Ear Training: Deep Ellum Blues

First, print out this page so you can write the scale degrees in the blanks above the notes as you go:
Get Ear Training Sheet for Deep Ellum Blues.

Start by listening to the full solo below (Level 1, Solo 1). Use it to find the tonal center (do, or 1) of the melody. Sing that note, then check yourself by clicking on the Tonal Center text to the right below.

Level 1, Solo 1

Answer

Once you are sure you're singing the right pitch, find that note on your guitar by singing it as you play a single string, moving up fret by fret. When the pitch you're playing matches the one you're singing, stop and name the note. When you think you've got it, roll your mouse over the X to the right for the answer. That's the tonal center of this melody, the first scale degree.

Deep Ellum offers some challenges that many of our tunes don't because, being a blues tune, it has some "blue" notes in the melody; specifically the b7 and b3. The exercises below will go a lot more smoothly if you prepare by familiarizing yourself with the sound of these scales degrees. So let's do that first:

Finding the b7th:

To get a feel for the b7, start by singing a C major scale, then sing that same scale with the flatted 7th scale degree. This scale would be refered to as a the mixolydian mode, or more simply, the 7th scale. It should sound like this:

Audio: C7 scale

One of the ways this scale degree will crop up in the solos is as part of a descending line from 1 to 5:
1-b7-6-5. Make sure you can sing and recognized that line. I t should sound like this:

Audio: 1-b7-6-5 in C

Finding the b3rd

The flatted 3rd shows up at several points in these solos. There are two melodic fragments you will want to be able to recognize by ear. The first is: b3 sliding up to 3, then resolving to 1. Sing this a few times:

Audio: b3-3-1 in C

Then try singing the b3rd followed directly by 1. Learn to recognize this classic "bluesy" interval:

Audio: b3-1 in C

OK...now you are ready to tackle the first Level 1 solo to Deep Ellum Blues. Make sure you've always got your tonal center (C) clear in your mind's ear!

Audio	Notes to Identify	Rollover X for Answer
Phrase 1	First note (played 2 times)
	First 5-note phrase (including the 1st note)
	Second 5-note phrase

Audio	Notes to Identify	Rollover X for Answer
Phrase 2	4-note phrase

Audio	Notes to Identify	Rollover X for Answer
Phrase 3a	First note of the phrase
	Full 4-note phrase
Phrase 3b	First note of the phrase
	Full 3-note phrase
Phrase 3c	First note of the phrase
	Full 4-note phrase

Audio	Notes to Identify	Rollover X for Answer
Phrase 4a	First note of the phrase
	Full 4-note phrase
Phrase 4b	First note of the phrase
	Full 4-note phrase

Once you've got these phrases sketched out in scale degrees, the next step is to translate it onto the guitar, based on your understanding of the C major scale. (The most common major scales are in the answers to Exercise 11 in the Theory Primer, located at the end of the primer.) Remember not to "feel" your way through the melody at this point. Use the work you've done to nail it, first time through.

Here's an audio tracks devoted to the Level 1 rhythm guitar part to this song played at a moderate tempo. Use it to do two things:

• If you got not only the phrases above, but those that were not included (listen to the full solo at the top of the page to hear what was left out) play the melody you've just learned using these tracks as backup.
• Learn the rhythm guitar part by ear. Big hint: for this song the rhythm guitarist is using a single 7th chord shape in different positions on the fingerboard.