The fact that I just found your channel... I almost feel a need to apologize for being so late. Thank you for being so fantastic at what you do.

Singing the note instead of trying to find it on the piano right away is the best piece of advice I’ve heard. I don’t have perfect pitch and I would have saved a lot of time if I had known that when I was a beginner and didn’t have the money for buying music sheets and books. Your tips are very valuable.

You don't see this taught often, so it's great to see this. I began learning simple songs by ear when I was a young kid, and then became much better at it when I learned to transcribe jazz solos while majoring in jazz at UT. It's an important skill and practice for musicians, composers, songwriters, etc. Thanks again for making an excellent video.

your teaching is refreshing, entertaining and definitely not BORING!!! I play piano and guitar and I wish I had you as a teacher growing up. amazing! well done!

Thank you, Aimee. 'this is not a trick, it's a skill' - love this. It's a basic info - but so true. Every skill seems like a trick before you acquire it.

It makes me smile to see that someone with such great teaching skills has a platform that allows 1,043,000 people to get such a useful lesson on techniques that can expand their enjoyment of music. I had formal training on trumpet from 5th thru 10th but that instruction never covered these techniques. Just reading notes off poorly written, over-simplified arrangements. I always had the ability to learn material on multiple instruments by ear and even though I never had to work at it (it just made sense to me), these techniques are exactly what I knew intuitively. 1) find the bass note (the chord). 2) see if a 3rd interval sounds happy or sad ( major or minor) 3) listen for any dissonance in higher notes to identify odd voicing (7ths, 9ths), 4) if the bass starts moving, just treat it as a walking pattern until it lands on a 1-beat... etc. GREAT lesson.

Musically illiterate me watching the video. "First a C Major" Ok... "Now an Em, Em, for days" Alright, I'm really getting this, this will be easier than I thought, guess I'm just an awesome natural musician. "Now a natural C with an E on the bottom" Well, that was humbling. Thank you, Aimee, for this lesson on music and humility. Will subscribe, please keep up with the good work!

Such a cool lesson, always talking about her Internal processes, this will help with compositional aspirations, and playing with others. Long and tedious, no way not if this lady is teaching. What a lovely voice, Amy is tops

A number of good solid things going on in this video. Of course, the MOST important thing that Aimee covers here is "Pay attention to what's happening with the bass part, or the bass line the piano player or guitar player is playing." One thing I would like to add -- it's ALWAYS beneficial to try and put the notes you hear into the "harmonic framework" -- for instance, about 95% of chord progressions in pop music (or any music, for that matter) fall into one of three categories: 1) diatonic movement (movement up and down the scale, for example, the intro to "Lean On Me" or the chord changes in the intro to "Blueberry Hill"), 2) movement by 5ths (in the verse to "I Got Rhythm" the chords in the key of C are C Am7 Dm7 G7 C -- notice it's a 5th between A and D, between D and G, and between G and C), and 3) Chromatic movement -- the song "Liza, Liza, (Clouds'll Roll Away)" -- again, in the key of C, at the start of the verse, you get C C#dim7 Dm7 D#dim7 C/E -- would encourage all piano players, when dealing with chords, to try to 1) think about the "harmonic framework" (which will help to make your initial guesses more accurate more frequently), and 2) ALWAYS think about "where you're headed" harmonically (oftentimes, the end of the current section of the song you're dealing with). Hope that made sense. And Aimee, I think you're doing a really good job and providing a very useful service for lots of people; I think you DEFINITELY should be commended!!!

Hearing the bass note is indeed the most difficult part. I often make the mistake of hearing the fifth below the bass note. For instance, in Eleanor Rigby I thought the first bass note was a G, so was hunting around G chords. :-/

This is such a good lesson. I wish I had seen this years ago, Amy, because it took me years to figure out some of things you mention here. I play guitar, and my first 'trick' in figuring out the chords in songs was to play the barre version of the chords, emphasizing the bass notes. Then I would try varying the higher pitched notes in the chords to see if they were major or minor or something else. I do not really know much music theory, so it took me quite a while to get a feel / develop an ear for what chords might fit with other chords (i.e., learning what chords are likely to be in the same key). One of the things I worked out on my own is that to make a major chord into a minor chord you flatten the 3rd. not of the major scale (for others who do not know much theory, think of singing do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-da because that is the major scale). I actually hear changes/additions to the chords in 'Eleanor Rigby' on the parts in the verses where (for example in the first verse), the word "rice" and first syllable of the word "wedding". I have a couple of suggestions, in addition to the ones you make in the video, for people trying to develop this skill. 1. First, I would suggest that people record themselves playing a simple chord progression and then they listen to the recording many times. That will begin to give people an idea of what their instrument sounds like recorded, and eventually will alert them to various specific characteristics that their instrument might have. 2. Second, I would suggest, later on - once people can accomplish the above - that the student begin to listen to recordings of another mainstream instrument playing the same pieces of music (in the same keys ) as their main instrument. That will develop even more of an ear for figuring out chords, because the same chords can initially sound very different on different instruments. That's it for me. Many thanks. Your students - and we on the internet - are very lucky to have you.

I used to practice this kind of ear training years ago at the piano, but teachers said it was not useful 😪 nice to see someone like u suggest what I believe is the best way to practice and improve our ear and writing music down.Thanks Aimee🤗

I have been using these principles during my entire musical career. I use it to write original music; I use it to analyze very complex compositions by Copland and Stravinsky, to simpler pop tunes. You have to keep plugging away. I believe it should be used in conjunction with written music because reading develops your reading chops as well as learning how to notate music. You do need both. Speaking personally I don't use the voice and singing so much, I do use the piano because that is my instrument, but when I'm transcribing without any sheet music, I transcribe what my EARS hear until I get it right. The ear must come first. This is the oral tradition and when you do it for a decade or two you start to really master the inner workings of music. And it gets easier and easier. It does help to study solfeggio formally as I did at New England Conservatory back in the 1980s. We did fixed not moveable do. One of the first things I did was do a solfeggi to the Wynton Kelly solo on Freddie Freeloader from Kind Of Blue. I believe learning to sing that solo for a classical solfeggio class was a quantum leap in my understanding of bebop language and blues and all the principles of encircling notes and phrasing. I got the whole class to sing Wynton Kelly's lines which was rhythmically tough for all of these classical wind and string majors. Kind of sounded like a Barry Harris class from back in the day, and the classical teacher was little perplexed but patient. Now when you on top of it study the Schoenberg harmony book which is Bach chorale analysis (I had a great teacher for that) alongside the bebop stuff, you are on your way to becoming a complete musician and mastering what we call "tonality" in its widest form. Sorry to go on for so long but I was inspired by all of the great Aimee Nolte videos to testify to what she is doing.

I've been playing and figuring out chords forever -- doing the flailing method you first describe. :) What I love about this video is how you're able to actual teach it. People who can teach are truly special.

I'm a bassist, and I've always used the"bass system" to learn songs. I usually use a guitar instead of a piano but essentially the same process as you demonstrated here. You have a wonderful manner about you. It's relaxed, informal, and the method is extremely practical. I wish my music teachers were as natural about instruction as you have been in this video. THANK YOU!

This channel is pure gold. So glad i found it

Your dissection of Billy Joel's composition made it sound pretty wizard. I love how the chords move like a simple melody under the verse.

Wow I wish KZfaq was around when I was first learning music as so much would have made more sense. oh well, I'm thankful you're here now. This is super clearly explained, and a great model of how to teach something pretty difficult to do.

Everything that I can learn from her I am so grateful as a beginner. She truly is very detail and good at what she does. Thank you

I've been playing piano for 8 years but haven't touched it for a few months now since I lost all my motivation :( so far your video is helping me a lot! I think i'll be able to play again soon--I love the way you talk and how you get straight to the points,, and how clearly you explain everything!! Thank you so so much :)

Great instruction and choice of songs! I am self-taught and play by ear, and this is exactly how I learn songs. And I agree, it's very rewarding. The good thing is the more songs you learn, the more quickly you will be able to anticipate a chord as soon you hear the bass note. You begin to recognize chord progressions and it gets somewhat easier.

This is an excellent exercise. Because this is how some songwriters think when writing a song. Keep up the great lessons.

Awesome lesson, Ms. Nolte. Great info for a new player and a fantastic refresher for those of us that have been playing for years. Well done, and thank you! MK

That's the way I always used instinctively, looking for the bass notes as first step, then building up the chord. Thank you!

Having you teach is like a performance in itself. Pretty enjoyable and excellent song choices.

Thank you Aimee loved the tutorial. I am a loop artist and have never had any formal music training its all self taught, and this method will certainly help me figure out chords to songs Thank You

Aimee, your teaching style and comprehension of chords are wonderful! ! I now see how to chord progress and hear better.

Thank you Aimee. Good, solid stuff here. This is real 'working' music. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful teacher and so, so lucky to have KZfaq. I forget how many audio cassette tapes I have worn out or just mangled trying to get them back to the start of a phrase again and again, using that ridiculous tape counter. Life is good now.

This is very interesting. I am unfamiliar with this method. It looks fun, and it seems like a great way to train one’s ear. Rick Beato sent me here, and I am so glad he did!👍

Your voice is so smokey, breathy and beautiful. Love it.

Aimee, you are a very advanced musician. You've paid the price with hours of practice and it shows. I was once told that to become really good at any instrument, a person would have to be willing to practice for about 10,000 hours to get to such a level. I started out on guitar when I was 7. By 14, I moved to bass. The genre of choice was Country. As simple (and according to some; boring) Country can be, it still requires an ear. I learned I-IV-V progression while playing guitar. If a person can count to 7, they can play any song in Country. Most of the time, a song will involve I-IV-V in any order with an occasional II thrown in for variety. It is good to know the relative minors as well because in Country it is not unusual to find them thrown in as well. As a bass player, I am well acquainted with the importance of hearing the bass to figure out the chords. After watching your videos, I'm more inspired to work to develop some keyboard skills. Thanks.

This is why KZfaq is wonderful... finding a gem like this lesson. Yes, many of us have done it for years. But it's just enjoyable to watch how you approach it while making it fun. And yes, listen and sing it first! :) I hope students are paying attention. Kudos Aimee!

Just poke all the notes....... some of them should work. Kidding. You helped me a lot! Thanks.

If you can hear it, you can play it. In addition to hearing the bass notes, the student needs to be able to distinguish basic chord quality/attributes. You very beautifully illustrate that. Where it gets interesting is when we go beyond triads! Excellent teaching!

I love how you share your insightful thinking out loud! to create the Figure out/learning! Your Inspiring me! 100% Thanks

Well done for sharing and demonstrating this approach. This is exactly how I taught myself to work out chords many years ago. I have seen some people suggesting using the grossly overvalued numbers system to predict which chord follows the previous and try it out. But you are right on the money by getting people to identify the root note by actually listening.

Amy, I just fell in love with the way you teach. You're so delicate and accurate to the song and the method. Great inspiring content! :)

You know what? it s been just about ten years that musicians around me are telling me to do this...and actually today I did...kind of...I did it with some childish songs,...and actually succeeded...thanks to you and all your videos...but my main problem is to hear the bass on songs I want to find chords to So maybe you would have some suggestions as homework for me with recordings or performances where the bass line might be blatant to you...and audible to me... Thank YOU Aimee you are very inspirational

You are such a pleasure to listen to/watch! Your instruction is clear, well paced and accurate, and I simply enjoy your way of manifesting in the world. Beautiful! In Billy Joel’s song part B, in the third bar - better than F7/A - I like C-/A, and then F7 in the 4th bar, because it keeps the tension going a bit longer! Your way of listening for the bass note has served me well over the years back before the internet, when I couldn’t afford the books. I was lucky to sing the bass part in a church choir when I was a teenager, so I was used to singing and hearing the root note. I drove people up the wall doing it at parties, though. Thank you!!!

Avid bass player for several decades but do writing on keyboard in studio and stumbled upon your video. I will say you are one of the most pleasant, meaningful, and purposeful music teacher assisting figuring out key/notes/chords to a song! Thoroughly enjoyed!

Love this lesson! You have such a great channel Aimee - even for guitarists! I know this is an old vid, but I think the Em7 to Em6 to Cmaj7/E to Em sequence should probably be thought of as all variations of Em since the core of the arrangement is constant (violins/strings)--Em for days!--and it is just the harmony line (violas) that is moving in the chorus. So on guitar, you'd play: Em7 - 022030 Em6 - 022020 Emb6 - 022010 (which has the Cmaj7/E notes, except the C is played on the 2nd string) Em - 022000 I don't see it this way in most songbooks/Internet chord sites, but it is the way Paul plays it.

Aimee, you're wonderful. Im not profesional musician but ive been in touch with pianos and guitars since i was 6 (NOw im 61). I do the same thing, pick up note by ear and put it down on a score. My older bro said me: hey, take the chords from that Beatles song! And I did. Now im able naturally to hear and pick every noise i hear. I imitate with my voice fire alarms, barks and birds (i love your pizzicato thingy, it sound very real) I sing in Choir too and I can separate each voice in a SABT choir that i hear or watch and put it down on a score. Technology and MIDI help me a lot (Im electronic engineer) and and i know a lot of sound too, frecuencies and all that stuf. Music and sound is my life. I play lot of instruments only by ear. God bless the talented people like you, me and others!!!Greeting from Chile!!!

hey can I just say that for all the tutorials i have watched about playing any song without buying the sheet music yours is one of the best (alongside 'Piano in 21 Days')! My dad is getting me an electric keyboard for my birthday and I have, no joke, not taken piano lessons in YEARS, and I don't have time in my schedule to fit in piano alongside tennis, violin, Chinese and math lessons, so this will be of great help to me. Thank you!

Inspiring stuff - very well presented. Smooth style that makes it easy to take in the lesson. Keep 'em coming.

It may be easy to find chords to songs online. Finding the correct chords can sometimes be more difficult. Great video. I should bookmark this for when I have time to get back to playing.

This is really helpful. There's an old, very obscure, instrumental Bob Dylan song that's so beautiful. Now I think I can figure it out.

Your singing is very beautiful! I can’t really describe it, but the flow of notes when you are singing sounds so nice!

Incredible stuff Aimee, extremely illustrative and helpful. I’ll start drawing these lines in my notebook in a min and apply your instructions. Thank you!

"Do not touch the piano!" Ha! A chord for the times: Covi/D

This is exactly what I needed! Thank you so much for a clear explanation, this is wonderful!

Very often there isn't a lead sheet or chord sheet for a piece of music. This is what makes this so useful

Great lesson, Aimee. thank you. Been wanting to learn how to figure out chords for a while, and finally got around to it... and finally made sense. No need to apologise for the length of the lesson. I appreciate you giving the lesson.

Enormously helpful! Thank you so much for making this video!

Not long, nor tedious. What a happy 31 minutes. Thank you.

27:00 "you just have to look at the base note and the melody note..." and figure it out. Sooooo humbling for a newbie piano student like me. Thanks for a great video!

This vid is total genius. I trained in University level ear training while in high school - and was in a University music composition program. You teach with excellent skills. I always wondered how to quickly figure out chords to songs. Awesome info. Of course it helps that your ear is so excellent. Impressive.

This is nice! This is my first time seeing your channel! I play by ear for most of my videos and its cool to see someone explain it :)

You have got to be the most down to earth music instructor I've ever seen. If you weren't all the way down in So Cal I'd so be trying to hire you to teach my kids! :)

Excellent lesson Aimee. I have often found there are obscure songs I want to learn where you can't find the chords on the Internet, and learning the chords this way is excellent training for the ear.

You are the teacher I was looking for this whole time, I'm glad that I found you even through a KZfaq channel

Hi Aimee. I like your videos. They're informative and fun. Keep up the good work- and thanks.

I WAS ABLE TO WORK OUT THE CHORDS WATCHING YOUR TUTORIAL. THANK YOU FOR THIS :)

Aimee, I've been trying to do this myself, with difficulty. Then found your video. Just what I needed. You are pleasant to watch and listen to. Thanks very much.

beautifully presented. I think this is best way to figure out chords- finding the bass note and expanding from there. I've been looking to start transcribing and your video helps a lot. Thank you.

Aimee, I just discovered your channel and I love it! Keep 'em coming!

Nice video! I'm a guitar player ( I know about 3 chords on a piano!) but the principal is still the same. This is precisely how I learned to play anything back in the day! Everybody nowadays has it way too easy to look things up on Google. You have to be careful because a lot of it is just plain wrong. Better to trust your ears!!

Thank you so much for this valuable info! I’m a lifelong drummer who is learning guitar and melodic theory. This is so helpful! And the basketball reference at the end is the chef kiss! Thanks again. All the best.

Great tips Aimee! Love your channel. Thanks for so much content.

11:59 she throws up the horns!!! LOVE IT!!!

Amaze balls. I’m guessing you have done this before. It would be much more tedious if I tried to work it out! But I feel inspired to try a tune by ear. You make it look fun

Great video and very well explained..going through the whole song and breaking it down bit by bit was really helpful in understanding the song structure and hearing the chords. Liked the tip about listening for the bass note, this has really helped me. Also you have a lovely singing voice.

Thanks , I ve been a lazy player always reading music , but you’ve encouraged me to give it a try , thanks You are so easy to watch like I’ve known you for years , 😊 thanks xx

Very good video, so no surprise you have so many views. Through my (long) musical life, I've been developing my own ability to do just what you show. Mostly I don't write anything down, but keep the chord sequences in my head. I also find it extremely useful to use our old friends the numbers I through to VIII, so I can move the song into any key I want. Anyway, I am so often asked "How do you know what chord is coming next?" especially when accompanying a singer live, perhaps on a song I've never played before and it's not exactly easy to explain. Over the years, you'll know it becomes second nature & intuitive... Bit like learning another language, eventually you stop having to translate and just use the skill you have without thinking about it too much. So well done for explaining things so well, to benefit others.

Holy crap! I saw the title of this video, before clicking on it I thought, "hmm I just play chords until it sounds right, how do I do it? I will try with a song, what song?… Eleanor Rigby will do.", then I play the video and you chose the same song! This is a very strange experience for me as someone who is musically illiterate and learned to play by myself for over a decade. I have picked up a few names over the years but I did not know, for example, E_ major, even though it is a chord I use all the time. Maybe I will finally learn to read and write thanks to your videos.

What a unique skills video Aimee! Awesome. You are a very clear communicator, thank you.

I'm just catching up on this video and it is AWESOME!! This is something I always wanted to learn. Thank you!

While I've been doing this since I was 14 (aka decades ago), I love watching your teaching videos. One addition for guitar players, learning really basic piano is a great thing. It's not my primary instrument, but it's a great tool for figuring out chords and bass lines and stuff. Then it's easy enough to transpose to guitar. Its linear layout is the key to theory just staring at you. Ever notice what John Lennon or Paul McCartney are using when they are/were writing?

Thank you so much for making this video, this is going to help me figure out for myself to find the chords for playing guitar. Thank you 🙏

That was great! I love the way you broke it down. You have a great speaking voice 😃. Thank you!

This is a great crash course of chord progression!!! Love it! This is how I learned to play by trusting my ear❤

If anybody wants to hear her do the cello again it's at 12:27 ❤️ OMG . . . cute cute cute

So important to develop your ear. I'm old enough that I had to. No internet or KZfaq when I started. Just radio and records. But even today, so much of what you can find is wrong, a good ear is still very important.

Thank you so much for this lesson. I was learning "Pink + White" by Frank Ocean and your emphasis on listening by ear especially helped me realize that the last chord in the progression was Amaj7. I kept telling myself the song was in the key of G because the melody focused on A, B, and E, and the first two chords were CMaj7 and then bmin7. So I figured the last chord was amin7. But it's actually an Amaj7 and the G# and C# in that chord resolve really nicely back to the CMaj7.

What a fantastic teacher you are!

Aimee, just got my staff book 📚 from Amazon just like yours!!! I needed it, even though I don't know how to write music 🎶 I can write chords! 😊🎸

Great video Aimee! Sharing this on our you tube page in a play list called UNDERSTAND MUSIC and OUR facebook page.

Excellent music lesson . I learned a different perspective on how begin to write music. Thank you Aimee. .

You have a discerning ear and a very pleasing singing voice. Great lesson. Thanks.

Wow I am impressed, you are a great teacher, subscribed!

This is a very helpful video, thank you!

Aimee, this was wonderful, thank you for sharing!

Absolutely fascinating. And I'm not a musician. But I followed you step by step. And I understood! I watched it all the way through!

Aimee, I laughed so hard watching you pick the song apart. I am quite happy you said that it is a skill and not a trick. Well, to heck with the price of paying for sheet music. I always wondered HOW those folks that play by ear do it. You truly made my day. I realize it is time for me to get serious about my playing. THANK YOU FOR SHARING. I am over 50 now, but this will definitely help me with this black gospel music. They go all over the place. GOD BLESS YOU. and you have good ears for those bass notes too.

"..start with some layup drills, son." lolol very true.

Well, that’s probably the most useful music theory lesson I ever had! Thanks Aimee Nolte.

Great video; thanks so much. This really strengthened my understanding of music in a way that I've needed. I've had an on and off again relationship with writing music for a long time, and videos like this keep me with it and learning.

Great work, thanks. Just want to point out how awesome your vocal pizzicato thingy was at 5:20

One of the best I've seen!

What you just demonstrated is how I transcribe chord changes. I always start with the bass notes. I think I will be ordering a staff paper note book to transcribe individual notes that I sometimes need to record. You do a great job of teaching how to transcribe a recording....

Love the ‘metal hand’ while you’re playing along!