Today I will share with you some tips to learn to play songs by ear or, as many call him in Venezuela, for “guataca”.

Each musician adopts a different method to get the songs out by musical ear. There are musicians who have what is called absolute hearing. In the mariachi in which I am there is a girl with this beautiful talent, she is able to play a song that she had never heard in her life just by listening to her once. She can distinguish a note or tone by simply hearing it.

Listen and hum the song

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Of course, we do not all have that beautiful gift, so I will share the steps I follow to get songs out by ear. The first thing I do is listen to the song repeatedly, this I do for 1 or 2 hours with certain breaks to avoid fatigue. It is important not to try to take notes during these two hours. After just listening, I try to sing and hum the parts of the trumpet and the lyrics of the song.

Identify the record and the first note

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When the song is finally spinning in my head, it's time to start trying to discover the notes. It is important to divide the song into several phrases; The most difficult part is identifying the first note. For this we must divide the 3 registers: the grave, the middle and the acute. This will simplify us to find the first note. Once the registration is identified, I assure you that with few attempts you will be able to find the first note.

After having the first note, the rest will be very simple since she will be our reference. That is to say, with it we will be guided. If the rest of the notes are more acute or more serious, once we have all the notes of the first sentence; It is time to see the fruits of having listened to the song for long hours. Thanks to the repeated number of times, we know the song and we know what figure or duration we should give to those notes.

Ideal time to rehearse the song

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As I have said many times, when it comes to learning a song we must practice it slowly and then accelerate to the original time of the song. Dominated the phrase, we can play it together with the disc. This will help identify any errors we may have in the notes. If everything sounds according to the song, we can continue with the following phrases or arrangements of the song.

I know it seems a long process, but as you get to know the instrument, you will identify the notes more easily; so practice makes the master. Over time you can get songs in very few attempts. I recommend you start by taking short and easy songs, in medium or serious records; Children's songs are ideal to start practicing this method.