Ear Training Report

8/3/2019 Ear Training Report

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GUITAR SCALE MASTERY www.GuitarScaleMastery.com

©2009 by Craig Bassett. All Rights Reserved. u Web: www.GuitarScaleMastery.com

Learning to internalize the sounds of scales is a vital skill. This means that you should

be able to hear what each scale degree of a scale sounds like clearly. If I asked you to

sing the sixth note of a particular major scale, could you do it without thinking? If the

answer is no, then the project in this section will really help!

Let’s get started…

In this project we’ll look at some ear training exercises for scales. The aim of the

exercises is to imprint the sound of each note of the scale into your brain. You’ll learn

to think of any note in a scale and then hear it in your Mind’s ear.

For this project we’ll apply the exercises to the A major scale. Although we focus on

this scale, the concepts you’ll learn can be applied to any scale.

Before we get to the exercises, I need to talk quickly about how to actually practice

them. Please read the following instructions at least five times. Yes it’s that

important!J

Ear Training For Scales Project

How To Do The Exercises In This Project

The ideal way to do each exercise is to follow these four steps.

1. Hear the note in your head.2. Sing the note.3. Play the note on your guitar to see if you were right.4. Correct any mistakes.

A mistake people often make is to sing each note as they play it on theirguitar. This leads them to follow what is being played on the guitar ratherthan truly hearing each note clearly in their head.

Here are a few important points:

Þ Sing the scale degree rather than the note name. This means thatthe exercise is transferable to every key. Note that I have written

the scale degrees underneath the TAB.Þ Repeat each exercise many times. Repetition is the mother of

memory and skill.

Þ Do the exercises very slowly. Take the time to really hear eachnote in your head before you sing it.

Þ Do about 10-15 minutes of ear training on a daily basis. If youdon’t do ear training every day, your progress will be slow.

http://www.guitarscalemastery.com/letter/








Let’s take a look at the first exercise now…

Exercise 1:

Please spend a few minutes practicing it now. Once you’ve finished, please read on…

When I teach this exercise to my students there is a really common issue that often

crops up. Let’s take a look at it now…

Don’t panic! There are two possible reasons for this…

§ Vocal Range: The exercise is out of your vocal range. Please move the

exercise to a position that is more comfortable for your singing range.

§ Vocal Training: Your voice hasn’t had enough training to be able to match

ANY note yet. If this is the case, please have a look at the box below…

Common Issue: You can’t sing the exercise at all.

What To Do If You Can’t Sing A Note At All:

The first thing is…don’t feel bad. It’s actually really common. I’ve taught theseexercises to many people who couldn’t sing a single note to start with. ItWILL take some time and patience, but you WILL be able to do it. Here’show…

Step One:Choose a note on your guitar that you feel is within your singing/hummingrange. If you’re not sure, just choose any note on your Thick E-String.

Step Two:

Play the note on your guitar. Close your eyes and just listen to the sound of the note. Please listen in an effortless way. Just enjoy the sound of the note.Repeat this for a minute or so.

Step Three:Play the note again. This time try to hum the note. If you don’t get the samepitch, see if you can adjust your hum. Repeat this several times.

Step Four:Repeat Steps Two and Three daily. Each day choose a different note, until youfind one that you can hum. Once you find a note you can hum, practice StepsTwo and Three on it for 5 minutes every day. Once you get used to this you’reready for Exercise One. Keep in mind that you may need to practice it in a keydifferent to what it’s written in.









Here are the other exercises…

Exercise 2:

Exercise 3:

Exercise 4:

I would recommend spending a lot of time on these four exercises before moving

onto the next set of exercises. They really help you “lock in” the sound of the scale

into your brain!

At this point, my students often ask a question like…

“Is it best to master all exercises in one key before moving onto another,or is best to master one exercise in all keys before moving onto the next exercise?”

My answer to those questions is experiment —try both ways and see what works bestfor you. My personal preference is to stick to one key until I have mastered allexercises using that key. For example: If I decided to work on the key of C major I

would only move onto a new key when I mastered all four exercises in C major.

Here’s a question for you. How do you know when you have mastered an exercise?

Let’s take a look…

I highly recommend setting a time goal for each exercise. I usually set a time goal of

60 minutes. For example: Let’s say I was working on Exercise 1 for 10 minutes each

day. It would take me six practice sessions to master the exercise. Of course, if I still

found the exercise difficult after six sessions, I would continue practicing it daily untilit became easy.









Here is a table to help you keep track of your progress. Each time you practice an

exercise write down how many minutes you spend on it. For example: if you spent 10

minutes practicing Exercise 1 in the key of G, you would write “10” in the Exercise 1

column in the G major row.

Key Exercise 1 Exercise 2 Exercise 3 Exercise 4C major

G major

D Major

A major

E major

B/Cb major

F#/Gb major

C#/Db major

F major

Bb major

Eb major

Ab major

Now we’ll look at some more exercises to help you internalize the sound of the major scale. They are a little more advanced than the first four, so be patient. J

The next eight exercises are what I call pivot exercises. The reason why these

exercises are called pivot exercises is that you consistently are going back (i.e.

pivoting) to the same scale degree. They are great for learning the sound of a specific

scale degree. For example: If you really wanted to internalise the sound of the 3, you

would work on Pivot Exercise 3.

Here are the exercises. Do them in the same way as you did the first four exercises.

Make sure that you sing the scale degrees, not the actual note names.

IMPORTANT:

Please don’t move onto the next exercise until you have mastered allfour exercises in at least one key.

When you’ve done that, please keep on reading…









Pivot Exercise 1:

Pivot Exercise 2:

Pivot Exercise 3:

Pivot Exercise 4:

Pivot Exercise 5:

Pivot Exercise 6:









Pivot Exercise 7:

Pivot Exercise 8:

And here’s a table to help you keep track of your progress. Have fun!

Key P.E. 1 P.E. 2 P.E. 3 P.E. 4 P.E. 5 P.E. 6 P.E. 7 P.E. 8

C major

G major

D Major

A major

E major

B/Cb major

F#/Gb major

C#/Db major

F major

Bb major

Eb major

Ab major

IMPORTANT:

Please don’t move onto the next exercise until you have mastered all thepivot exercises in at least one key.

When you’ve done that, please move on…









Let’s finish off this project, by giving you some melody drills. These will help you

test to see how well you have internalized the sound of the major scale. Let’s get

started…

Melody Drills:

Please sing the following melodies in a key that is comfortable for your singing range.After you sing each note, play it on your guitar to see if you were right. Correct any

mistakes that you might make.

To make it 100% clear here’s the four-step process to follow…

1. Imagine the sound of the note in your mind’s ear.

2. Sing the note.

3. Play the note on the guitar.

4. Correct any mistakes.

The melodies are written as scale degrees. For example: If you see a 5, sing the fifthnote of the major scale. The 1H means sing the 1 which is up the octave (H=high).

Melody 1: 1 3 5 4 7 1H 6 2 5 1 5 7 3 1H 7 1H 6 4 1 6 4 7 2 1

Melody 2: 1 2 7 3 5 1H 4 3 7 5 2 1H 5 6 2 7 1 6 1 4 6 7 1H 3

Melody 3: 1 5 7 2 4 6 1H 2 1H 6 3 1 5 2 6 1H 3 6 2 4 7 3 1

How did you do? Were there any scale degrees that you had trouble with?

If you found a particular scale degree that you made mistakes on, then go back to the

pivot exercises and work on the relevant one. For example: If you consistently got the

6 wrong, then go back and work on Pivot Exercise 6.

Let’s look at some more melodies…

Melody 4: 1 6 2 7 4 3 5 1H 3 6 4 1 4 7 1H 3 1H 6 5 7 2 1

Melody 5: 1 4 6 3 5 2 4 1H 6 3 1 1H 2 7 3 6 4 5 1 7 2 1H

Melody 6: 1 7 3 4 1H 5 2 6 3 1 1H 5 6 3 7 1 6 2 4 3 2 1H

Melody 7: 1 5 1H 2 7 3 6 1H 4 2 7 1 3 5 7 2 4 6 1H 4 2 1H

Melody 8: 1H 6 2 5 3 4 1 7 3 4 7 1H 3 6 2 4 1 6 1H 4 3 1

Melody 9: 1 5 3 2 6 1H 4 1 6 7 4 2 3 5 7 1 1H 6 4 1 7 3 2 1H

Melody 10: 1H 4 6 2 7 1 3 2 6 5 1H 4 7 3 2 6 1 5 2 7 3 6 1

Melody 11: 1 7 6 2 1H 3 4 6 1H 2 5 1 6 3 7 1 5 4 6 1H 5 2 1

Melody 12: 1H 5 2 7 6 5 2 6 1 7 1H 2 6 3 6 2 5 1H 3 2 1H 5 1









How did that go? Were there any scale degrees that you consistently got wrong?

If you are finding that you haven’t improved, then don’t panic! For some people the

progress can seem very slow—but they always get there in the end. Just keep on

doing at least 10 minutes every day and I guarantee the results will come.

I should point out now that people who don’t do some ear training on a daily basisoften have incredibly slow progress. If you aren’t currently doing daily ear training

then I strongly suggest starting. I know that it takes discipline, but the benefits thatyou’ll gain make it totally worthwhile!

If you are doing some ear training every day then CONGRATULATIONS! Keep up

the good work. Your discipline and commitment to improving your ears definitely

pay off!

Final Test:Sing the following melodies in a comfortable key. If you can sing them without

making a single mistake you have passed the test.

If you do make a mistake, keep on working on the ear training exercises every dayuntil you can pass this final test. Good luck!

Melody 1: 1 6 2 7 1H 3 6 4 2 5 1H 1 4 7 2 6 3 1H 2 7 3 6 1 5 1H

Melody 2: 1H 2 6 1 4 1 7 4 6 1H 3 7 4 5 1 6 2 5 1H 6 3 7 2 6 1

Melody 3: 1 7 4 2 6 3 5 2 1H 6 4 2 7 1 6 5 3 2 1H 3 7 6 2 5 1

Melody 4: 1H 5 2 6 4 3 1 5 6 2 7 1H 5 1 6 3 7 1H 4 6 3 2 7 1H

Melody 5: 1 6 2 4 5 1H 3 7 2 1 6 4 3 7 5 1H 6 3 7 4 1 5 1H 2 1

Melody 6: 1H 3 6 4 7 1 6 2 5 6 3 1H 1 5 1 4 6 2 4 1H 6 1H 7 3 1

Melody 7: 1 4 6 1H 5 1 6 3 7 2 1H 4 6 5 2 7 1 5 3 6 1H 4 2 1

Melody 8: 1H 1 6 7 3 2 4 7 5 1 1H 3 6 2 7 4 1 5 1 7 1H 3 1H 4 1

Melody 9: 1 5 2 4 7 3 1H 6 4 3 2 1H 1 5 4 6 1 7 2 6 1H 4 6 3 1H

Melody 10: 1H 5 1 3 7 5 6 1 4 7 3 6 4 1H 2 6 3 5 1 7 4 2 5 1H 3 1

Melody 11: 1 7 4 2 6 3 4 1 1H 6 5 2 3 7 1 6 1 4 1H 5 2 7 3 6 1H

STOP!

Please don’t go any further on this project until you can sing all melodieseasily. We are about to take the “final test”, and I want you to be preparedfor it! J









Melody 12: 1H 6 7 3 5 2 1 3 6 2 5 1H 7 1H 6 1H 3 6 4 1 5 7 4 1

Melody 13: 1 5 6 1H 3 2 5 1 4 6 7 3 5 1H 5 2 7 3 6 4 1 7 3 1H

Melody 14: 1H 4 6 2 4 7 1 5 6 3 2 7 6 1H 3 1H 2 1H 5 4 2 6 1

Melody 15: 1 3 7 4 1H 2 6 7 1 5 4 1H 3 6 1 4 7 2 1H 3 6 1 7 1

Melody 16: 1H 4 6 2 5 3 1 7 5 6 4 1H 3 7 2 4 1 6 1H 3 5 2 6 1

Melody 17: 1 6 3 2 7 4 1H 5 7 4 1 6 1H 4 7 3 1 5 7 6 1 4 1H

Melody 18: 1H 6 3 5 1 4 7 3 5 1H 1 2 3 6 4 1H 6 1 7 2 5 2 1

Melody 19: 1 6 1H 5 2 7 4 3 1H 4 1 7 5 3 4 6 4 7 2 1H 1 4 1H

Melody 20: 1H 2 6 1 7 4 1H 3 6 2 7 1 5 1H 3 1 6 3 7 4 5 1H 3 1

Phew. Well done for making it this far!

At this stage you should have the sound of the major scale ingrained in your brain for

life. This will be of an immense benefit to you. J

Before we move on, I invite you to read and answer the following three questions.Please write your answers in the space provided…

1. In what ways will ear training help your guitar playing? List every benefit that

you can think of.

2. What could be some other ear training exercises that you could practice?

3. Why is ear training one of the most important things that you could practice?









All right! Let’s finish off this project by talking about how to apply this ear training

system to any scale. Here’s a step-by-step example of how to do this…

Step One:

Decide on a scale that you would like to work on. For this example we’ll focus on theminor pentatonic scale.

Step Two:

Choose a key then write down the notes and scale degrees. For this example we’ll

focus on the A minor pentatonic scale…

1 b3 4 5 b7 1

A C D E G A

Step Three:Write down the first four exercises in TAB. Write down the scale degrees underneath

the TAB…

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Exercise 3









Exercise 4

Step Four:Write down the pivot exercises in TAB. I usually don’t bother writing down the scale

degrees for this step. This is because I already have them memorized after practicingthe first four exercises…

Pivot Exercise 1

Pivot Exercise 2

Pivot Exercise 3

Pivot Exercise 4

Pivot Exercise 5









Pivot Exercise 6

Step Five:Write down some random melodies using the scale. Here’s some that I prepared

earlier…

Melody 1: 1 5 b3 b7 1H 4 b7 b3 1 5 1 b7 1H b3 5 4 b7 5 4 b3 1H

Melody 2: 1H 4 b7 1 5 b3 b7 1 1H 5 b7 4 1 b3 5 b7 1H 5 b7 4 1

Melody 3: 1 5 b3 1H 5 1 4 b7 b3 1H 4 1H 5 1H b7 5 b3 4 b3 1 1H

Melody 4: 1H 5 b3 4 1 b7 1 5 b7 1H b3 b7 5 1 1H 1 5 b3 1H b7 1

Melody 5: 1 5 b3 b7 4 1H 5 1 b7 4 b3 5 1 b3 b7 4 1H b3 1 5 b7 1

Melody 6: 1H b3 4 b7 1 b7 1 4 1 1H 4 b7 b3 5 1 4 b7 1H b3 5 1H

Melody 7: 1 b7 4 b3 5 1H 4 b7 b3 1 5 1H 4 1H b3 1H 1 5 4 1H

Melody 8: 1H 5 1 4 b7 b3 5 1 b7 4 1H b7 b3 5 1 4 b7 1H b3 5 1

Melody 9: 1 4 b7 b3 1H 5 b7 4 b3 1 1H 4 b7 5 b3 b7 1 5 b3 4 1H

Melody 10: 1H 5 b3 b7 1 4 1H b7 1H b3 4 1 5 b7 4 1H b3 5 1 4 1H

Melody 11: 1 5 b7 4 b3 1H 4 b7 1 5 b3 b7 4 1H b3 b7 5 1 5 1H

Melody 12: 1H b3 5 1 b7 4 1 b7 b3 5 4 1H b3 b7 4 5 1H 5 4 1

Step Six:

Write down at least 20 melodies that will form your final test…

Melody One: 1 4 5 b7 1H b3 b7 4 1 5 1H 1 4 5 b7 b3 b7 1H 5 1

Melody Two: 1H 4 b7 1 4 1 b7 4 b3 1H b3 b7 4 5 1 b3 5 b7 b3 4 5 1H

Melody Three: 1 b7 4 b7 b3 5 1 1H b3 4 1H b7 1 b3 5 b3 5 1H b3 b7 1

Melody Four: 1H 5 b3 b7 4 b3 1 5 4 b7 1H 5 1 4 b3 b7 1H 4 5 b3 1H

Melody Five: 1 b3 1H 4 5 1H b3 b7 4 1 b3 4 b3 b7 5 1H 5 b3 b7 4 1









Melody Six: 1H b3 b7 4 b7 1 b3 4 5 b7 b3 1H 1 5 1 4 b7 5 4 1H b3 1

Melody Seven: 1 4 b3 1H 5 1 4 b3 b7 5 1H 4 b3 5 1 b7 1 5 b3 b7 4 1H

Melody Eight: 1H 1 b3 b7 b3 1H 4 b7 5 1 1H b3 1 5 b7 4 1 5 1 b7 1H

Melody Nine: 1 5 b3 4 b7 b3 1H b7 4 b3 5 1H 1 5 4 b3 1 b7 4 5 1H 1

Melody Ten: 1H 5 1 b3 b7 5 b3 1 4 b7 b3 5 4 1H 1 b7 b3 5 1 b7 4 1H

Melody Eleven: 1 b7 4 5 b7 b3 4 1 1H 4 5 1 b3 b7 1 b3 1 4 1H 5 b3 1

Melody Twelve: 1H 4 b7 b3 5 1H 1 b3 b7 4 5 1H b7 1H 5 1H b3 b7 4 1

Melody Thirteen: 1 5 b7 1H b3 4 5 1 4 b3 b7 b3 5 1H 5 4 b7 b3 b6 4 1

Melody Fourteen: 1H 4 b7 5 4 b7 1 5 b7 b3 1H b7 b3 1H b3 1H 4 1H 5 1

Melody Fifteen: 1 b3 b7 4 1H 5 b3 b7 1 5 4 1H b3 b7 1 4 b7 4 1H 5 1

Melody Sixteen: 1H 4 b7 4 5 b3 1 b7 5 b3 4 1H b3 b7 5 4 1 b3 1H 5 1

Melody Seventeen: 1 5 b3 4 b7 4 1H 5 b7 4 1 b7 1H 4 b7 b3 1 5 b3 1H

Melody Eighteen: 1H 4 b3 5 1 4 b7 b3 5 1H 1 5 b3 b7 4 1H b3 1 5 1H

Melody Nineteen: 1 b7 1H 5 4 b7 4 b3 1H 4 1 b7 5 b3 4 b3 4 b7 5 4 1

Melody Twenty: 1H 4 b7 1 b7 4 1H b3 4 5 b7 1 5 1H b3 1 1H 3 b7 4 1

Step Seven:

Get to work! Start working on the project.

That’s all for this special report. To learn other

secrets, tips and strategies to master scales, please

head on over to:

www.GuitarScaleMastery.com







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