Students always ask me what I think is the most important part of learning to play the guitar. Usually when I tell them that it really has nothing to do with the guitar they don't believe me and I'm sure many of you reading this right now probably are thinking the same thing. That is why I have decided to post this free electric guitar lesson. I would normally charge one of my students $30 an hour to go over the material in this free electric guitar lesson so consider yourself lucky.

What I'm about to reveal to you is very simple. The most important part of learning to play guitar is your ear. Without it there would be no music and therefore no guitar. Use the techniques in this free electric guitar lesson to develop your ear and you will see a dramatic change in your ability to learn and play new things. There are three things you can do to help develop your ear.

Free Electric Guitar Lesson Part 1

Start by singing the notes of any scale, arpeggio or lick you are practicing. When you feel comfortable with a scale or lick try to sing it alone and then play the riff to see if you got it right. As begin to memorize the sounds of certain and riffs listen to the radio or your favorite recordings and see if you can recognize some of the licks and scales they are using.

Free Electric Guitar Lesson Part 2

Since scales aren't always played one note after another it is important to develop your relative pitch to help you identify notes that you are listening to. Relative pitch is the interval distance between two notes. For example, if I play the open sixth string which is an E on my guitar and then play a B on the seventh fret the distance between these two notes is a perfect fifth. Sing the two notes and memorize how they sound when played after one another. You can do this with any two notes.

Free Electric Guitar Lesson Part 3

As you become more and more familiar with the sounds of your instrument test your self by simply taking 10 or 20 minutes of each practice session and dedicating it to playing by ear. Turn on the radio or a favorite C.D. and see how much you can pick out and play along to just hearing it for the first time. You might be surprised how easy it becomes when your ear is in tune.

The methods discussed in this free electric guitar lesson are not a secret, but rather common sense techniques that most people simply just overlook. Many guitarists and even other musicians for that matter have been told this, but just don't put aside the time to practice it. Make the commitment. 10 to 20 minutes a day of solid ear training and I promise you will be ten times more confident with your instrument and your ability to learn new things than you are right now. I realize these exercises aren't always fun but they are an essential part of your development as a guitarist and a musician.

You can learn more hidden secrets to playing electric guitar by visiting Jam-o-rama.info

1 comments
  1. Joe Brewer October 14, 2007 at 3:49 PM  

    Great tips. Regarding tip two, it is also a good idea to know what a specific interval is from any given note. I have written a web app that tests knowledge of these intervals, and it can be found here: musical interval test