What does playing what you hear mean? How does it work? And how can you develop that skill?

I’m sure you have a lot of questions like that, don’t you? In this Food for Thought, I want to delve into the mystical world of playing what you hear. And to start with, what is hearing music?

💡 Think about your favorite guitar solo. Can you hear the notes in your mind? Can you hear the rhythm? Can you imagine the tone?

Like most things, learning to hear music in your imagination is a skill you can develop by practicing a lot. A little time each day imagining riffs, licks, or lines is a great way to develop your ears and musical imagination. If you can sing what you hear in your mind, you can be sure what you hear is properly in there! So, I highly recommend trying to sing what you hear, even if you’re not a confident singer.

But how does being able to hear in your imagination help you become better at playing guitar? Well, I’ve got a great exercise for you! :)

Try It Yourself!

🎸 Put Finger 1 on the 8th fret of String 3. Then, try to play Happy Birthday while staying in that position - don’t go up or down the neck.

We all know Happy Birthday well, so we know how that song goes. If you can’t do it, then there is a disconnection between your imagination and your hand! If you found that one easy, pick another slightly more difficult song - Standard Jazz melodies might be fun!

Try to play somewhere else on the neck again. If you can play all the melodies you can think of, then you’re doing it for real – you’re playing what you imagine, and I believe that to be the purest form of expression. Congratulations!

Need Some Extra Work?

If you found it difficult or impossible like most people do (and I did), then you’ll need to work on Ear Training. Again - the solution is practice.

💭 I start almost every practice session with 10 minutes of playing my imagination. Over the last few years, I’ve seen great improvement, though still far from perfect.

I have a list of songs that I add to all the time, and I just pick one at random, put my hand somewhere on the neck and try to play it. Sometimes I find that I actually can’t hear the melody clearly in my imagination! That means that the problem is not with the hand/imagination connection but getting it right in my imagination in the first place!

I’m also working on playing solos I know well in my imagination on the wrong parts of the fretboard - that might be a great exercise if you find basic melodies too easy. :)

Transcribing

You can do quite a few things to develop your ability to play what you hear, but transcribing is my favorite tool! You hear a note on the recording, find it on the neck, hear the next one, play it, etc. When you transcribe, you’re playing what you hear in slow motion – but at the same time, you are installing the music correctly into your imagination too, which is important. After a while, you’ll find you can transcribe whole phrases because you recognize them and know where to make those sounds on the guitar neck.

💬 So, will you have a try at playing what you hear in your imagination? Let me know in the Discussion section! I promise - it’s a wonderful feeling when you can do it and well worth the effort. :)

Doing Interval Ear Training is also something I highly recommend if you can’t express your musical mind on the fretboard.

Grab my Ear Trainer App here to help you out. Good luck