How To Figure Out Chords To Songs

Using Eleanor Rigby by the Beatles and She's Always a Woman by Billy Joel, we walk through the steps to deciphering the chords to songs, just by using our ears and our voices.

Follow me
Twitter: @AimN
Instagram: @aimeenoltemusic

[woah]

The fact that I just found your channel... I almost feel a need to apologize for being so late. Thank you for being so fantastic at what you do.

[zzzut]

Singing the note instead of trying to find it on the piano right away is the best piece of advice I’ve heard. I don’t have perfect pitch and I would have saved a lot of time if I had known that when I was a beginner and didn’t have the money for buying music sheets and books. Your tips are very valuable.

[stratfanstl]

It makes me smile to see that someone with such great teaching skills has a platform that allows 1, 043, 000 people to get such a useful lesson on techniques that can expand their enjoyment of music. I had formal training on trumpet from 5th thru 10th but that instruction never covered these techniques. Just reading notes off poorly written, over-simplified arrangements. I always had the ability to learn material on multiple instruments by ear and even though I never had to work at it (it just made sense to me), these techniques are exactly what I knew intuitively. 1) find the bass note (the chord). 2) see if a 3rd interval sounds happy or sad ( major or minor) 3) listen for any dissonance in higher notes to identify odd voicing (7ths, 9ths), 4) if the bass starts moving, just treat it as a walking pattern until it lands on a 1-beat... etc. GREAT lesson.

[JosephAkins]

You don't see this taught often, so it's great to see this. I began learning simple songs by ear when I was a young kid, and then became much better at it when I learned to transcribe jazz solos while majoring in jazz at UT. It's an important skill and practice for musicians, composers, songwriters, etc. Thanks again for making an excellent video.

[balz]

Thank you, Aimee. 'this is not a trick, it's a skill' - love this. It's a basic info - but so true. Every skill seems like a trick before you acquire it.

[MrBobaloo]

A number of good solid things going on in this video. Of course, the MOST important thing that Aimee covers here is "Pay attention to what's happening with the bass part, or the bass line the piano player or guitar player is playing." One thing I would like to add -- it's ALWAYS beneficial to try and put the notes you hear into the "harmonic framework" -- for instance, about 95% of chord progressions in pop music (or any music, for that matter) fall into one of three categories: 1) diatonic movement (movement up and down the scale, for example, the intro to "Lean On Me" or the chord changes in the intro to "Blueberry Hill"), 2) movement by 5ths (in the verse to "I Got Rhythm" the chords in the key of C are C Am7 Dm7 G7 C -- notice it's a 5th between A and D, between D and G, and between G and C), and 3) Chromatic movement -- the song "Liza, Liza, (Clouds'll Roll Away)" -- again, in the key of C, at the start of the verse, you get C C#dim7 Dm7 D#dim7 C/E -- would encourage all piano players, when dealing with chords, to try to 1) think about the "harmonic framework" (which will help to make your initial guesses more accurate more frequently), and 2) ALWAYS think about "where you're headed" harmonically (oftentimes, the end of the current section of the song you're dealing with). Hope that made sense. And Aimee, I think you're doing a really good job and providing a very useful service for lots of people; I think you DEFINITELY should be commended!!!

[gffvieira]

Musically illiterate me watching the video.

"First a C Major"
Ok...
"Now an Em, Em, for days"
Alright, I'm really getting this, this will be easier than I thought, guess I'm just an awesome natural musician.
"Now a natural C with an E on the bottom"
Well, that was humbling.

Thank you, Aimee, for this lesson on music and humility.

Will subscribe, please keep up with the good work!

[scottthomas]

your teaching is refreshing, entertaining and definitely not BORING!!! I play piano and guitar and I wish I had you as a teacher growing up. amazing! well done!

[denisbarsalo]

Hearing the bass note is indeed the most difficult part. I often make the mistake of hearing the fifth below the bass note. For instance, in Eleanor Rigby I thought the first bass note was a G, so was hunting around G chords. :-/

[dandiacal]

I have been using these principles during my entire musical career. I use it to write original music; I use it to analyze very complex compositions by Copland and Stravinsky, to simpler pop tunes. You have to keep plugging away. I believe it should be used in conjunction with written music because reading develops your reading chops as well as learning how to notate music. You do need both. Speaking personally I don't use the voice and singing so much, I do use the piano because that is my instrument, but when I'm transcribing without any sheet music, I transcribe what my EARS hear until I get it right. The ear must come first. This is the oral tradition and when you do it for a decade or two you start to really master the inner workings of music. And it gets easier and easier. It does help to study solfeggio formally as I did at New England Conservatory back in the 1980s. We did fixed not moveable do. One of the first things I did was do a solfeggi to the Wynton Kelly solo on Freddie Freeloader from Kind Of Blue. I believe learning to sing that solo for a classical solfeggio class was a quantum leap in my understanding of bebop language and blues and all the principles of encircling notes and phrasing. I got the whole class to sing Wynton Kelly's lines which was rhythmically tough for all of these classical wind and string majors. Kind of sounded like a Barry Harris class from back in the day, and the classical teacher was little perplexed but patient. Now when you on top of it study the Schoenberg harmony book which is Bach chorale analysis (I had a great teacher for that) alongside the bebop stuff, you are on your way to becoming a complete musician and mastering what we call "tonality" in its widest form. Sorry to go on for so long but I was inspired by all of the great Aimee Nolte videos to testify to what she is doing.

[elena]

I used to practice this kind of ear training years ago at the piano, but teachers said it was not useful 😪 nice to see someone like u suggest what I believe is the best way to practice and improve our ear and writing music down.Thanks Aimee🤗

[MrMrJameskeegan]

Such a cool lesson, always talking about her Internal processes, this will help with compositional aspirations, and playing with others. Long and tedious, no way not if this lady is teaching. What a lovely voice, Amy is tops

[drutgat]

This is such a good lesson. I wish I had seen this years ago, Amy, because it took me years to figure out some of things you mention here. I play guitar, and my first 'trick' in figuring out the chords in songs was to play the barre version of the chords, emphasizing the bass notes. Then I would try varying the higher pitched notes in the chords to see if they were major or minor or something else.

I do not really know much music theory, so it took me quite a while to get a feel / develop an ear for what chords might fit with other chords (i.e., learning what chords are likely to be in the same key). One of the things I worked out on my own is that to make a major chord into a minor chord you flatten the 3rd. not of the major scale (for others who do not know much theory, think of singing do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-da because that is the major scale).

I actually hear changes/additions to the chords in 'Eleanor Rigby' on the parts in the verses where (for example in the first verse), the word "rice" and first syllable of the word "wedding".

I have a couple of suggestions, in addition to the ones you make in the video, for people trying to develop this skill.

1. First, I would suggest that people record themselves playing a simple chord progression and then they listen to the recording many times. That will begin to give people an idea of what their instrument sounds like recorded, and eventually will alert them to various specific characteristics that their instrument might have.

2. Second, I would suggest, later on - once people can accomplish the above - that the student begin to listen to recordings of another mainstream instrument playing the same pieces of music (in the same keys ) as their main instrument. That will develop even more of an ear for figuring out chords, because the same chords can initially sound very different on different instruments.

That's it for me.

Many thanks. Your students - and we on the internet - are very lucky to have you.

[bigcabdaddy]

I've been playing and figuring out chords forever -- doing the flailing method you first describe. :) What I love about this video is how you're able to actual teach it. People who can teach are truly special.

[larzap]

Great instruction and choice of songs! I am self-taught and play by ear, and this is exactly how I learn songs. And I agree, it's very rewarding. The good thing is the more songs you learn, the more quickly you will be able to anticipate a chord as soon you hear the bass note. You begin to recognize chord progressions and it gets somewhat easier.

[frankcicalese]

I'm a bassist, and I've always used the"bass system" to learn songs. I usually use a guitar instead of a piano but essentially the same process as you demonstrated here. You have a wonderful manner about you. It's relaxed, informal, and the method is extremely practical. I wish my music teachers were as natural about instruction as you have been in this video. THANK YOU!

[JesterMasque]

Your dissection of Billy Joel's composition made it sound pretty wizard. I love how the chords move like a simple melody under the verse.

[crimfan]

Wow I wish YouTube was around when I was first learning music as so much would have made more sense. oh well, I'm thankful you're here now. This is super clearly explained, and a great model of how to teach something pretty difficult to do.

[paulandlesson]

Ran across this listening to YouTube while cooking dinner. I am a retired music professor, 3 universities and 2 women's colleges. The two women's colleges taught me so much about the students. Female students were nothing but a joy to work with. While watching this video I felt compelled to post how wonderful, articulate and charismatic, it is. You only strengthen further my admiration and all the wonderful qualities I have held for the female gender. You are just beautiful in every sense. You, your family, husband, friends etc., have so much to be proud of. All my best wishes, Philip

[FriteVerte]

This channel is pure gold. So glad i found it