JFRocks Ear Training 101 Problem page                                                     Copyright © 2005-2006 JFRocks

This page contains no tabs.  This is a page that contains an Audio lesson in mp3 format that contains a riff or solo for you to try to figure out using the tips that Jeff gives you as a guideline.  If this is an older problem and already has an answer page there will be no opportunity for you to submit a tab of how you think this problem is played.  If however it is a new problem and has no answer posted as of yet you will be able to anonymously submit a tab of how you think Jeff is playing the problem.  Be warned these are designed to help your ear and are designed to fool you most of the time.  Please don't cheat and do the answers too fast if they are available.  You are only depriving yourself of a great learning opportunity if you do that. 

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Be sure to listen to the whole audio file.  The answer to this problem will have a video and detailed lesson.

Audio

Contains the problem riff or solo to be figured out

Think you know how this problem riff or solo is played ? Or even what effects may or may not have been used.

Problem Tips: 

Same tips from problem 9 are below.  Aside from some phrasing in parts they apply 100% to this lesson as well.

Since for the last couple problems we've been on soloing or riffing portions of solos I wanted to make problem 9 something common you will run into.  Scale up or scale down patterns in solos or rhythm portions even.

These are great practice for taking things one note at a time.  Sometimes and well in many cases guitarists use either modes or a mix of scales as opposed to sticking with a major or minor scale that you may already know.  Sometimes scales downs or scale ups are broken into repeating patterns etc. 

This is a simple problem as scale ups or scale downs go, however it's still tricky as you will need to find the individual pitches and or pick out the pattern of what I'm doing. 

And even more difficult you need to find a logical position to do it in or a logical fingering for it.  This can take some thought.  You may sit and figure out the pitches and realize that how you are doing them is not smooth nor is it humanly possible to accomplish.  So below are the step for this type of situation.

1.  Figure out the pitches first.  Figure out if I'm standard tuning or flat etc. but get the individual notes.

2.  You may need to slow this down, scale ups and scale downs are one thing slowing down a song is great for.  That will help you a great deal with step 1 above.

3.  Figure out the pattern I'm doing if any.  Does it repeat?  How many notes make up the pattern, is it a 3 note or 4 note or 7 note what the heck is it.  If there even is one.

4.  Figure out a logical position and or a comfortable position to do it in on the fret board. 

Don't ever worry about what position I did it in.  The fact is unless you were here with me when I recorded it or were in the studio when a band recorded a song you have no way of knowing what exact positioning was used and it's arrogant of players that think otherwise or think that their way to play something is the given from god only way to do something.  I always found players that think like that to be like a mosquito, you want to swat them and tell them to get lost. 

You know the old rule about if it sounds good it is good.  Well the other rule is, if it sounds right it is right.  LOL  What I'm finding on these problems and from the tab submissions is that most of you are getting the pitches just fine but you have trouble with positioning.  Does that mean you are playing the riffs wrong.  NO!  it means you are not playing them the way I did, but technically you are playing them right if your pitches match mine and the riff or solo section sounds correct. 

However where these problems come in handy and may help a lot of you is I can tell you where I played something so it might help tune your ear in to the variables that determine what position something was done in.  For example what wound strings sound like vs. what non wound strings sound like.  Or, what an open string sounds like vs. a fretted note.  These are all clues to the position someone did something in and that's part of what all of this is trying to help you to learn.  There is some thought involved.  You have to have some sense of deductive reasoning to pull all of this off.  Sort of the "he did this here so that must be done there" principle. That however is something that is learned over time and through countless trial and error, it's a light bulb that needs to go off really. 

Good luck with this problem and follow the steps I gave above.  They will help you.