Learning how to play guitar by ear is not easy when you first start out. But it is the best way to learn guitar for a number of reasons. It is the more natural way to learn guitar as opposed to reading tabs. When you learn how to read tabs and learn how to play songs from reading them you will be developing a mechanical skill. But when you learn how to play songs by ear you will be developing your senses for music.
Reading tabs is like cutting corners. Sure you will be able to learn songs much faster at first. But there will come a time when you realize you cannot translate songs on your guitar just by listening to them. In other words you will not have developed your ears for music. You will have gotten so used to reading tabs that you will not be good at transcribing music which is how great guitar players have learned.
Of course if you want to learn how to read tabs in the beginning that is fine. There are countless resources where you can find guitar tabs for songs. But that does not make it the best way to learn guitar. Put it this way. If you spent all of your practice time looking up the guitar tabs for songs then you would not know how to learn songs just by listening to them. Great guitar players have the power to listen to a song they never heard before and then figure it out right away on guitar because they trained their ears.
Once you start to learn by ear you will notice your playing getting better as well. You want your playing to flow smoothly. This is done by listening to great music that flows well. You also develop a feel for music which is very important in order to become a great guitar player. What I recommend you do is to first learn the basics of guitar.
But actually listening to music and playing along will make you a much better sounding guitar player. The great guitar players are the ones who are a pleasure to listen to. Their music is very smoothly. They don't play like robots. They learn to play with feeling. This takes a lot of practice and dedication. But you need to understand how to practice if you want to sound smooth on guitar.
You will need to break the habit of reading guitar tabs to figure songs out. Reading tabs is more of a mechanical skill. Learning songs by ear is the more natural way to learn. Think back to when guitar players like Jimi Hendrix were around. They did not learn through tabs. They focused on listening to music and tried to feel music as best as they could. This is what it is all about.
Reading tabs is like cutting corners. Sure you will be able to learn songs much faster at first. But there will come a time when you realize you cannot translate songs on your guitar just by listening to them. In other words you will not have developed your ears for music. You will have gotten so used to reading tabs that you will not be good at transcribing music which is how great guitar players have learned.
Of course if you want to learn how to read tabs in the beginning that is fine. There are countless resources where you can find guitar tabs for songs. But that does not make it the best way to learn guitar. Put it this way. If you spent all of your practice time looking up the guitar tabs for songs then you would not know how to learn songs just by listening to them. Great guitar players have the power to listen to a song they never heard before and then figure it out right away on guitar because they trained their ears.
Once you start to learn by ear you will notice your playing getting better as well. You want your playing to flow smoothly. This is done by listening to great music that flows well. You also develop a feel for music which is very important in order to become a great guitar player. What I recommend you do is to first learn the basics of guitar.
But actually listening to music and playing along will make you a much better sounding guitar player. The great guitar players are the ones who are a pleasure to listen to. Their music is very smoothly. They don't play like robots. They learn to play with feeling. This takes a lot of practice and dedication. But you need to understand how to practice if you want to sound smooth on guitar.
You will need to break the habit of reading guitar tabs to figure songs out. Reading tabs is more of a mechanical skill. Learning songs by ear is the more natural way to learn. Think back to when guitar players like Jimi Hendrix were around. They did not learn through tabs. They focused on listening to music and tried to feel music as best as they could. This is what it is all about.
About the Author:
Before you exit and learn how to play guitar be sure to check out this guitar course called Jamorama. It is loaded with online guitar lessons that teach you the basics as well as how to play by ear.
