How To Know If You Can Play By Ear

Have you ever heard someone say they play guitar by ear, and wondered if you could do it too? Maybe you have often considered taking up the guitar but the thought of having to learn how to read little black dots on a page doesn’t excite you. The good news is, learning to play by ear is an easier method for some, but is not for everyone. God gave all of us different talents when we were born. Sometimes it takes us years to figure out what those talents are. Here is a simple test that will give you a pretty good idea if learning to play the guitar by ear is in the cards for you.

When you hear a song on the radio or on a CD, can you listen to the melody and sing it fairly accurately on your own. If you sung the same song to your friends, would they know what song it was? Has anyone ever told you that you have a nice voice? Has anyone ever covered their ears when you sing? You may laugh, but this is the easiest way to tell if you could learn to play by ear. What do we do with our ears? We hear, correct? To be able to learn to play guitar by ear, you must be able to hear a pitch and match it because that’s what you will be doing in your lessons, listening to pitches and trying to match them on your guitar.

Unfortunately, some people truly are tone deaf. They just were not born with enough musical talent to be able to match a pitch. For those people, playing an instrument would not be the wisest choice, they would be wasting their time because no matter how hard they practiced, musical concepts would never make sense to them.

I have though, known those who didn’t appear to have a lot of musical talent, but through hard work, meaning lots and lots of practice, they did reach a certain level of expertise. While this type of person rarely becomes a virtuoso on their chosen instrument, they usually can become proficient enough to play for friends and family, perhaps become a teacher and enjoy playing guitar in some aspect the rest of their lives. They have enough talent to enable them to enjoy the instrument. And that’s what matters the most.

When I have a new guitar student, I try to really listen to them and get a feel for what their goals are with the guitar. A great many new guitar students simply want to be able to play the songs they know and jam around with their friends and maybe entertain friends and family. These students only need to learn a few scales, mainly for finger strength development purposes, the basic chords, be able to read basic TAB and start playing songs. With this foundation they will probably be able to do all that they want to do with the guitar.

For those students who harbor dreams of achieving some level of greatness with the guitar, there are decisions to be made. Those who just want to be great in their hometown or want to play regionally need to be fairly good at their instrument. But anyone who has dreams of the big time needs to be prepared to put in many, many hours of practice, learning the guitar. Competition in cities like New York, L. A. and Nashville is very fierce. Only the very best will get work in those environments. It is similar to the competition to be a professional football, basketball or baseball player. Musicians you meet at this level will know very quickly whether or not you belong there and if they think you aren’t good enough, you might as well go back home because you will not get enough work to survive.

Musicians who become great players and especially the ones who go on to have successful professional careers are the ones who are either born with tremendous natural musical ability, or the ones who practice their guitar 6, 8 or more hours a day. They usually began playing guitar, piano or some other instrument very early in life and became proficient fairly quickly.

If you are one of these hopefuls who wants to try for the big time, if your goals include becoming proficient enough at the guitar to make a career out of it, then you need to ask yourself if you are willing to spend the many, many hours studying and practicing the guitar, to reach the goals you have set for yourself.

You need to have the burning drive to go after this goal without letting anything get in your way. You need to be very determined. It is a very tall mountain you are about to climb. So get ready to buckle down and start learning and practicing. If you can do it, the rewards are more than you could ever imagine. Now go for it!

These videos are from Aaron's Free Video Guitar Lessons, a great website created by guitar player and instructor Aaron Tomberlin. Aaron has set up this very comprehensive source to give guitar students just about every tool they could need to develop into an accomplished guitar player ready to perform and work in todays guitar society. Here you will find lessons on chords, scales, chord theory, ear training, rhythm guitar, lead guitar, the Nashville Number System and more. Plus, there are 6 more videos about playing guitar by ear. For those wanting to learn how to play guitar, this is a great place to get your chops together. Visit Aaron's website today.

Did you ever hear someone say that they played guitar by ear and wonder if you could do that? Maybe you’ve thought about learning to play the guitar but you either couldn’t find the time or you decided it was too difficult.

For someone who has the musical talent, playing by ear will be a walk in the park. God gave all of us different talents and those he gave this kind of musical talent to will find learning by listening easier than trying to learn to read those little black dots on lined paper. Here is an easy test you can give yourself to see if you are one of the lucky ones,

Find a song you like and try singing it yourself. Can you sing it so it sounds fairly close to the original? Sing this same song for your friends, and see if they recognize it? Has anyone ever told you that you that you had a nice voice? Do people cover their ears when you sing? Don’t laugh, it’s the easiest way to tell if you are on pitch.

Get one of your friends to grade you on your song. Did you pass? If they knew what it was and didn’t cover their ears, chances are you could play by ear. Playing the guitar by ear means listening to what you hear from your teacher or a lesson DVD and reproducing it on your guitar. You have to be able to hear the examples and play them back because that’s what you will be doing in your lessons, listening to pitches and trying to match those notes with your guitar.

If you passed the test you took earlier, start making plans to take guitar lessons. Some people cannot pass the test. They hear the sounds, but they don’t hear them as musical notes. They were just not born with the talent it takes to be able to find the notes on the guitar and play them back. For those people, playing the guitar or any other instrument would be a waste of time. No matter how much you practiced, musical concepts would never make sense to them.

If you sang the song mentioned above for your friends and they knew what it was, but didn’t like your singing, don’t worry. You might have to practice a little more to get good at the guitar, but remember, you can do anything you want to if you work hard enough. So just buckle down and practice and you will get there.

The first record of the phrase “play by ear”, was in the an edition of The Edinburgh Review in !839. In an article was written the phrase, Miss Austen is like one who plays by ear, while Miss Martineau understands the science.

The phrase came into more frequent use in America after a story about The Brooklyn Dodgers was published in The Coshocton Tribune, February 1934. Ironically the reference had nothing to do with anything musical. Here is an excerpt from the story:

"Before going further In this direction, perhaps I can believe that awful suspense by stating that I am reliably informed today that the Brooklyn Dodgers, otherwise the daffiness boys, otherwise the young men who play by ear, are for sale."