I've been trying to get to know music better through actual songs like you advise, but I've been having trouble. I can hear the main melody and what the bass is playing, and by being able to hear the tonic/key it's in, I can play the melody and bassline quite easily on the piano after and transpose to any other key, but I don't know how to hear all the notes that the guitar and piano/keyboard are playing. Most of the time, I can barely even hear them over the drums/percussion. Even in solo piano/guitar arrangements though, it's very difficult to hear the notes other than the melody and bass. Should I be trying to hear each individual note and then put it together one by one to make find out the chord, hear the chord all at once, or something else entirely?
to start, yes, you can just brute force listen to each note one by one. This may seem brutal at first, but just remember: chords are just as hearable as words. when you get used to it, you'll be able to hear a song in a crowded store and you'll know what the chords are. Even if you literally can't hear the chords, you'll hear them because you'll know what they are based on the context. same as you can understand a person in a crowded room even if you don't hear every word. So just be aware that that skill is waiting for you. But yes, you may have to start out with brute force note by note. Another thing you can do is, find some songbooks that you trust. And then find recordings you trust, of those songs. This can be another way to familiarize yourself with things. but if you stick with it, i'd say it's only a matter of time before you can actually predict upcoming chords of songs you've never heard. just like you might be able to predict almost exactly what words i