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.

Many of you will probably want to understand how the names are found and how to work out the notes in every key. For this info you probably want to check out Practical Music Theory.

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!

Aural Training Video Lesson Series - Best place to start!

In this video lesson series I give you practical examples, explain the song references, show you the intervals on the guitar neck and then get you to do a test. It works. Get your ears in shape now!

Ascending Melodic Interval Ear Training

AU-101 • Aural Training - Stage 1
In this first stage you will learn the Perfect 4th and the Perfect 5th intervals and do a test!

AU-102 • Aural Training - Stage 2
Next up you will learn the Major 2nd and Major 3rd Intervals, and do 2 more tests to make sure you are getting the sounds in your ears properly.

AU-103 • Aural Training - Stage 3
The Major 6th and Major 7th and Octave Intervals are up next. They are a little harder then the previous ones, but it's not too bad, and then you have done all the diatonic intervals. Plus 2 tests!

AU-104 • Aural Training - Stage 4
Now we get into the non-diatonic notes (notes not found in the major scale) which are a little harder. Just take it slow, practice and you'll be getting them in no time! Then there are 2 tests to do.

AU-105 • Aural Training - Stage 5
OK, now we check out the min 6 (b6), min 7 (b7) and the augmented 4th (#4) intervals, which means we've then done all the chromatic intervals in an octave. This is a big step and if you can get this solid then you are doing great! Two tests at the end to see if you have them solid!

will get onto doing descending and harmonic after I get some other bits of the site updated.


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!