In this lesson I’ll show you the inner workings of one of the most popular chord progressions in modern music. Once you become familiar with the sensation of each chord, I think you’ll start to hear this progression every day in the music all around you.
We will also study the beautiful melodic connections between the chord notes. You’ll recognize many famous melodies that come from just the sounds we study in this lesson.
*This lesson is a sample from the Ear Training Program at Improvise for Real.
The ear training program that actually works
Thousands of musicians have tried every ear training method out there. Our ear training program is the one they come back to — and the one they won’t stop recommending. Here’s why.
WHY IT WORKS
What makes this method different from other approaches?
- Experiencing the sounds as music. Every step of the way, you'll be hearing the sounds in the context of beautiful songs and melodies. So the connection to real music is very present right from the start. This is one of the biggest complaints that musicians have about other ear training programs. They get better at identifying random intervals in the context of a quiz, but they still can't recognize anything in the songs they hear on the radio. So it's important to hear all of these beautiful sounds in the context of actual music, and that's what we do in this course.
- Using your natural ability. It's not about developing "perfect pitch" or any other unusual ability. This is something everyone can do. If I were to sing the melody to your favorite song, you would recognize that melody right away. And if I were to sing a wrong note somewhere in that melody, you would recognize that too. What this means is that you already feel the difference between all of the different notes of our musical system. You just don't know which sound is which. All you need is an organized path that lets you clarify these sensations one by one so that you finally understand which note of our musical system produces each of those beautiful sensations that you already know and love.
- Jamming with the sounds. In addition to the singing and listening exercises, you'll also be improvising with the same sounds on your instrument over backing tracks that I will give you. This creative jamming with the sounds is essential because it allows you to explore the sounds on your own, combining them into melodies and expressing your own musical ideas with them. This will give you the same mastery of music that you have with your own spoken language, which you can both speak and understand effortlessly.
THE PROGRAM
Everything you need to understand music by ear
Complete multimedia video courses with singalong tracks, creative exercises and all the resources you need to understand music deeply and learn to recognize it by ear.
Everything is included in your membership!
LESSON SAMPLES
Diving into the sounds together
In the video lessons we contemplate the sounds together and discover how they feel. I show you what to notice about each sound and how to study it on your own — so that you can internalize it and become so deeply familiar with it that you recognize it the moment you hear it.
In each lesson you learn what to observe, and then I invite you to practice a series of activities that make the sounds truly yours: singing the sounds with the Sing the Numbers audio tracks, improvising and creating your own music over jam tracks, and finally listening to the sounds in real songs so you can start hearing them everywhere.
Sample from the course ‘Ear Training for Musical Creativity 2’
Sample from the course ‘Pure Harmony Essentials’
THE RESULTS
Immediate benefits to your playing
- Recognize melodies by ear and play them in any key on your instrument without having to fumble for the notes.
- Play directly from your imagination when you are improvising, expressing the sounds you hear in your mind.
- Play along with friends at jam sessions and find the key of the music instantly.
- Engage in a dialog with other soloists, responding to their musical ideas and interacting musically with them.
- Recognize the chords to your favorite songs and play them in any key on your instrument.
TESTIMONIALS
See what fellow musicians are saying
GET ACCESS
The full Ear Training Program — and everything else
The Ear Training Program is included in the IFR Membership, which gives you complete access to everything we’ve created: all video courses, the full Sing the Numbers audio collections, hundreds of jam tracks, student Q&A, and new content added regularly.
- All IFR video courses including the Ear Training program
- All 4 levels of our Sing the Numbers audio courses
- Melody Paths practice videos
- Special song analysis videos
- Jam tracks in all 12 keys and different styles
- Access to our library of student Q&A + unlimited support by email
Start with flexible monthly access. Cancel anytime or upgrade to yearly when you're ready to commit.
Our most popular plan. Commit to a full year of musical growth and save 30% with annual billing. You’ll be amazed what a year with Improvise for Real can do.
The best deal of all. For just one single payment of $599 you get lifetime access to the entire IFR music learning environment. (This includes everything we create in the future too!)
