How to Learn Guitar by Ear

The epitome of the rock star, the guitar is one of the most popular musical instruments today. Though this instrument is hard to master, the rewards are always worth the sweat.  It requires dexterous fingers and fast hands; plus, it also requires a sharp ear. If you’ve got the former and not the latter, then read on and find out how to learn guitar by ear.

 

To be technical about it, playing by ear is a process of audiation. It’s when your brain hears a sound and then tries to recreate it by using an instrument (in your case, the guitar). You can practice audiation by tuning your guitar. By using an electronic tuner, find out what E, A, D, G, B, and high E makes. Then, try to recreate that sound by slowly tuning your guitar without the help of your tuner. Once you have that, you can then move on to simple notes. Remember the song “Mary had a Little Lamb?” Try to recreate its melody by experimenting on various strings. The more complex the melodies you practice, the better you are at audiation.

Obviously, not everyone can read musical notations. And this, our friend, is where playing by ear shines. By simply hearing a song, you wouldn’t need to read through music sheets or tablatures just to know how the song is played. Instead, all you need is a guitar and you ear to figure things out. With practice, you’ll be doing exactly this in no time.