The only thing that sucks about having unpopular musical tastes is there are no tabs for the songs you wanna play.
I want to, no I NEED to play these songs, but where do I start? How do I play by ear? They arent extremely fast or flashy, they sound pretty simple, but I just dont know where to begin...Help me plz








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Im an optimist, so naturally I like to think my head is half FULL.

first off you have to find out if you have to change the tuning. play around with power chords. after that. tune to what it is. like if your playing a e flat chord you would go down a half a step. After you get that play around with the chords. you can use power chords to find out what the chords are and change them to reg. chords if thats what they are playing. Hope this helps a little.








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http://www.myspace.com/toddnelsonproject
http://www.myspace.com/straitjacket85
81 Gibson V
86 Carvin V220
84 Kramer Striker USA w/ EMG KH20
PODxt Live

well, what about lead guitar parts, that arent chords?
Here http://www.last.fm/music/God+Is+an+Astronaut goto 'far from refuge'.
See it doesnt sound complicated, it sound like only a couple notes repeated in different orders, but how do I learn that by ear? I have no idea what tuning its in or what notes theyre playing? Gimmie some hints








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Im an optimist, so naturally I like to think my head is half FULL.

See, I feel bad because it's really hard to explain how to learn something by ear. I can't even manage to understand tabs, so the only way I can learn covers is by listening to the songs repeatedly until I figure it out. Or to just have someone show me, but that's a rare luxury. It's tedious, and can become really frustrating, but it's such a great tool to have in the box. I think the best thing you can do, is kind of what StraitJacket already said. Just keep repeating each section of the song, and try to figure the rhythm first, and as for the solo's, basically you use the same technique. Find the key and start with pentatonic, and see if you can't find it there. Wish you luck with it, it can seem pretty daunting at times, but even my sorry ass has figured out a few intermediate level songs by ear. It's more than possible.

try this!
get ear phones and look for the side(right or left ear) that has the lead guitar
then listen to at least 5 secs or the song and mess around with it
also the tuning is very important
just focus on the guitar and dont plug in your amp. thats what helps me








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Gibson SG--->Digitech Grunge--->Ibanez TS9--->Vox AD30VT

Best way to train your ear is to play along to everything. Have your guitar (unplugged) around your neck whenever possible, play along to the TV, the radio, whatever. If it sounds OK, then you're probably playing in the right key. If it sounds wrong, try a different note. Once you've worked out that you're playing in the right key, try and mimic the riffs and melodies that you're hearing. Even playing along with a vocal melody or whatever will help. Do it without looking at your hands wherever possible, concentrate on your ears. The more you do this, the quicker you'll be at picking up specific things. Unless, that is, you're into power metal or prog, in which case you've got no hope cos it all flies past far too quickly and (particularly in prog) changes key so often that you've got no idea what key you're in








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the beginning of that songs starts with Harmonics which are played only a spots on the neck those being play are near the first 9 frets not to give it away for you. And the rhy is near that also. The intro starts out with keys that you could do on guitar with a little feed back. As you said to to hard of a song but songs good. Have fun learning it








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http://www.myspace.com/toddnelsonproject
http://www.myspace.com/straitjacket85
81 Gibson V
86 Carvin V220
84 Kramer Striker USA w/ EMG KH20
PODxt Live

think scales, and popular chord progressions....start by just finding the root notes. then develope the chords from there. with time it will get easier.








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check out THE NORMAL KIDS on my space

hint number 2 for learning by ear. listen to the bassists, bass tones are usualy clear and less didguised by effects and distortion








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check out THE NORMAL KIDS on my space

Take it one riff at a time one note at a time.

For weird chords see if you can find the root note, then look up a list of chords based around that note and find it








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Current Setup: Stratocaster -> Tuner -> Wah -> Delay -> Vox AC30CC2 -> Your Ears

this is our time... without a tab! tun it inside!!!! cause were not going dooooowwwwnnnn without a tab! YEAH CMON CMON CMON dododododooddoododod CMON CMON CMON!!!! Hoobastank FTW

anyway a common mistake with this is gettign what you need an thinking now hat you know it youcan play right off teh bat... ********** no... take it slow... play VERY VERY SLOW. and try to memorize what it is youre doing.

Thanks for the input everyone, and for that lovely solo angel
I take it keys are a very important part about learning lead by ear?
Just how many keys are there?


Heh, and I wanna try putting a movie in my post, just to see if it works.









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Im an optimist, so naturally I like to think my head is half FULL.

Yay it worked...But that video is really poor quality, you can hear the mic distorting alot.








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Im an optimist, so naturally I like to think my head is half FULL.

Not saying I'm an expert at this (or even somewhat good at it) but what i do is i play through all the key's to get a feel for what they sound like, then after that i listen to the first few notes and try to identify the key. If at any point that key just doesn't sound right i try to find the next closest. Also sometimes if there's a definate chord sound at the beginning then find that chord and play around with those notes. Just my 2 cents on what i do.

The best way I learned was just to get really good at playing other things and analyzing tabs until I was eventually able to just figure the stuff out myself through different patterns, chords and scales. Also make sure you have a good way to pause and rewind the song you are listening to...always helps a lot.