Tunory

Free Ear Trainer — Train Your Musical Ear

Identify intervals, chords, and more — all in your browser. No download, no signup. Headphones recommended.

Tap to start the Ear Trainer

Your browser needs a tap before it will play sound. Headphones are recommended — ear training works best when the answer is just audio, with no visual cues.

No microphone needed. We never record any audio.

Why ear training matters

Most self-taught musicians can play far more than they can hear. They learn shapes — chord boxes, scale patterns, riffs from a tab — and the muscle memory eventually outpaces the ears. The moment they need to play along with a song that is not written down, transcribe a melody they love, or jam with another player on the fly, the gap shows up. Closing that gap is what ear training is for. It turns abstract intervals and chord qualities into immediately recognisable sounds, so the ear becomes the first map you reach for instead of the fretboard or the keyboard.

The starting point is interval recognition. An interval is the distance between two pitches, and once you can hear the seven core intervals — minor 2nd, major 2nd, minor 3rd, major 3rd, perfect 4th, perfect 5th, and the octave — you are already 80% of the way to identifying any melody. Pair each interval with a song lock you cannot forget: the major 3rd opens 'Oh When the Saints,' the perfect 5th opens the Star Wars theme, the octave is 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow.' Once these stick, jumping to minor 6ths, major 7ths, and the tritone is just adding more hooks to the same map.

Chord-quality recognition is the next layer. Major versus minor is the big one — happy versus sad, lit versus shaded — and most ears pick up the difference inside a week of daily practice. Diminished and augmented are harder because they are less common in popular music, so they need direct comparison drills to lock in. Once basic triads feel automatic, extended chords (dominant 7, major 7, minor 7, sus chords) open the door to jazz, R&B, and modern pop, where the seventh is often the note that gives a chord its character. Tunory's Premium tier extends the trainer into all of these.

Three rules for getting faster results: first, train every day for five minutes, not once a week for an hour. Repetition is what locks the sound into long-term memory. Second, sing or hum the answer before you click — vocalising the pitch engages a different memory pathway than passive listening, and the two together cement the recognition far faster than either alone. Third, pair this trainer with the Tunory Scale Generator and Chord Finder so you can immediately play what you just heard. Hearing it, naming it, and playing it are three different skills, and the fastest learners drill all three in the same session.

How the trainer works

  1. Step 1
    Tap to start the audio

    Browsers require a tap before playing sound. The first button you press unlocks the synthesizer. Headphones are recommended.

  2. Step 2
    Pick a mode

    Free modes: interval recognition (minor 2nd through octave) and chord quality (major, minor, diminished, augmented). Each mode runs a 15-question round.

  3. Step 3
    Listen and answer

    Tunory plays the sound. Pick the correct answer from 4 to 7 buttons. Right answer flashes green; wrong answers flash red and reveal the correct option.

  4. Step 4
    Review your score

    At the end of every round you see correct, wrong, accuracy, and a per-mode breakdown. Tap Play Again to keep drilling.

Frequently asked questions

What is ear training and why does it matter?
Ear training is the practice of identifying musical sounds — intervals, chord qualities, scales, melodies — purely by hearing them. It is the difference between memorising patterns on your instrument and actually understanding music. With a trained ear you can play songs by listening, improvise inside a key, transcribe a riff you heard, and write parts that fit a chord progression. Most professional musicians train their ear daily because it is the single skill that separates a player who can read from one who can hear.
Where should a beginner start with ear training?
Start with intervals — the gap in pitch between two notes. The seven beginner intervals are minor 2nd, major 2nd, minor 3rd, major 3rd, perfect 4th, perfect 5th, and the octave. These cover the building blocks of every melody and chord you will hear. A useful trick: pair each interval with a song you already know. The major 3rd is the start of 'Oh When the Saints,' the perfect 5th is the Star Wars theme, the octave is 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow.' Once intervals feel automatic, move on to chord qualities (major, minor, dim, aug) and then to scales and short melodies.
How long does it take to train my ear?
Most people start hearing intervals correctly inside a week of five-minute daily sessions. Chord qualities take a little longer — usually two to three weeks before major and minor become instant, and another two to four for diminished and augmented. Scales and modes are a months-long project, but the payoff is huge: you start hearing the colour of music instead of just the notes. The most important factor is daily repetition. Five minutes every day beats one hour once a week, every time.
Do I need a microphone for the Ear Trainer?
No. The Ear Trainer plays sounds and asks you to pick the answer — there is no microphone involved. We never record any audio. All you need is sound output (your speakers or, ideally, headphones). Headphones are recommended because they remove room noise and force you to identify the answer purely by ear, with no other cues.

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