Using fragments of songs that you know

Another approach that you should employ in prallell, is to use fragments of music you know. Choose among songs with a simple and clear melody, not something flashy and sophisticated. The songs you learned as a child should be well suited. Now I have problems giving clues to many songs that are well known to an international audience. I mainly use Norwegian childrens songs, christmas songs etc for reference, and the english speaking world do not know these songs.

But I can at least give you some examples, to give you the idea. Play the three notes C, D and E. Play them in that sequence. Use different rythms, and put different emphasis on the notes. You may play each note as many time you wish, but when you have left it, you cannot return to it. Try to identify as many melodies as possible with that sequence of notes. There should be enough songs beginning with these notes, and it is easier when you can use the beginning. Try to play these exampels, just to give you a clue.

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The next: might at least be known for french viewers - if there are any:



All american viewers should know the last example:


And remember that all such closed-position (no open strings) phrases are movable, both horisontally (up and down the neck) and vertically (across the strings). Try the same in another key, to see if some different sounds will kick of some other associataions. There you have i library of referencial sounds for those two major seconds, that adds up to a major third.  Click here if you want to se the last example in different keys and positions.

When you have found a song, and played the opening notes, you might want to continue. Just go on, as long as you are playing the song by ear. But if you look it up in a book, then you are cheating. (And the only one to get fooled is yourself.) Try to withstand the temptation of looking it up, and make it a challenge for yourself.

When you are using fragments of melodies, you are picking out intervals in a harmonic and melodic context. And then it might be a good idea to use what is known as sol-fedge. That is the Do-Re-Mi singing you may know from school. Use what is called a moveable do, meaning that do is the root of the key you are in. If it is C-major, C is Do. If it is G-major, G is Do, etc. The major scale is: Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do.


It might take some time before you get used to it. But it have the advantage that you also relates the notes to the musical context. I do not have a fixed opnion on what to choose. I have done what I always do in such situations: Use both approches, hoping to get the best of two worlds.

You can elaborate a little on the three notes Do-Re-Mi sequence. Here are a few examples you might know:The Do-Re-Mi variations give you two intervals: A major second (Do-Re, Re-Mi), and a major third (Do -Mi). A famous example of a decending major third is the opening of Beethoven's 5th symphonie, which is three Gs and an Eb. It is probably the most famous musical theme in existence.

We can then add the So to the sequence, and you can for instance have this line, that you probably know:


 

Now you have added a fifth and minor third to your repertoir of intervals. The fifth is the Do-So, and the minor third is Mi-So. You also have a fourth in Re-So, but it is probably at bit harder to use.

Just as important is that you have the basic Tonic major chord: Do-Mi-So in root position. Most of my reference-songs to an ascending major tirads are songs that probably are not know to an international audience, and I do not intend to do any kind of research to find new songs. One famous example is "Rock around the clock", where both the opening and the main theme is a major triad Find more examples by yourself..You will learn more from doing it yourself, anyway.

From classical, non guitar music, you have Mozart piano sonata no 1 in C major, K 545 as a prominent example. It is one of those piano pieces by young piano students with ambitious parents. (I have seen reference to this as sonata nr 1, but other sonatas have lower K number - a do not know the explanation.) But it still sounds very good when you have a pianist like Mitsuko Uchida playing the piece. I might add that this piece of music is my main reference for identifying the key of C-major - if it in some way sounds like that piano piece, it is probably C-major. Another famous work is  "On the Beautiful Blue Danube" ("An der schönen, Blauen Donau" is the original German title), played every year at the New Years Concert from Vienna.

This might eventuallay be a list of more examples if find some, or you send me some.

For the decending major chord, "Star Sprangled Banner" is an often used example. It also returns back to So in an ascending major chord, so it really gives you both. It goes So-Mi-Do-Mi-So.

Then it is time to close the sequence of the first five notes, by adding the the fourth note - Fa. There are numbers of songs that starts with an ascending line of these five notes, Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So. But again, my references are Norwegian.

For a decending line, the christmas song "Deck the Hall" should be well known. It goes So-Fa-Mi-Re-Do-Re-Mi-Do.

Play the five note line with emphasis on Do-Mi-So, and then decent through a major chord: DO-re-MI-fa-SO-MI-DO.

To put the Fa a bit more into play, play the sequnce Mi-Fa-So a couple of times.

You should also listen to two of Beethoven' symphonies (well, you should listen to all of them, but not for this purpose ...). The Ode to Joy in fourth movement om Beethovens 9th starts with these notes. The symphony is in the key of D-minor, but the fourth movement is in D-major. The notes are F#-G-A..

The opening of Beethovens 6th goes Mi-Fa-La, which gives you some kind of a contrast. It is in the key F-major, and that the notes are A-Bb-D.
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Now, let us put some of those fragments togheter, that should give you some ques, if you have not recognized them by now.

It is time to introduce a So below our Do. You have heard the follwing seqences thousands of times, as the opening bars of numerous songs.

The So-Do interval is a fourth, and it is more easy to identify the fourth in this context, compared to picking one note out from the middle of a sequence.

Also note the sound of the So-Do-Mi sequence. This is a major chord in it's second inversion.

Also try to get the So-Mi interval from that sequence. It is a bit more difficult than the previous intervals. But it is still the easiest way of identifying a major 6th interval. When you have got it, you can move it to Do-La, where you have the same interval. If you hear the major 6th interval in the beginning of a song, it is usually the So-Mi interval from a tonic major chord in second inversion.

A minor sixth  ( E-C, A-F, B-G.)  can be identified in the theme from "Love Story". And for guitarists, the starting gutiar phrase in Eric Claptons "Wonderful tonight" should give a good clue.

It is hard to identify a song where a major seventh interval ( C-B, F-E ) can be used as we have done so far. A song does not begin with a major seventh. The seventh note is a leading note, that gives a strong lead back to the tonic. (More on that in the lesson on the V7-I chord change.) If you start with that interval, the song tend to be over before it has really started.

I have so far not covered the tritone ( F-B)/diminished fifth ( B-F), and the minor 7th ( C-B, F-E). For both these intervals, I have blues references, and do not use a particular song. The flatted fifth is a common "blue note" with a distinct sound. It is a diminished fifth above tonic, and I know the sound of this interval from years of blues playing. You also have it in the song "Maria", from Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story. But Bernsteins treatment of melody and harmony is a bit more advanced than my knowledge of sol-fedge, so I will not try to apply any sol-fedge syllabels to that song.The same goes with the minor 7th. It is a note that is used very much in blues, both in melody and harmony.
Also listen for endings like So-Ti-Do, La-Ti-Do, So-La-Do, Ti-Re-Do and Re-Ti-Do.

Also try to identify the sounds of the basic chords. Eric Claptons Fathers Eyes is a major chord in first inversion. And the opening of The Band's hit "The Night They Drowe Old Dixie Down" is the notes of a minor chord.
 

C-major, 2nd inversion A-minor



 

Getting songs from records

No you might say, "So what?" I have been reminded of old, boring songs, and I have learned som silly names for the tones. But I am still not able so pick a song from a record. The answer is work, work, work and work. There is no shortcut. But you have some clues. For a way of identifying chords and chord-progressions, go to my Chord progressions lesson.

When you try to pick a melody, that could be a guitar solo, do not start with a super-fast Formula One Guitar Racing type of lick. Start with some melodic playing in moderate to slow tempo. Country songs and folk songs tend to stick more to major scales and harmonies compared to blues, rock and jazz, and might be easier to figure out with the knowledge you have got from this little lesson. I have also found old records from the 50's and early 60's well suited for this. The songs are simpler in structure and arrangement compared to more contemporary songs. Many of these songs are not my favourites, but I have worked my way through a couple of compilations of old hits, just to get practice in picking chord changes and melodies from records.

Sing back the phrase you want to figure out. If you cannot sing it back, then you have not got the phrase yet. When you can sing it back, you can slow it down. And then you can figure out the interval. Make up some phrases. Sing them first, and then play. Do not play them without singing first - the purpose is to get the notes you have in your head, not just running around the fingerboard.

Another approach is to try to identify intervals in songs you hear. For instance listen for the perfect fifths. And then move on as you are getting better. Trying to identify what is played can be like listening to a foreign language that you understand, but do not master yet. You have to translate. But the music (or the talking) don't stop while you are translating. But after a while it becomes second nature to you. When I started to work on this, old songs started to pop up in my head when I suddenly was able to identify some musical elements in the music. I often had to either play the record or play the sequence on either guitar or piano to see if I was right or wrong. Sometimes my musical memory was not good enough to recall the correct interval.

You will develop a vocabulary of phrases. You identify the phrase or a variation of a phrase, instead of the single notes. It is like idenitfying a word or a sentence, instead of the single letters in the words. But almost every reader started by spelling each word.