Learn to Play By Ear

Playing music by ear is a technique that is accessible to beginners of all ages. It makes music fun, and takes the boredom out of practicing. It gives you the kind of challenge you get solving crossword puzzles, but builds a skill that provides innumerable benefits, including the ability to interpret, improvise, and embellish a tune.

An Example Lesson

For most, the thought of picking up their guitar, walking over to the radio, and playing along to whatever is on is a fantasy. I'll be completely honest, many guitarists will never attain that fantasy.

The reason why is quite simple: They have been told that their goal is beyond their reach. The common belief is only the "true professionals" can play by ear. These are the myths. The reality is that you can pick up your guitar and start learning by ear today.

I remember the first time I played something by ear to a commercial on the T.V.. It was a new found sense of freedom and success. Since that point in time, I can personally testify to the wonderful influence playing by ear has had on my abilities as a musician.

Perhaps you are a beginner, new to the world of guitar. You know the basics and are growing as a guitarist. Playing by ear can help you become better in less time. If you're more advanced, playing by ear can often save you time when transcribing music.

Playing by ear is for everyone and the old saying, "You either have it or you don't," isn't necessarily true. Most people can develop a basic ear and pick out chords.

As with anything in music, you have to practice and work at refining your skills. The more you practice the tips you are about to the learn, the more success you will have. This lesson comes with two warnings:

• Learning to play by ear can and will be frustrating at times. Hang in there! If you do, you will find that your reward was well worth the hardship.
  
  
• Playing by ear is not meant to replace music theory, it is meant to be a great addition. Guitar theory is the way to go if you want the most accurate results.

Before we begin, go get an old favorite from your CD collection. Don't pick something complicated by Eric Clapton or the like, rather, something that has a catchy tune and is relatively simple.

Get in tune...

Being in tune goes far deeper than taking out your tuner and making sure each string is perfectly tuned up. You need to be in tune with the song. You may be thinking, "My tuner says I'm in tune, so I should be able to play with the song." If only life were that easy.

We must remember that many artists alter their music by using various tunings, capo's, and recording techniques. Many times you will encounter songs where the rhythm guitarist uses a capo, and the lead guitar doesn't. So how do you know if you are in tune? While we don't have enough time to go into depth on the topic, there is one method that usually works.

Listen for open strings. Open strings, like your E, A, D, G, B, E string are easy to hear because they sound richer and more full. Open strings also sustain (ring) longer and have more clarity. If you find that you hear an open string, and it matches the recording, you know you're in tune with the song.

If you find that you hear an open string, but the pitch you are holding down on your fretboard is on the third fret, that probably means a capo is on the third fret.

If the open string doesn't match any of your open strings, you may need to change your tuning. Find a note that does match that open tuning and tune all of your strings using that note. For this, you need to brush up on alternate tunings.

This method won't always work for you. It's trial and error and can become very frustrating. Take a breath, and try to find a note that is in tune. Work with that note until you get an idea of the tuning.

Fortunately, most of the hit songs on the radio aren't that complicated to figure out and you shouldn't have too many problems. All of the above is easy to talk about, but takes plenty of time to master.