Sign In

Published:
2005-01-02
Updated:
2026-05-04

Learning Ukulele with Curt

Ear Training - Pitch Recognition

Ear Training is the development of the active and passive capability to relate to music aurally. This includes the ability to recognize melodic and harmonic intervals, chords, chord progressions, rhythm, melody, and harmony.

Author(s): Curt Sheller Publisher: Curt Sheller Publications Code: ML-basic-03

Main Category: Music Main Instrument: Any

Categories: Chords

Louis-Martin/Curt-2020-FFUF

2026-08-23

Show Series Lessons
Series Home
Glossary of Terms Whole Steps and Half Steps Explained The Chromatic Scale Enharmonic Equivalents The Major Scale Cycle of Fifths and Fourths Ear Training Chord Spelling - Triads Chord Spelling and Alternate Approach Learning to Play in Time Demystifying Cut Time The Three Words

Ear Training - Pitch Recognition

Ear Training is the development of the active and passive capability to relate to music aurally. This includes the ability to recognize melodic and harmonic intervals, chords, chord progressions, rhythm, melody, and harmony.

Functional Pitch Recognition

Functional Pitch Recognition involves identifying the role of a single pitch in the context of a tonic . Once a tonic has been established, each subsequent pitch may be classified without direct reference to accompanying pitches. For example, once the tonic G has been established, listeners may recognize that the pitch D as the dominant or perfect fifth in the key of G. No reference to any other pitch is required to establish this fact. This is also called Relative Pitch and in most situations preferred than Perfect Pitch when one can instantly name a pitch isolated and not need of a reference tonic.

Many musicians use relative pitch to identify, understand, and appreciate the roles and meanings of pitches within a key. To this end, scale-degree numbers or wikiwand: Solmization can be used for this purpose.

wikiwand: Solmization a.k.a. solfège ( do , re , mi , etc.) can be quite helpful. Using such systems, pitches with identical functions (the keynote or tonic, for example) are associated with identical labels ( 1 or do , for example).

Solmization / solfège The seven syllables normally used for this practice in English-speaking countries are: do , re , mi , fa , sol , la , and ti (with sharpened notes: di , ri , fi , si , li and flattened notes: te , le , se , le , ra ).

Fixed do solfège

wikiwand: Fixed do solfège – In the fixed do system, accidentals do not affect the syllables used. For example, C, C♯, and Cx (double sharp), as well as C♭♭ (double flat) are all sung with the syllable "do", For more information and history visit the wikiwand: Solfège

Ear training reference intervals are below

Ear Training is the development of the active and passive capability to relate to music aurally. This includes the ability to recognize melodic and harmonic intervals, chords, chords progressions, rhythm, melody and harmony. This is a skill by which musicians learn to identify, solely by hearing, pitches, intervals, melody, chords, rhythms, and other basic elements of music. The application of this skill is analogous to taking dictation in written/spoken language. Ear training may be contrasted with sight-singing, which is analogous to reading aloud in language. Ear-training is typically a component of formal musical training.

Relative Pitch — The term relative pitch may denote:

  • The distance of a musical note from a set point of reference, e.g. three octaves above middle C
  • A musician's ability to identify the intervals between given tones, regardless of their relation to concert pitch (A = 440Hz)
  • The skill used by singers to correctly sing a melody, following musical notation, by pitching each note in the melody according to its distance from the previous note. Alternatively, the same skill which allows someone to hear a melody for the first time and name the notes relative to some known starting pitch.
>

wikiwand Ear Training

Playing by Ear

Before talking about playing by ear, one needs to understand what is commonly called ear training. As the wikiwand: definition of wikiwand: Ear Training for Ear Training mentions, ear training has an active and passive roll.

HOT TAKE: I'm a firm believer that ear training is actually more like voice and finger training as our ear is actually pretty good at hearing intervals. It's how we recognize sounds with no music training. Go to piano and thing I'm going to play Happy Birthday. Press on of the key twice, saying or singing Hap - py. Then press another key and sing Birth. You'll most likely know whether you played the right note or not. Our ear is already trained as to the next note and the interval from the previous note. You finger just didn't get the memo as to which key to play. They, the fingerings need training to execute the intervals we already know and maybe ever know the name and distance of the intervals for future reference. - Curt

Passive Ear Training

PASSIVE EAR TRAINING is the ability to recognize and name intervals, chords, chord progressions, melodic sequences, rhythm, etc... An example of passive ear training would be if someone played the first two notes of the song "Here Comes the Bride" and you can recognize them as an interval of a perfect fourth. You might not know the actual pitches, that would be perfect pitch—the ability to identify or re-create a given musical note without the benefit of an external reference.

The Intervals

Song Reference Intervals

When learning to recognize intervals, familiar songs that you know are a great reference source. Think of Happy Birthday, with both a Perfect Fourth in the first phrase and a Perfect Fifth in the second phrase. Both using the same lyrics: Happy birthday to you.

Unison

This is one of the easiest intervals to hear, actually not an interval as both notes are the same and should sound identical. That and the octave are somewhat easy. All the work is with the other intervals.

  • America the Beautiful
  • One Note Samba
  • Jingle Bells
  • Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (twink-kle)

Unison: i.e., C then same C again

Ascending Intervals

Ascending Intervals

After mastering the unison interval, which was most likely pretty easy to hear, it's on to the slightly more challenging intervals.

I (Curt), personally, struggled with identifying intervals—I could hear them; it was just identifying them. I started with just a few ascending intervals: octave, perfect fourth, and perfect fifth.

Minor Second

Minor Second: i.e., C to D♭

  • Ode to Joy (2nd and 3rd notes)
  • Theme from Jaws
  • A Hard Day's Night (in It's been)
  • Isn't She Lovely (Stevie Wonder)
  • Pink Panther Theme • Actually chromatic approach noted to a minor triad, based in the Tonic of the key. First two notes of the triad are approached chromatically ascending and the last one descending.

Major Second

Major Second: i.e., C to D

  • Frere Jacques
  • Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer
  • Do A Dear
  • Silent Night
  • First two notes of a major scale.

Minor Third

Minor Third: i.e., C to E♭

  • Brahms's Lullaby
  • Greensleeves
  • The Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel
  • Smoke on the Water
  • O Canada
  • Hallelujah
  • Iron Man by Black Sabbath
  • Light My Fire (You know)
  • First two notes of a Blues scale
  • Georgia On My Mind

Major Third

Major Third: i.e., C to E

  • Ob-la-di Ob-la-da by The Beatles
  • Kum By Ya
  • Here THere and Everywhere by The Beatles
  • Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
  • Michael Row Your Boat Ashore
  • When the Saints Go Marching In
  • Sir Duke (Stevie Wonder) – Major Triad Root Third Fifth

Perfect Fourth

Perfect Fourth: i.e., C to D

  • Here Comes the Bride
  • Oh Christmas Tree
  • The Look of Love
  • Amazing Grace
  • Auld Lang Syne
  • Love Me Tender
  • Summer Nights (Bass Line)

Perfect Fifth

Perfect Fifth: i.e., C to G

  • Can't Help Falling In Love (on Wise men)
  • Blue Skies
  • Hey There Georgie Girl
  • My Favorite Things
  • Scarborough Fair
  • Theme from Star Wars
  • Theme from E.T.
  • Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (from 1st to 2nd twink-le)

The interval between the Perfect Fourth and the Perfect Fifth above is the Tritone. Often called the Devil's interval. The Tritone is the interval in the Seventh chords functioning as the dominant or secondary dominant chords that demand resolution to their I chords and creates all the tension and want to resolve to the Tonic I chord third and root. This IS our Tonic/DOminant Western Harmony.

Tritone, Augmented Fourth/Diminished Fifth

Tritone (♯4 or ♭5): i.e., C to F♯/G♭

  • The Simp – sons
  • Ma ri a, from West SStory
  • Meet George Jet son, from The Jetsons
ukulele/historical/montage of book covers

Historical Ukulele Song and Instruction book covers

Minor Sixth

Minor Sixth: i.e., C to A♭

  • Black Orpheus
  • In My Life by The Beatles (guitar intro)
  • Theme From Love Story
  • Scott Joplin's The Entertainer (main theme after the intro)

Major Sixth

Major Sixth: i.e., C to A

Minor Seventh

Minor Seventh: i.e., C to Bb♭

  • Theme from Star Trek
  • Somewhere (from West Side Story)
  • The Winner Takes All (by ABBA)

Major Seventh

Major Seventh: i.e., C to B

  • Don’t Know Why – Norah Jones, “I waited ’till I saw the sun”

Octave

Octave: i.e., C to c`

  • Bali Ha'i" from South Pacific
  • Blue Bossa
  • Hi Ho Hi Ho
  • Let It Snow (Oh, the weather …)
  • Singing In The Rain (I'm singing)
  • Some where Over the Rainbow (then descends a minor second to the major seventh of the scale
  • The Christmas Song (Chest-nuts)
  • When You Wish Upon A Star

Minor Ninth

Not a lot of examples of melodies. However, the flat ninth is used a lot in jazz improvisation.

Major Ninth and beyond

Theoretically intervals above the octave are possible there are not a lot of, or any songs reference that would actually help us.

Descending Intervals

Descending Intervals

Minor Second

Minor Second: i.e., C down to B

  • Fur Elise
  • Joy to the World (Major Scale Descending)
  • Jingle Bell Rock
  • Stella by Starlight

Major Second

Major Second: i.e., C down to B♭

Minor Third

Minor Third: i.e., C down to A

Major Third

Major Third: i.e., C down to A♭

  • Major Third: i.e., C down to Ab
    • Giant Steps • Descends a major seventh chord from the major seventh of the chord to the root of the chord. Basically a root inversion of the chord descending.
    • Summertime

Perfect Fourth

Perfect Fourth: i.e., C down to G

Perfect Fifth

Perfect Fifth: i.e., C down to F

  • Back To the Future theme
  • Feelings
  • Flintstones Theme (Flint stones meet the ...)
  • Have You Meet Miss Jones
  • It Don't Mean a Thing (Duke Ellington)
  • Seven Steps to Heaven
  • What Do You Do With A Drunken Sailor

Tritone, Augmented Fourth/Diminished Fifth

Tritone: i.e., C down to F♯/G♭

Minor Sixth

Minor Sixth: i.e., C down to E

  • Love Story Theme

Major Sixth

Major Sixth: i.e., C down to E♭

  • Body and Soul
  • Over There
  • Sweet Caroline
  • Crazy

Minor Seventh

Minor Seventh: i.e., C down to D

  • Watermelon Man

Major Seventh

Major Seventh: i.e., C down to D♭

  • I love you (Cole Porter)
  • Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (Nat King Cole)

Octave

Octave: i.e., C` down to C

  • Crazy (2nd line "I'm crazy…"
  • Willow Weep For Me
Ascending & Descending Arpeggios, Chords, Scales

Ascending Scales

Major Pentatonic: — C D E G A C'

  • My Girl guitar lick
  • I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

Descending Scales

  • Joy to the World — C B A G F E D C

Ascending Arpeggios

  • Major 7th chord:
    • Jingle, Jingle, Jingle The first four notes are a major seventh chord, the 1 3 5 7 of the major scale of key of the song.

Chords

  • Major: wikiwand: ( Do - Mi - Sol ) i.e., C EC G
    • Sir Duke (Stevie Wonder)

Scales

Active Ear Training

ACTIVE EAR TRAINING is the ability to reproduce intervals, chords, chord progressions, melodic sequences, rhythm, etc... An example of active ear training would be to play the first two notes of the song "Here Comes the Bride" anywhere on your instrument or sing that interval (in tune).

Ear–Hands–Mind

Getting your fingers and or voice to follow you ear is one of the harder things to do. This is technique and takes a lot of work. All, well worth the effort.

Where the Ear Fits In – (Ear, Hands, Mind)

The hands are the weakest link in the Ear to Hands to Mind combination that is used to play music (by ear) and the hands need to be trained to follow the ear. It is the hands training that takes the longest.

The ear can remember stuff after ONE time hearing it. The Mind two or three and the hands to develop the muscle memory take about a few hundred times. How else can we recognize melodies after hear it once?

When practicing you should be doing stuff to train the hands to follow the ear. That is the sequence for developing this connection:

Mind to Hands to Ear

The Mind tells the Hands what to play and the Ear listens. DON'T practice by ear. Have a plan and organization of the material you would like to cover.

Practicing your scales in intervals of 2nds, 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, 6ths, 7ths, etc... Some more common than other for melodies. Practice both ascending and descending. I would go with 2nds, 3rds, and 6ths first.

UL450

Ear to Hands to Mind

The Ear tells the Hands what play and you can involve the Mind if needed or wanted after the fact.

The hands will not do anything they have not done before.

So to be able to play by ear you either:

  1. Hunt and Peck enough to train your fingers to follow the ear – or –
  2. Have a plan to train the ear and hands to work together, thus making the hands to the ear connection quicker. Creating a plan is where a teacher can really help. And, if you've had bad experiences with teachers don't give up on them just try another teacher, good teachers are out there. Typically jazz musicians will be the best teachers in the playing by ear department. Remember playing by ear does not mean practicing by ear. Practicing and learning are different then performing.

Here is an example of learning a specific interval. The first two notes of Here Comes the Bride are a perfect fourth. If using C as the first note then F is the perfect fourth above C. Try putting any finger on any note of the ukulele and then play the second, Here Comes… correctly the first time. If you can't, the fingers haven't been trained enough to Play by Ear", to obey the hands for the particular sound of that interval. This is then where the mind comes and inner ear come in to play and and intellectually knows where the interval of a perfect fourth is and trains the hands to follow e ear.

Same goes for chords, chord progressions, melodies, rhythms. The process starts with the mind telling hands what to do and the ear taking it all in.

View the complete lessons on this topic: The Learning Process—The Mind, Hands and Ears

art by Curt Sheller

End of Lesson - Thanks, Hope You Enjoyed It!

Related Lessons, Videos, Lesson Series, Songs, Books & Reference Charts, Resources & Assets, Workshops are below.

learningukulele-uke badge