Aural Training (or ear training) is a very important part of musical development. You will learn to recognise the intervals by transcribing but aural training will teach you the names of the intervals. This is useful for communicating ideas with other musicians and also for understanding the music you listen to.

There are two types of interval listening, harmonic and melodic. In harmonic intervals the notes are played at the same time and in melodic the notes are played one after the other. Easy to remember: Melodic Intervals make melody, Harmonic Intervals make harmony!

The other part of aural training that is very useful is rhythmic dictation. This is best done by writing the rhythms when you transcribe. Don't need me for that! But if you want a tip...check out my eBook called Understanding Rhythm Notation, a book full of rhythms, pages and pages of rhythms to read, and a load of instruction on how to read and . If you go through it you will really know all your rhythms very well indeed.

Hope you find this stuff helpful and that it all makes sense. The most important thing though is that you do it. There is no substitute so go check out The Justin Guitar Ear Trainer right now and get stuck in, see if you can get yourself in the top 10!

Good luck!

LessonsAU-001 • Aural Training Basics
How to start, what to do and why!

AU-002 • Song References For Interval Training
Both ascending and descending intervals with song references

AU-003 • Singing Exercises For Aural Development
Get the sounds in your head by singing them :)

AU-004 • Intervals On The Guitar
Find all the intervals on the neck with 5th and 6th string roots

AU-010 • Aural Tests
some examples and how to make your own

 

Start testing yourself!
Once you have a rough idea of what you are doing - it's time to start using the Justin Guitar Ear Trainer application! It goes up in levels so you have to get 90% or higher to move on to the next stage! There is also a high score so lets see who gets it!

The Justin Guitar Ear Trainer

Big thanks to Martin Schrodt for making me this application - much appreciated dude!