Improving Guitarist Skills with Ear Training

Improving Guitarist Skills with Ear Training

Q: You state that ear-training is essential for a guitarist who wants to improve himself. Please explain how is this so.

Second question: If I work on my ear-training using all the books you have listed at your site, will I be able to play any song just after hearing it from some source, either on the radio, MP3, on TV, etc?

A: Thanks for contacting me. To answer your ear training questions. Musicians hear music in their head and then transfer it to their instrument. You need to use ear training in order to interpret the notes you hear in your head so you can play them on your instrument. Ear Training is also used when you hear sound from an external source and want to identify the notes you hear. Keep in mind that when hearing songs from external sources your memory will also play a roll because after you identify a piece of a melody or chord you need to remember it’s note combinations as well as it’s place in the overall song. I recommend you start your ear training with Ear Training One Note Complete and Fanatic’s Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training or Contextual Ear Training. If you practice out of these books a combination of 1 hour a day you should be able to apply your new learned ear training skills to transcribing songs within a year or two. But you must also start working with the direct application courses as soon as you are getting around 50% correct answers with the One Note Ear Training. This is crucial to your success at applying the ear training and making it “real.”

It is also recommended that you read Bruce Arnold’s Blog at his artist site. It contains more discussion of the musical topics found in these FAQs as well as other subjects of interest. You will also find the “Music Education Genealogy Chart” located here which shows you the historic significance of the music education products found on the Muse Eek Publishing Company Website.