Deeper Listening & Playing Course
A 6-step curriculum for people who want to hear music more clearly
Train your ear to hear a song's key, chord roles, and scale choices. A 6-step path for deeper listening, playing, and beginning transcription.
For: deeper music listening / understanding songs you play / starting to transcribe by ear
Progress
Steps
- 1
Train your ear on intervals
Perfect 5th, major 3rd, minor 3rd, octave — the building blocks of every melody and chord.
→ Identify P5, M3, m3, and P8 instantly by ear
- 2
Hear the mood differences in scales
Major, minor, pentatonics, modes — each scale has a 'color' that you'll learn to recognize.
→ Distinguish major / minor / pentatonic by ear
- 3
Understand chord roles via diatonic
Every chord plays a role in its key (T / SD / D). This is the answer to 'why does this progression feel good?'.
→ Explain T / SD / D roles in your own words
- 4
Find the key of a song you love
Use the Key Finder tool to take the first few bars and detect the key — your first transcription skill.
→ Determine the key of one favorite song
- 5
Reverse-engineer chords from notes
Given a stack of notes, find the chord name. Builds the skill of hearing a chord and naming it.
→ Identify chord names from 3–4 note combinations
- 6
Map related keys with the Circle of Fifths
The circle of fifths shows the family relationships between keys at a glance — modulation directions and close keys.
→ Name three close keys to any starting key
Bonus steps
Explore modes
Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian — the sound of music outside major and minor.
Sharpen with daily ear training
5 minutes a day on intervals and chord qualities builds long-term ear strength.
Hear world music through Scale Conversion
Listen to familiar melodies in Ryukyu, Middle Eastern, or impressionist scales — instant exposure to sounds beyond pop.