The Familiarity Factor

When I'm learning certain songs by ear, it seems to go fairly quickly. I'm still having to repeat the playback now and then, but I can chew through phrases, and pick up the rhythm and chords pretty quickly. With other songs that I set out to learn—songs I know just as well, sometimes even simpler ones—it seems to be more of a struggle.

Based on what I've learned in my research, it turns out that I'm missing an important step before I set out to learn a song in Capo!

Specifically, I should be putting in some active listening time before I pick up my guitar and sit down to learn a track by ear. My latest post explores this "familiarity factor" and why just knowing a song isn't the same as being ready to learn it by ear.