Can I hear it?

One activity I do with my private students is an ear training activity. I cover my fretboard on guitar or have them turn around or look away on piano, and I play four to five notes. I tell them the starting pitch and that’s it. Their goal is to play what I played.

Some students, especially ones that are new to ear training, try to immediately figure it out right away. The students that end up being the most accurate with this activity ask me to play it multiple times. They wait. They don’t try to play it until they can replay it in their head.

So before you try to play something that you’re learning by ear ask yourself, “Can I hear it?”

Can I play it back in my head?

If you can’t do that, keep listening.

Listen until you can hear it.