Wouldn’t it be great to hear a song and be able to pick up a guitar and play that song on the guitar by ear? Well you can play guitar by ear, if you have been unsuccessful with you previous attempts to play by ear once you understand the process it is easy and fun!

Step 1: - Your ear and your memory for sound.

Playing by ear is really …playing from your memory! I repeat, playing by ear is playing from your memory … that’s the key, if you want to play guitar by ear you must understand that the phrase “playing by ear” refers to the process of playing from memory!

This is great news because everyone has a memory! You don’t have to go out and get some new gadget, you already possess all you need to play by ear, we just need to develop some special skills.

So let’s clear up things once and for all before we go any further: your ear simply sits on the side of your head and picks up signals … it’s your memory for sound and how we are able to recall this information that will allow to you develop the ability to “play by ear”.

Anyone with a normal nervous system can develop the skill of playing by ear. Stop reading this for a moment and think about all the sounds you already recognize. If I asked to recall the sound of (a) telephone ringing (b) rain on a tin roof (c) a dog barking etc., you would be about to “hear” these sounds in your mind without actually having to have the telephone ring or the dog bark.

This is the same exact process we use for playing the guitar by ear. When I asked you to recall the sound of a telephone ringing you where able to recall it clearly from your memory because at an earlier time, you had made a mental note of the sound of a telephone ringing.

Actually, to illustrate how developed you memory for sound is already, go through my list of sounds again this time see how many listening experiences you have stored under “phone”, how does your mobile phone sound, your home phone or your office phone sound then try “dog barking”… your pet dog, your neighbor’s dog etc., make up different lists of sounds you already know and then refine the sound with more specific details just as I have done this example.

What has this got to do with playing the guitar by ear? …absolutely everything!

Step 2 : Where is music?

Seems like a simple question, actually it’s not a easy one to answer if you haven’t thought about it.

That’s exactly what I’m setting out to do here, I want you to think about music in a different way, than you have done up to the present time.

Do you have the answer yet?

Whenever I ask this question a workshops and seminars around the country, somebody invariably holds up a CD, a piece of sheet music, their iPod, mp3 player etc …

Are these items music?

NO …they are storage and retrieval systems!

A CD is a piece of Perspex, it is a storage system, the CD will not do anything if it is sitting on a table, it will only produce sound if it is placed in a CD player which then produces sound waves.

If these things of themselves are not music, then where is music?

Answer: Music exists in our MEMORY!

Do you remember just a few moments ago I asked you to recall the sound of a telephone? Not let’s try to recall some music.

Think of a song … it can be any song, start with something simple like “Happy Birthday” or “Silent Night” preferably a song that goes back to your childhood. Can you hear it?

If you want to play the guitar by ear, this is the type of special skills we need to develop, as you can see anyone can do it. When you put a laser edge on your memory for sound playing songs by ear will be a breeze.

Mike Hayes is a teacher, author, speaker and consultant. Get his tips and tested strategies proven to boost your guitar playing his membership site at http://www.guitarcoaching.com today.

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