Free Ear Training Tools

WHY IS EAR TRAINING IMPORTANT?

Ear training helps you to identify and play music entirely by ear, without the aid of written music. The ability to play by ear is essential to any improvising musician because it's the only way to accurately play the ideas in your head. Non-improvising musicians can also benefit from ear training as it allows you to learn new tunes, compose new tunes, and play any melody entirely by ear.

Here's another way to look at ear training... think of the last time you were around other people and somebody asked you to play a popular song on your instrument, like "Happy Birthday" or "Frosty the Snowman." Whatever the song, it was something that you could effortlessly sing or whistle, but you hadn't ever tried playing it on your instrument. The question is this: Were you able to pick up your instrument and play the song by ear, or did you tell the person you couldn't play the song without written music? I've been in this situation many times myself and I've always found it demoralizing when I couldn't play even the simplest of tunes by ear. And that's where ear training comes in. Regardless of your current ability, ear training can strengthen your ears, moving you closer to the point where you can effortless play anything by ear.