JFRocks Ear Training 101 Answer page

The page contains the answer to a JFRocks Ear Training problem. This page should only be viewed after you have exhausted all efforts to try to figure out the problem riff or solo or, if you think you have figured it out.

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Answer Title

Answer to Problem #1

Category

Chords / Riffs

Jeff's Guitar's tuning

Standard E, A, D, G, B, E

Guitar Jeff used

Humbucking pickup was used.

Key of

A or Am

Effects Jeff was using if any

Reverb, (mild level of compression)

Solution notes

This was actually a little trickier of an exercise than most realized even though I put it at level 1 as far as how difficult it would be.

We received many tabs through the submission page and I was thrilled to see the view stats on this page and how popular it is. Normally when we launch something new it takes a month or so to catch on. Doesn't look like ear training will take that long. More will join the ear forum going forward I'm sure but as usually most I'm sure will just stay guests and quietly read the posts in the background.

I hope you all wrote down your tab of how you think problem 1 went. This will tell you a lot about your ear. For instance it will tell you if you hear things a half step flat or sharp. Or it will tell you if you hear the 3rds or 5ths instead of the root notes. Or, it will alert you to problems you have telling the difference between fretted notes and open strings. Which I might add is a very common problem in general for most people.

We will get into all of this and more on the video lesson. If you load the video lesson it will begin with me playing the piece from Problem 1 for you. Watch what I'm doing and if you got it wrong try to spot what you got wrong. I may also go over some of the tab submissions that came in. Anonymously of course as we don't know who sent them anyway. I will choose ones with common mistakes on them that many people made in order to help those individuals spot what they are hearing vs. what is being played and how they can correct those issues. Nothing happens overnight of course but armed with the knowledge of what your problem is and some tips for fixing it is a great way to become real proficient at figuring out songs or parts of songs in the future.

We will hopefully by the end of 8 or 10 lessons or so have you increase your accuracy to the 80 or 85% minimum standard that the tab books hold themselves to.

This of course was only the 1st lesson and I really purposely let you fly blind on it so I can see where everyone is at as far as what they hear vs. what's actually being played.

Video Lesson

"Actual 100% NOTE FOR NOTE" TABS for this problem

Palm mute the main riffing.

Tab notes: (0-2-0-2-0-2-0 can be written as 0-2-0>trill) Usually it is but I wanted to be accurate so I tabbed the exact number and pattern.

Also notice that this is a repeating pattern. In the tips section of the problem page I gave you a hint to listen for what is the same about this riff rather than what is different. If you look at this riff there are variables that stay the same but because the root notes and or bass notes are changing that can be deceptive. This is why you must listen to the riff before trying to figure it out. And when I say listen I don't mean check it out, I mean closely listen to it and break it up in your mind, one chord or section at a time rather than blending it all together as one big thing. For instance the first half of the riff is an A major chord then we change the bass note of the A major chord to the 3rd or the C#. So the only variable that changed was the bottom note the other two notes stayed the same. Then the next two chords have the open 3rd string that remains the same.

This riff is good as one to start with because you have two different sets of notes that go together and each is a very unique sound and each forms many of the double stop riffs we all know and love. You have the A chord which is a Root, 5 thing, then you have the D add 4 and the C chord which are based in a Root, 3rd configuration. See video for additional help and explanation on all of this and visuals of course.

A A/C# D add4 C

E___________________________________________________
B___________________________________________________
G_____2______2______0______0________________________
D___2______2______4______2__________________________
A_0______4______5______3____________________________
E_______________________________3^1>release_3___________

E_____________________________________________________________________
B_____________________________________________________________________
G_____2______2_______0______0____0__<opens were accidental hits but would show up in tabs____
D___2______2_______4______2______0____________________________________
A_0______4_____3--5______3________0-2-0-2-0-2-0___________________________
E_____________________________________________________________________

E___________________________________________________
B___________________________________________________
G_____2______2_______0______0_______________________
D___2______2_______4______2_________________________
A_0______4_____3--5______3___________________________
E_______________________________3^1>release_3___________

E____________________________________________________________________
B____________________________________________________________________
G_____2______2_______0______0________________________________________
D___2______2_______4______2__________________________________________
A_0______4_____3--5______3________0-2-0-2-0-2-0__________________________
E____________________________________________________________________

E_____________________________________________________________________
B_____________________________________________________________________
G_____2______2_______0______0_________________________________________
D___2______2_______4______2__________________________________________
A_0______4_____3--5______3________0-2-0-2-0-2-0__________________________
E_____________________________________________________________________

E__________________x_______________________
B__________________0______________________
G_____2______2_____0______________________
D___2______2_______4______________________
A_0______4_________5______________________
E_________________________________________