Bought this and started working with it Pedja. It seems pretty good so far........

http://www.earmaster.com/home2.htm?gclid=C...CFSn6agodRFvDag

I used the trial once ... seems to be pretty good as you said. If i remember right, there were too many options for my taste and i mainly played with the settings instead to just practice

Btw .. if you have an iPhone/iPod touch. There is a nice and very simple app called "Relative Pitch". I used it a lot this summer and really liked it.

I'll have to talk my wife into getting me an iPhone.....

Good for you Monte!

I never purchased any ear training software so I can't share my experiences with you about that one
Let me know how you are doing with it.

How did you do your ear training Pedja? Specifically when you were learning to identify intervals?

I've noticed that it is more difficult for me to identfy intervals when they are played in the lower register of the guitar. Especially subtle differences......like difference between a m3 and M3. It's good software. It makes you identify the intervals first using a common tone using ascending, descending and then harmonic. Then it does the same thing but using random tones. I think if I can be consistent with this software I should really improve my ear.

I first learned to sing using traditional method in singing, solfege. I had to learn that for exams in music school when I was young. It helped me a lot because after getting sounds of the scales, I started focusing on distances between the notes (singing up and down major minor 2nd 3rd perfect 4th etc). When I got my relative pitch it was combination of scales intervals and songs! I would remember a specific song that starts with specific interval and I would sing it so many times from different starting note until it locks in my ear.
That is the method I used

So Pedja I've been working with this software everyday for about an hour. It is going pretty well but one thing I am having trouble with is distinguishing between perfect 4ths and perfect 5ths. The program starts you out by first starting on the same tone and then it does a section for ascending, descending and harmonic. So when it starts from the same tone I can tell the difference between the 4th and 5th pretty easily. Then it makes it harder and plays the intervals starting from different tones. I am having a difficult time with this. I do pretty well but I am not consistent. It especially seems difficult if one interval is played in a much higher register compared to the other interval. Do you have any suggestions to be able to be able to distinguish these two intervals better or do I just need to get a billion more repetitions????

I am doing well at distinguishing between the M2, m2, M3, m3 and A4/D5 intervals.......it's just the 4th and 5th that I am not consistent with. Thanks Pedja.........

Hi Monte, ... i find these intervals difficult as well ... especially on higher or lower registers as you said. What helps me is to "sing" triads if i'm not sure, but i'm not happy with this approach as i would like to hear clearly the differences between both ..

Hope Pedja can give us some other ideas ... but i'm afraid i know what his answer will be ..

What could help, is to think at the first note as the first chord in a blues progression, is the second note the iv chord or the v chord??? Otherwise, Pedja mentioned a great idea here before. Take a famous song: for a fifth, take "Twinkle,twinkle little star" for example.... (the first notes)

//Staffay

Monte and Andy

For perfect 4ths and 5ths to lock in, you should sing the songs that have those intervals.

For perfect 4th, use "Here comes the bride"
For perfect 5th use "Star wars theme" or "Top gun theme". I think even "Flinstones theme" starts with descending perfect 5th. Money for nothing by Dire straits starts with perfect 4th hammering on the perfect 5th. Smoke on the water main riff is using just perfect 4ths...

Idea is to pick one tune for each and as soon as you hear starting note, sing the next note from it. Use the song, lock it in your ear and then check your answers.

More advanced approach is by using triad inversions, but that only works for perfect 4th!

2nd inversion of major and minor triads use perfect 4th interval between 5th and root followed by some sort of 3rd.

Hope that helps!

Pedja

Thanks Pedja and Staffay

Yes, when i use ear training tools to practice intervals .. different approaches like to use songs as references or to sing scales or chords works quite well to find the solution.

Actually i try now to listen more closely to the "quality" of each interval and try to hear the difference by the sound, .. different levels of consonant or dissonant sound.

Using a piano, i have the impression as lower the intervals are played, 4th's and 5th's become more and more similar to each other. On the guitar i don't have that much problems to hear the differences btw .. maybe it does not go as low or i'm more used to guitar sound in general.

This is true Andy!
Piano in the lower range can sound trickier then guitar. That period of adjustment will last only for a little bit, just keep singing and locking the melody with starting interval in your head. After a while it becomes automatic

The reason why its tricky to say if its a fourth or fifth (especially in the lower registrys) is that the fourth interval will actually be a fifth interval, if its inverted. As guitar players, we are using these inversions all the time in form of "power-chords", and therefore also recognizes them easier with a guitar sound. But its true as Pedja says that its harder on piano in the lower registries. When I studied ear training, I was transposing the intervals in my head (one octave above) - when they were really low.... Also we have the matter that a piano is a well-tempered instrument, which gives that no interval is really "clean" or "sharp", but i dont think that matters in this case...

//Staffay

Thanks for all the suggestions......I will definintely try them to see if I can't get these intervals down......

Cool Monte

I will try to do one Ear Training video by the end of the month, no promises though

Thanks Pedja.......I'll keep working.

I own that software too, it is really detailed and works great. I was thinking I had no problems with intervals for example, but that showed me I still had a way to go. (Esp, trying to find 4ths dim5ths and 5ths which have different roots)

I really suggest it every serious musician round here:)

Can

That is where I am having problems too Can.......the different roots with the 4ths and 5ths. Just gotta keep working I gues....

Yeah man, seriously even A-B'ing with some known songs doesn't help. (for ex. Sad but true for 5ths and smoke on the water for 4ths )

I think it is hard to differentiate between 4ths and 5ths because they are essentially the same interval. If I play a 4th ascending then I am playing a 5th when descending. They sound the same because they are the same.......that's my story and I'm sticking to it..........\m/\m/

yay, but, I keep saying that too, but somewhere deep in my heart tells me I should stop making up excuses and get to the work If other people who have one-head-two-arms-two-legs-one-body can discern it I should make it too

anyway it seems there is a long way to go Monte, and its the 5th chapter on the first series of 7 or something and we need to rock on \m/

I hear ya. I just can't seem to get any consistency.....especially in the lower registers. I think I would do just as well flipping a coin.....

How long have you been working with the program Can??

about 20 days I think, but now I bumped on that interval problem, and yeah you are right lower registers different root perfect 4th dim5th and perfect 5th, they are a real problem.. I try to make it perfect now, and I start to commit less errors after few times, but on the other day, I feel like I never had it before in my life... And I want to be honest with myself too, so, don't want to skip the lesson or admit I've done well under a 75 %, so I am stuck but I think that is also a matter of mood too, maybe I'll do better when the things settle down a little bit