Ear Training: A critical Element of Intensive Guitar Courses

What do you think is the most important skill a good guitarist should have? Some would say it is the good understanding of the music theory. Others may say it is the creativity. A lot of people believe that the holy grail of guitar playing is the impeccable technique. You may agree with one of these statements, or you may think it is something else, for example, song writing or being passionate about music. Well, these are certainly crucial to mastering guitar, but what most intensive guitar courses aim to develop is ear training (or aural skills)!

Just because you are fascinated by music, does not mean that you have aural skills - any one can enjoy music without knowing any thing about it. It is the ability to decipher the distinctions and variations in basic music elements when you listen to any piece of music. With good aural skills you can tell whether a song is played by a novice or an expert.

Without proper ear training, your creativities will remain locked. So, you must make efforts to develop this most basic ability. Here are some of the exercises to train your ears. In fact, there are intensive guitar courses, and software as well, that can help you greatly develop your aural skills.

1. Practice playing the major scale, and then add minor, harmonic minor, pentatonic, blue scale, etc.

2. Play intervals by varying distances between two notes.

3. Play arpeggios: Start with major triads and move over to minor triads.

4. Play by reading: You need the ability to read music to do this. Read any piece of sheet music and practice playing as you read.

5. Try improvising solos, melodies, etc over chords. This is an enjoyable activity too!

6. Buy some ear training software from Internet. You will never regret paying for it.

It takes patience and regular practice to develop aural skills. It is such a critical skill that no student who is serious about music can afford to miss it. Don't think that you can create great music only using your guitar and fingers, your ears are equally important too!