You're welcome for the reply!

Originally Posted by: martinovation

Interesting pointer on aural skills. Do you have any recommendation on how to start developing that?

Absolutely!

Ear training or aural skills is a process by which musicians learn to identify intervals, chords, rhythms, and other basic elements of music.

(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear_training)

There are plenty of great sources to help you with this. For example:

http://www.musictheory.net/

When learning guitar, the best way to train your mind & ear (aural training or ear training) is to be able to recognize intervals & chord progressions when you hear them or play them by automatic memory recall.

If you learn basic scales & their degrees like this.

http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=363

And, then practice those basic scales like this:

http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=451

http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=723

And then use them to play lots of little melodies & licks, for example, like this:

http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=439

http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=896

Then mentally identify the notes of those melodies as scale degrees, then you will be on your way to developing your ear correctly.

Consider that once you understand that these major scale degrees ...

1-1-5-5-6-6-5-4-4-3-3-2-2-1

... form the sound of the melody to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, once you can hear that in your mind before you pick up a guitar and play it or hear it, once you can visualize that on the guitar fretboard before you play it, then you've started ear training correctly.

:)

I know that is a very simple example, but really that is the entire process described in a nutshell. That is the exact same thing I do & every musician does to recognize, play, make up melodies, riffs, licks, and chord progressions.

We recognize that certain patterns of notes & scales on the guitar will result in certain specific sounds every time.

For example, when I hear this lick:

http://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=20405

It doesn't matter if it's in a rock song, blues song, what kind of guitar or amp or which key it's in. When I hear any guitarist play those notes, I know right away before picking up the guitar, exactly what those notes are. This is because I know they are scale degrees 5-5-1-5-1 (with some bending).

I explain the scale degrees of that specific song in the next lesson.

http://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=20406

Next you want to play various groups of chord progressions like I-IV-V so you are building a similar folder of chord progressions in your memory banks.

You want to play things like this A-D-E progression with the idea in mind that it is a progression:

A (I chord)[br]D (IV chord)[br]A (I chord)[br]E (V chord)

http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=442

And this group of chords is the exact same progression, but in C instead of A.

C (I chord)[br]F (IV chord)[br]C (I chord)[br]G (V chord)

http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=443

Eventually you need to work at realizing that those are the same kind of sounds anytime you encounter them. So, when you hear Buddy Holly playing It's So Easy, you'll know right away that he's playing an A, D and E major chord in different orders.

A-E-D-E

A-D-E-A

Or when you hear Twist & Shout or La Bamba, you'll recognize that they are both just variations on I-IV-V chord progressions in C major!

C-F-G

Every song is built from the basic materials of notes, scales & chords. These patterns repeat over and again in pop, rock, country, blues music. So, the trick is to get you mind & ear to memorize & understand what those patterns are.

Almost every blues you hear is built from a I-IV-V progression. After practicing playing & learning to identify these chord progressions, I can hear them immediately when I hear a new song.

So to sum up, learn the basic materials of music: scale intervals, chord progressions. Then figure out lots of melodies, chord progressions & songs. Play them a lot on your guitar and listen to them. Gradually over the course of time these patterns become second nature.

Make sense?! :)

Ask for more help if necessary! Best of success!