Ear Training

It is true to say that great musicians have great ears. However, some people are born with perfect pitch and some people need to train their ears to become extra sensitive to the sounds of music. The following ear training exercises have been carefully developed to help strengthen the ears and to make us better musicians. Designed with the guitar player in mind, they are also a great way to engage with different fretboard positions.

Interval Exercises (part 1)

Part one introduces the fundamentals of major scale harmony in four different fingerboard positions. Make sure your guitar is perfectly in tune and sing along (either out loud or in your head if you are feeling shy) with the intervals as you go along. After repeating the exercises several times then move onto part two of the exercises where you will be playing four more intervals in four different fingerboard positions.

Interval Exercises (part 2)

Part two is much like a scale exercise with ascending and descending patterns. However, unlike a scale exercise you are only asked to play one note in each exercise but you are playing one note in several different fingerboard positions. Once you are comfortable with the exercises you might dare to close your eyes and try them without looking (a true test of ear strength). Following a good interval exercises practice section, you may be inspired to come up with a couple of your own – go on be creative!