Learn to Hear Chords – Play Music By Ear

Chords are combinations of three or more notes that perform a particular function within a key. Depending on the intervals between the notes, chords can take on a wide variety of characteristics. Even chords limited to just three chords can be major triads, minor triads, diminished or augmented triads. On a given instrument there will be different ways of playing the same set of notes, which are known as chord inversions.

Different chord extensions each play a particular role and have a characteristic sound or “color.” Complex extended chords, like seventh chords with an augmented eleventh, for example, sound different from other varieties even to casual listeners, but it takes a certain amount of aural skill to be able to readily identify such sounds.

That being said, it’s important that musicians possess the skill to hear and identify chords accurately. Harmony plays a significant role in most tonal music. Chord progressions form the spine of most popular and jazz pieces. In order to do things such as playing these pieces by ear or transcribing them, musicians need to know what the chords are simply by hearing them.

Furthermore, a thorough understanding of chords and how they function will help musicians in creating their own compositions. By listening to even familiar pieces with this skill, students can get a feel for how composers employ different types of chords and how the harmony and melody interact.

Though it may seem difficult to beginners, the truth is that anyone can learn to hear chords the way professional musicians do. The key to identifying chords is the understanding of the intervals between notes. Chords are, after all, built on these intervals; it’s the intervals between the three notes in a triad that determine whether they are major or minor chords, and the intervals between the root notes and added or extended notes that determine the specialized character of chords.

The ability to identify intervals is gained through ear training, a process with which most professional musicians have a lot of experience. Ear training allows students to become intimately familiar with intervals through simple listening exercises, and once they have that command over intervals, they can easily use it to assess and classify chords as they hear them.

So, knowing how useful it is for a musician to be in control of chords and their varied uses, it’s clear that ear training, through which they can take that control in addition to many other benefits, is worth considering.