How to Learn a Bass Line by Ear
Are you interested in becoming a stronger musician? Learning music by ear is key.
Follow Marty’s simple steps to learn how.
Learning a bass line by ear
In this video, Marty, a long-time bass player, walks through a few simple steps that’ll help you learn a bass line by ear.
Why is learning music by ear so important?
Knowing how to learn music by ear is key in making you a strong musician. It’ll help you recognize melodic and harmonic patterns that are widely used by many musicians. You’ll also learn how to pick up so much more than what’s obvious and on the page like tone, articulations, note length, form, and other details that make a piece unique. It also helps build your musical memory, so you can eventually get to the point where you can hear things and play on the spot making you an awesome musician to work with! Here are the steps to getting started.
Step 1: Listen to the recording
Listen to the recording from start to finish. Dig deep and ask yourself questions like how many verses there are, what instruments were used, what the groove is, what kind of emotions were brought up, and more. Dissect the piece as much as you can.
Step 2: sing along with the bass line
Singing along with the recording will help you pick up on the notes, melodies, and harmonies. It doesn't have to be beautiful, just try to match the notes. Don’t worry about getting it perfect.
STEP 3: Find the notes on your instrument
Once you’ve gotten the hang of singling along, go note by note and start finding the matching note on your instrument. Sing it out loud while you try different notes until you find the right one. After you’ve found it, make sure it’s in the right octave. Go back to the recording and try to play the note in different octaves to find the right one.
STEP 4: CONTINUE with the following notes
Sing the bass line again and identify whether the following notes are higher, or lower than the first note you matched. That’ll give you a good indication of where to start looking for the note on your bass. Do this until you end up finding each note of the bass line. Be patient because this takes practice.
Complete the bass line
Once you’ve got it down, you’ll be able to find the entire bass line and you’ll have done it by ear! To continue practicing this method, choose songs you’re really familiar with. This will be a super useful to tool for you to become an even better musician!
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