Why is Ear Training Important?

When you first learn how to play the guitar, doing ear training may not seem that important. As your physical skill improves on the guitar, your ear will start to develop with it. Whether it’s your ability to pick out the separate guitar parts in a song to picking out the chord progressions. You can actively train on your ear training so that you can improve your guitar playing faster.

How To Write Your Own Songs Even If You Are Not Advanced

What benefits will you have as a guitar player by working on your ear training? 

1. You will be able to play your favorite songs by listening and then playing it

This is something that a lot of people would love to do, and it takes a while to get to that stage. When your ears improve, you will be able to hear a melody and then play it directly on the guitar. Pretty cool hey!

Then when your ear training improves, even more, you will be able to listen for chord progressions as well. making it even easier to jam along to your favorite tracks.

2. Being able to jam with your friends

Imagine your friend starts playing a song, and you instantly join in. You can either do it by watching what he’s doing on the guitar. Or if your ear training is great, you will be able to play along without anyone stopping to tell you what chords they are playing.

3. For transcribing music

When you listen to your favorite music, and there is no tab for it. What do you do? Give up? Find someone to transcribe it for you? Or work it out yourself?

When you have improved your ear training, you will be able to transcribe music much quicker. So that you can treasure your favorite music in written form. You could even give the copies to your friends who can’t transcribe as well as you do!

4. For improvisation

For improvisation over anything, having great ears will help you to

a) translate what you want to play from your head to the guitar

b) listen and evaluate what you are playing to make sure it actually sounds good. So that you can improve on it!

5. For great technique and phrasing

To be able to hear how good your technique is, whether you are checking if your notes are bleeding into each other. If you are pressing too hard and bending the strings, so it goes out of tune. You want to be able to hear that.

For your bends and vibratos sound good, making sure they hit your target note. In the beginning, your muscle memory is developing for you to keep your bends and vibratos in tune. You want great ears to help you. Then your muscle memory will kick in later on.

6. Makes you better at the guitar quicker

This brings me to the next point. if your ears are better, you will get better at the guitar quickly. Not only because your technique and phrasing will improve quicker. But your standard for your guitar playing will be higher. So you will want to practice more to improve your playing!

 7. For song writing 

Ear training will help you to create music quicker, similar to improvisation. Being able to direct what’s in your head onto paper quickly will help you get those ideas out. Rather than recording yourself, and then having to work how to play it afterwards.

8. Improve understanding of music

When your ear improves, you will be able to “understand” music. Meaning, you will be able to pick apart separate parts of music more, which you can then analyze if you so wish. Overall, it will improve your listening experience.

Otherwise, it’s like watching color TV in black and white only, when you have a half-developed ear.

9. Learn music pieces quicker

When your understanding of music improves, and your ear improves, your musical memory improves too! That means you can memorize pieces quicker. Also, as you are now better at getting what’s in your head onto the fretboard and guitar. Your reliance of learning it from tab numbers only reduces. All in all, you will be able to learn more pieces of music quicker than every before! Perfect for learning those 20 last minute Christmas carols to play around the piano in December.

Guitar Tuition East London is a guitar school based in London, England. Ran by Darryl Powis and his team of guitar teachers and supporting team. There to help support students with regards to their goals and dreams on the guitar. 

The school provides guitar lessons to adults and kids. Here to provide fast progress and results for their beginner guitar students in London. Whether they play the acoustic or electric. They provide contemporary music training to students of all ages.