Beginning Ear Training

One thing that many guitarists struggle with when they first start, or if they learn primarily from tablature or notation is the ability to play by ear. The best way to work on your ear is to try and learn songs without the aid of written music in any form. However, this is often quite intimidating and can be frustratingly difficult when starting out. I've found a few ways that work well to start out on ear training. The first that worked well for me was to start learning TV show themes and commercial jingles. You can listen to them online or just sit with your guitar by the TV. I started off with classics like The Simpsons, Jetsons, The Munsters, Addams Family, etc. Simple melodies will get you started and you can then work on transitioning to more difficult things like guitar solos, or chords. A second way is to play a note on the guitar and then match it with a whistle or hum, then make up a quick whistling or humming melody starting on the pre-established note. After you whistle or hum this melody then try to play it on the guitar. Starting with easy methods like this will help you establish a the skill in a basic way which makes it much easier to transition to figuring out whole songs, even complex ones.