#2 – Open Your Ears II – Developing Your Aural Skills We will start you with a few simple exercises you can immediately employ in your practice routine. This introductory lesson helps you take your first steps towards a better ear. #1 – Open Your Ears – Introduction to Ear Training Guitar Ear Training Lessons And Aural Skills Development: To fully enjoy and immerse yourself in playing a musical instrument, ear training should be an essential part of your practice routine no matter how “boring” or “monotonous” it may be. To be exact, it is a listening art that places heavy emphasis on the ears. Well, if you throw him a progression or place him/her in an impromptu situation like playing a song in a different key, chances are he’ll be stumped. In this case, why would you need to train your ears?

Of course, you could argue that a guitarist without good hearing skills may still be able to play the most technically challenging solos. The guitarist with better aural skills will be able to learn techniques, rhythms and improvisation skills and progress faster than another with weak hearing skills. Can you imagine a painter who can’t differentiate the colors on his palette? In the same way, how can a guitarist achieve true mastery of the instrument when he can’t even differentiate a C note from a D note? How many of us can hear a piece of music and decipher it completely? The fact is that 90% of the guitarists in the world won’t be able to do so. You Are a Musician But How Well Do You Understand Music? There are also those who drill themselves over and over again with speed exercises. As a result, these people tend to neglect one of the most important aspects of being a great musician which is the ability to HEAR.Įar training forms the foundation for achieving proficient musicianship and it lays out the foundation for music development.įor people who want to take their ear training to higher levels, we recommend checking out David Lucas Burge’s courses for the most comprehensive education your ears will need. I know the majority of guitar players usually jump straight into learning songs from tablatures without understanding what they are playing. You must identify the major scale degree of each note in the melody.Most guitarists do not understand the importance of ear training and the benefits of having great aural skills. Melodic Dictation: In this exercise, you will hear a short chord progression followed by a short melody.You must identify the major scale degrees of the two notes relative to the key established by the chord progression as well as the interval between the two notes. In this exercise, you will hear a short chord progression followed by two notes. Intervals in Context (functional): This exercise combines the 'Intervals' and 'Scale Degrees' exercises.This is also known as 'functional ear training'. You must identify the scale degree of that note relative to the key established by the chord progression. Scale Degrees (functional): In this exercise, you will hear a short chord progression followed by a single note.Your goal is to identify the name of the note.

Perfect Pitch: In this exercise, you will hear a single note.Your goal is to identify each chord that you heard. Chord Progressions: In this exercise, you will hear a chord progression.Your goal is to identify the name of the scale that you heard.

Scales: In this exercise, you will hear a scale.

Your goal is to identify the type of chord that you heard. Chords: In this exercise, you will hear a chord.Your goal is to identify the interval between the two notes. Intervals: In this exercise, you will hear two notes in sequence.For best results, practice a little bit every day: These exercises will improve your musical ability by developing a more intuitive understanding of what you hear.

Ear training vs aural skils