EarTraining for Guitarists
Of course, a musician is not only good because he/she can shred up and down a scale. There are many more factors that make “fast” also “clean”, “accurate” and “correct”.
I find it a bit of a pity when I hear from my students that they downloaded the sheet music for Guitar Pro from the internet, played it briefly and then threw it away again.
“Back then”, when I was 13 years old, you couldn’t download sheet music from the internet. However, we already had DVDs, CDs and sometimes even YouTube. Songs, solos, etc. actually had to be figured out by ear.
Personally, I didn’t mind that at all. I also enjoyed doing it for quite a long time. Many mistakes, such as the correct position of the hands, could often not be seen because it was not in the video or it was simply too blurry. But these very mistakes ensured that I could now find the perfect technique for myself.
Therefore: It’s not bad if you need a little longer for a solo because you still have to figure it out by ear! Apart from that, it also gets faster and faster.
What I also hear again and again from students is: “Yes, but I can’t do it!”. The point is also that you don’t start with a shredder solo, but with intervals.
Ear Training for Beginners: Intervals
As just mentioned, it would be good to start with Intervals. It’s absolutely great if you can already find and play them on the guitar. Nevertheless, try to work only with your hearing (without guitar, without piano, etc.).
To figure out Intervals, it is advantageous if you can sing the major scale (Ionian) upwards.
You can find a “cheat sheet” on how which Intervals sound here: Intervals cheat sheet: Connect songs with intervals
There are also various apps and websites that can help you learn it.
- EarMaster
- https://tonedear.com/ear-training/intervals
- Functional Ear Trainer
- PitchBob Pro
To give you a reference of how the individual intervals sound, you can listen to each individual interval from C here.
b2
2
b3
3
4
#4 / b5
5
b6
6
b7
7
8
Try to figure out the intervals one after the other, but also together. From a certain level onwards, you should also be able to separate two notes played simultaneously.
Ear Training for Beginners: Arpeggios
If you are satisfied with yourself, you can move on to the next level. My “quality control check” was 10 exercises correct, 3 times a day for a week, without a mistake.
Now we do the same with the Arpeggios:
Now you don’t need any notes or audio examples anymore.
Now try to figure out the following arpeggios by ear (and sing them too!):
- Major — 1, 3, 5
- Minor — 1, b3, 5
- Diminished — 1, b3, b5
- Augmented — 1, b3, #5
After that:
- Major 7–1, 3, 5, 7
- Dominant 7–1, 3, 5, b7
- Minor 7–1, b3, 5, b7
- Minor 7b5–1, b3, b5, b7
- Diminished — 1, b3, b5, bb7
Always start from the root. So think or sing a root, then the third from this root, then a fifth from the same root, and the same again for the seventh.
Ear Training for Beginners: Scales
The last thing would be the scales.
You should be able to figure out at least the most common Scales by ear. These include:
- Ionian — 1,2,3,4,5,6,7
- Dorian — 1,2,b3,4,5,6,b7
- Phrygian — 1,b2,b3,4,5,b6,b7
- Lydian — 1,2,3,#4,5,6,7
- Mixolydian — 1,2,3,4,5,6,b7
- Aeolian — 1,2,b3,4,5,b6,b7
- Locrian — 1,b2,b3,4,b5,b6,b7
If you want more, here are a lot: Scales, Chords and Arpeggios.
Here again; try to think from the root. You should actually always have the “key” in your head and find your Intervals from there.
Checklist:
- Recognize intervals separately (played one after the other)?
- Recognize intervals together (played together)?
- Sing intervals?
- Recognize arpeggios separately (played one after the other)?
- Recognize arpeggios together (played together = chord)?
- Sing arpeggios?
- Recognize scales?
