I was looking around a website from an old friend of mine in Brantford Patrick Feely and I came across a link on his guitar page directing me towards an ear training website. The site is called Good-Ear and it has some real neat lessons on it that will test and help you to expand your overall musical knowledge. Most importantly it fine tunes your mind to help you understand what it is that you are listening to when you try to figure out songs by ear.
When I first started the basic lessons on Good-Ear, it reminded my of my early days when I wanted to focus all my attention towards ways that would help me grow as a guitarist/musician. I feel that working on ear training made me become a more well rounded guitarist.
When I was around 15, following being kicked out of Pylis, I was feeling a little bummed out. Shortly after shaking off the Progressive Rock blues, I decided to pull up my pant legs and begin to focus on another musical chapter in my evolution as a guitar player. This new direction brought me to my classical guitar playing era, which in turn brought me to ear training.
My ear training helped me out a ton when lifting songs off an album or just to the radio. Today I can have a song playing in my head then grab my axe and figure it out in mere seconds. This something that I highly recommend everyone to try!
Sure some people out there will argue against this discipline that it is a waste of time but I hope that I can nudge some people out there to follow this path or just explore what ear training can do for you and have some fun! Remember, the worst thing that can happen is you learn something!
So for all you adventurous types out there, take the test and tell me what you think.
Keep on Jammin’
No way is ear training a waste of time! Who would say that. I’m checking out good ear as soon as I’m done with my response.
I know what you mean when you get a nostalgic feeling from these exercises. I remember when I first obtained the ability to pick up a song by ear. It’s probably one of the most valuable abilities a guitarist can have! Over the years I’ve gotten rusty and partially lost that ability. That’s why I’m so stoked you wrote this blog. Keep it up.
From one experienced guitarist to another, I think you’ve stumbled upon a crucial topic. Thanks.
I appreciate your comment Dave! There is nothing better then to have the ability to just pick up a guitar and figure out a tune at the drop of a hat.
I just hope other readers pick up on that note of yours.
That is a very simple and straight forward exercise Craig, I give it 2 thumbs up! Who’s next?
I believe it has more to do with finger training than ear training. The ear already knows how to capture the sound and transmit to the right part of the brain. Its the fingers which struggle to find the right fret to match the sound your soul comes up with in response to the ear!
I thought that the program that Jeff created was for ear training not finger training. I’ll have to ask him that one Mamba2000.
Hi Chris, just my opinion, but when listening to music, movement is from the ear to the brain (if you don’t understand the sound) or soul (if you love the sound). However if you are expressing yourself through your instrument then the soul (which creates the music you should play) transmits to the brain which then transmits to the fingers ( because the fingers are controlled by brain activity). The fingers should then reproduce as closely as possible that which the soul came up with. The ear then gives feedback to the brain to determine if what you play matches what the soul came up with.
So the weak point is in the link between the fingers and the brain (the where and how to pick a note). The ears are just fine.
Now that is a very interesting way to view it mamba2000!
I enjoy your comments alot and hope you come back again.