Last night, while re-stringing my guitar, a new method of ear training occured to me.
It was the first time I’ve ever tried it and all went relatively well. I began playing chords while isolating strings which were clearly sticking out from the rest. When all were sounding quite harmonious, I tweaked things further by playing familiar solos – that way, a mistuned string stands out like a sore thumb.
In the end, I thought my guitar sounded great. Solos rolled off without hiccups and chords sounded tight. However, when I checked with a tuner, every string was half a step down. Still, not bad for a first go.
It’s not a bad way to do some quick ear training, especially when you don’t want the distraction of the computer; it will also come in handy when you don’t have a tuner to rely on.
A modified version of this method is to keep one string properly tuned while deliberately de-tuning the remaining strings then finding your way back.
