my weird talent

[labguitar1003]

so lately ive been messing around with the idea of learning songs by ear since ive always just read tabulature and very little sight reading from some lessons i took a few years ago.
this is where it gets interesting, now dont judge but i thought id start by trying an easier album like american idiot by green day. after listening to the album a few times i dove right in and started with the song jesus of suburbia which if any of you have listened to the song you know its close to 10 min. long and is classified as a rock opera with many rythm changes.

I started the song thinking that once it goes through a few times i would pick up the chords. too my suprise i played the whole song first try with only the rythm parts and after the second time i could play the small solo breaks through out the song with ease. 

so my question is do any of you have this talent? i feel it is a little more than playing by ear because i know very little about keys or chord formations for that matter.

anyway cheers and hope you guys have a happy easter.
-labguitar

 

[back2thefutre]

Yeah I can play green day too.

 

[AutoBat]

i learn most songs by ear and goto tablature to get nuances or small bits if i get stuck.  mostly i find that the people writing the tablature are wrong, or play differently than i do.

 

[labguitar1003]

Yeah I can play green day too.

thats good,  :laughing7: but that wasnt the point.

 

[mayfly]

so lately ive been messing around with the idea of learning songs by ear since ive always just read tabulature and very little sight reading from some lessons i took a few years ago.
this is where it gets interesting, now dont judge but i thought id start by trying an easier album like american idiot by green day. after listening to the album a few times i dove right in and started with the song jesus of suburbia which if any of you have listened to the song you know its close to 10 min. long and is classified as a rock opera with many rythm changes.

I started the song thinking that once it goes through a few times i would pick up the chords. too my suprise i played the whole song first try with only the rythm parts and after the second time i could play the small solo breaks through out the song with ease. 

so my question is do any of you have this talent? i feel it is a little more than playing by ear because i know very little about keys or chord formations for that matter.

anyway cheers and hope you guys have a happy easter.
-labguitar

Pssst....  yes......

To be honest I don't think it's a special thing.

 

[Velcro]

I figured out the first Crazy Train riff before I heard the song...  :icon_scratch: :confused4:

 

[Jusatele]

Playing by ear is an important part of learning music, ear training is really important. I would continue wit the same album and now that you got the chords, make sure you get the rhythm patterns correct, then look for fills and runs to learn, not really a big green day fan but have heard enough of them to know they are a good band to start learning to ear train as the music is rather simplistic and easy to play.
Most experienced guitarist can tear a song to pieces in a few passes unless it has some difficult lead lines, then it may take a few hours.
I start with the bass, go to the rhythm then hit the lead up, I also look for the song in notation to check myself, As stated Tab is very commonly written either wrong or the placement of where you are playing on the neck is wrong as a lot of tab on the net is written by non professional guys just wanting to put it up and say they did it.
Do not give up, keep it up as it is an important part of being a musician and not just a monkey see monkey do guitarist.
Psst, learn to read music too if you want, you will progress in leaps and bounds.

 

[riverbluff]

Being 100% self taught, that is all I do is play by ear.  Can't sight read music at all.  I use TABs after the fact to fine tune what I learded by ear.

 

[Alfang]

I am with riverbluff to a T, all self taught, I used to use a cd player with a loop function to figure out the tight fast stuff,  but most guitarists that you wanna learn play stuff the same way, that is, once you learn how EVH plays, you can play all his stuff, once you learn how billy gibbons plays, you can play all his stuff, and they all mostly play the same chords, i guess the people I listen to all play blues based stuff, so it's all the same only different.

But it's good to get that confidence that you know what your doing, keep it up.

 

[elfro89]

To be honest I don't think it's a special thing.

+1

Talent isn't what I would call it, anyone who plays enough can develop this skill.
To go a step further I think any half decent musician should know their instrument well enough to replicate what they hear, otherwise they are a complete bast*rd to work with.

 

[rapfohl09]

To be honest I don't think it's a special thing.

+1

Talent isn't what I would call it, anyone who plays enough can develop this skill.
To go a step further I think any half decent musician should know their instrument well enough to replicate what they hear, otherwise they are a complete bast*rd to work with.

+1, what do you think all those guys that wrote the tabs did?