Must Know Ear Training Exercises for Bass Players

How many times have you been told that you should learn to play by ear? If your ears could use some training (no, I don’t mean doing push-ups with your earlobes, lol) then today’s new video with Ian Allison will give you all the tools you need to get started.

Set aside just a few minutes a day to work on these basic steps, and you’ll make noticeable progress within days!

As always, see you in the shed…

Scott :)

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[ganderson]

When you haven't watched a SBL in ages and confused as hell because it takes you a few minutes to realise it isn't Scott... :D

[lancelotlink]

This! This is how I trained my ear on guitar (I wish I had someone tell me years earlier because I figured it out on my own.) But singing the scales as I practiced them eventually gave me the freedom to improvise. I mainly can have an idea in my head and play it all over the fretboard. That's the freedom you get from training your ear. It's like the cheat mode.

[butterboydan]

I hate how underrated this channel is. This Channel really helped my bass playing

[scottselberg]

"Nurtured by Love" the book written by Shinichi Suzuki was totally revolutionary approach to learning music based on the way we learn language - listen and repeat back. Memorization is strongly encouraged. Reading music is left till later in a musician's development. The ideas in this video are strongly in alignment rather than in contrast with Suzuki method.

[FranticFoxBass]

God I love when Ian takes over. So much positive energy!

[jonthecomposer]

I've been teaching these exact same concepts for years. And people seem to be surprised when I tell them that I don't "think" in notes, but numbers. I've always described it like this (after they learn the basics): The song or scale or whatever you're playing is the "house." It has blueprints. Everything is already made and put together, and is relative unto its different pieces. The key is just the "address." You can build the exact same house on nearly any street. But the house itself remains the same. So instead of referring to the house DESIGN (the song itself) by its address (the key), you refer to it by the numbers (its blueprint). In other words, you learn to "build that specific house" (that song) by default because you know all of its relationships (numbers). Then, you just use whatever key (address) to place it in the "neighborhood" (key) of those who are building the house (playing the song) with you.

[tanortv]

I'm from Ghana. West Africa... I'm enjoying your bass tutorials .... Scot bass lesson tutorials... Keep it up sir.

[This_comment_was_said]

"Sing !" - The one word advice, that totally helped me 🥺🙏

[Xubuntu]

OK, you got me. I got into bass because I kept singing improvised bass lines and thought "huh, there must be a bass player in there somewhere. Maybe let him out." Got a bass, and it was all about fingers, the ears got left behind. I keep trying to pull them back in. I needed this reminder and practical steps. I *know* this is important, but it's so much easier to look at the notes-I have been reading music for decades. Recently I have been learning a song mostly by watching the notation scroll on the screen. I think I can get the rest by ear. It's worth a try. Thanks, Ian.

[PolishPilot]

Thank you, most bass videos I usually feel dont help, as they are like the artist "step 1 draw circle step 2 finishing touches and bam a face!" But this went through the steps and I actually get it, felt happy when I guessed the note before you said it, showing it worked :D

[dustin]

Loved this guy for years! So glad he’s a more permanent contributor to SBL.

[J_Carter]

I love Scott 2.0! Funny, entertaining, and always on point (without beating the point to death). Ian, I want more of you!!

[blazeesq]

This lesson is simply correct.

In "music school" (the first two years) this is what is taught. Can you sing what you play? Can you play what you sing? Your particular facility with an instrument stops mattering - with some exceptions.

[stevemoskal]

This is how I learned the bass parts in songs ---growing up in a farm town with no music teachers. I think I dropped the needle over and over on so many Rolling Stones records that they became unplayable. In 12 minutes you validated what I was doing in 1963 and still continue to do it - learn the bass parts - today.

Ian is such a great teacher. Love that he jumped on SBL!

[harpsichordjass]

Ian is one of my favorite bassists and I've never even listened to him just. Play. Good advice, presents a great character and presentation ability.

[texasorange]

Thank you....Yes!!!! This is started playing the Bass a few months ....after years playing the Alto saxophone!

[ronniechun-akana]

Scott, This newer phase of instruction is more to my liking. Your previous presentations were very tutorial and stresses my mind to know every theory. Just PLAY, OKAY!!!

[Smittefar]

Great video - I was taught in the opposite way - I was taught to read music notation, but in my first years, nobody really talked about listening. So yes, I could sight read melodies, but I could not play anything by ear. I wish somebody had forced me to focus on playing by ear much earlier on. I still struggle with it. And the reality is that when you play in a pop or rock band. Chances are there is no music notation to sight read from. Musical interaction with other musicians is all done by ear.

[crimfan]

Super advice from Scott's American twin. 

A while back Scott had a video about singing scales as you play them and it's very worthwhile. It really helps getting the notes to sink into your ear. Having a refined ear also helps if you ever want to play fretless and it really helps with things like vibrato or bends. Also, even if you're playing with sheet, a developed ear helps hear mistakes when you're playing them live.