I hope you are doing okay with everything that is going on now. These are crazy times, but we have to make the best of it. We have to help each other out while keeping a safe distance, be considerate of others, smile to people to relieve a bit of their burden, but with all that don’t forget yourself along the way. Being kind to yourself too. Have a bit of fun. Try to enjoy the present moment.

For those of you who stay at home, you might have some more time on your hands now to enjoy the guitar, develop a nice practice routine, and make some good progress. Well, here’s a great guitar workout for you…

Practicing melodic intervals really developed my skills to solo and improvise over major chord progressions. Just by going through the scale intervals on a regular basis you are training the muscle memory for your fingers and acquiring the vocabulary for your creative mind to help you shape your musical brain and come up with melodic ideas. It’s an exercise that is not to be underestimated.

In this lesson we are going to learn “melodic intervals in 3rds” following the major scale. We’ll practice these 3rd intervals over 5 different scale shapes/positions across the neck, so we’ve got a great workout for you! Don’t worry we’ll take it step by step.

Make sure you know the major scale in 5 shapes/positions before you start this lesson, but on the other hand you can also skip that for now if you just became excited to dive into this lesson. You can always come back to that later. I can imagine you want to try at least the first exercise to know what we’re talking about here. I totally understand.

Another upside is that the exercises will train your ear to recognize 3rd intervals. This will improve your aural skills, which is a important part of becoming an accomplished musician (Try to sing along the notes as you play the exercises). The practice of playing the intervals will also increase your dexterity. A win-win situation in many ways.

Music Theory 3rd Intervals

If you don’t like music theory you can skip this part, but you might pick up a thing or two that will eventually make you an awesome guitar player. I’ll keep it short this time.

An interval is the difference in pitch between two sounds. There are harmonic intervals and melodic intervals. Harmonic intervals are played simultaneously (two notes played together at the same time) and melodic intervals are played in sequence, one after the other. In this lesson we play melodic intervals.

For example we use the G major scale in 5 different shapes/positions. The G major scale consists of the notes : G A B C D E F# G. If you play a scale in thirds it means each note in the scale is followed by the third note in that scale. The first note G follows up by the third note B, then you play the second note of the scale A which follows up by a C and so on. So you get the notes: G-B, A-C, B-D, C-E, D-F#, E-G, G-B. These are a combination of major thirds and minor thirds, but before I get totally sidetracked I’ll go into that in another lesson. Promise! Now let’s focus on the practice.

How to Practice the Major Scale in 3rds

We all have different skill levels (beginner, intermediate, advanced) so I suggest you start with practicing the first shape / position 1. Practice it slowly. Make sure all the notes sound clean and clear. Memorize each exercise thoroughly and learn the scale ascending and descending.

Move on to the next shape when you can play the first shape comfortably and confidently off the top of your head. If you’re a beginner just learn the first shape/position 1. If you’re an intermediate or advanced guitar player you can learn all shapes, but take your time with it. Let it sink in. Become one with it. Enough said…

Enjoy the ride!

Major scale 3rd intervals – Shape / Position 1

Major scale 3rd intervals – Shape / Position 2

Major scale 3rd intervals – Shape / Position 3

Major scale 3rd intervals – Shape/Position 4

Major scale 3rd intervals – Shape / Position 5

It’s something I still work on after all these years of playing. Each time I invest time into ear training it pays off big time.

The ability to identify chords, chord progressions, notes and melodies by ear or creating melodies from the mind and translating it to the fretboard is the greatest asset and resource a guitar player can have.

And to take it even one step further, combining good aural skills and knowledge of music theory will make you invincible. It’s the ultimate combination and makes you a complete musician.

But today we focus solely on the quality of listening. There are many ways to improve your aural skills, but here is a list of the most essential ones:

1 Transcribe songs.
Figure out chords, chord progressions and solos by ear. Work out the pitches and rhythms of a song. Use software like Transcribe to slowdown, loop and change the pitch of the song to make transcribing easier. You can use Anytune to transcribe songs on your Ipad.

2 Sing scales.
– First play a scale on the guitar and then try to sing it.
– Sing and play your scales simultaneously.
– Play a random root note and sing the scale, then play the scale to hear if your pitches were correct.

3 Sing and recognize intervals
Sing thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths and sevenths. Play the first note of the scale and sing it’s interval, play the second note of the scale and sing it’s intervals and so on.

You can also record yourself playing an interval, then pause a few seconds and say the name of the interval. Record 30 minutes of different intervals this way. Then listen back and try to identify the intervals one by one.

4 Play and recognize chords
As with the previous exercise you can do the same with chords. Record yourself playing different chords, major, minor, sus2, sus4, major 6th, minor 6th, minor 7th, major 7th, diminished, open chords, barres, power chords, etc. Pause after each chord and then say the name of the chord. Listen back and and try to identify the chords.

5 Play and recognize chord progressions.
Start with a I IV V progression and play the chords in random order. For example: I IV V IV or I V IV I or I IV I V. Come up with as many different progressions as possible using the I IV V. Same thing here, record a chord progression, pause and name the order of the chord progression. Listen back and try to identify the order of the chords. What is played first the I, IV or V? What is played second, third and fourth? If you nail this take it a step further and try it with a I IV V VI progression.

6 Sing and play melodies
Take three or four notes from a scale. From those notes create a melody in your head, sing it out loud and then try to play it on your guitar. Once you get the hang of it add a note to your melody. Try to imagine a melody with five notes and play it on the guitar. Gradually add a note to your melody once you get the pitches right and you feel comfortable to do so.

7 Sight singing
Learn to read and sing notes on the staff or create melodies and write them down on paper without instrument. Here’s a website that learns sight singing thepracticeroom.net.

8 Ear training software
Ear training software can be a great tool to improve your aural skills. There are a lot of ear training software programs and websites available today. Check out Earmaster Pro 6 or free online programs like www.earbeater.com and www.trainer.thetamusic.com

Keep developing your aural skills, reap the benefits and become a real musician!

‎”Listening is the key to everything good in music.” – Pat Metheny

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The downside of this phenomenon is that people who are learning to play guitar these days can get lazy if they just copy whatever is being taught on the net.

It’s still very important to listen with your own ears and learn to transcribe songs without tutorial videos or tablature books.

Transcribing songs will teach you how guitar playing works from the inside out. I can tell you, it taught me more than I could have ever learned from tutorial videos.

I am not saying you need to stop watching YouTube guitar tutorials….No Way! YouTube is a great tool, but just don’t forget to listen and transcribe songs on your own. A must for every serious guitar student!

Listening is the key to everything:

Give Music a Chance.
Listen to as much different kinds of music styles as possible. Explore Pop music, Rock, Blues, Jazz, Folk, Country, Fusion, Latin, Metal, Flamenco and Classical sounds to expand your horizon and become a more creative musician.

If you don’t like a song or an album at first, put it on a second time.

Now this time listen differently: Notice the profound lyrics, the authenticity of the vocals, the cool beat/drums, the funky and grooving bass line, the subtle arrangements, the melodic solos and beautiful guitar rhythms. Listen to all the effort that has been put into the music. Listen to the things you like instead of what you don’t like.

The more you really really listen, the more you will love the song and understand what the artist is trying to bring across.

An openminded musician is a better musician.

Chord Recognition
Learn to recognize chords and chord changes in a song. Notice how each chord sounds differently and has it’s own unique character. Try to memorize each individual sound. Listen how different chords relate to each other. Understanding music theory will also help you with this.

What does major and minor sound like? What does a Dominant or a Maj7 chord sound like. Can you recognize the difference between a Sus2 or Sus4. An intermediate or advanced guitar player can try to recognize Maj9, 13, Maj13, Augmented and Diminished chords.

The more you practice this, the easier it gets. Transcribing chords and try recognizing them on a regular basis will train you ears. It will really enhance your progress in many ways.

Rhythm and Time
Listen and learn to count the time signature of a song. Figure out what kind of rhythm the guitar player is strumming and copy what you hear. It’s okay if you don’t play the exact rhythm pattern right away as long as you keep time while playing. Listen carefully, analyze what you hear and go with your gut feeling.

The more rhythm patterns you learn from your guitar teacher, fellow guitar players and YouTube, the easier it gets to figure it out a rhythm pattern on your own.

Listen to Teachers
A good guitar teacher will give you the right short cuts to make good progress. Listen carefully to inside tips and tricks that will open up your playing. Ask any questions, you think, that will help you further.

A teacher can save you a lot of time sharing you valuable information you would need years to figure out on your own.

Soul Searching
Listen to the creativity within you. Whenever you feel the urge to create… Create!

Play what you need to play, even if it doesn’t make sense at first. Go with the flow. Make room for the ideas that circle around in your head. Let your fingers lead you and put it down on paper and record it.

Listen in solitude
When there is solitude and silence there is room for your creative mind to breath. Go for a walk to the beach or the park when it’s quiet. First take a moment to contemplate. Then take a moment to listen.

This is where things will fall into place, where one idea comes rolling in after another. Open your mind for what is out there. Inspiration comes from solitude.

Listen, learn and create!

“To listen is an effort, and just to hear is no merit. A duck hears also.” – Igor Stravinsky

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Wouldn’t it be great if you could figure out the chords, melody and rhythm to a song without the need of video tutorials, sheet music or Tabs?

Of course that would be awesome! Well, since we’re on it, let’s dive in.

Here are 12 ways to develop this wonderful skill. Read, listen and learn.

1. Quietness

First of all go to a quiet place so you can concentrate more easily. Lock the door of your room, turn off the TV, Internet and other distractions. Try not to be interrupted.

2. Listen to the instruments

Listen to the guitar from beginning to end. Don’t listen for fun, but concentrate. Try to listen to only one guitar part at a time. First listen to the rhythm guitar throughout the whole song. Focus! Don’t let yourself be distracted by other instruments or other guitar parts like the lead guitar. The second time listen to another guitar part or other instrument. This will train your hearing tremendously.

3. Listen to the chords

Listen to the first chord that is played. Is it a major or minor chord? A major chord sounds happy. A minor chord sounds sad. Let’s assume it’s a major chord. A lot of pop songs use common guitar chords like C, A, G, E D, F and Bb. Try one of those.

If you hear a minor chord try Am, Dm, Em, Bm or F#m. Listen closely and rewind the song as many times as you need to. Listen if it’s an open chord (C, A, G, E, D, Dm, Am, Em) or a barre chord. Open chords include open strings that are not fingered, a barre chord contains no open strings and sounds more tight and thicker sounding.

Play a Bb or F barre chord and move it up the fretboard a half step at a time, listen carefully until you find the right chord. For example: as you move an F barre chord up a half step, you’ll get F#. Move up another half step and you’ll get G, G#, A, A#, B, etc ,etc.

This way you can hear every major chord with only one chord shape. If it’s a minor chord you use F minor and move it up the fretboard. For major chords you can also use Bb barre or Bbm barre for minor chords.

4. Listen to the chord changes

The next step is to focus on where the chord changes are. How many measures or bars does every chord have before a new chord starts. Usually a chord changes with every 1 or 2 bars, but it can also have 3 bars or more. Listen to the pitch changing from one chord to another. Listen carefully and rewind a few times until you get the hang of it. Again figure out if it is a major or minor chord. Happy or sad.

5. Figure out the song structure

A song is usually made up of an intro, verse, pre chorus, chorus, bridge and outro. You can put these in a certain order to create a song structure. A most common song structure is: Intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus-outro or Intro-verse-pre chorus-chorus-verse-pre chorus-chorus.

Listen to the song from beginning to end and try to recognize where the verse is, where the chorus is and so on. If you have transcribed the verse and chorus, you probably won’t have to transcribe the second verse and second chorus because they are usually the same.

6. Listen to the bass guitar

Practice listening to the bass guitar. Concentrate on the lower notes. Concentrate on the rhythm and the melody of those notes. The notes of the bass guitar are often the root notes of the chords you seek. For example: if you hear a repeating G note on the bass guitar your guitar chord is probably a G major or G minor.

7. Transcribe the melody

A melody can be a vocal part or a guitar solo or intro. A way to amazingly improve your hearing is to transcribe a melody. This is a little bit more complicated then transcribing chords because there are a lot more notes to it. But with practice and dedication you will succeed.

First try to sing the melody as you hear it. This is the first step. Then break it up into chunks and try to find the notes on the guitar one by one. When you do this the first time it takes quite a while, but after some exercise you will find the right notes and transcribe the melody much faster.

8. Figure out the time signature

Listen to the rhythm and try to recognize the time signature. Most pop & rock songs are 4/4. This means there are 4 notes in a measure / bar / beat. You count 1, 2, 3, 4 and then a new beat begins. 2/4 = 1, 2 , 1, 2 , 1, 2, etc.

There are also time signatures like 3/4 or 6/8 and many more, but 4/4, 2/4, 3/4, and 6/8 are the most common. 3/4 = 1, 2, 3 – 1, 2, 3 – 1, 2, 3 etc. 3/4 is more of a traditional waltz. Beginners have difficulty with telling the difference between 3/4 and 6/8. There is another feel to 6/8. It’s like 1 & a 2 & a, 1 & a 2 & a. This also takes a little practice to learn. Try it with different songs.

9. Hearing the pitch

You can train to hear the right pitch. A great way to do this is to play a single note on a piano or keyboard and try to find the same note somewhere on your guitar. If you don’t have a piano you can also sing a note and then try to find it on the guitar.

The other way around is just as important. Play a note somewhere on the guitar and try to sing this note. You are now training your tonal memory. For some this comes naturally, others have to train it. When you train to hear the right pitch you are more likely to transcribe what you hear.

10. Small steps

Begin with an easy pop song. Don’t try to transcribe a difficult song with a lot of arrangements when you are just starting out. Choose a ballad instead of a fast song. A lot of ballads are easier to transcribe than fast tunes.

11. Write down what you hear

Write down the chords, the melody or whatever you need to transcribe so you don’t have to worry about forgetting and you can share it with your fellow musicians. Writing it down is the proof of your achievement.

12. Practice your ear training

Transcribing is a skill that has to be learned and can be difficult sometimes. Practicing is the key to transcribing and training your ear. Try different songs, different styles and tempos. Practice with concentration, dedication and enthusiasm and you’ll be rewarded, I promise.