Guitar Lessons in Bed Stuy Brooklyn

Category: Ear Training

How To Find Notes On Your Guitar By Ear
Use Your Short Term Memory To Find Notes On Your Guitar

Everyone would agree that we have to hear the note first, but we can often skip this step without even knowing it. The trick is to use your short term memory, and I mean VERY short term. Here’s how to do it:
- Listen to the recording with your finger poised to pause it
- As soon as you hear the note you’re trying to find, pause the recording
- IMMEDIATELY listen to the note that is ringing in your head
- sing the note ringing in your head and hold that note while you
- find it on your guitar
After a few seconds, the note will start to fade in your mind so you may need to repeat this several times.

The trick is to listen to the recording for the note you’re after and then hear it in your short term memory. It may be very faint, but it’s there. It’s like the shadow of the note, lingering in your mind. It’s magic.
August 25, 2019
Feel the Space Between the Notes

Play a note, or chord, and just listen. Meet that note. Look it in the eye. Hear its personality. Don’t move to another one until you’ve actually listened to the present one.

When you do this the most remarkable thing usually happens: you relax. It makes playing so much easier and more enjoyable. You improve with ease.

June 20, 2018
Learning by Ear From a Recording

It can be tricky. Try this:

Pause the playback immediately after you hear the note/chord you’re listening for. Then, listen to your short term memory, sing whatever you hear and find that note on the guitar. Then find that same note on one of the top 2 strings (E & A) of the guitar.

If you’re looking for a chord, try playing a major or minor chord on that note. If that’s not it and you’re on the E string, try moving straight down to the A string and up 2 frets. If you’re on the A string, try moving straight down to the E string.

It can be more involved than this, but 80% of the time you can find most chords using only these few steps.

May 27, 2014
Interview on Talk Music Talk

A few weeks ago I sat down with boice from the weekly podcast Talk Music Talk and chatted about how receptive listening can benefit musicians facing difficulties onstage or in practice. Sitting down with musicians, music journalists, artists, music industry folks and more, boice discusses what they love about the world of music and how they got into it. We had a great time and you can listen in.

Follow this link to listen and download podcast interview TMT 043. And, yes, it’s free!

Bryan Wade from The Connected Musician on TALK MUSIC TALK

At the top of TALK MUSIC TALK are links to subscribe to iTunes, Stitcher Radio and TuneIn Radio.
There is a lot of emerging artists and seasoned pros over there so check it out.

Much More on this topic on my new site theconnectedmusician.com

January 10, 2014