People think a good ear is something you’re born with. It’s not.
For the first four years of playing guitar, I was terrible at figuring things out by ear. I could tell when I was playing something wrong. I could tell when something was out of tune. But actually working out a chord progression, a riff, a solo—let alone a whole song? Forget about it.
My guitar teacher was great, and I progressed really well on the instrument. But he would tab everything out for me, and we never did any ear training. As a teacher myself, I know exactly why he did that—you want students to feel good and progress, and ear training is hard. It might have left me feeling demoralised.
But it meant I never learned how to do it myself.
The Moment It Changed
When I got to college at 16, I noticed something. The other guys there were jamming—figuring things out by ear, no problem.
These were the self-taught guys. The ones who didn’t have lessons when they were younger. And I remember thinking: they must have been born with it.
But they weren’t. I asked one of them how they did it, and the answer was almost disappointing in how simple it was.
They just tried. They guessed. They got it wrong. And then they tried again.
That’s it. That was the secret. Trial and error.
Eventually I decided I’d take the same approach. Even though it was a blow to my ego—because when I first tried, I absolutely sucked at it.
But I kept going. And now I’ve got a really good ear.
Tip 1: Learn As Many Songs As You Can
Learn as many songs as you can. It doesn’t matter if you learn them from tab, or look up the chords online first. The point is you’re building your vocabulary.
Try to learn songs from different genres, even ones you’re not necessarily interested in. Because here’s why: it’s much harder to hear and figure out a major 9 chord when you’ve never heard or played one before.
You need to know what things sound like before you can recognise them by ear.
Tip 2: Learn Theory
This isn’t essential. Plenty of musicians have great ears without ever learning theory. But speaking from experience, it’s helped me immensely.
Because I have a vast chord knowledge, knowledge of common progressions, knowledge of scales—it helps me recognise those sounds when I hear them. Because I actually have a label for them.
When you hear a chord progression and you know it’s a one, five, six, four—you’ve got a shortcut. You’re not starting from scratch. You’re recognising a pattern.
Theory doesn’t replace your ear. It gives your ear something to grab onto.
Tip 3: Just Try To Figure It Out
This is the one that matters most. Don’t worry if you’re completely off. Don’t worry if you were nowhere near. That’s normal.
Not many people are born with a musical ear. Even fewer are born with perfect pitch. The point is that you start doing it. Take the first step and guess.
Here’s a practical tip if you’re just starting: I found it much easier—and still do—to figure out songs with a clear guitar part audible on the recording, rather than a keyboard part or a synth part. I can figure those out now, but early on, you want to work up to it.
Start with what you can hear.
Tip 4: Look, Cover, Say
Pick a song where there’s a tab online. Or a YouTube video. Or sheet music. Or the chords on Ultimate Guitar.
Now—try to figure it out without looking.
Then look, and see if you got it right.
This feedback loop taught me far more than interval training or any ear training exercise I’ve ever tried. Get it wrong first. Look where you went wrong. Then try again.
Slowly but surely, you’ll get it right more and more.
And here’s a bonus: cross-reference. The great thing about this day and age is there’s often more than one tab. Look at them all and see which one you think sounds the best. That’s ear training too.
Tip 5: Take Advantage Of Technology
Slow it right down. Isolate parts. Loop difficult sections. There are so many tools that can do this now.
Personally, I use the Transpose browser extension for Chrome—not affiliated with them, I just find it really useful.
There’s no shame in slowing something down to 50%. That’s how you learn it.
Tip 6: Go To The Source
This one comes from my old guitar teacher. If you’re struggling to figure something out, and there’s no tab—or you don’t trust the tab—see if you can find live footage or a recording of the actual artist playing the part.
Watch what they do live. Not in the studio. Live.
You might be amazed at what they’re actually doing. Sometimes it’s completely different from what you’d expect—or from what the tab says.
That’s how you find the truth.
The Recap
- Learn as many songs as you can
- Learn theory
- Just try to figure it out
- Look, cover, say
- Take advantage of technology
- Go to the source
None of this is magic. None of it requires talent you don’t have. It’s just repetition, feedback, and patience.
Watch the full video here:
What’s the one song you’ve always wanted to figure out by ear? Let me know in the comments!