Learning Music by Ear with Capo
Do you use tabs or sheet music to learn songs, but wonder how so many other musicians are able to learn everything “by ear?”
If you can whistle, hum, or sing along with a catchy tune, then you’re half-way there—you learn “by ear” all the time without even thinking about it! Using Capo as your secret weapon, it won’t take long before you start impressing your friends and family with your ability to learn any song quickly. It also makes for a great party trick: Impromptu sing-alongs! Any requests?
Here are some tips to get you started:
If you can read and play chords on your instrument, then you’re in luck: Capo will start you off by automatically pulling the chords out of any song. The Chords Song View will arrange them in a chord chart that’ll have you playing along in no time.
You can easily edit any of the chords to fit your playing, and change how they appear in the chart. List them by name, show simplified piano chord diagrams, or have Capo display chord boxes for ukulele, banjo, mandolin, and guitars with various tunings.
Start your ear training by learning to play melodies. If you sing, this should come naturally—you provide the melody using your voice. But if you play a one-note-at-a-time instrument like the trumpet or saxophone—or, if you want to add to the chords you’re playing—it’s time to put those humming and whistling skills to use.
Listen for the notes in the song that you’d normally hum or whistle along with, then look for the frets or keys on your instrument to play what you hear. This goes slowly at first, so turn on Capo’s Transcription Playhead to work note by note—starting playback from the same spot every time you hit play.
Use Capo’s Speed slider when notes play too quickly for you to hear each one. Even at a quarter of the original tempo, Capo makes notes sound clear so you won’t miss any details.
Spend time playing along with the recordings to iron out any wrinkles in your timing and technique. Place a looping Region around any bars that need more practice, and set the playback speed to match your comfort level. Once you feel like you have the notes under your fingers, gradually increase the speed and repeat your practice until you reach 100%.
As you continue to learn with Capo, you’ll find that it takes less and less time between hearing a song, and being able to play it yourself. In the process, your playing will improve along with your ears, and your friends and family will now wonder: How are you able to learn songs “by ear”?