Learn Any Song By Ear (Even Complex Ones) 

Summary: ear train in this order 1. all 12 intervals 2. major and minor triads 3. sus chords 4. line clichés / augmented and diminished 5. inversions 6 chords in all major keys 7. listen to the outer notes to find the interval, then find the chord quality/inversion. INCREASE THE VOCABULARY OF SOUNDS YOU RECOGNIZE!

Another class class at Beato Music College

Not all musicians take the trouble to bring music to the whole world like this, so intelligent and so empathetic way. I really appreciate the effort. Of course, as an illiterate musician that I am, all that chords sounded to me and I didn't know how to name them... until this video. Here a little spanish bass player thanks you A LOT! Thank you so much, Rick!!

24:16 "oh man, this is way too complex" says Rick, and I think, "Hey I know this stuff! I'm better than I think I am" followed by 24:18 "It's actually not that complex." Thanks Rick. I was great for two seconds.

I am not a guru by any means but I have come along way with learning guitar by ear. What helped me the most was first learning the C major scale (only 8 notes) and then figuring out nursery rhymes like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Mary Had a Little Lamb etc. Once comfortable picking out these melodies by ear, then move onto your favourite genre such as rock. The pentatonic scale is good but so is the major and minor scale. At the very least know the names of the notes all of over the fretboard and how to play these scales in different positions. See the relationship also between the scales. For example, the minor pentatonic scale is simply the minor scale with a few notes taken out. It's all connected. Lead guitarists for example are mostly just choosing the notes from these scales when they play. It's funny because I learnt how to play lead lines first because it's a series of single notes but after a while I could really begin to hear the chords behind the melody and then figured out the rhythm parts too. My ear was as bad as they come to begin with. If I can do it pretty much anyone can.

I did this for the first time a week ago, I’ve been playing seriously and learning for the last couple months, and learned all of gravity by John Mayer, the chords, the intro lead, and the solo, it boosted my confidence alot

Did anyone else have an " Eureka " moment while watching this? You think you know stuff after playing over 40 years. Then you watch a Rick Beato video!

“Studying implies learning new things.” One of the most profound defining statements in the whole field of education ever uttered. That should be emblazoned on the entrance to every learning institution from elementary to college / primary to tertiary / kindergarten to university in the 🌎

“You cannot separate music theory from ear training. They are the same thing.” I wish my piano teacher had understood that way back when. She hated the fact that my ear was far superior to hers albeit she was an accomplished classical pianist. For her it was all about sight reading compositions, but she lacked creativity and would’ve liked to stifle mine. That’s why I quit piano after 6 years of lessons and started playing guitar on my own. Best musical decision I ever made.

I just bought the Beato bundle for my daughter. Thank you Rick for all your continuous efforts to teach young and old generation of music lovers🎶

lol I just started learning Bloody Well Right by ear (mostly), and here you are, with this video. Very Excellent upload timing

Great stuff Rick. You were kind enough to say my guitar playing was really soulful when you visited us here in Bristol, England many many years ago. Best wishes and glad things have worked out so well for you, Rick.

Figuring out songs by ear… It’s magic, you know. Never believe it’s not so.

I found a series of three music theory books by Paul O. Harder and Greg A. Steinke to be an excellent primer to following along and really getting something out of Rick’s videos. ‘Basic Materials in Music Theory’ is the one to start with. I’m a hobbyist musician and thought I’d throw this out there in case it helps someone else. I can’t say enough how much I appreciate Rick’s contributions to the world of music. Thank you Rick for taking some of the mystery out of music in a fun and practical way. You’re one of a kind!

Your last comment is really the key to living a great life - “I’m always trying to learn”. I’ve watch so many people just give up on learning new things (some were pretty young too). Great video. Great information on picking out chords.

Hi Rick!!! I am working on your ear training course for more than a year now. The word "amazing" is really an understatement. Can figure out music in a much more instinctive way. I really feel the improvement of my musicianship every day. Anyone who wants a good ear - take this course. Thank you!!!

you just doubled the skills of a generation of young guitarists. i remember when i stopped relying on tabs and used my ears my musicality improved greatly. youtube didnt have these kinds of resources back then

FINALLY a video that de-mystifies what I hear you constantly verbalize! The PIANO graphic SAVED MY BRAIN from exploding!

Yay! Breakthrough for me definition of ‘major’ and ‘melody’ and how a chord becomes a melody. Just one ☝️ ‘takeaway’ from any lesson is my goal for the lesson achieved ✅

Just bought the beato book and ear training. More than happy to support everything you do Rick!

Missed the stream, but happy you posted the lesson! You are awesome Rick!!

I truly, truly appreciate all the hard work, passion, charisma, care, and feeling you put into each of your videos and I truly enjoy them all. I'm a guitar player who's started 11 years ago but fell out of it for pretty much 3 years because of "life" and health issues. I've recently started getting back into it, albeit slowly, and part of my routine has been watching tons of videos on all things music, guitar, production, all of it... and watching your videos has helped tremendously in so many ways and has opened up my musician and player skills to a totally different level. You're a very inspiring and passionate person. Thank you so very much for all you do Rick. Keep rockin'! ✌️😎

Actually, Rick, i get something every time i listen to your RU-vid channel. You are really providing value here too.

The only way I can learn super complex music is: 1. Enjoy the song 2. Listen to it many times (until I can sing it in my head) 3. Have enough willpower to write down one note at a time (chords are WAY harder for me) That's how I was able to accurately transcribe Guthrie Govan tunes you may have seen on RU-vid. It took me 50+ hours to create a Guitar Pro transcription of Waves and Wonderful Slippery Thing by Guthrie Govan, including accurate bends, slides, vibrato, etc. Rick could probably do it in a day!

How the heck could anyone give this a thumbs down? It's a free, fantastic insight that will support anyone interested in growing. As always, Thank you Rick!

Hey Rick, congratulations for actually saying Saint Patrick’s Day, rather than Saint Paddy’s day. That gets you a dispensation from wearing green!

I’ve learned more from this dude than anyone else in my life. Thank you, Rick.

And to think I've been trying to learn by elbow.Good thing Beato is around to help people get it right.😎

these are so fun to watch when i’m not playing

This was another great teaching video. For me, the best nugget was the tip to start by listening for the outer edge of the chord. So pragmatic and easy to put into practice. Thanks Rick!

Your lessons are Gold. All off your videos are great, i love watching them. You are so good at this, never stop doing this!

Tyler asked the same as I thought: Walking on the Moon chord sounds like Hard Day's Night.

As a teenager I learnt by ear, working out all the songs we played note by note, chord by chord. Then the likes of ultimate guitar came along and I got lazy. This video has spurred me on to get back to learning the traditional way. After 20 years of playing I should be better than I am, so hoping revisiting these early skills can help push me onward! Thanks Rick!

Thanks! I once demonstrated for an unbelieving friend, that I could identify intervals without looking. I went across the room, turned my back, and let him play any 2 notes. I didn't miss any. Afterwards, he just said, "How do you do that?!?" I replied that it's not perfect pitch, but I can hear the distance between notes. I realized that I'd always been able to do that. It's not some great talent; I'd just been listening to music all my life. But everyone listens to music! You can't get away from it. So why can't everybody do that? Well, I've also noticed that when I listen to music, I seem to be paying more attention to it than the average person. I also have a learning disability, and one effect is that I zoom in on things in a way others don't. I can get lost in one detail of something. I hate it when people play the radio or TV so low I can't hear what's going on! Turn it up or turn it off! But I listened to my parents easy-listening station (Jones College radio) for the first 10 years of my life. I think that helped, because they played instrumental stuff that was a bit orchestral. I got a *_feel_* for music. You have to feel it. If you can't, then you're just going through the motions - no matter what you know about theory! Feel it *_first_*, and only then learn to name things. At least, that's my take. As for suspended chords, I think of church organ music - like holding C & G while moving from F to E to D and back to E with the middle note. I've noticed that many rock / pop keyboard players use inversions to move in what I think of as a sort of 'inside' or 'compacted' chord structure. Often, the singer or lead guitarist handles melody, & the keyboard does background harmony chords. I'm gonna get me a Beato Book very, very soon...! Thanks again. tavi.

New video series idea! *MAKE BEATO LISTEN* Viewers send Rick the most challenging songs they know of and have him try to work them out! Not a wonderful idea business-wise, but it would be fun! Maybe have it so it takes a $5 or $10 donation to send a request.

explained so incredibly well, finally I understand the process after all these years

I recall learning a lot of this stuff on my own when "My Sweet Lord" and "Long Cool Woman" were playing on the radio.

I grew up classically trained in piano. I got three kids and I'm training them completely differently starting with the Beato app while they were in utero! Yesterday I made my 8 yr old to work out the chords to twinkle twinkle and Happy birthday and gave him a structure on how to do it. Already their ears are better than mine!

Anybody that struggles with this, and I'm by no means a person with perfect pitch, you can get better! I couldn't tune my guitar with a note played on the piano when I started and singing...forget about it! Just keep at it!

I’ve learned more from your videos than 38 years as a musician. 💀🔥

Predictive listening is now a term that will be used everywhere due to Rick. My daughter asked me how I learn songs that she presents to me so fast. I said, "I don't know how to explain it honey". Now I know how to explain it.

Hello Rick, great video! Hearing piano has always made me feel a sense of passion, but at this moment in my life (27 yo) I feel the motivation and urge to finally learn it myself. I have a theory that can hopefully be answered. As I understand, the steps to playing end up being: hear a sound > know which chord that sound is (vocabulary) > play that chord on the keyboard. So what if I just cut out the knowledge section and learn to recognize sounds through repetition to create muscle memory. So it would then be: hear a sound > play that sound on keyboard. I wouldn't be able to name the chord, but I would just know that "x" sound = my fingers do "x" on the keyboard. To me it seems like a very intrinsic and natural way to learn. I've thought of it in comparison to learning a new language. It is much faster to learn as a baby would, so instead of thinking Bonjour = Hello = a greeting, you just intrinsically know Bonjour = a greeting. It cuts out that moment of translation, which cuts the learning time to a fraction of what it would have been. Obviously it would not allow me to talk about music in any knowledgeable way, but do you think it would be a viable way to learn if my only goal is to be able to play? I know this is a very long post, but I hope you have time to respond, because I've been dying to hear someone's (but especially your own) thoughts on this! Appreciate all the hard work you put into your channel. Thanks!

One of the best music teachers out their, priceless, thank you.

6:10 look at the back of that guitar neck. That's a lot of practice right there, folks.

I'm not even a musician, but I find your videos fascinating! Keep up the great work

Something that you were doing but not explicitly telling people to do themselves is to try to vocalise the notes and lines as you listen rather than just dive straight onto the instrument and hunt for them. This helps a lot when trying to work out actual melodies and also high and low chord tones.

Great stuff, Rick. I've been thinking a lot about our conversations about music and seeing more and more parallels between what you're saying about increasing your vocabulary of recognizable musical sounds and about research on how the brain learns the meanings of words. Just like with music, it's possible at any age but there is an effect of developmental phase for growing both your musical "lexicon" and your linguistic lexicon such that it's easier and faster when you're younger. But both types of learning processes are essentially adding to your vocabulary by hanging acoustic patterns onto meanings and in your brain that are understood by example and context. That's the essence of conceptual learning in the language realm when it involves processing of acoustic information. This is different from what you were talking about with your developmental reading comprehension problem, where the information that has to be encoded and attached to meanings comes in through visual pathways, which apparently is a relative weakness for you. Well, as my mom used to say, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. :) Anyway, we need to do some research together, Rick (formally). I'm part of the NIH's new Sound Health Network and am going to hit you up again some time later this year to see if you're interested and have the time. I still want to start a project on childhood/infant absolute pitch and its development. Maybe we can pay Dylan as a consultant? LOL. Hope all is well with you and yours! Warmest Regards, Tim.

Wow! Why haven’t I found your channel sooner!! Lol. Probably because I’m only just getting in to RU-vid videos as a main source of entertainment and knowledge! Lol Rick. You are a true gem to the music and RU-vid industry! I’ve always played music by ear. But the theory you talk about here has mostly been foreign to me until about 2 years ago when Covid hit big time, and I put most of my time in to learning piano and guitar. I’ve always listened for the top or bottom note in a chord, but have never thought to listen for intervals, etc. You are gifted my friend. You can play multiple instruments, you have an amazing ear, you seem to be able to play anything, and your style of teaching is second to none. You’re the kind of guy I’d love to sit down over a coffee and just talk music, instruments, and just stuff. You seem very down to earth, and there’s not enough of you in this current world let me tell you! Thank God I’ve found your channel! I’m a subscriber and fan for life. Who knows? Maybe one day we will get to have that coffee and chat! That would certainly be a blessed day! Keep on keeping on Rick! And thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for your selfless contribution to society! I tip my proverbial hat to you! Can’t wait for you to interview Toto again! My all time favourite rock band from the 80s and 90s, and now to present! Take care Rick! I sincerely will sh you all the best in life! 😊

Awesome. Thanks so very much Rick. Your channel is a musician’s paradise. Bless you ❤️

"There are only three minor chords that have G as the top note!" Music theory GOLD!

That last progression you play is perfect for anyone trying to adapt their ears to nondiatonic chords, with the M3 and min4 chords and the way it voice leads.

Had to tell you, last video learning with disabilities, was totally relatable for me, people were not in tune with me as for you. Effected my whole, I'm 60 now, worked it myself. Thank you.

I trained my ear and it got kicked out of the music shop for playing stairway. Thanks Rick, brilliant lecture on music.. some university should be hunting you down! man you inspire even an old guy like me..

Other people want to meet their favorite rock star. I want to meet Rick Beato!

I love the first chord of the livestream. I use the same chord for intro to ear training for my students. Jimi chord- E7 (#9) Purple Haze! I use these as well: John Lennon chord- E7 (b9), I Want You (She’s so Heavy), James Brown chord D7 (natural 9th) - I Feel Good

Your Ear training program is awesome. Started it a year ago, rarely miss a day and it has changed my brain. I love love love it and couldn' recommend it more. Thank you for all that you do!!!

Such a brilliant lesson this. Rick is the main man. 👍🏻👌🏻

Videos like this have helped me so much. Because of you (and some other wonderful youtubers), I have a pretty good grasp of basic music theory. Applying that to songs on the fly can be difficult sometimes. But today, I was listening to a new song after watching this earlier and immediately recognized the descending C-B-A descending chord progression (followed by F-G). I grabbed my guitar but my ear told me it was E-D#-C# after playing the notes. The low range E chord was way out of place. Once I put the capo on the 4th fret, it sounded exactly like the song and I could play it as C-B-A. So, thanks for all you do on here!

I listened to this video twice to see if I can understand why I can recognise chord changes, but you may have bamboozled me at times. I am a rhythm, claw hammer and hybrid picking style guitar player. I am happy that I can figure the chords to songs although the later Steely Dan songs are difficult, better to enjoy the groove than spend a lot of time working it out. I don't have perfect pitch but when I hear a chord played on guitar I know the shape, its a C or D, minor or major etc even if a capo is used. I locate a root note relevant to a chord and then I know the key. I can figure the chords for the pop, rock or folk song fairly quickly. Now I know the melody but I don't learn the chord sequence. I replay the melody in my head and play through the song. Now to sing the song I mostly have to transpose to another key and since I know the melody in my head I play in the new key without thinking about it too much. I believe Rick calls this "vocabulary of sounds". Like Rick says keep working out chords to different songs, and I say when you've figured one out play it (or figure it out) in a different key. Gaining the skill is repeating the steps using different songs. I enjoy your videos Rick and always learn something new.

Wow, learnt so much from this video ... this has been a massive help. One of the best videos on YT

Been following you since you had a few thousand followers and couldn’t believe you didn’t have more at the time. So happy to see you get recognized man. I’ve learned so much from you that has helped me in my career. Hope to thank you in person one day!!!

Just purchased the Beato Ear Training Program. Rick is a genius and I am happy to sign up and learn from this genius!

Thanks Rick, I own your ear training course and this helps me structure a better path for its use. I have been neglecting my ear training and now I will get back to it.

I take a 3-layer approach. Diatonic chords and it’s outliers: Secondary Dominants Parallel/Melodic Minor If I know those sounds, it solves 90% very quickly.

Mahalo Rick! Once again the best on the internet.

Good he names EACH chords or key notes by LETTIE'S! Not a bad lesson! Keep it simple and don't rush it sir! Cool!

What a fantastic lesson in ear training strategy and development. Thanks for this Rick, very helpful.

Nice to hear you start from the high or outside notes. That is a method I used a lot when trying to figure songs out. I would also search for what note the bass was playing which normally was the root or 5th. Those along with the melody scale would normally nail it down.

my music theory is pretty weak and i barely know any scales. HOWEVER using these steps i was able to identify and name a strange passing chord in a song i love. it took me some time, and i had to do it with a pen and paper. but i finally have a process for analyzing songs that goes beyond pure guess work.

Funny how I could easily recognize Stairway to Heaven only with you playing the second chord, some things are just so iconic. Great video!

today i learned “sus2 chords” and “line cliches”. thank you, Rick.

Hey! I'm here in Atlanta, Georgia. I've just found this one, and I'm always eager to learn even more. I've been playing by ear pretty much all my life, and Braille music is not easy to read. (Yup! I'm totally blind and have been all my life, and I want to meet Pat Metheny so much. I've been listening to him since "American Garage.", and I never realized before that album that I was hearing him from education films. I knew it was him being featured on the Weather Channel, and he's been such an inspiration! Back in 1983, I got to go to his show at Cafe 290 when it was here. I'd taken music theory, and I tried to determine what rhythm "First Circle" was, but I was off by 4 beats. I had my sister write down on a napkin what I thought it was and had it passed down to him. After he finished the set, he recognized me for being so close! I'd guessed 18-8. He told me to give myself a pat on the back for coming so close and that it was in 22-8. I was on cloud 9 for over three days and nights! I was also going to Georgia State University, but I never got to meet him before or after any of his concerts I attended. I loved the interviews I heard with Russ Davis. I'm always singing to his music, and I still haven't heard everything he's recorded. The closest concert he's scheduled to perform is this Nov. 6 in Ledyard, ct. I wish I could afford to get up there to attend that show, but I don't have anyone who'd be interested in going with me. He's been a huge inspiration to me, especially when I was at my lowest. I've suffered through a very rare and hard-to-treat form of Trigeminal Neuralgia for over 44 years, and I'm 56 now. Josh Groban and I have met twice, because I've also been a huge fan of his, but I've always come back to Pat's music, because there's so much expression and emotional strength and such good energy that seems to just radiate through his music. Thank you so much for bringing this ear-learning tutorial, because I'm so excited to encourage people to help them broaden their abilities. I'm looking forward to when our choir can finally come back together at church, because there are two people I'm especially happy to work with who would benefit from this video and possibly the course, although I haven't taken it yet. I just noticed this video today, and I'll have to save money for it the next time you run a special on it. Being on a fixed income and owning a home makes courses like this worth saving money for.

you made that so much harder.... as a learner "we dont know b flat c" or anything else you're talking about. I know how to put my fingers in a position that makes a sound that sounds like what I'm hearing.

I don’t have time right now to listen to the whole thing. I’ve already spent too much time on RU-vid today and I need to get other things done. But my strategy for learning songs by ear is that I learned as a young boy listening to gospel quartets and later piano by ear to focus on the bass singer or bass line in a song and learn to sing or hum it. Once you get the bass line and apply the melody that narrows down your chord choices. And in pop/rock/country music especially the chords aren’t typically going to be all that complex. I got pretty good at being able to play a recording and have the song down on piano by the 2nd time through. If I had the sheet music, I might start off reading chord symbols but the notation was always wrong and chord symbols quite often are too. And because the printed notation was almost always wrong I just never developed the discipline of sight reading piano music (I sight read for voice and other single note instruments I play just fine). Then I learned how to transcribe parts by ear by using the pause and rewind buttons and copying every little thing I hear. I transcribed the entire piano part for Bohemian Rhapsody by ear once and had it down note for note and even recorded it with the intention of adding the other instrumentation later: I got to bass and some of the guitar parts but didn’t have a drummer and don’t have that coordination myself so that’s where it stopped. It was a cassette 4 track so that tells you I’d have to start over again to finish it now. The damning part is I have to memorize everything and I’ve learned if I don’t keep playing what I’ve learned to keep it in memory I lose it and have to start over. In my 50s now, I can learn to play a song today and won’t remember it tomorrow.

I have enjoyed every Rick Beato video I have ever watched but this is the BEST! So much to learn about music in this. I'll be revisiting this often. Thanks.

It's the "Hendrix chord", but when I heard that 7#9 by itself my brain said "bop bop bop ba bop bop I feel free..."

First time through the progression in Maybe I'm Amazed it's Bb, F/A, C, G/C, Bb, F/A, C Second time through: Bb, F/A, C, G/B, Bb, F/A, Ab, Eb/G, C

Sometimes my ear works and sometimes it doesn't. A song using a capo can get me sometimes

Great stuff Rick. My Mother, now passed, played the piano and piano accordion really well completely by ear. She was taught serious music theory as a young girl but never learned anything she was taught, yet if she knew the song, she could just go ahead and play it. Now at 65 I'm doing the same playing finger tap guitar melodies over the top of song I know. I do however ensure my scale is the same as the key of the song.

Rick - Very well explained I started teaching myself playing finger style guitar about 3 years ago and I can’t tell you how much that helped tech myself all those concepts .. learning a finger style song - I play around and learn the one note melody line of the lead vocalist. Then like you said try to fatten it up figuring out what the bass is doing but that can be one of 2 or 3 notes depending on what’s being played Watching a lot of great people like you has really got me into theory and grasping the CAGED system better and better I can’t sit there and play cowboy chords in 4/4 time and if I want to be daring throw in a minor pentatonic lick I’d rather put a cigarette out on my 👁 Not really .. but you get it Keep it going Rick

Dude, you’ve got such a good rapport with your viewers and you’re such a skilled teacher. You really oughta check out Music Learning Theory, the research behind how we learn music when we do learn music. It’s a fascinating subject and basically you’re thinking along a lot of these lines already, but MLT clarifies some of the things you talk about a lot “Predictive listening”-that’s audiation, hearing music physically present or not, with comprehension. Audiation is a core tenet of MLT. The chords you recognize instantly...that’s the “listening vocabulary” we need before applying labels makes sense. One area I would love to see you incorporate MLT in is interval recognition. I hear you talk about recognizing intervals often. But intervals often don’t tell enough of the story to help students. MLT uses Tonal Patterns, which are similar to intervals with the important distinction that they exist within a tonal context. So G up to C is a 4th. But how does it function? If we recognize DO as a Resting Tone, we’re in Major Tonality, and DO-FA, or RE-SO, or MI-LA are all 4ths and all with different sounds and functions. Students do better if they learn this tonal context first. After that, they will have better success understanding intervals outside of that context. MLT has worlds of great insights for helping students learn practical skills for Meter and Rhythm, too. I think you’d really be into it. Check it out!

I've learned more from Rick for free on youtube than anywhere else. Always like & comment for the algorithm.

If anyone is up for a challenge, check out these artists: Guthrie Govan (jazz fusion shred master) Nick Johnston (uses very interesting voicings and melodies creating unique atmospheres) Lalle Larsson (keyboard master that plays fast and uses eclectic styles and sounds) Bernhoft (mostly simple, but chord voicings can be unique) Dave Weckl (some very interesting rhythmic and melodic ideas in his catalog, very challenging bass lines) The Flower Kings (one of the most diverse catalogs of any band I know, some songs are insanely challenging both in form and because they have very uncommon progressions and voicings) I've always found rhythm to be way easier to figure out than chord voicings. I can usually figure out the root note and chord quality, but I struggle with very strange chords with more than 3-4 notes. It makes sense why it's hard for me. It's like knowing letters but not many words.

Listening to this while Driving home can’t wait to try out what I’ve learned on acoustic.

Your amazing. Wish I had a teacher like you or RU-vid when I was a kid, I would have taken more of an interest in learning piano. As it is I did become a DJ as I do have good relative pitch and can understand what you are talking about here. I was more interested in the recording processes than playing, but a part of me wants to be able to play still. You got it both. Guess it's never too late to learn.

Just got hold of the Beato Book Bundle... can’t wait to dig in. Thanks Rick!

I am currently going through the ear training course and it's...humbling. I THOUGHT I heard better than this! But I'm also making progress so it's also...rewarding. Thanks.

Qasuch a relented musicion and so willing to share with the masses, Rick ur great! Thank u for selflessly saving and ways eager to share and keep the music alive!!

Great intro to the basics... reminds me of Mrs. Walker's seemingly endless patience with a brat who played almost entirely by ear, which she assumed was reading the black marks on the pages sitting atop the wimpy-sounding Baldwin organ. The one with the color-coded keys at middle C. Enjoyed this.

i started age11 (1975) and a band at 12,but i was a slow learner,after about 10 years i could tune up properly lol,after about 20 years i spent an xmass at my sisters with no guitar around,,listening to floyd on head phones one night it hit me "thats Em -A" then after that as long as i hear a chord i know well,i know what the other chords are when they come up,its like a door opens,,45 years on im not really great at it,but they are old friends now them chords ;-)

Really refreshing to learn from you on music. I appreciate the steps you lay out in learning theory from the basic intervals to chord progressions in songs. It’s really helpful to hear your thinking process and questions you ask yourself in figuring stuff out.

Excellent job explaining the importance and interplay of music theory AND ear training. In my humble opinion this is one of your best videos. Cheers Rick!

i have learned alot by ear, and by other methods, but one that worked is learning the basic riff of a song, and or the bass line, (especially in Hey Joe Hendrix) that bass break in the middle is all the chords in the song,, C,G,D,A, E all major chords so you have learned the song from the bass line, and or part of it, all those famous bass lines especially in the 60s bass lines you can learn the chords .

Rick is a GENIOUS teacher

Fav gem here was when someone asked for the chords to 'Teach Your Children'.

Master class for beginners on ear training

This is one of the greatest videos I've seen on RU-vid, thank you so much for the simple explanations, excellent examples and actually showing how it lays out on the keyboard! Truly appreciate it and as a passionate drummer I know that this is the spark that lights the fire into my continued musical education... ❤️🙏❤️

There is no recipe for transcribing everyone will approach it differently it is a real art when you are first starting out you will swear you have figured something out correctly but 9 out of ten times it will be wrong. After about 20yrs you will start to get good at it.

Many thanks Rick, I learn a lot through you.

I pictured Morty saying, This is way too complex Rick! lol great video