How to Play Guitar Chords by Ear

Playing a barre chord on guitar

While the best way to learn to play guitar chords is to get a chord dictionary and learn how to make guitar chords by reading diagrams, some guitar players would rather learn to hear music and re-create the sounds they hear. Learning chords by ear, like learning to hear other elements of music, requires time to train the ear to hear. While there's no substitute for reading music, learning to hear music and recognize chords can be an asset to your skills as a guitar player.

Things You'll Need

• Guitar
• Chord chart

Instructions

1. Train your ear to hear intervals. An interval is the distance from one note to another note in music. Chords are made up of notes played together at specific intervals. Training yourself to hear these intervals is the key to learning chords by ear. Any major chord, for example, is made up of the first, third and fifth notes of the major scale. A scale is a series of notes in music that go together (see resources). The notes of a C major chord are made up of the first, third and fifth notes of the C major scale. Those notes are C, E and G. The distance between the C (root or tonic note of the chord) is a major third. The distance between C and G is a perfect fifth. Play the C and then the E on a guitar or piano. Do the same with the C and G. Listen to the way these intervals sound. It will be difficult to distinguish these intervals at first, but regular practice helps.

2. Play a C on your guitar and then play an E flat instead of an E. Now the major third you played earlier is a minor third because the note is flatted. This interval (flatting the third) is what gives a minor chord its distinct sound. The formula works in any key.

3. Play a few simple fifth chord combinations. A fifth chord is comprised of the first and fifth notes of any major scale and named the same as the root note of the major scale. A C5 (fifth chord) contains the notes C and G. Play these on your guitar and introduce the third note of the scale, E, to hear how this major third rounds out the chord. Play the minor third next and listen to the difference. This is the best way to learn to recognize major and minor chords.

4. Add other scale intervals to your ear training routine to help you hear a wider variety of chords. A major seventh chord, for instance, uses the first, third and fifth notes of the major scale (to produce the major) and adds the seventh note of the scale to make the major chord a major seventh. The notes of a seventh chord are C, E, G and B. Listen to the addition of the B. The sound it produces is characteristic of all seventh chords. Flatting the B would give you a minor seventh. Adding the A note (sixth note of the C major scale) gives you the characteristic sound of a sixth chord.

5. Play along with some of your favorite songs. Make a goal to pick out the chords in the song by ear. Listen carefully for the intervals you've been training your ear to recognize. If you have trouble hearing them at first, begin with a simple fifth chord, or even just the root notes until you hear notes that match, then introduce a major third or a minor third interval until you find the right combination. Learning to play chords, or any musical element, by ear doesn't happen overnight. The ear will eventually come to recognize these sounds after you've given it proper exercise.

References

• Maximum Musician: Play Guitar by Ear
• Cyberfret: Learning Guitar by Ear
• Music Learning: Guitar Chords and How to Build Them

Resources

• Abc Learn Guitar: Major Scales
• Chordfind: Guitar Chord Dictionary