Ear Training in 8 Weeks — Intervals, Chords, Progressions

This path is for musicians who want to play by ear, transcribe ideas, tune better and understand what they hear. It works for any instrument and for singers. Basic knowledge of note names and the major scale helps; if you have none, do weeks 1-4 of the theory path alongside.

Ear training works best in short, frequent sessions: plan four 15-minute sessions a week, ideally at the same time of day. At the end of eight weeks you will recognise all intervals within an octave, tell major, minor, diminished and augmented chords apart, hear the common seventh chords, sing scale degrees in a key, write down short melodies and recognise I, IV, V and vi in progressions.

What you need: the ear trainer, the progression player, an instrument to check your answers, and a notebook to log your scores. Read the ear training lesson before you start.

Week 1 — Pitch and the tonic

Session 1 — Matching pitch

• Read the ear training lesson. Play single notes between C3 and C4 on your instrument (or use the tuner reference tones) and hum each one. 10 notes.
• Use the tuner on your voice: hold each note for 3 seconds and try to stay within ±20 cents.
• Log your score: how many of the 10 notes did you match on the first try?

Session 2 — Higher or lower

• Have the ear trainer play intervals and answer only "up or down?" for 5 minutes.
• Play two notes a half step apart on your instrument; close your eyes and say which is higher. Repeat at a very quiet volume.

Session 3 — Do, mi, sol

• Play C major slowly and sing along on numbers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
• Sing 1-3-5-8-5-3-1 over a C on your instrument, then check each note.

1 – 3 – 5 – 8 in C

Session 4 — Unison and octave

• Ear trainer with only the unison and octave: 20 questions. Goal: 18 correct.
• Sing an octave above and below five different notes and check.

Week 2 — Perfect intervals

Session 1 — The fifth

• Listen to the perfect fifth 10 times from different roots. Hear it as "1 to 5" of the major scale.
• Ear trainer: P5 vs P8, ascending only, 20 questions.

Session 2 — The fourth

• Learn the perfect fourth as "5 up to 8": sing 5-6-7-8 and notice that 5 to 8 is a fourth.
• Ear trainer: P4 vs P5, ascending, 20 questions. Goal: 16 correct.

Session 3 — Three perfect intervals

• Ear trainer: P4, P5 and P8 ascending, 30 questions.
• Sing a P4 and a P5 above 5 random notes and check them on your instrument.

Session 4 — Week 2 check

• Ear trainer: P4, P5, P8 ascending, 20 questions. Goal: 17 correct. If not, repeat sessions 2-3.
• Write your score in your log.

Week 3 — Seconds and thirds

Session 1 — Steps

• Learn the minor second (half step, tense) and the major second (whole step, like 1 to 2 of the scale).
• Ear trainer: m2 vs M2, ascending, 20 questions.

Session 2 — Major and minor thirds

• Learn the major third (1 to 3 in major, bright) and the minor third (1 to 3 in minor, darker).
• Ear trainer: M3 vs m3, 20 questions. Goal: 16 correct.
• Sing a major third and a minor third above the same note, back to back.

Session 3 — Major and minor triads

• Ear trainer, chord qualities: major vs minor only, 20 questions.
• Play C major and C minor, then A major and A minor. Hum the third of each chord: that is the note that makes the difference.

Session 4 — Mixed review

• Ear trainer: m2, M2, m3, M3, P4, P5, P8 ascending, 30 questions.
• Do intervals worksheet 1 to connect sound and notation.

Week 4 — Sixths, sevenths and the tritone

Session 1 — Sixths

• Learn the major sixth (1 to 6 in major) and minor sixth. Notice how they are inversions of the minor and major thirds.
• Ear trainer: m6 vs M6, 20 questions.

Session 2 — Sevenths

• Learn the minor seventh (open, unresolved) and major seventh (one half step below the octave, sharp and tense).
• Ear trainer: m7, M7, P8, 20 questions.

Session 3 — The tritone

• Learn the tritone: exactly half an octave, very unstable. Play it from F to B and hear how it wants to resolve to E–C.

Tritone F–B

• Ear trainer: P4, TT, P5, 20 questions. Goal: 16 correct.

Session 4 — All intervals ascending

• Ear trainer: all 12 intervals ascending, 40 questions. Log your score and note the two you confuse most.
• Spend 5 extra minutes on that pair only.

Week 5 — Descending, harmonic intervals and more chords

Session 1 — Descending intervals

• Ear trainer: P4, P5, M3, m3 descending, 20 questions. Tip: hear the lower note as the root and sing up to the higher one.
• Sing descending 8-5-3-1 and 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 in C major.

Session 2 — Harmonic intervals

• Ear trainer with intervals played together (harmonic): M3, m3, P5, P8, 20 questions.
• Play two notes together on your instrument and sing first the lower note, then the upper.

Session 3 — Diminished and augmented triads

• Listen to C diminished (two minor thirds, tense) and C augmented (two major thirds, unresolved, dreamy).
• Ear trainer, chord qualities: major, minor, diminished, augmented, 20 questions. Goal: 16 correct.

Session 4 — Week 5 check

• Ear trainer: all intervals ascending, 30 questions. Goal: 24 correct.
• Chord qualities (4 triads), 20 questions. Goal: 17 correct.

Week 6 — Scale degrees and melodic dictation

Session 1 — Degrees in a key

• Play a C major chord, then a random note from C major; name its degree (1-7). Do 20 notes. The progression player can give you the key context first.
• Learn the "pull" of each degree: 7 pulls up to 1, 4 pulls down to 3, 2 can go to 1 or 3.

Session 2 — Three-note dictation

• Play (or have a friend play) 3-note melodies using degrees 1-5 in C. Sing them back, then write them as numbers. 10 melodies.
• Check by playing your answer. Goal: 7 of 10 correct.

Session 3 — Five-note dictation

• Same as session 2 with 5 notes using all 7 degrees. Write the answers on staff paper.
• Do one round in a minor key: A natural minor.

Session 4 — Seventh chords

• Listen to Cmaj7, C7, Cm7 and Cm7b5 in the chord builder.
• Ear trainer, seventh chord qualities, 20 questions. Goal: 14 correct.

Week 7 — Chord progressions

Session 1 — Hearing the bass

• In the progression player, play I – IV – V – I in C and sing only the lowest note of each chord.
• Learn the sound of root movement: I to IV (up a fourth), I to V (up a fifth), I to vi (down a third).

Session 2 — I, IV and V

• Ask a friend to play, or set up the progression player without looking at the chords, random 4-chord progressions using only I, IV and V. Write the numerals. 10 progressions.
• Goal: 7 of 10 correct. Sing the bass line if you are unsure.

Session 3 — Adding vi and ii

• Learn the sound of vi (minor, shares two notes with I) and ii (minor, often before V).
• Identify I – V – vi – IV, I – vi – IV – V, ii – V – I and I – IV – vi – V by ear in two keys.

Session 4 — Cadences

• Read the cadences lesson. Listen to authentic (V–I), plagal (IV–I), half (ending on V) and deceptive (V–vi) cadences in the progression player.
• Quiz yourself with 10 random cadences. Goal: 8 correct.

Week 8 — Scales, modes and final test

Session 1 — Scale qualities

• Ear trainer, scales: major, natural minor, harmonic minor, 20 questions.
• Compare major pentatonic, minor pentatonic and blues on C.

Session 2 — Modes by colour

• Play a C drone (hold C on your instrument) and play C dorian, C mixolydian, C lydian and C phrygian over it.
• Name the characteristic note of each (dorian: natural 6, mixolydian: b7, lydian: #4, phrygian: b2) and sing it.

Session 3 — Transcribe yourself

• Record a 4-bar melody and a 4-chord progression on your instrument. A day later, without looking at your notes, transcribe both from the recording.
• Compare with what you played. Note what you missed.

Session 4 — Final test

• Ear trainer: all intervals ascending and descending, 40 questions. Goal: 34 correct.
• Chord qualities (triads and sevenths), 30 questions. Goal: 24 correct.
• 5 random progressions using I, ii, IV, V, vi. Goal: 4 correct. Compare everything with your week-1 log.

After this path

Keep a daily 5-minute ear-training habit: it fades if you stop. Next steps:

• Connect your ear to theory with the 12-week theory path.
• Guitarists: use your new ears on the neck with the fretboard path and the intermediate guitar path.
• Bassists: hearing roots is your superpower; put it to work in the 30-day bass path.
• Try playing back short melodies by ear on your instrument every day, starting from scale degree 1.