by Patrick Sills

Created on: February 13, 2011

As a former rock musician who played actively for some 15 years, I can confidently state that the overwhelming majority of those who choose to play music in any popular genre learn to do so by ear. This especially holds true for guitarists, bassists, and drummers, for these particular instruments serve as the foundation for any band specializing in rock, blues, country, or folk music.

However, learning songs by ear (also known as by rote) requires natural musical talent. One must be able to distinguish musical intervals and chord structure with ease. Without these attributes, it becomes very difficult to learn songs in this manner. With that said, I once personally worked in a band with a rhythm guitarist who was for all intents and purposes tone-deaf. Either the lead guitarist or me (on bass) would learn a particular tune and then have to show this guy how to play his part! He sounded good once we taught him what chords to play; and when, but he had no idea of how to figure them out himself. To get an idea of what this entailed, imagine for a moment hiring an actor who only knows Spanish to play a major role in an English-speaking movie and teaching him each line phonetically!

Thus, an inborn aptitude cannot be overstressed here. I hate to admit it, but what really helps in popular genres of music is the relative simplicity when compared to orchestral music or complex jazz. This is why you won’t see many big bands with horns and saxophones playing without sheet music. And as for symphony orchestras or marching bands? Never.

On the other hand, most guitar-oriented material does not require learning how to read music. During their heyday; as an example, none of the Beatles could read music. For starters, there are only a finite number of pleasant-sounding chord progressions. As a consequence, many songs use the same patterns; except they are in different key signatures or have a different beat. Moreover, once a musician learns his or her way around their instrument and understands scales, accidentals, and when to use major, minor, and less-common diminished or augmented chords, half the battle has been won. As for previously-mentioned natural talent, this is where the ear comes into play. Once a musician becomes well-attuned to intervals, he or she in turn should be able to hear different chord voicing as well as added 7ths, 9ths, and so forth. In regard to signature riffs that identify a particular song, one with a trained ear and a natural sense of rhythm should have no problem with duplicating what he or she just heard.

Playing by ear is certainly not limited to the typical pop band compliment of guitars, bass, and drums. There are some great musicians out there who learned other instruments completely by ear as well. However, they are fewer in number. While brass, woodwind, stringed and frequently keyboard instruments cross traditional boundaries into popular forms of music, they are nevertheless thought of as “legitimate” or “serious.” As a result, nearly everyone who learns how to play them are formally taught and thus read sheet music. The same simply cannot be said for guitar.

Unless; of course, you’re talking about someone like Andres Segovia.

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