This is part 2 of: “The New Way To Play Guitar By Ear.” You need to go to: “The New Way To Play Guitar By Ear Part 1” first, to understand this Part 2 Post, here. But if you’re an Advanced Player or A Pro, you darn well may figure it out here on part 2, by what I’m saying here.
Join me as we learn, “The New Way To Play Guitar By Ear Part 2.” Beginners to Advanced to Professionals, welcomed.
So All I’m Basically Saying Is This
This will basically clarify all that I was trying to tell you in part 1 of……. “The New Way To Play Guitar By Ear Part 1“ Click on it if you need to read it again.
So ALL I was saying in part 1, in a nut shell was this: Play ALL, “Barre Chords,” up and down the neck of the guitar. As well as playing the Open D chord.
Also going up and down the neck, playing along to the music and song, that you are playing. And ALL YOU gotta do is FOLLOW what the song and music is doing.
When it is going higher in sound, YOU go higher in sound on the guitar. When it is going lower in sound, you go lower in sound on the guitar.
Or in other words…. when the music is going up, you go up the neck of the guitar and when the music is going down, you go down the neck of the guitar, ACCORDING to what the song you are playing from the radio or YouTube is doing.
That’s the only way I can explain it, you just have to get what am saying, if you don’t, go ask a good guitar player and he’ll tell you.
When it is going higher in sound, YOU go higher in sound on the guitar. When it is going lower in sound, you go lower in sound on the guitar
The upper part of the guitar neck is to the right of the guitar. The down part of the guitar neck is to the left of the guitar. This means the upper part of the guitar neck sounds HIGHER and the down part of the guitar neck sounds LOWER.
The higher part of the guitar neck is to the right of the guitar. The lower part of the guitar neck is to the left of the guitar. This means the higher part of the guitar neck sounds HIGHER and the lower part of the guitar neck sounds LOWER.
As you play the D barre chord on the guitar at the 5th fret, you will notice that this is the lowest sounding of all the D barre chords on the guitar.
As you play the next higher up D barre chord at the 10th fret on the guitar, you will notice it getting higher in sound.
And as you play the D barre chord at the 17th fret it sounds even more higher in sound.
And FINALLY! The D barre chord at the 22nd fret sounds the highest in sound, of all the D barre chords.
NOW NOT SO QUICK!…..What about the Open D chord? I will get to that now. This Open D chord sounds higher than the D barre chord at the 5th fret and the D barre chord at the 10th fret also but doesn’t sound higher than the one at the 17th fret D barre chord or the 22nd fret D barre chord.
So you need to know how high or low each chord sounds in comparison to each other. (The Open D chord and the D barre chords.) And know when these chords are going UP in sound and know when they are going DOWN in sound. In other words, USE YOUR EARS!
You Will Not Get Good Until You Do This
You will NOT get good until you do this. And this is: PLAY YOUR GUITAR TO MUSIC! This is where you get to have fun! ALL KINDS OF FUN!
In other words, cop to music, (copy) cop a tune, (copy) imitate music, yeah you know the drill.
You will NOT get good until you do this. And this is: PLAY YOUR GUITAR TO MUSIC! This is where you get to have fun! ALL KINDS OF FUN!
You need to start playing along to music on the radio and YouTube. What this will do is cause you to become better and better. For it will cause you to get used to moving around the neck of the guitar like you own it.
And after a while you will be smooth at the guitar. And you will not be hesitating at playing chords. What seemed hard at first will become easy. It may take a while to get good, and it may be hard at first, but you will get it.
It’s just like riding a bike or driving a car for the first time. You didn’t have a clue what to do at first, but after a while you figured it out AND you got real smooth at it too.
You were the Boss when you learned it. And it felt good to drive. Such is the way you will be, when you learn to play guitar like this. You will feel a sense of accomplishment, when you are able to match the chords you are playing on the guitar.
What You’re Going To Have To Do In The Open D Chord Area
You’re going to concentrate on this area of the guitar for a while. This area is the Open D chord area. Don’t rush this area. Take your time and have fun learning this area. The nicks and crannies of this area. There is ALL KINDS of things you can do in this area.
It’s hard to BELIEVE you can do a lot in this area but you can. Most guitar players wouldn’t think to play this area in this kind of detail. To play the top of the chord the middle and the bottom of the chord, the top 2 strings of the chord or the bottom 2 strings of the chord.
And to also play it with different inflections of playing it louder sometimes, where it sounds higher in sound and then playing it softer sometimes, where it sounds lower in sound, and then just playing it normal. And just mixing all these things up.
You can also do hammer ons and pull offs also, all in this one area, the D chord area. Learn it and try it, it’s not that hard to do. Just hit the chord, now press your fingers down real quick and pull off it.
And then do a hammer on, by first hitting the 3 notes in the chord open, where the strings ring out. And then press down on them to give it a hammer on.
Give this D chord a different effect, than just strumming your chords like a robot all the time without doing anything different every now and then. I encourage you to find videos on YouTube of how to hammer on and pull off your chords.
Now Concentrate On The D Barre Chord Area
Now let’s concentrate on the D barre chord area for a second. As far as just the techniques you can do in this area also. Okay!….
What can be done in Open D chord area, can be done in the D barre chord area.
When you play barre chords put some effects on them the same way. Hitting the top and bottom strings of the D barre chord.
And also the top 2 strings, and then the bottom 2 strings of the D barre chord.
Also play it with different inflections, by playing it louder sometimes, where it sounds higher. And then playing it softer sometimes, where it sounds lower in sound. And then playing it normal. Mixing all this up, also.
And then do your hammer ons and pull offs in the D barre chord areas also, by hitting the chord, by pressing your fingers down real quick, and then just pull off it.
And then do a hammer on by first hitting its notes in the chord open where the strings ring out, and then press down on them, to give it a hammer on.
Think of all kinds of effects to do in this area. I’m sure you will. You don’t just have to strum it normally all the time in these areas. No rock musician does. Also do some slides here and there, as you move around in different areas of the guitar.
Note: This can be done on ANY type of barre chords, in any area also. HAVE FUN! You can do it!
Sometimes The D Chord Areas Won’t Work
Sometimes the D chord areas of the guitar won’t work for playing it by ear. You’re gonna have to go out of the zone sometimes.
(Play in different areas of the guitar neck) This is what I like to do when that happens.
What I do is I’ll concentrate on playing these areas of the guitar, which are the 9th fret, the 7th fret and of course the 5th fret which is the D chord area of the guitar and the 3rd fret and then 2nd fret areas.
I’ll just let my ear tell me what areas to go to on the guitar neck. [Which is established by KNOWING what your chords are gonna sound like ahead of time, in your mind, because I already know what they all sound like, after practicing them for a long time, and you will too, after you play the guitar long enough.]
I’ll just let my ear tell me what areas to go to on the guitar neck. [Which is established by KNOWING what your chords are going to sound like ahead of time, in your mind.
THE BUSKER TECHNIQUE: All The Chords You Need In This Area Of The Guitar
I like to, I mean I LOVE it! When we get into the Open chords areas of the guitar, next to the Open D chord. It’s here where I do the Busker Techniques I told you about in part 1 of my post Titled: “The New Way To Play Guitar By Ear Part 1” And just start playing songs by ear in this Open chord area.
You can find out how to do this technique, his chords, by typing this in on YouTube, or watching it below, it’s called……. “Learn To Play Guitar The Fastest Way – The Busker Technique 1” It is by dancetech. He explains it REAL well in this video. He Guarantees that it will be easy to learn. And IT’S no joke. It is spot on QUALITY music playing. AND you will be playing quality music too, if you learn these Open chords, in The Busker Technique, my friend.
Because I also know too what ALL the Open chords sound like, by months of practicing them. And you too will know what they sound like in your mind as you practice them for a time.
There are 7 chords here. (In the open chord area, using The Busker Technique) It’s ALL the chords you NEED!
All you need to play in this area of the guitar for some GOOD OL ROCK AND ROLL!
You can also use it to play ALL KINDS of styles of music, anywhere from Rock to Soul to Pop Music, etc., any songs, practically! This open chord area will be JAM PACKED with ALL KINDS of jams to be played here.
Also, type in or watch it below, it is called……. “Learn To Play Guitar The Fastest Way – The Busker Technique 2.” It is by dancetech, also, so that you can make sure you learn ALL 7 chords, including the B chord! This one is the second lesson….
Now You Have More Knowledge And The Action To Know How To Play The Guitar By Ear
Now you have the no how, meaning you know how to play the guitar by ear and the action to play by ear!
Now! All you have to do is start practicing playing songs by ear!!!
NOW I will end this article of “The New Way To Play Guitar By Ear Part 2” which you have just read.
Part 3, the final part of this article, can be found by clicking here.
Related Questions
How long does it take to learn to play the guitar by ear? It’s a skill you learn. So the faster you learn it, the quicker you will play the guitar by ear. And the slower you learn it, the longer it will take to play the guitar by ear. Some are average learners, and may learn in average time.
How do you train your ear on the guitar? This is accomplished by first practicing chords and single notes. And then recognizing what they sound like. Which is training yourself to recognize sounds, so that when you get ready to play by ear, you’re already knowing where to go on the guitar neck.
Photo credits:
Open D chord and 5th fret Barre chord images courtesy of Sluffs. Public domain image: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
F barre chord real picture image courtesy of Elenaf: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en
10th fret barre chord and E shape barre chord and real picture of F barre chord images courtesy of Elenaf. Public domain images: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ Check out Elenaf’s great site by clicking on the link ahead: Attribution: Created with Neck Diagrams editor, http://www.neckdiagrams.com
AC-DC Chunking on guitar photo courtesy of Weatherman90 at commons.m.wikimedia.org https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en Attribution: Weatherman90 at English Wikipedia
Slowhand Eric Clapton, one of the best guitarists in the world! Photo courtesy of Matt Gibbons https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en
