Do most people on here figure out the chord progressions by ear?

Hi-
I've just recently finally contributed to an online track. I notice that relatively few track postings list the chord progression. Do most people figure them out by ear? My guess is that the level of musicianship of most people on here is very high that they do (in contrast to my level of musicianship).

Also, is it expected or desired that a contributor change the title when adding their part?

Thanks
PnG

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Hey PnG,
most people here go by ear, as very few tracks have the chord progressions written as you noticed. So it trains your ear :) However, most people here are helpful and friendly and if you found a track that you like and need some help with it, then you can write a comment in the track and ask the composer if he/she/it can tell you about the chords.

Regarding the titles, you can do whatever you like - you can keep it or change it - up to you. Many here will add something to the title, for instance if the first track was called "Chicken", the next one will call it "Chicken Soup" and the third "Chicken Soup Blues" or maybe "Space is nothing but a giant egg" ;). Check out this article: https://www.wikiloops.com/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=530

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Hey PnG, and welcome to the 'loops from me :)

TeeGee has said most of it already:

- some people upload their chord info by default
- you can always ask nicely (and that sometimes works), or
- you can try to hear, which will be easy for a simple Blues, sometimes not so easy on Jazz or Classical songs...

Then there are tools which can help you in case the original composer doesn't have her/his chords anymore. I mostly use a tool called 'Sonic Visualiser' with some additional plugins like Chordino, all developed at a British university (free). See https://sonicvisualiser.org/

And there are even tools for your typical Android or Apple mobile phones - I use one called 'MyChords' for instance, see an example here:

[youtube]F6d_r_Tx4Ns[/youtube]

For reference, that is the following track where I provided a chord sheet as: "Throughout F#m E D E" (so you will see that these tools often show far too many chords, you still will have to figure that out):

[wl]200491[/wl]

I got the MyChord app for Android from here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.yallafactory.mychord&hl=en_US&gl=US

As for the title question, TeeGee led you to the relevant forum entry already, but it's also in the https://www.wikiloops.com/knowledge/index.php (Knowledge Base), here:

https://www.wikiloops.com/knowledge/choosing_a_proper_track_title_and_adding_tags.php

Hope that helps?

Have fun,
Wolfgang

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Thank you TeeGee and Wolfgang!
Those were very helpful replies. I hadn't even thought of using software to detect the chord changes. As you indicated, for some tunes they are pretty obvious.

PnG

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Good question and more pertinent to string players, keys and other chordal instruments. For those of us who play brass, woodwinds or singers, it's one note at a time, so we tend to play melodies, counterpoint, or harmonies. This requires hearing and responding with the line that you think sounds appropriate.

The exception comes with those who have learned to play jazz in an academic way. They like to have a chart so that they can run riffs and arpeggios in a cut and paste manner.

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Thanks for posting those useful-looking pointers wj! I've downloaded sonicvisualiser and the vamp plugins needed to make it work. I'm looking forward to trying them out on those songs where figuring out the chords is tricky and/or time consuming.
I see that some of the funding for sonicvisualiser came from the EU which will need to be replaced with UK money now if its development (and presumably other stuff too) is to continue. Fat chance. Cheers.

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I've played diatonic harmonica for something like 17 years by tthis point. I almost always play by ear, but a way I've saved money over the years is,

I only have C natural diatonic. So if the song is in A, I pitch shift that backing track up to C, play my harp, convert both tracks into A and voila almost as good as asking someone to re-record. I def never manned up and memorized all the scales(CDFGABC for me :^) )

I did bother to memorize the c blues backing for both hands on piano. Anywho how I personally play by ear is by listening out for the uh I think you might call it the harmony. So in C, C-E-G is the root C-E sounds good when played togetther, so does G-E, could also C5-E5-G5 C6-E6-G6

Listen to this and see if you can differentiate when the notes are harmonizing and when something sounds......... ALMOST right but you can feel when two notes and whether they resonate with each other or they make each other sound sour etc https://vocaroo.com/1c25ZMAj4wVB https://vocaroo.com/1c25ZMAj4wVB in this one you should be able to hear the note go bad

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I've just tried out Sonicvisualiser and it seems to figure out chords just as wj! mentioned. Definitely handy to have in the toolbox. The list of other things it can do (with the appropriate plug-in) is amazing. I can't see the majority of the plugins being useful for my trivial purposes but it's great they've been created and are freely available for folks who have that special need.

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Hi Pickngrin. Chord charting software is fine, but I would encourage you to try to develop your ear especially with the wealth of talent and opportunities to learn here on Wikiloops. You will find that over time you will get better picking out chord progressions and also with playing in time with people. Have fun! :)

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Dear Wolfgang.

Hi!
First of all, thank you for mentioning our app.

The developer of this app is an engineer and guitarist.
He also had a hard time finding the music chord.
That's why this app was created.

We will make a great app for musicians.

Thank you.

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no, it is part of the musical training at the shools of music, we are trained to recognize chords and intervals.

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