Did you complete all 3 voluemes? or just the first?
I completed te first module of the first volume, but I need to brush up on what I learned, moslty playing all the examples until I can so it by isht and not just memory. I di this by skipping all over th ematerial an don’t sit with a sindle lesson example more then a few takes.
I still need to complet, it, vloume 2, and now Volume3
Only 1 volume available so far.
Well, I won’t be able to complete the Chord Tones class, due to a message that kept popping up saying “i was already taking this class”
I sent a message about this 2 days ago, along with letting them know of two copy / pasta errors in Walking lines lesson 2-21 and 2-21.
I never heard back, so I started adding everything to my cart to see if I cold get the same message, especially ones I had only partly completed, but no, they would have all worked, other then Chord tones.
CRAZY
But,
I select the sight reading complete pack and added to cart.
I selected the Slap bass complete course to the cart.
They whole pack showed up as one item in the cart, so I put in my discount and said “yes sir, go”. And it processed just fine, and I probably got notification from TalkingBass.net thanking me for my purchase of
Simple Steps to Sight Reading course - vol 1 vol. 2 and vol 3
Plus
Slap Bass Volume 2
and
Slab bass Volume 2.
I feel pretty competent in the material I had a time to complete in thec hord tone course, much of it was very close, snd to very similar s learned in both the Scales and Chord .
tones classes, and there is more than enough materials yet to grow upon, and possible furute lessons on those points.
So, I didn’t get exactly what I wnted, but the bonus’s help to make for the single course I missed out on.
I wanted simple steps to sight reading vol 1. I had competed mod 1 of 3)
And
Chord Tones (I had completed all of mod 1 and 1/2 of two, our of three)
I was hoping to get the chord tones to complete it to the end, however, if it follows the scales program to the end, I feeil I got enough with scales, because the two courses are extremely similar (WITH A FEW DIFFERENCES), ao I think for y level I am goog, and I am sure to work more with Damian on Basseducation.net.
But my new bundle that was given to me, for free, by Mark at Tallingbass is.
All of this.was simply for boom a long time Al; Access Pass hold" for staying with his subscription service til the tne, a way or forwarding us long time passers. (note, these are my selections with 2 free course vouchers, and others may get different results)
So…
With these in mind, any suggestions what else I could try? I know that there are paid online courses available, but I kind of suspect that they would be a waste of time and money.
Is there anyone here who started ear training from scratch, and was able to make significant progress? If yes, then how?
One of my classes through berklee online was Ear Training 1. I did make good progress throughout the course, but it’s just like playing/practicing an instrument, have to put in the time with the drills/exercises etc. I know you don’t want to sing, but that is one of the keys to being able to learn it, even if not to perform as a vocalist. Using moveable “Do” solfege is kind of key to developing your “inner ear/voice”.
I have not found anything else yet, but I do have Mark’s course on TalkingBass that I bought, but haven’t tried yet. It is geared to bassists.
Sorry Charlie, brush off those rusty pipes.
Singing when ear training is like writing when learning vs. just reading.
You really gotta do it to internalize it.
I did the Talkingbass ear training class, it is fairly basic, and, although I think it helped, it wasn’t everything one needs. He needs Vol 2 & 3.
I have never found any of the game apps to be useful, I too fail at a certain point and that is it.
The problem with them is you are learning them out of context to something meaningful, like, a song, etc.
Ear training is BORING. You are burning this into your poor skull.
You have to say the name of the note, and sing the name of the note over and over and over.
And over.
I have a pretty good exercise from my instructor, painful to sing through but has helped a lot.
I don’t think its fair to him to share here though.
You either need to sing it or whistle or hum it so that you can get it from your head to your fingers…you want to work on matching the pitch between the two. You can also take songs that you know and work on playing them from your head. It’s like if they were words that you’re thinking about and you’re trying to write or type them.
What I do is I sit down with my bass and I hum melodies or sometimes just hear them in my head and then I play them. I look at the notes I’m playing, what intervals they are and how they fit with the scales. I’ll play them up the neck or across the strings, I’ll play the 3rds and 5ths in different shapes. I regularly work on playing scales, intervals and arpeggios as well.
This is a pretty good video that talks about things similar to what I do. https://youtu.be/iaAe7luLvVE
Learning to improvise walking baselines over chord progressions is also very helpful to develop your musical vocabulary if you’ve never worked on that.
Yep, this.
@akos what about humming? I would bet that I’m a much worse singer than you could ever be, and even Banshees are terrified of me. However the internalising of how each note on the fretboard makes before you play it is essential. It’s not something that anyone masters, but just gradually improves. I practice everyday but I’m still rubbish, but I am still filled with hope.
Don’t worry about learning things in every 12 keys. That applies much more to wind and keyboard instruments than stringed instruments because basslines easily transpose. Some have suggested to pick a key and stick with that for all your ear training.
As @JoshFossgreen has suggested, I think it’s a great idea to use simple recognisable melodies like twinkle twinkle little star and the happy birthday song for transcribing. This is distinct from ear training to recognise chords and chord progressions which is helped by some knowledge of theory.
Yes, that’s all I’m aiming for
Challenge accepted… 
Actually I came across that one in the Ariane Cap book the other day, and I was able to recreate it on bass (by trial and error) from the starting note. That achievement was pretty much Grammy-worthy for me.
As far as vocals are concerned, I’m not sure what’s worse. Not having a voice, or having a voice and not having the greatest ear mastery, in which case power and range are neutralized because you may be afraid to use them. In a choir, I have the security of others (so I can use power, timbre, and range), but by myself it can be frustrating.
Still, like it was mentioned before, the more you practice the better your ear gets, then you can wield your voice better. I wonder if there’s really such a thing as a bad voice. After all, a Squier in the hands of a master beats a rank beginner with a Sandberg or a Lakland every time, right?
Don’t look at it as singing.
Singing is making sounds with your mouth that brings joy and music to the world.
This ain’t what’s happening at my house when doing ear training.
Just call it oral note generation, haha.
Funny I should stumble upon this thread as I just saw an ad for ear training. For www.tonegym.co, anyone tried it? it seems like it tries to game-ify the approach. I’m intrigued.
I was in choir and did some opera and musical theater training. There is rarely a ‘bad’ voice, like any skill your ear and voice can be trained. The sound of a voice is surprisingly malleable as well! More so than an instrument.
Yeah, I would have to agree. My wife doesn’t sing out much, but once in a Blue Moon she’ll for forget her inhibitions and a beautiful sound comes out.
…and this too. You can’t really master the dynamics without…the feeling, the desire to express that joy (or pain in the case of the blues!).
Reading the forum comments and seeing your bass videos, I’m amazed at the understanding many of you have with the actual notes you are playing. I’m a person who still can’t tell an “A” from an “E”, the change in chords, or anything else. I rely on tabs. I really want to improve my ability to hear and play songs, and to eventually improv. and play with others. As recommended by Josh, I’m going to start this interval training tonight. I’d be interested in any success formulas, especially from those who started at zero, to developing my ear. (Note: At my age, I’m not looking for the 2 year plan). Thanks.
TalkingBass has a good course to get started, however, this is a long process and needs lots of “boring” work, which includes you singing and saying the notes out loud. A lot.
This is one of those “eat your vegetables” topics. If you want to get a big and strong ear, it’s gonna take a lot of broccoli (insert other vegetable you despise if you like broccoli).
Not sure how old you are, but I’m 73 and I’m on the 2-year plan. 
I like the EarMaster app for these drills. It definitely helped me to have a song reference I already knew for each interval. I found it easier to think, “Oh, that sounds like . . .” The Earmaster site has lists of songs for each interval so you can pick the ones you know and make your own reference sheet.
