Ear Training Tips For Guitar Tuning | Guitarethics.com

It may sound obvious but one ofthe most important things to do when learning the guitar (any
instrument) is training your ear.

It helps in all kinds ofways. It helps you with improvising, helps you with song-writing, helps you find a
unique sound.

For a long time I was playing more with my eyes (thinking about where I wanted to put my fingers) than
with my ears.

Some ofthe things I've done to improve my ear are:

1. Playing along to or figuring out movie soundtracks.

The reason I suggest this first is because many of us know lots of movie sound-track themes and they
often use simple repetitiye melodies.

Think ofthings like Star Wars, ET, Pirates ofthe Caribbean etc.

My housemate was watching Beverly Hills Cop the other night and I spent the whole movie figuring out
all the different melodies.

2. Figuring out songs by ears.

Figuring out songs is the next thing to try. Listen to the song then try to find the bass line or the main
chords, then figure out any lead playing, finally see ifyou can figure out the vocal melodies.

I play along with all kinds ofinstruments, for example trumpets and saxophones injazz music. I find thi
helps me break out of sounding like other guitar players.

3. Play scales, miss out I note and sing it.

For example play the C Major scale but sing the 3'rd note, don't play it. Then play the scale again to see i
you got it right.

C, D, (sing) E, F, C, A, 8.

Then try singing other notes and try playing other scales.

4. When improyising or writing music, try imagining what sound you want and then playing it.

This is kind of an advanced exercise, which you'll get better at the more you'ye practiced the other
exercises.

You probably write songs or improyise all the time but try being really conscious ofthe process 1.
Hearing something in your head 2. Playing it on the guitar. In stead of randomly noodling around until
you stumble upon something that is cool. Nothing wrong with that of course, but this is an exercise!