# Ear training

The app plays a chord without showing it, and you name it from the sound, either with the buttons or by playing it back on your keyboard.

## Hear it, then name it

In the rest of PianoKitty you see a chord and play it. In ear training the chord is played, the screen shows only a question mark, and you say which chord it was.

This is the skill behind playing by ear, and reading music does not train it. Start with major against minor, then add diminished and augmented, then seventh chords, where only one note in four is different.

![Ear training on desktop: a hidden chord shown as a question mark, and answer buttons.](https://pianokitty.com/features/en/ear-training/app.webp)

## Two ways to answer

Tap the chord’s name, or play the chord if a MIDI keyboard is connected. Playing it back is harder, and it shows that you heard the individual notes as well as the overall sound.

`R` replays the question as often as you like, and nothing is timed.

![Ear training on a phone: the question mark and a column of chord-name buttons.](https://pianokitty.com/features/en/ear-training/mobile.webp)

## How it sounds

- **Melodic** plays the notes one after another, which is easier to follow; **harmonic** plays them together, as you usually hear chords in music.
- The melodic version can be slow, normal or fast.
- You can hide everything, or show the root and ask only for the chord type.
- The chord can play automatically when the question appears, or wait until you press play.

![The ear-training settings: playback style, pace, what is hidden, MIDI answers, auto-play.](https://pianokitty.com/features/en/ear-training/settings.webp)

## Ear training with melodies

This page trains chords. Melodies have a game of their own: [Listen and repeat](https://pianokitty.com/repeat).

You hear a short melody and play it back, on a MIDI keyboard or the on-screen keys. You start at level 1 and climb through 15 levels, then play on without end. A wrong note costs a heart.

Hearts, levels and tempo are explained in [the Listen and repeat tour](https://pianokitty.com/features/listen-repeat).

![Listen and repeat on a desktop: a wrong note in a three-note melody, with the pressed key marked and the right key green.](https://pianokitty.com/features/en/listen-repeat/game.webp)

## Try it by ear

- Try it: [Major or minor?](https://pianokitty.com/app?activity=ear&subject=chords&ct=0,1&bn=0,5,7&inv=0): The first difference to learn.
- Try it: [All four triads](https://pianokitty.com/app?activity=ear&subject=chords&ct=0,1,2,3&bn=0,5,7&inv=0): Major, minor, diminished, augmented.
- Try it: [Three sevenths](https://pianokitty.com/app?activity=ear&subject=chords&ct=6,7,8&bn=0,5,7&inv=0): maj7, m7 and 7, which differ by one note.
- Try it: [Chords of a key, by ear](https://pianokitty.com/app?activity=ear&subject=scales&key=C&mode=major&voicing=triads&seq=random): The triads of C major, in random order.
- Try it: [Play a melody](https://pianokitty.com/repeat): The game Listen and repeat.

Related: [The naming quiz](https://pianokitty.com/features/naming.md), [Practice without or away from your piano](https://pianokitty.com/features/no-piano.md), [Listen and repeat](https://pianokitty.com/features/listen-repeat.md)

Source: https://pianokitty.com/features/ear-training