Ear Training - Intervals

[IanD]

There is a really cool tip in the February issue of 'Guitarist' magazine which is to memorise the sound of a musical interval (eg Minor third, Perfect fifth, Octave etc) using a reference tune/song that you know really, really well. It suggests the following, do you have other suggestions or ones that you use?

Minor 2nd: first two notes of intro to Jailhouse Rock

Major 2nd: first two notes of Silent Night

Minor 3rd: first two notes of Smoke on the Water

Perfect 4th: first two notes of Auld Lang Syne

Tritone: first two notes of The Simpsons theme

Perfect 5th: second and third notes of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Minor 6th: third and fourth notes of The Entertainer

Major 6th: first two notes of My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean

Minor 7th: first two notes of the Star Trek theme

Major 7th: first two notes of the chorus of Take on Me by A-Ha

Octave: first two notes of Somewhere over the Rainbow

[Fretless]

Ian, you are missing a major 3rd.

I have a few (rising) intervals I have come to rely on, based on songs used when I started playing recorder or films I like. I have three gaps so I have work to do!

Here are mine:

Minor 2nd: 1st and 2nd notes of Pink Panther

Major 2nd: 2nd and 3rd notes of Happy Birthday

Minor 3rd: 1st and 2nd notes of Greensleeves

Major 3rd: 1st and 2nd notes of the hymn Once In Royal David's City

Perfect 4th: 1st and 2nd notes of Amazing Grace

Tritone: -

Perfect 5th: 2nd and 3rd notes of Scarborough Fair

Minor 6th: -

Major 6th: 1st and 2nd notes of My Way

Minor 7th: -

Major 7th: 1st and 3rd notes of Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Octave: 1st and 2nd notes of Singin' In The Rain

Edited March 1, 2018 by Fretless
To correct a mistake.

[Nutty1]

I find this site very good. I am using their program, it is a slow process for me?.

https://www.earmaster.com/products/free-tools/interval-song-chart-generator.html

[IanD]

Very cool resource Mandy, thanks!

[Wim VD]

6 hours ago, Nutty1 said:

I find this site very good. I am using their program, it is a slow process for me?.

https://www.earmaster.com/products/free-tools/interval-song-chart-generator.html

Thanks, Mandy.

I had a song list with ascending intervals, but not with descending ones, so now I have both.

To test myself, I am using the app "Ear Trainer" from Justinguitar on a regular basis. It takes a while indeed.

Wim.

 

[Jusca]

If the song reference works for you, that's good.  I could never get that method to work for me. I found it too slow to recall the reference  song and playback the interval in real time.

After months of trying to drill isolated intervals and getting nowhere, I had a lightbulb moment.  I know the sounds of these intervals like the back of my hand and I just needed to put a name to them. I stopped telling myself it was hard and difficult and that eliminated a major roadblock. I started listening to songs and sometimes a certain chord progression would sound so familiar.  I would sing the notes or look up the progression, and voila it was much quicker and so much more fun to internalize the sounds while putting a name to intervallic relationship.  I started picking up patterns that had a certain sound and feeling to it, I could easily pick out the intervallic movement.  145 in any order are the easiest for me right now.  I've played those patterns in real songs and can spot them.  Musicademy & Steve Stine both have an ear training course that blows everyone else's is out of the water.  They focus on real application in a song plus there is emphasis on humming sounds to internalize what you hear.

 

In a way what I did is not much different from the drills approach except my mind was more engaged & excited when I had to reverse engineer songs I liked then giving what I heard a name. 

Edited March 4, 2018 by Jusca

[Fretless]

That's fantastic, Jusca, I am so excited you found a method that works for you.

Edit: Sorry, Jusca, if that sounds condescending - it does to me yet I did not mean it like that.

Edited March 4, 2018 by Fretless

[Jusca]

2 hours ago, Fretless said:

That's fantastic, Jusca, I am so excited you found a method that works for you.

Edit: Sorry, Jusca, if that sounds condescending - it does to me yet I did not mean it like that.

Yiur comment sounds encouraging to me. Thanks!