A lot of guitarists would love to be able to work out songs for themselves.
Many, though, lack the confidence or self-belief to do this.
I like the old saying:
“Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you’ll feed him for a lifetime.”
Well, playing and working out songs are like that I find.
There are a lot of songbooks out there in the world. These obviously teach you how to play songs, but they rarely, if ever, teach you the skills of being able to work out songs for yourself.
…And many people lack the belief that they can work out songs for themselves.
They also often lack the patience too.
After all, this is a challenging skill to develop.
…But I urge you to give it a go.
Just work out how to play one song by ear.
Spend some time working out the first note, then the next, and then the next, and so on.
Yes, it requires you to be methodical and patient, but it’s worth it.
Of course, you don’t have to learn every song by ear.
You can just do it for one song occasionally and remember, this is a skill anyone can develop.
Anyway, I’m talking more about this in a new episode of the Acoustic Asylum.
In this episode, I’m giving you a simple challenge by asking you to work out a little piece of music I’m playing all on one string.
The first person to email me what the correct notes are will get a fun little prize in the post. That’s some fun incentive for you to get improving your ears today!
Are you up for the challenge?
Listen to the new episode on Apple devices here – Listen to the Acoustic Asylum
…Or you can listen in a variety of other ways HERE.
Give it a go.
Remember, with patience, you can do this!
Dan Thorpe
Guitar Domination
P.S. If you want extra help with your playing, improving your technique, and fixing the “7 stumbling blocks” that most guitarists tend to struggle with in the early days, you can check out my eBook Bundle.
P.P.S. This post was originally taken from Dan Thorpe’s private email list. To get blog posts like this sent to you which are full of great tips to make fingerpicking, strumming, and learning guitar more enjoyable (especially if you are over 40) join Dan’s list. It’s 100% free, HERE.
Add Comment