Tools
Ear Trainer
Train your relative pitch with short quizzes. The ear trainer plays an interval, a chord or a scale and you choose what you heard. Pick exactly which items to include, start with a few easy ones and add more as you improve. Your score shows which sounds you still confuse. Runs in your browser, headphones recommended.
How to use it
- Choose a mode: intervals, chord qualities or scales.
- Select which items to include (start with two or three).
- Press play, listen, and pick your answer.
- Replay as often as you need; compare with the reference if unsure.
- Add new items once you score above 90%.
Why ear training matters
Ear training connects what you hear with what you know. It helps you play by ear, transcribe melodies, tune, improvise and sing in tune. Relative pitch, the ability to recognise the distance between notes, can be learned by anyone with regular short practice.
How to practise
- Start small. For intervals, begin with just the perfect fifth and the major third. Two very different sounds are easier to tell apart than twelve.
- Use reference sounds. Many people link intervals to familiar musical moments. Use any melody you know well, or simpler anchors: a major third sounds bright and settled, a minor third darker, a tritone tense and unresolved.
- Ascending, descending, harmonic. Learn intervals going up first, then down, then both notes together.
- Ten minutes a day. Short daily sessions beat one long session a week. Your ear needs repetition and rest.
- Sing. After each answer, sing the two notes. Singing internalises the sound much faster than only listening.
Chords and scales
For chord qualities, start with major vs minor, then add diminished and augmented, then seventh chords (maj7, 7, m7, m7b5). Listen for the third first: bright or dark. For scales and modes, focus on the characteristic note: the raised 4th of lydian, the b7 of mixolydian, the major 6th of dorian.
Related
Read the ear training lesson and the lesson on intervals. Follow the structured 8-week ear training path. For written interval practice try intervals worksheet 1, and keep the intervals chart nearby. Browse every interval with audio examples.