Ear Training for Songwriters

Have you ever heard a beautiful melody in your dream, only to lose it before you could figure out how to play it? Ear training closes the gap between your imagination and your instrument.

Catching Inspiration

Inspiration is fleeting. When a great melody pops into your head while driving or taking a shower, you need to be able to identify its intervals so you can write it down or record it accurately.

Mastering Intervals allows you to dictate your own thoughts. You'll know instantly that your melody jumps up a Perfect 5th and steps down a Major 2nd.

Understanding Emotional Colors

Songwriting is about manipulating emotion. Why does a specific chord progression make you want to cry? It's usually the tension of specific chord types.

Practice Chord Recognition to learn the exact emotional flavors of Major 7ths, Minor 7ths, and Diminished chords. When you want your song to sound "dreamy," your ear will automatically tell you to reach for a Major 7 or Augmented chord.

Stealing Like an Artist

The best way to learn songwriting is to analyze great songs. With a trained ear, you can listen to the radio and instantly reverse-engineer the chord progressions of hit songs without looking up the chords online.

Ready to practice?

BananaTone is a free, fast ear training app. No sign-up required — just open and start practicing.

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