I remember looking at Musicians playing the guitar and I always wondered, HOW on earth are they playing the guitar without looking at anything like sheet music or tab music?
Then I heard that some never look at anything to play the guitar, they just play by ear.
So it made me want to know how to play the guitar by ear. But I never could figure out how they played by ear.
I just played by looking at something to play it, like sheet music etc. But I always told myself, it would be easier and WAY more fun if I could play by ear.
And after years of studying the guitar and it’s fretboard, I finally figured out how to play the guitar by ear.
So how do you play the guitar by ear? In order to play the guitar by ear, you must incorporate fretboard knowledge, as well as chords, single notes, techniques into your playing. And then you must master your ear to hear the highs and lows of music, as you go up and down the fretboard of the guitar.
As you read on, you will realize how to play the guitar by ear. And in turn, it will become hands on knowledge of how to do it. Which in turn, will cause you to do it.
What You Need To Do To Play The Guitar By Ear
To play the guitar by ear, you’re going to have to do more than one thing. Most people think when they see someone play by ear, they think oh, he’s just picking up the guitar and magically, they’re playing the guitar by ear. Oh, it’s just something he knows.
No, it’s more than ONE thing going on and I’M here to tell you what’s going on. He’s playing chords, he’s playing barre chords, he’s playing power chords, open chords, single notes and techniques. ALL interwoven into a mixture of all these things.
And a little bit of SWEET APPLE PIE! Yes, I forgot to mention that there is WAY more going on than that of what I just got through saying and I’ll tell you a little bit about what I’m talking about, that I didn’t tell you yet, but don’t get all scared because I’m telling you there is a lot going on.
You don’t learn the guitar like that, you have to learn it bit by bit, little by little. And then it adds up to a lot, overtime.
So what else I didn’t tell you is he is also using his ear to listen to the highs and lows of music…. well what do you mean? Have you noticed that when you listen to music, it is a constant sound of highs and lows?
Whether it is the music or the singing, there are HIGH pitch sounds and there are LOW pitch sounds. I told you I was going to keep this simple.
So using this principle, as well as using TOOLS, so to speak, by tools I mean, the chords, techniques and single notes, I was talking about.
So by mixing all these things he is setting himself apart from other musicians. Because not only is he doing what other musicians are doing, but he is also incorporating things into his playing that they are not.
Which is why they can’t play by ear because they are missing the magic ingredients.
They are not using their ears to hear the highs and lows of music, therefore they are only playing by route, meaning they are only playing it by sheet music, tab music or by watching someone play it on YouTube and copying them. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it is WAY harder doing it that way.
Lets Start Learning To Play The Guitar By Ear Little By Little
So now that I said ALL that, let’s learn how to play the guitar by ear, bit by bit, little by little.
Because remember what I said, that little things add up to a lot, over time. Like a SAVINGS account, that little bit you saved everyday, adds up to a lot at the end of the year.
After a year of playing the guitar you won’t even recognize yourself, you’ll be a different player. A player to be reckoned with. A player who is on his way to playing the guitar by ear.
Let’s start with single notes, seems like a viable thing to start with because it’s only a single thing at a time, and it will make it more easier on you to learn at first.
So as I was saying on another post, single notes are played with scales, intervals and melodies. Which in turn are played in sync with each other, using the up and down of the pitches in music. The high pitch sounds and the low pitch sounds.
So when you play a single note, you’re going to start at (down), at the 1st note and end up on the (up) 8th note.
And then it starts all over again because in music you’re going to want to start over at the 8th note because in scales it starts from A to G in the musical language, which means A B C D E F G then it starts all over after G back to A.
Because in musical language, there is no H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z. I guess our musical gods wanted it that way, for simplicity sake.
You’re going to need single notes so that you can know where you are on the guitar. When you play a single note you’re starting at the bottom and working your way to the top. What I mean is, play a A note first, then a B note, then a C note, then a D note, then a E note, then a F note and then finally, a G note.
NOW! I Hear you say, I don’t know where these notes are on the guitar. If you’re a beginner, you won’t know, if you’re a pro you will know where these notes are, just by the sheer magic of barre chords, which on the bottom of that chord, lies your A note you need, if you’re on the 5th fret of the guitar on the 6th string.
But no sweat, if you’re a beginner, don’t worry where the A note is, or where any note is.
Just choose a string (only ONE string) on the guitar. And play it. And then play the next notes after it. I just want you to see that, as you do that, it will sound low on the first note.
And as you begin to play it, it will sound higher and higher as you play the notes.
Now, did you notice that as you were playing the notes, that they were sounding higher and higher as you went up?
Now go back down, starting on the G note, (or any note you choose). Now, you notice you are going down and it is starting to get lower and lower sounding, as you go down the string.
I Told You All That To Tell You This (Important)
Now I told you ALL THAT! To tell you that, no matter what you’re playing, no matter if it’s single notes or barre chords or power chords or scales or techniques you MUST know that using All these things, it’s going to be sounding either higher or lower, as you play all these things.
And a light bulb will hit that this is a important KEY to playing the guitar by ear, any song. Because it incorporates the ups and downs of the sound of the notes you’re playing, which leads you to know, HOW TO PLAY BY EAR!
Because you use the up and down sounds of music to tell you where and what to play next on the guitar, which will be the joy of you playing by ear.
BECAUSE ALL you have to do is just let the sounds tell you what to do next. To hear what you’re playing, and having it show up on the guitar, by having you play it.
This Is The Short Version Of This Lesson
This is the short version of this lesson, so the rest will be covered in the POST titled: “The New Way To Play Guitar By Ear Part 1” Yes! It goes into ALL you need to know, to play the guitar by ear.
You can only find it here at this website only, of course. Look for it! By clicking here!
Related Questions
Are power chords part of the key to playing the guitar by ear? Yes in a way they are, but they are only a part of being able to play the guitar by ear. (If you know how to use them to play by ear.) But they are also a very important part of playing the guitar by ear.
Are power chords only used in rock music? No, although rock music dominates this chord and it is used more in rock than other genres of music, other styles of music also use them. Like Punk Funk music, created by Rick James. And also virtually every style of music plays them.
