Major/Minor 3rds are killing me

[kirkdickinson]

I bought this software a long time ago and finally decided to go through it all. I wasn't having a problem until lesson 16 and 17 with Major/Minor 3rds where they don't have a common note. I regularly get only 50-60%. I try to get 90% or better before I move on.

I feel like I just can't hear it. I am not getting it. What should I do to break through this?

Should I return to lesson one and start over? I am just stuck.

Help!

Thanks,

Kirk

[Quentin]

Perhaps you could either

1) start by singing the half steps that separate the root tone form the third.

2) use the beginning of famous songs as reference for each interval (you can create your own song chart there: www.earmaster.com/intervalsongs/). This second option should however not become a reflex, it is only a helpful trick to get you started

[saxmaam]

I agree with Quentin about the singing. I'd go back to the beginning and sing the tones in through the microphone. As you do, start connecting the sounds of the intervals to solfege (or intervals from melodies, if you prefer, but i think solfege is ultimately more useful). For example, if the high note is F and the low note is D, learn to hear the F as "Me" (pronounced May) and the D as "Do".

[kirkdickinson]

Thanks, My bass teacher wants me to start singing along when I practice scales. I guess this is more confirmation that is what I need to do.

The funny think is when I play along with something and happen to use a minor third as a transition and it should be major, I can hear that it is wrong immediately even if the guitar players are not playing anything or using power chords. If they play a chord and ask me if it is major or minor, I can't tell. They say the minor sounds sad. I just can't seem to get that one.

The 4ths 5ths and 6ths exercises are easier for me than the 3rds. Weird.

Thanks,

Kirk

[saxmaam]

The funny thing is ...

Yeah. I notice that ear training and sight singing are full of funny little roadblocks. I think the attempts to problem-solve and teach ourselves something new are good for our brains, too.

I first learned the sound of the m3 as a blue note. I would play the tonic or a chord and sing "MAAAAAAAAAY ... Do" like a guitar player would play a long held out blue note. Then of course there is the lyrical and precise m3 between Mi and So ... as in "Somewhere over the Rainbow".

"Someday I'll wish upon a star ..."

That tune has some great octaves, too.

For the M3 ... mostly imagining "Do Re Mi" and "Mi Re Do" are helpful to me there. As well as the beginning of "I dropped my dolly in the dirt."

The thing about the tune mnemonics is that eventually you'll have more little hiccups down the road, as when the M3 between Fa and La just doesn't sound the same as the Do to Mi M3. I don't know that you can skip that step, though, since I used tune mnemonics.