structured one, though I have also written out the song structure (intro, verse, pre chorus, chorus and so on). I think I probably wrote the song structure prior to the chords.
It’s my inability to quickly recognise the chord progression that’s my musical gap, rather than the speed at which I can learn songs for which someone else has provided the chords.
1 Like
I had a think about what you’d written about common chord sequences. It might have produced one of those light bulb moments beloved of both coaches and those being coached 
. I made a Spotify play list of songs using 1, V, vi, IV (one of the progressions you mentioned), then one with 1, vi, IV, V (my Dad used to play Teenager in Love” a lot so I tend to strum that sequence regularly). Whilst searching for songs for the “1, vi, IV, V” progression, I discovered it is called the “50s progression” or “Doo wop progression”. Listening to the 2 playlists ( and rearranging them so the ones that are easiest to hear the progressions are early in the playlist) and realising that some genres are more likely to follow particular sequences, is helping me to recognise the chord progressions.
So thanks for the guidance. It has inspired me to have a go at the “Transcribing “ course whilst I’m on holiday (useful music practice stuff for when I don’t have an instrument with me). I did “All the small things” by Blink 182 on the outbound plane - it looks like I got fairly close but some room for improvement.