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Fretboard wizard – finding the key by ear
I just started FW and am on the third day’s lesson, Finding the key by ear. I understand the principle, sort of, I’ve done this when singing or picking out songs on my pennywhistle. In that case, I have a song in my head to “follow”. But I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do here. Follow the tab along with the backing chords and listen for a discordant note? What does that tell me? And how do I know what the key is? I always thought the key was what the song ended on.
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6 Replies
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It’s been a while since I did that lesson but the idea is to listen to the backing track and play the notes along the low E string until you find a note that sounds pleasing with all of the chords in the backing track. A dissonant note would indicate a note that does not work. The note that works with all of the chords is the key.
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OK, I ran through it again, and I think I got that concept. Then I counted up the string to that note and saw what it was. But the first one was hard, as no note sounded right. The second and third one were easier to figure out. (Plus there’s a little cheat at the top of each telling what key it’s in.)
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This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by BarbaraM.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by
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This is a difficult challenge and not something you’ll get right away. On the 2nd week, Tony expands this concept to include the chords. It takes a lot of listening to hear the note that goes with everything. The first quiz and I couldn’t get the right answers. So the best thing to do is to go to the old Daily Challenges on Wednesdays and listen to the backing tracks. From there, see if you can identify the scale by the lowest note. This will give you more practice. Again, not easy and this will take time.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by TerriG.
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Thanks, I’ll try that.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by
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BarbaraM, I understand what Tony said to start on the low E string and keep going up fret by fret until you find the note that sounds good. Unfortunately my ear is not that good. When I took the test I got them both wrong. I think it is going to take a lot of practice to be able to find the correct key. I was also on my third day of fretboard wizard.
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Ear training is just like learning anything else it takes dedicated practice to get good at it. Two good apps for practice are Tenuto and Ear Master
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