Crucial Ear Training For 5 String Banjo
Welcome Banjo Pickers!
I´m Mattie O´Boyle, the director of reelear.com, and I want to welcome you to this Crucial Ear Training for 5 string banjo course.
This course provides you with the tools that you need to train your ear so you can learn all your favorite songs and tunes on your own, without sheet music and without abstract music theory.
It doesn´t matter if you play two finger style, thumb lead, clawhammer, or bluegrass banjo, this course is designed for you.
Additionally, the course is designed as a banjo skill building method to help you build up your fretboard fluidity, and finger picking accuracy.
This course does not teach you specific banjo tunes, but rather helps you acquire all the skills and abilities that you need to go out and learn the tunes yourself; it’s a leap towards musical freedom.
Everyone starts this journey from theirvown point of departure. Some folks quite naturally have a pretty good ear, while others, like myself, do not. The good news is that you can train your musical ear and go as far as you want with that training.
How do you do that? You´ll need to apply the same qualities to acquire these skills as with any other complex skill set: persistence, patience, holding yourself to high standards and consolidating each step along the path before advancing to the next one. If you do that, I am sure that you will succeed. I have seen many, many students do so and there is no reason why you can not be one of them.
Remember, if you have any questions or technical problems, please contact me through the Contact Us web form and let me know. I am here to help.
You´ll need access to our web apps to follow this course, so if you have not already done so, please go here to sign up for your free 15 day trial.
Table of Contents
Preliminary videos to familiarize yourself with the ear training apps
Melody ear training app overview
Number of repetitions
Musical gym
Scaffolding
How should I use the visual feedback?
One very successful strategy is to leave the repetitions at 2 and do the dictation in the following way:
• Listen to the new phrase, sing or play it back.
• Now, listen again and watch the visual feedback at the same time. This way you can correct yourself if need be.
• Finally, sing or play back the phrase again.
In other words, don’t look, then look, then don’t look.
This takes a few minutes of practice. Once you can do your dictations perfectly, then stop looking all together and let your ear be your guide.
Step 1: How to set up the Melody App for 5 string banjo
Step 2: Two note melody dictations - D, G and B
Let’s get going with the first call and response melody dictations. We are going to do two note dictations with the open D string, the open G string and the B note. This B note can be played either as an open string or on the fourth fret of the third string. Which is better? Both! Be sure to practice both options, it will pay off in your playing.
Have a look at the screenshot for the set up. Remember, the Melody Ear Training App is here.
Also, use scaffolding if you need it, and to do your musical gym with each combination of notes.
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Congratulations
Congratulations!
If you have been working through this course diligently and holding yourself to high standards, you should have developed a solid ear training base as well as a high degree of fretboard fluidity and picking accuracy in the notes we have worked on. You should be reacting automatically to musical phrases which contain those notes, and, as you branch out your ear training routines into new territory, you will find that your learning rhythm will continue to accelerate, propelling you towards your music goals.
Stay in touch. I can’t wait to hear your music.
-Mattie O’Boyle, reelear.com
