Jazz Piano Basics: Playing by Ear
A guest post by composer David von Kampen
Playing by ear. It’s one of the few musical skills that frighten many classically-trained pianists. I’ve seen pianists who can dazzle listeners with the most difficult pieces in the repertoire freeze when asked to play a simple tune without seeing a written score. Sadly, this important skill was neglected or downright discouraged in many pianist’s training and the few of us who developed the ability to play by ear did it on our own, outside of lessons. Yet it is a pleasurable—and I contend necessary—skill that should be part of every pianist’s musical “tool kit.” This is why I asked composer David von Kampen to write about this for No Dead Guys. I’m hugely grateful that he agreed to do so and that he contributed such a fine article.
I’m an enormous fan of David von Kampen’s music and have featured him and his 12 Very Short Pieces for Solo Piano (and his follow-up collection, 12 More Very Short Pieces for Solo Piano) on No Dead Guys in the past. A composer and instructor comfortable in both the classical and jazz world, von Kampen brings an impressive depth and breadth of knowledge (both practical and theoretical) to this article. Yet he reminds us that knowledge will only take us so far and that the real tools we need in order to play by ear are the ones nature gave us: patience, playfulness, curiosity, and (of course) our ears.
My first memory of playing piano by ear is from sometime around first or second grade. I remember trying to pick out familiar tunes at our family piano, one note at a time. To my mother’s dismay, I’d take a pencil and write numbers on the keys to help myself recall the sequence of pitches that would recreate the melody I had figured out (it was a cheap old piano, thank goodness).
When I got a bit older, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the chords of songs. My parents liked James Taylor and Toto and Art Garfunkel, and that music was in our living room a lot. When I particularly liked a song, I’d listen to it at the piano and try to play along. I’d repeat the track over and over until I knew which chords the song was using. My “guess and check” method went like this:
Start the track on the CD player
Hear the first chord of the song
Quickly press pause
Try a chord at the piano, and listen to see if it matched
If the chord I played didn’t sound right, skip back and try again
Repeat the process to learn the rest of the song
Play along from beginning to end
I remember one very specific chord giving me fits, sometime around 7th or 8th grade: the beginning of the chorus of the song “Breakaway” by Art Garfunkel. The verse ends on A minor (with a 4-3 suspension) and then immediately shifts to the parallel major–the tricky chord on the downbeat of the chorus was Amaj9, and I wasn’t hearing the mode change. I got very frustrated in situations like this, when there was a chord I couldn’t hear. Not being able to recreate a song I liked, by ear, in its entirety, seemed completely unacceptable to me. I felt like I couldn’t fully enjoy the music if I hadn’t downloaded its harmonic content into my brain and my ears and my fingers.
You’ll notice that I haven’t said one word yet about jazz. It turns out that you can play any style of music by ear. I didn’t really encounter jazz until college, even though I’d been playing by ear for a long time by then. Jazz musicians do lean on this skill more heavily than classical musicians usually do, but playing by ear is equally necessary in pop and folk music, and other genres as well. Composing, improvising, and reading lead sheets are all skills that require a well-developed ear, and the terminology of the styles that require these skills often overlap. For example, the chord I struggled with in the Art Garfunkel song, Amaj9, would generally be considered a “jazz chord,” even though no one would refer to Garfunkel as a jazz artist. Pop music often uses jazz harmony, jazz musicians play in funk bands, classical composers do string arrangements for folk singers, and so on. Professional musicians of all stripes need strong ears they can depend on.
Whether you’re interested in jazz, blues, folk, pop music, or something else, the idea is the same: listen and imitate. Recreate. Reproduce. Copy. Steal. These styles of music have oral traditions; they're passed down by listening, not by sheet music. If you work with a piano student who is playing Debussy or Mozart, there will be plenty of things you convey to them about the music that the score doesn’t communicate. It’s the exact same thing when you learn music by Muddy Waters or Dave Brubeck or Stevie Wonder or Taylor Swift–except there are even more musical elements in those styles that can’t be captured by traditional notation. Playing by ear ends up having value way beyond improving your ability to identify pitches and chords–it also develops your understanding of musical style in a deep, authentic way.
With all that said, the thing I’m actually supposed to be writing about is how a pianist can build their ears this way. How does someone actually learn to play by ear? My best answer is to try experimenting with the kind of activities I described above (perhaps minus the scribbling numbers on your piano keys!). If you’re trying to play by ear for the first time, I suggest starting with very simple tunes that you already know. Without looking at any scores or writing anything down, pick a random note on the piano and make it the first pitch of “Happy Birthday” or “The Star Spangled Banner” and see how far you can get. At every point, think about which note comes next and try to find it. Hear the note in your head, and find the piano key that matches that pitch. Once you can play the whole tune, start over on a different note. When you start getting good at this, then move on to the chords. Again, don’t use sheet music or chord charts. Pick a random major triad on the piano and make it the first chord of “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” Can you sing the melody and continue finding the rest of the chords? You’ll know if you play one wrong–because it won’t sound right! Don’t pick a song if you don’t know how it’s supposed to sound. Keep trying until you can get through a simple song with the right chords.
Once you’ve established your basic ability to pick out familiar tunes and chord structures, you can move on to literally any kind of music you enjoy. You can go as slowly or quickly as you like, working through entire songs or shorter sections. Only practice playing by ear with music you really, really like. This must be a labor of love or you won’t ever have enough motivation to do it often enough to get good. Here are just a few ideas of where to start:
12-bar blues. There are endless jazz and blues recordings based on this famous chord progression that uses only the I, IV and V chords. Find one you like, figure out what key it’s in, and off you go.
Single-line jazz solos. If chords seem too tricky at first, start with melodies. Miles Davis’ solo on “Freddie Freeloader” is a famous starting place for young jazz improvisers doing their first transcriptions. You don't have to do the whole solo, just pick out 4 bars you like and go from there.
Simple folk songs. Like the 12-bar blues, many folk songs use only a few chords, and this can be a good starting place for beginners. Early Beatles and Beach Boys songs work great for the same purpose.
Linear-style piano parts. When you get more advanced, explore the music of piano-based songwriters like Elton John and Ben Folds. Their more pianistic music is a fun challenge once you have a handle on simple chordal textures (“Summer, Highland Falls” by Billy Joel is one of my favorite examples in this style).
Every option is available to you–develop your ear and build this skill at your own pace, using whatever music you like.
If it seems like I’ve spent this whole time talking about playing by ear without ever really explaining how to do it, I think that’s unfortunately correct. This skill has tremendous value but it has to be developed intuitively, on your own, through trial and error. I could tell you about the mechanics of shooting free throws, but the only way you’re going to get good at that is by taking (and probably missing) a lot of shots, over a long period of time. Same thing here. Guess and check. Dive in and start trying to play along with music you love, and weeks or months or years later, you’ll realize that your ear has started absorbing everything more quickly. You’ll find that you are able to hear music in your head and translate it fluidly to the keyboard. Good luck, and have fun!
David von Kampen is a composer from Lincoln, Nebraska. David’s creative work spans a wide variety of genres and styles, including jazz, choral music, hymnody and liturgy, solo voice, chamber music, and musical theater. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Kansas, and Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees from the University of Nebraska. He has studied composition with James Barnes, Dan Gailey, Forrest Pierce, Eric Richards, and Randall Snyder. David is a six-time Downbeat Award winner in graduate-level jazz writing categories, a three-time winner of the Vancouver Chamber Choir Young Composers Competition, and was named the MTNA Distinguished Composer of the Year for his song cycle "Under the Silver and Home Again." He has been among ten winners of the ORTUS International New Music Competition, the recipient of an ASCAP Young Jazz Composer award, winner of the San Francisco Choral Artists New Voices Project, winner of the National Band Association’s Young Jazz Composers Competition, and received Honorable Mention in the New York Youth Symphony First Music Commissions. Puddin’ and the Grumble, David’s original musical with playwright Becky Boesen, was one of seven finalists for the Richard Rodgers award. David has over 60 choral and instrumental compositions and arrangements published with Walton Music, G. Schirmer, Hal Leonard, Concordia Publishing House, Pavane Publishing, UNC Jazz Press, Graphite, MusicSpoke, and others. His music has been performed by the KHORIKOS Vocal Ensemble, the L.A. Choral Lab, KC VITAs Chamber Choir, the Taiwan Youth Festival Chorus, San Francisco Choral Artists, the U.S. Army Blues Jazz Ensemble, the Vancouver Chamber Choir, and by collegiate, all-state, high school, and church ensembles throughout the United States and internationally.
David is a lecturer of music theory and literature at the University of Nebraska, where he teaches music theory, ear training, a variety of other music courses, and directs the award-winning Jazz Singers. He also serves as Music Coordinator for Sanctuary Worship at Christ Lutheran Church in Lincoln. David is a member of ASCAP, the Jazz Education Network, and the American Choral Directors Association. He is active as a conductor and pianist, and as a clinician for vocal and instrumental ensembles. He lives in Lincoln with his wife Mollie and two daughters.