| If you happen to ask a person who can play the | | | | Before you head for the nearest exit at the |
| guitar by ear ..."how they do it", they most likely | | | | mention of childrenssongs, please keep in mind |
| will be unable to tell you. How ever, whether they | | | | that we are learning to play by ear,which is really |
| know it or not they are conforming to certain | | | | a trick of your memory, if you can't play |
| rules of musical 'form' and 'content'. | | | | simpleeight bar tunes with two or three chords ... |
| All successful songs are built on solid musical | | | | there'll be troubleahead with more complex pieces. |
| foundations,these underlying musical principles | | | | Four beats to the bar: |
| make it easy for thelistening audience to | | | | Just as we have discovered the eight bar song |
| remember the piece. By the way, allunsuccessful | | | | format as being themost popular song format to |
| writers either chose to ignore these principles | | | | begin with when learning to play byear, we will |
| ordon't know them - that's probably a clue! | | | | also find that the majority of popular songs |
| Music form: | | | | containfour beats to the bar. |
| Music form is the framework to the piece, it's the | | | | Here is a sample eight bar song form template, |
| skeleton uponwhich the musician builds their | | | | each bar containsfour beats, each beat equals one |
| composition. | | | | tap of your foot. |
| Since people have, two arms and two legs it's | | | | | //// | //// | //// | //// | |
| only naturalfor us to want to have our music in | | | | | //// | //// | //// | //// | |
| an even mathematical formatin order for us to | | | | Notice the layout of the template with four bars |
| clap, tap, dance and march to the music. | | | | to each line,this makes it easy to see (and hear) |
| The eight bar song form: | | | | repeated patterns, whichultimately makes high |
| The best place to start is with the eight bar song | | | | speed memorization and recall ... easy. |
| form. Whilstthere are a number of popular song | | | | In the above example, the single vertical lines are |
| formats, the eight bar songstructure will be ideal | | | | bar lines andthe oblique slash lines represent each |
| for developing our ability to play guitarby ear. | | | | tap of your foot. |
| Why the eight bar format?, I hear you ask ... | | | | Every sound you have every heard is stored in |
| since we are tryingto stir up that part of our | | | | your memory, our job is to learn how to be able |
| brain that contains our memory forsounds, we will | | | | to recall, identify and catalogue these |
| be starting with simple tunes that go back toour | | | | sounds.Once, you know how to do this learning to |
| childhood. Most of these childrens songs are eight | | | | play guitar by ear will be a simple process. |
| bars inlength. | | | | |