Most guitarists learn to play songs by reading tablature. But what if you could listen to a song and be able to figure out the notes by yourself? That’s what those who write tablature know how to do. That’s also what most professional musicians know how to do. Playing by ear is a skill that, while it takes time to master, is incredibly useful.
The Basics
Playing the guitar by ear is as simple as listening to a song and hearing the notes/chords. However, this is something that seems complicated and frustrating.
The first step toward playing by ear is to memorize the sounds of various chords and notes. Those who know their instrument well, and who can pinpoint chords just by listening to the sound, will have an easy time playing by ear. Guitarists who haven’t taken the time to adequately learn their music, however, will have a difficult time hearing the individual chords and notes of any song.
Being able to tell the difference between major and minor chords is an absolute must. Thankfully, this is quite easy. Major chords have a distinctively full, “happy” (bright) sound, while minor chords have a distinctively mellow, “sad” (dark) sound.
Having a keen knowledge of the fretboard is essential. Knowing the difference in sound between an F note and a G note will help you immensely in figuring out “insert song here”.
The Fretboard
Maybe you haven’t taken music theory and are unsure of the notes on the fretboard. We’ll go over just a little bit of music theory here.
There are 7 letters in the musical alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. The distance between each note is a full step (two frets). However, there is no full step distance between the B and C, and E and F notes. Thus, there is only a half-step (1 fret). This can be better resented by what is below:
A – A#/Bb – B – C – C#/Db – D – D#/Eb – E – F – F#/Gb – G
The “#” symbol represents the notes which are sharp; the “b” represents those that are flat. There are no B#, Cb, E#, or Fb notes on the fretboard, or in music, period.
When you place your finger on a specific fret on the fretboard, you are playing a certain note. For instance, if you play the first fret of the low e or high e string, you are playing an F note. Moving up a fret (going to the second fret) will sound an F# note.
On the B string, if you play the first fret, you are sounding a C note. Moving up a fret (to the second fret) and playing that note results in a C#. Playing the first fret of the D string sounds a D#. Moving up a fret (to the second fret) sounds an E. This pattern repeats up and down the fretboard. The order of the notes depends on the string you are playing them on. It’s really that simple.
Once you have memorized the fretboard (and this could take some time), you should have no problems with transcribing songs.
Memorizing the sounds
When you are learning any chord, or are working on learning the individual notes of the fretboard, it is important to memorize the sound of each chord or note. You can do this by playing the chord/note several times until the sound sticks in your head. It may seem boring now, but it’s something that must be done if you wish to transcribe music.
Applying what you know to playing guitar by ear
So you’ve got the knowledge (you know the sounds of the chords and individual notes) but aren’t sure how to apply it to transcribing the music you hear. We’ll go over that right now.
The obvious way of transcribing music is to listen to the song which you wish to transcribe and figure out the notes/chords being played by the guitar. You may have to listen to the song a lot of times before you can figure things out. It is really something that takes time and a good deal of practice before it becomes second nature.
It is worth noting that sometimes the guitar parts of any particular song are difficult to hear. This is where vocal-removing programs Power Karaoke come in handy. Using Power Karaoke, you can get rid of the vocals of a song so that all you’ll hear is the actual music of the song. There are also other programs available that allow you to slow down a song so that you are better able to hear the notes/chords.
Believe it or not, being able to transcribe other people’s music will aid your own playing. You’ll be able to use your knowledge to find the particular notes/chords necessary to write good, effective songs. This is a skill that pays you back ten-fold.
Gray Rollins is a featured writer for Guitarsland.com - a site dedicated to helping people learn how to play the guitar. For more advice on playing the guitar by ear, and for advanced techniuqes, like playing barre chords, visit GuitarsLand.
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