Degrees on the fingerboard
Everything so far has been hear a degree → say its number. Playing by ear needs the other direction: hear a degree → put the finger on it, without naming anything. Same skill, turned around.
The degree map of a key
In a fixed key and position, each degree lives at a specific spot. Learn the map for a key and "hear ^6, play ^6" becomes one move:
The same degree can live in more than one place — ^1 in A major is both the open A and 3rd finger on the D string, and (up an octave) 3rd finger on the E string. Knowing all its homes is what lets you catch a tune wherever it sits.
This is the reverse of the fingerboard map
Stage 5's finding-a-tune-by-ear taught you to hunt a tune out by trial and correction —
play a guess, hear if it's too high or low, adjust. That's this same degree-to-finger link,
built from the playing side. The scale-degree gym builds it from the hearing side. When
they meet in the middle, you can play back what you hear.
The drill
- Map a key. Play the one-octave scale over its drone, saying degree numbers, three keys: A, D, G.
- Hear → place. Random degree sounds. Put the finger there and play it. Then check by playing up the scale.
- Two-note fragments. "^5 to ^3." Find both, play them, no naming out loud.
- Switch keys. Same drill in D. The shapes move; the functions don't. ^6 feels like ^6 in every key even though it's a different finger.
Try it
Try
Drone on D. Sing ^6 (that's B). Now, without playing a scale to find it, put what you think
is ^6 straight down — 1st finger, A string — and play it against the drone. Right? If it
sounds a hair off, that's the finding-a-tune-by-ear correction loop: nudge and re-check.
Do ^3, ^7, ^2 the same way.
The usual mistake
Always running up the scale from ^1 to find the degree you want. That works in a slow practice room and fails the moment a tune moves at speed. Train the direct jump: degree in the ear, finger on the note. The scale-run is only your check, afterward.