Ear Training: Practicing Singing Every Possible 3-Note Interval Combination.
This blog is a continuation of last week’s blog on ear training. You can find last week’s blog here: Relative Pitch Ear Training: The Most Important Thing To Work On.
Only if you can do everything from last week’s blog up to level, are you ready for the exercises in this blog.
This is the next level of ear training for more advanced students: singing 3 note patterns.
Again: don’t start this exercise till you have trained your ear enough to instantly recognize every interval ascending and descending at any speed.
If you still need work on that, practice your relative pitch hearing for intervals first as described in last week’s blog.
If you master this, you are ready for the following.
The following shows every possible 3-note combination. You will be singing 3-note combinations. You get 3 notes when you stack 2 intervals.
So while last week we practiced hearing & recognizing the intervallic distance between 2 note combinations, now we’re doing 2 intervals (3-note) combinations.
The list below shows EVERY possible 3-note combination.
When you for example want to practice the mi2-mi2 combination, you’d be singing 2 minor second intervals in a row.
If the first note you sang is C, your next 2 notes are C# and D.
Don’t sing note names though. Sing “la la la” or “na na na”.
Hit any random note anywhere on your guitar neck and then sing that note and the note up a fret an
The Complete 3-Note Ear Training Chart.
To make sure you get the terminology in the below chart:
“mi” means minor
“maj” means major
“P” means perfect
“aug” means augmented
In the first row, the first interval is a minor 2nd + a minor 2nd, then plus a major 2nd, then plus a minor 3rd, etc. The first interval is always a minor 2nd, the 2nd interval gets larger with 1 fret at a time
The next row: the first interval is a major 2nd + the 2nd interval gets larger with 1 fret at a time
The next row: the first interval is a minor 3rd, etc…
In the vertical columns: the first interval gets larger and the 2nd interval is constant
In the horizontal rows: the first interval is constant and the 2nd interval gets larger
Here’s the chart:
mi2-mi2 | mi2-maj2 | mi2-mi3 | mi2-maj3 | mi2-P4 | mi2-aug4 |
mi2-P5 | mi2-mi6 | mi2-maj6 | mi2-mi 7 | mi2-maj7 | mi2-octave |
maj2-mi2 | maj2-maj2 | maj2-mi3 | maj2-maj3 | maj2-P4 | maj2-aug4 |
maj2-P5 | maj2-mi6 | maj2-maj6 | maj2-mi 7 | maj2-maj7 | maj2-octave |
mi3-mi2 | mi3-maj2 | mi3-mi3 | mi3-maj3 | mi3-P4 | mi3-aug4 |
mi3-P5 | mi3-mi6 | mi3-maj6 | mi3-mi 7 | mi3-maj7 | mi3-octave |
maj3-mi2 | maj3-maj2 | maj3-mi3 | maj3-maj3 | maj3-P4 | maj3-aug4 |
maj3-P5 | maj3-mi6 | maj3-maj6 | maj3-mi 7 | maj3-maj7 | maj3-octave |
P4-mi2 | P4-maj2 | P4-mi3 | P4-maj3 | P4-P4 | P4-aug4 |
P4-P5 | P4-mi6 | P4-maj6 | P4-mi 7 | P4-maj7 | P4-octave |
aug4-mi2 | aug4-maj2 | aug4-mi3 | aug4-maj3 | aug4-P4 | aug4-aug4 |
aug4-P5 | aug4-mi6 | aug4-maj6 | aug4-mi 7 | aug4-maj7 | aug4-octave |
P5-mi2 | P5-maj2 | P5-mi3 | P5-maj3 | P5-P4 | P5-aug4 |
P5-P5 | P5-mi6 | P5-maj6 | P5-mi 7 | P5-maj7 | P5-octave |
mi6-mi2 | mi6-maj2 | mi6-mi3 | mi6-maj3 | mi6-P4 | mi6-aug4 |
mi6-P5 | mi6-mi6 | mi6-maj6 | mi6-mi 7 | mi6-maj7 | mi6-octave |
maj6-mi2 | maj6-maj2 | maj6-mi3 | maj6-maj3 | maj6-P4 | maj6-aug4 |
maj6-P5 | maj6-mi6 | maj6-maj6 | maj6-mi 7 | maj6-maj7 | >maj6-octave |
mi7-mi2 | mi7-maj2 | mi7-mi3 | mi7-maj3 | mi7-P4 | mi7-aug4 |
mi7-P5 | mi7-mi6 | mi7-maj6 | mi7-mi 7 | mi7-maj7 | mi7-octave |
maj7-mi2 | maj7-maj2 | maj7-mi3 | maj7-maj3 | maj7-P4 | maj7-aug4 |
maj7-P5 | maj7-mi6 | maj7-maj6 | maj7-mi 7 | maj7-maj7 | maj7-octave |
Oct-mi2 | Oct-maj2 | Oct-mi3 | Oct-maj3 | Oct-P4 | Oct-aug4 |
Oct-P5 | Oct -mi6 | Oct-maj6 | Oct-mi 7 | Oct-maj7 | Oct-octave |
Conclusion.
You could practice this any way you like.
You could pick random intervals patterns that you want to practice, or you could go in order to work yourself through the whole chart.
As discussed in last week’s blog: practice in small sections.
One way you could approach this is to practice each interval combination above for 2 minutes only.
This is though.
“Tough” is good, as that means you are getting a lot of progress happening.
The progress is always in the struggle.
This is also a lot of information and a lot to practice on.
This will keep you busy for a while.
Conclusion
Hit me up anytime at vreny@zotzinmusic.com if you have any questions, or if you would like to book a lesson.
These free lessons are cool, but you will never experience the progress, joy, and results that my students experience in lessons when you’re learning by yourself from blogs and videos.
That is why people take lessons: way better results and progress, much more complete information, exposed to way more creative ideas than you can get from a blog or YouTube video.
There is only so much that self-study can accomplish.
If you want to see amazing results and progress in your guitar playing, buy your first lesson here and get started ASAP.
You’ll impress your friends and loved ones in no time with your guitar playing!
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