Lessons · Beginner
Ear Training for Beginners: Intervals, Chords, Degrees
A practical plan to hear intervals, chords and scale degrees, sing them and transcribe music by ear.
Ear training is the skill of recognizing what you hear: which note, which interval, which chord, which step of the scale. It is what lets you play a melody you heard on the radio, find the chords to a tune without a chart, tune by ear and improvise with confidence. Good news: nobody is born with it fully formed. It is trained, like reading or technique, and a few minutes a day is enough to see clear progress.
Two kinds of listening
- Relative pitch is hearing the relationship between notes: "that note is a fifth above the last one" or "that chord is the IV of the key". This is the skill musicians use every day, and anyone can develop it.
- Absolute (perfect) pitch is naming a note with no reference at all. It is rare, not required, and not the goal of this lesson.
Everything below builds relative pitch, step by step.
Step 1: Intervals
An interval is the distance between two notes. Start with intervals played melodically (one note after the other, going up), then descending, then harmonically (both notes together).
Instead of memorizing famous tunes, learn the character of each interval and its place in the major scale. The table describes ascending intervals from a root.
| Interval | Semitones | Character and reference idea |
|---|---|---|
| Minor 2nd (m2) | 1 | Very close, tense rub; like the leading tone sliding into the tonic (ti to do) |
| Major 2nd (M2) | 2 | A plain step; the first two notes of a major scale (do to re) |
| Minor 3rd (m3) | 3 | Dark and soft; the bottom of a minor chord |
| Major 3rd (M3) | 4 | Bright and stable; the bottom of a major chord (do to mi) |
| Perfect 4th (P4) | 5 | Open, like a call or a signal; do up to fa, or sol up to the higher do |
| Tritone (TT) | 6 | Unstable, restless, wants to resolve; splits the octave exactly in half |
| Perfect 5th (P5) | 7 | Hollow, strong, pure; the sound of a power chord (do to sol) |
| Minor 6th (m6) | 8 | Bittersweet and yearning; a minor 6th up feels like it wants to fall a half step |
| Major 6th (M6) | 9 | Warm, wide and sweet; do up to la |
| Minor 7th (m7) | 10 | Bluesy and unresolved; root to the 7th of a dominant chord |
| Major 7th (M7) | 11 | Dreamy and sharp; one half step short of the octave, leans up to it |
| Octave (P8) | 12 | The same note, higher; completely merged |
Pairs to compare. Learn intervals in contrasting pairs before mixing them all: M3 vs P5, m3 vs M3, P4 vs P5, M6 vs m7, TT vs P5. Hearing the difference between two is easier than naming one out of twelve.
Step 2: Chord qualities
Next, learn to hear the color of a chord without naming individual notes.
| Chord | Formula | Character |
|---|---|---|
| Major | 1 3 5 | Bright, stable, resolved |
| Minor | 1 b3 5 | Darker, softer, introspective |
| Diminished | 1 b3 b5 | Tense, compressed, unstable |
| Augmented | 1 3 #5 | Floating, suspended, expanding |
| Dominant 7th | 1 3 5 b7 | Bluesy, wants to move to another chord |
| Major 7th | 1 3 5 7 | Soft, airy, jazzy |
| Minor 7th | 1 b3 5 b7 | Smooth, mellow minor |
Start with major vs minor only. When you get nine out of ten right, add diminished, then augmented, then the three seventh chords. Play chords both blocked (together) and arpeggiated (one note at a time).
Step 3: Scale degrees
Intervals measure the distance between two notes; scale degrees tell you where a note sits inside a key. This is the most musical skill of all, because melodies are heard in relation to a home note (the tonic).
Each degree has its own feeling against the tonic:
- 1 (do): home, rest, finished.
- 2 (re): a passing step, tends to fall to 1.
- 3 (mi): stable and bright; the major quality of the key.
- 4 (fa): leans down to 3.
- 5 (sol): strong and stable, but open; wants to return home eventually.
- 6 (la): gentle, often falls to 5.
- 7 (ti): strongly pulls up to 1.
To practice, play a cadence such as I IV V I to set the key, then play a single note and identify its degree. Sing from that note back to the tonic by step; the path home tells you where you were.
Step 4: Sing
Singing is the bridge between hearing and understanding. You do not need a beautiful voice; you need accurate intention.
- Sing the note before you play it, then check.
- Sing major and minor scales with numbers or solfège.
- Sing the root of every chord you play.
- Sing arpeggios: 1 3 5 3 1, then 1 b3 5 b3 1.
If a note is out of your range, sing it an octave higher or lower. The note name is the same.
Step 5: Transcription
Transcription means working out music from a recording. It combines every skill above and is the fastest way to grow, because the material is real music.
- Choose something short and simple: a vocal melody, a bass line, a slow riff. Start with 4 to 8 bars.
- Find the tonic first. Hum the note that feels like home, then find it on your instrument.
- Sing a small fragment, a few notes, until you can repeat it without the recording.
- Find the notes on your instrument, using scale degrees and intervals as guides.
- Find the bass notes of each chord, then the chord quality (major or minor).
- Write it down on staff paper or tab paper, so the work is not lost.
A daily routine (15 minutes)
| Minutes | Activity |
|---|---|
| 0-3 | Sing a major scale up and down with numbers, then with solfège |
| 3-7 | Interval drill with the ear trainer (current pair or group) |
| 7-10 | Chord qualities: major, minor, then add new types as you improve |
| 10-13 | Scale degrees: set the key with a cadence, identify single notes |
| 13-15 | Transcribe a few notes of a melody you know by heart |
Keep a short log: date, exercise and score. Increase difficulty only when you score at least 80 to 90 percent for two or three sessions in a row.
ToolsEar TrainerRecognise intervals, chord qualities and scales by ear and track your score.Practice
- Pair work: in the ear trainer, select only the major 3rd and the perfect 5th, ascending. Do 20 questions per day until you reach 18 correct, then add the perfect 4th.
- Major or minor: play random major and minor triads (or have a friend play them) and name the quality. Aim for 10 out of 10.
- Degree game: play I IV V I in C, then a random note of the C major scale, and name its degree. Check by singing down to C.
- Sing and check: pick a note, sing a major 3rd above it, then play the note to check. Repeat for the perfect 5th and the octave.
- First transcription: transcribe a simple children's melody or folk tune you know well, starting on C, and write it on staff paper.
Related lessons: Intervals, Triads, Seventh chords, Major scale, Diatonic harmony, Practice method.
Explore intervals: Perfect 5th, Major 3rd, Minor 3rd, Tritone.
Tools and exercises: Ear trainer, Chord identifier, Intervals 1, Intervals 2, Triads 1.
Printables: Intervals chart, Staff paper. For a structured plan, follow the 8-week ear training path.