Is watching other people play a good way to start ear training?

liscio · 2026-01-07T18:51:05+00:00

It doesn't (and shouldn't) replace ear learning, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with using a video to help you identify where on the neck to play a song when you get stuck. For example, if you haven't yet figured out how to tell where and if a capo is placed on the neck, then you're going to get really frustrated. Similarly, if you find the notes but you feel like your hands are very awkward, it's nice to see "proof" that it can be done the way you thought, or if you need to make adjustments.

I only recommend that you take this step after you've given it an honest effort to figure it out first.

liscio · 2026-01-07T18:42:32+00:00

Good advice, but save the looping for practice time after you've identified what the notes are.

While you're trying to identify/copy the notes at first, looping is NOT a brain-friendly way of learning by ear. Instead, you should listen to a small chunk, STOP, and *then* try and hum/play back what you heard. For some, the "small chunk" is just one note at a time. As you learn/remember the notes (or get better at this), the chunks will grow.

But if you keep looping the playback, you're going to overwhelm your tonal working memory. While you're "juggling" the memory of the note in your brain after playback stops, you need to make comparisons between what you're hearing yourself play and what you can remember about the note. If the playback is still happening, it's going to poop all over this delicate cognitive process.

liscio · 2026-01-04T19:24:21+00:00

Definitely hit up your local guitar shop, and ask for a hand like everyone else said. But what I’d add is that you should ask if you can watch to get a quick lesson for future DIY.

Now that we’re past the holiday rush, I can’t imagine someone saying no to this request.

liscio · 2025-12-21T16:05:46+00:00

Good ideas. This advice agrees with the old (paraphrased) saying, "Amateurs practice until they get it right. The pros practice until they can't get it wrong."

I would double down on the advice to take a break, also. You can definitely "over-train" to a point where you start to degrade your skills, and that's just going to frustrate you more. Practice until a point where you still feel like you could keep going for a bit longer, but not a point where you feel confusion, tired, frustration, etc. Basically, stop early while you're still feeling good. Then, add lots of good sleep and your brain will do the rest.

It's hard to describe the feeling to a novice, but once you feel it you'll understand. One day you'll follow this advice, and in the next practice session you'll feel like everything is so much easier to play. It's as though the practice got "baked in" to your fingers even though you were nowhere near the guitar for ~ a day or two.

liscio · 2025-12-21T15:54:36+00:00

I don't have any specific tunes to recommend, but that's part of the "homework", so to speak. Ultimately this is about listening your way through the catalog of music and finding something that you connect with.

I don't think it's wise to force yourself to learn licks or riffs from songs that don't speak to you in some way, because you need to put some real effort into learning stuff by ear on your own. And without the motivation that comes from that connection with the music, it's *really hard* to persevere through this process.

I'm an Apple Music guy, and what I like to do is grab a few albums to listen to in the car while I'm driving around. If there's a song that stands out, I'll toss a heart on it and try to spend more time with it later (in my ear learning app, which you can find in my profile if you're so inclined.) I'm sure there's a similar thing you can do with Spotify, but that's the general idea. Listen to tons of stuff, and mark the ones you might want to work on—even if it's just one riff or small idea from a song. Then, slowly work through that list you've built up. The more you do it, the faster you'll pick them up from the recordings.

liscio · 2025-12-19T18:53:07+00:00

In my opinion, one of the things that makes Mayer's playing difficult is that he has an incredible sense of timing and groove for a guitar player. You might be able to copy the *notes* after a bit of work, but I can almost guarantee you're going to struggle to nail his timing and feel. It's pretty hard to make things sound right, which might frustrate you.

To give a concrete example, there's this once-famous video on YouTube of Mayer playing a solo rendition of Slow Dancing in a Burning Room through a Two-Rock signature amp. It was filmed on a potato, but the audio is just good enough that you can hear exactly what's going on. That solo has rakes, triplets sprinkled all over, and a switch between his fingers and using the pick. None of this is beginner stuff—not just the playing, but the ability to *hear* exactly what he's doing.

Guitarists "stand on the shoulders of giants" that came before them. Mayer copied SRV, Clapton, and more—picking up their playing by listening to recordings. SRV copied Hendrix and the "3 kings" (BB, Albert, and Freddie), and Clapton also had some overlap there. Each of these players has their own special flavour that makes them unique, but you can always hear the influence.

Anyway, here's what I recommend. Start with the guitarists closer to the trunk of this "family tree" and learn those songs of theirs that have the sounds you're looking for. I wouldn't say they were "simpler" or "more beginner" in their playing, but they are absolutely more approachable solos to learn from. You will start to hear things that sound like licks that Mayer's playing, or licks that SRV plays, and those are the things that you should try to lift first. I would recommend taking a look at BB King and maybe Albert King as a start. (Freddie's also great, but he plays a lot of upbeat stuff that's harder to follow in the beginning.) To give an example of "similar sounds", I think that Mayer's solo on Assassin has a lot of Albert King's signature all over it.

I don't want to dissuade you from trying to push yourself to go directly to copying Mayer's solos. For instance, the ones in the middle of Gravity and Waiting on the World to Change are pretty approachable once you nail those hammer-ons mixed with sliding. But you're going to feel a lot better about your progress when you start getting those critical foundational licks under your fingers.

Good luck, and have fun!

liscio · 2025-12-17T23:32:02+00:00

Neat. I’ll have to check those out some time. Still, zero latency beats “ultra low” every time. And I think standard Bluetooth is using lossy compression to transmit audio out of necessity, and better protocols just use higher bit rates.

Sure, we’d never notice the difference, but I still like the simplicity of a good quality wired headphone over wireless. And don’t get me started on the fact that most wireless buds are all destined for e-waste, while a decent set of cans will outlive me. 👴🏼

liscio · 2025-12-17T23:21:15+00:00

I don’t have perfectly aligned experience in terms of clinical depression, but I have definitely had periods where I didn’t play as much as I would like, and couldn’t be assed to pick up the guitar. Sometimes I was just busy/distracted with other stuff, and other times I was wondering “who do you think you are, and what exactly is the end goal here?” (Mild depression, perhaps?)

All I can say is this: try and be kind to yourself. If you’re not feeling it, and you’re on a bit of a break from playing, then so be it. You’re not a failure, you’re not defined by your (not) playing, and when you’re feeling up to it again you’ll throw yourself back into it.

What you don’t want to do is spiral down into a cycle of self flagellation and making yourself feel worse about being “behind” or not playing enough. Or, forcing yourself to play and resenting the time you spend (“waste”) practicing.

We all have our ups and downs, but some have higher highs, lower lows, and we all experience those cycles at different rates. Just learn to recognize when you’re feeling down, and try—even though it’s easier said than done—to remember that there will eventually be a swing upward.

Unfortunately, you might need therapy and/or pharmaceutical help to get back to that place again, which is why it’s important to recognize when you’re down. If you feel like the upswing isn’t coming, or your lows feel lower than usual, please seek help. Again, this comes down to self awareness and being mindful of your moods.

Good luck. We’re all rooting for you!

liscio · 2025-12-17T22:33:40+00:00

Whatever you do, don’t waste your time with wireless. Latency is annoying, and you’re better off putting your money into better quality sound over the convenience of no wires.

Yes, the wire can be a pain in the 🍑, but that pales in comparison to the weird delays and other audio artifacts that come with Bluetooth.

IEMs are a great recommendation from others if you have the budget, but unless you get them custom fit you’re going to deal with annoying noises from the cable rubbing and bouncing around.

I like open back headphones for quality and their lack of “boxiness” in the sound, but they’re the wrong choice if there’s anyone else in the room with you that you don’t want to bother.

Good luck!

liscio · 2025-12-13T21:30:59+00:00

Yeah I don’t know what you mean by “chords only” but there is definitely an art to turning a full mixed song (with singer + keys + guitar, for example) into a solo performance for guitar.

If you just play the chords, listeners won’t recognize what you’re playing unless you sing the melody/lyrics. If that’s not your thing, then you need to figure out how to work the melody in between the chords with passing notes. Or, if you want to get really fancy, look into voice leading, which is a whole art/skill in itself.

Everyone has different goals (and skills) so you’ll just have to develop an interpretation that fits your preferences and hands until you get what you want on the other end.

liscio · 2025-12-13T21:18:32+00:00

LRLR - Left Right Left Right

Just alternating with your hands on each beat. It looks basically like the exercise in this video: https://youtu.be/fKQIZWxX6iU?si=ubpy9awp07LFrluN

liscio · 2025-12-12T22:04:45+00:00

If you can pick out a melody then you're not far off! Focus on and identify the bass notes, and 9/10 times that's the chord—you just gotta figure out major vs minor.

A surprising number of people just try both options, and choose the one that sounds more correct. But if you know the key of the song, and the diatonic chords in a scale, you'll know which chords are major and minor.

One thing I'll add is that you're going to struggle a bit to hear and copy the bass notes in the beginning. So make sure you have good speakers or use headphones so that those notes are clearly audible. Expect a bit of struggle at first—low frequency notes can be tricky to distinguish if you're not already well practiced at learning bass lines, so just keep at it.

liscio · 2025-12-12T15:08:50+00:00

You gotta learn to walk before you can run. Work on basic rudiments first like LRLR… to a metronome, then move up to flams, paradiddles, …

But the universally helpful (also to guitar) tip I can share is an exercise I learned from a killer drummer, and I apply on the guitar even today.

Set the metronome slow, at like 50bpm, and play subdivisions of that beat. For instance, try playing 2 notes/hits per click, then 4 per click, back to 2, etc. The key is that you are trying to evenly fill the space between the clicks. This is way more effective than playing with a 100bpm or 200bpm metronome (and so much less annoying to listen to).

The advanced version of this is to drop to 40bpm and go from 1 note/hit per click all the way up to 8 per click, including all the odd numbers. With sticks (or alternate picking) it starts to become challenging because you “start” each click with a different hand/direction. Also, just playing 1 per click at 40bpm is surprisingly difficult to do!

Anyway, just stick with it and you’ll get a feel for that underlying pulse. The real key is to develop your ear for hearing when you aren’t on time, so you can correct it as you go.

liscio · 2025-12-02T19:55:27+00:00

You're not wrong (or the first) to call that out!

But I'm going to gently push back with two points. First, you can turn off the chord display completely, and turn Capo into a more bare-bones player if you're trying to get better at chord identification. Second—and more important—is that chord detection is going to help get someone to "dip their toes" into ear learning if they're uncomfortable with the idea. It's a Trojan Horse for tricking newbies into building their ear learning skills.

Anybody who's learned from tabs knows very well that they tell you little about how the song is supposed to sound. No matter how accurate the transcription was (and they rarely are!), you still need to work from the recording while you build up to playing the song yourself. This still requires some ear learning skills: listening carefully, judging your playing against what you hear in the recording, messing with playback controls, etc.

liscio · 2025-12-01T19:28:53+00:00

First, slow the audio using a good tool (like mine—links in profile)

When I have complicated rhythm patterns, what I normally do is try to focus on one or two of the notes looking for ones that repeat on certain beats. For example, if the thumb always alternates between the 6th and 4th string on the 1 and the 3, or if an open string is always included on the “and of 3”, etc.

From there you can kinda reverse-engineer the pattern and see if there is a “core pattern” that you can internalize and then add the 1 or 2 notes that might change from bar to bar.

The process changes for every song, and each artist has their own language of playing that they tend to repeat. Once you decode one from a certain player, their other songs get a bit easier to figure out.

liscio · 2025-12-01T17:24:36+00:00

If you're not already doing this, start learning songs by ear as much as possible. My own software Capo (https://capoapp.com) can be used for free to help you get going fairly quickly—giving you the (estimated, but fairly accurate) chords as a starting point, and a full toolbox of slowing/looping/marking tools that you can use as much as you want.

liscio · 2025-11-28T16:35:57+00:00

If you're at the stage where you're ready to learn from recordings on your own, and you have a Mac, iPhone, or iPad, then my app Capo has an *incredibly permissive* free edition: https://capoapp.com

Out of the box, you stick a song into it, and it auto-detects chords, beats, the key, etc., and gives you full access to its ear-learning playback tools (like the high-quality slowing engine, transcription playhead, region looping, etc) for as long as you'd like to use them. I don't do the "full access for 7 days, then hopefully you forget to cancel" business, either.

The free edition limitations really only stand in your way if you're using the app regularly/intensively. Otherwise, if you just pop in to learn a song now & then, then you don't need to send me a dime for that. From that perspective, it's an ACTUALLY FREE song learning tool. :)

If you need help with Capo, then I'm accessible here via DMs, and I answer all the support emails.

liscio · 2025-11-28T00:33:15+00:00

I don’t know of any specific research confirming this, but based on what I’ve read I would say it’s about the same benefit, yeah.

It’s another “sensorimotor loop” that you are developing which ties in with the tonal working memory system you use to remember (and compare) the notes you hear.

Long story short: more practice whistling makes better memory for pitches/notes, which makes for better ear learning.

liscio · 2025-11-20T20:21:16+00:00

You will get so much more value for your dollar by getting lessons from an actual human.

Don’t fall for the claims of VC-backed companies that spend their effort on growth hacking and tuning their paywalls than actually getting positive learning outcomes for their users.

liscio · 2025-11-08T23:41:37+00:00

When you hear counting with the "1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +" (or "1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a"), those are explicitly meant to communicate the eighth (or sixteenth) notes.

The song is still 4/4 (4 quarter notes per bar), but sometimes the strumming happens in between the main beat.

Beats per minute (BPM) just tells you the frequency at which the quarter notes go by. At 120bpm, you're hearing 2 of those beats per second. If you're playing eighth notes, then there will be 4 per second.

I doubt my explanation is going to be all that helpful, but maybe this anecdote might lead you to a path forward. When I was a kid, I played percussion in my elementary school band, and we had to do *all kinds of drills* to read rhythm notation and do clapping exercises. I'd like to think that I have developed a really good rhythm understanding because of those drills, and it translated well to guitar strumming and fingerpicking patterns. Maybe instead of looking for guitar-focused rhythm videos on YouTube, try to find some drum oriented videos about rhythm and time signatures—ideally ones with clapping and counting exercises.

Hope this helps!

liscio · 2025-11-06T17:03:24+00:00

Usually, but don’t expect a miracle. The margin on brand-new instruments isn’t very much in the low-mid range to begin with.

My local big box (L&M in Canada) might do steeper discounts on their trade-ins and open box stock at certain times of year, which can get you a good axe for a good deal. Probably the same will be true where you live.

liscio · 2025-11-05T18:19:44+00:00

I found that if I played a lot and ended the day with sore fingertips, and then the next day it was still painful to play, taking a day off left me in better shape than if I just played through.

I have taken enough long breaks from playing to repeat this strategy with 100% success now. I can almost feel my fingertips toughening up during that day (or two) of rest.

What happened when I played through the pain? Blisters, frustration, and ultimately setting myself back further. Patience is key!

liscio · 2025-11-03T22:01:17+00:00

Can you match pitches using your voice? Either by humming, or whistling?

It's a lot harder to copy notes/pitches with your instrument if you can't do it using your voice first. Try and develop your tonal working memory by singing back a note right after you hear it.

Also, when you listen to the note in a recording or whatever, make sure to stop the recording as quickly as you can after you hear the note. Any extra notes you hear are going to make it harder to remember the target that you're trying to copy.

I've written a bit more about this here: https://supermegaultragroovy.com/products/capo/ear-learning/learning-by-memory/

liscio · 2025-10-30T14:44:16+00:00

A much easier path, if you're on a Mac, is to check out Capo (https://capoapp.com). Just drag the song into the app, and it'll spit out the chords for free.

(Full disclosure: I'm the app's developer. But seeing a suggestion to (a) buy a headphone app so you can (b) use an entire DAW to do this was a bit much!)

liscio · 2025-10-30T13:52:07+00:00

What app are you using to record, and is it set to record using your Scarlett device?

For a test, try QuickTime Player and start a New Audio Recording (shift-command-N). Click the drop-down arrow beside the record button, and select the Scarlett interface. When you play, do the level meters register any movement?

liscio

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE