The quickest way to play guitar by ear is to understand the basic principles of music that underlie all successful songs.
Having a good ear for music is essential if you want to actively participate in music jam sessions.
The problem is learning how to play guitar by ear, since almost all guitarists who do play by ear don't know how to explain how they do it.
There's hardly anything more frustrating for the student guitarist than to ask an accomplished player "how do you know when to change to the next chord" or "how did you work these chords out" or "how did you know what key to play that solo in" etc and be told ...
"oh, you just feel it, man!" There's not much help if you are taking private lessons either (a) the majority of guitar teachers using traditional guitar method books either can't play by ear themselves so, obviously they can't pass on information that they don't have or (b) the courses they teach focus on skills such as sight reading and the technical aspects of guitar playing such as scales and arpeggios ...
all important skills in themselves, however, none of which will directly help you work out the chords for a song if you are at a party and someone says ...
"hey, do you know how to play XYZ song?" And if that's not enough to make you want to give up trying to learn to play the guitar by ear there's always the old wife's tale that "you have either got it our you ain't!" With so much mystery surrounding this important skill, guitarist's are always pleasantly surprised to learn that playing the guitar by ear is simply a skill that anyone can learn, you simply have to find a teacher that has a system that explains "how" to do it.
If you have previously tried to play guitar by ear and haven't had much success, it's important you understand that playing by ear is a skill skill you can learn ...
anyone can! When you stop and think about it, the guitarist who already can play by ear: (a) thinks that everyone else knows how to do it (b) has never though about how to explain "how" they do it - since they are generally not involved in teaching, these guys are usually more interested in playing than teaching and (c) most of the players who play guitar by ear don't know how to read standard music notation and generally don't understand the theory that would give them the language to explain and communicate the tonal and rhythmic principles that are involved with playing by ear.
So, to sum up ...
leaning to play the guitar by ear is simply a matter of "those who know how to do it"...
can play by ear and "those who don't know how to do it" ..
..
can't play by ear! Isn't it a relief to know that learning to play the guitar by ear is not something that is reserved for the "guitar guru's", the chosen few who where somehow bestowed with a magical power?
Having a good ear for music is essential if you want to actively participate in music jam sessions.
The problem is learning how to play guitar by ear, since almost all guitarists who do play by ear don't know how to explain how they do it.
There's hardly anything more frustrating for the student guitarist than to ask an accomplished player "how do you know when to change to the next chord" or "how did you work these chords out" or "how did you know what key to play that solo in" etc and be told ...
"oh, you just feel it, man!" There's not much help if you are taking private lessons either (a) the majority of guitar teachers using traditional guitar method books either can't play by ear themselves so, obviously they can't pass on information that they don't have or (b) the courses they teach focus on skills such as sight reading and the technical aspects of guitar playing such as scales and arpeggios ...
all important skills in themselves, however, none of which will directly help you work out the chords for a song if you are at a party and someone says ...
"hey, do you know how to play XYZ song?" And if that's not enough to make you want to give up trying to learn to play the guitar by ear there's always the old wife's tale that "you have either got it our you ain't!" With so much mystery surrounding this important skill, guitarist's are always pleasantly surprised to learn that playing the guitar by ear is simply a skill that anyone can learn, you simply have to find a teacher that has a system that explains "how" to do it.
If you have previously tried to play guitar by ear and haven't had much success, it's important you understand that playing by ear is a skill skill you can learn ...
anyone can! When you stop and think about it, the guitarist who already can play by ear: (a) thinks that everyone else knows how to do it (b) has never though about how to explain "how" they do it - since they are generally not involved in teaching, these guys are usually more interested in playing than teaching and (c) most of the players who play guitar by ear don't know how to read standard music notation and generally don't understand the theory that would give them the language to explain and communicate the tonal and rhythmic principles that are involved with playing by ear.
So, to sum up ...
leaning to play the guitar by ear is simply a matter of "those who know how to do it"...
can play by ear and "those who don't know how to do it" ..
..
can't play by ear! Isn't it a relief to know that learning to play the guitar by ear is not something that is reserved for the "guitar guru's", the chosen few who where somehow bestowed with a magical power?
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