“Back in the old days” before the internet we had records… then tapes… then CDs… but what we didn’t have was instant access to anything!

You actually had to go to a record store or mail-order the music you wanted. And that meant you were going to listen to whatever you bought a LOT because it wasn’t so easy to get anything else.

headphonesWhat that did for us who studied music during that time is it taught us how to listen actively to what was going on. We actually took time aside to just sit and listen to music – it wasn’t just the background noise of our daily lives.

I can remember going in my room and turning on a record and just sitting on my floor listening to the whole thing in my headphones… taking in every guitar string noise, every cymbal crash, and every last ounce of sound from the recording.

Because of that time I spent there are a lot of things that I can do now and I don’t even think about it… and you need to able to do that too. So you need to develop what I call active listening.

Let’s say you are soloing over a jam track in your music room… do you know where you are in the form? Is it the top of the form? Is it the IV chord, is it the V chord? Or do you find yourself just kind of noodling without a clear vision of where you are or where you’re going?

So try this – put the guitar down and start the track again.

  1. Get to where you can always notice the top of the form (bar 1 of the 12 bar blues)
  2. Then get to where you can always notice the change to the IV chord (bar 5 usually unless it’s a quick change.)
  3. Then get to where you can always notice the change back to I (bar 7)
  4. Then get to where you can always notice the change to V (bar 9)
  5. Then get to where you can notice what the chords are for the turnaround (bars 11 and 12) just by listening to them. You’ve heard them all in previous measures so you’ll get used to what they sound like.

Now try a few jam tracks and try the same thing. See if you can notice whether or not it’s a quick change (IV chord in the 2nd bar) just by listening.

See if you can pick some songs that aren’t a straight 12 bar blues and see if you can notice where the I, IV, and V chords are. Chances are they will be in there somewhere even if they don’t follow the 12 bar pattern.

All of these things take time and patience… and are worth their weight in gold when it comes to soloing.

Every chord serves a function… the I chord is home base. The IV chord adds a little variety but clearly isn’t the end and the V chord sets up the ending. The better you get at hearing that function the better you can notice it in any song in any style at any time.

And here’s one last little challenge for you – can you sit down and imagine a 12 bar blues in your head while you solo? Pretend you have a tape deck in your head and press play and solo over it for exactly 12 bars. If that sounds impossible, start spending some time with your record collection (or whatever format it happens to be in these days) and enjoy some quality active listening time!


    59 replies to "Learn To Listen"

    • Richard

      Hi Griff. Yeah. Listening is the key to achievement, you taught me that a few years ago, it helps me in many ways, being a workaholic ,I sometimes have to leave the guitar in the corner for awhile but I keep listening to my stuff that I want to play n when back at home things seems to be easy to practice, hagd

    • Ken M / thibodaux

      Yep driving on a long trip by myself , I have a music list on my iPhone I listen to what I want and I can hit replay or forward to songs I want ,
      It’s a great way to use my time which would be lost to worrying about life .

      • PAUL

        I have had hardly any time to play. Very Busy, with my Custom Guitars, I build.
        There on Reverb.com.
        You See Griff’s Gibson’s and Fender from the Custom shop ? All those are on an assembly line.
        I Build all mine By hand and it takes up to 8 weeks to complete.
        While I work, I listen to jam tracks, or Blues on the TV.

      • Ed Powers

        I do the same, listening to stuff that motivates me to pick up that guitar and get better! My problem is, I have to calm down, focus on one thing at a time, I am not a natural at this, you have to put the work in. Listening starts the process!

    • Ken M / thibodaux

      Man oh man do I remember buying a new record every week out of my meager check and going home and laying down and listening on my head phones . I wanted to hear every note.
      E L O and Kansas and Boston were the best for tickling my ears , I didn’t discover Cream and or any other Clapton bands till later on.

    • JOHN R GIBBS

      I remember when I had an old cheap box guitar playing the Beatles in 1977 and a book…..

    • Robbie

      Ear is of the UTMOST training. Intervals will become second nature to you with,or without instrument in hand. Also you can sit in with anyone….. you might miss it the first time, but you will catch it second time around… thanks bro…. Robbie

    • Fred

      >>> it wasn’t just the background noise of our daily lives.
      So true, so very true!

    • Ernie Peterson

      By the way, it really helps in developing listening skills to transcribe a few songs, just listening to them by looping them at a really slow pace over and over to get it close to right. It eats up a lot of time, but there is some satisfaction in owning them.

      • PAUL

        WHEN YOU DO STUDIO UNION WORK, YOU NEED TO LISTEN TO THE SONG AND LEARN IT. SOME TIME IT MAY TAKE HOURS TO GET IT IN YOUR HEAD RAM. RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY. LOL !
        MY DAUGHTER IS ALSO A JUNIOR THIS YEAR AT REED COLLEGE IN PORTLAND OREGON . MISS MY BABY GIRL.! BET YOU ISS YOUR SON ALSO. BLESS YOU GRIFF!

    • Ernie Peterson

      Griff, I really liked this post about listening. More and more, because of your influence I’m listening to the form of the songs on my iPod when I work out at the gym. I don’t usually listen to just backing rhythms there, but it’s not a bad idea to include a few playlists of them. My, how the blues becomes addictive!

    • gypsi seagul

      I wonder how stevie ray vaughn knew when to change the 1 1v v chord since he didnt know how to read music . I remember seeing him play with charlie daniels an he was watching charlie intencely while they both played. He watched charlie as though to see where charlie was going with it.

      • Frank

        Great point! I often wonder how so many of our guitar hero’s had no clue what they were doing other than by “feel”: BB King, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, Duane Allman, etc. One notable exception is Jimmy Page who WAS classically trained and did some amazing things with different tunings.

    • Chaplain Ed

      Congratulate Ryan for us. Thanks for being a dad that cares. God bless him in his future endeavors and God bless your family Griff.

      Thanks for anther good lesson. I call this technique “learning by osmosis.”😊

    • Mark d.

      Wanted to say thanks again but more importantly go and enjoy your sons step in the next direction to adulthood. You’ve done well! Congratulations to Griff and Laura! B-)

    • Jim

      God gave us 2 ears and one mouth for a reason…But, he/she gave us 10 fingers!!!

    • Norm

      When the groove is solid, and the timing right on, soloing (while knowing the basics, of course) can’t help but improve. That’s why jam tracks are good. That’s why playing with those who are not conscientious about groove and timing is not good. You can start to feel better about your playing while using a jam track and then later think you have ‘lost it’ when sitting in with those who are careless about groove and timing. At least that’s my experience.

    • Terry

      This is useful stuff. How often do I just learn the solo note for note and not really “hear” the chord changes when I play over the jam track.

    • john

      Griff, you continue to amaze me. You play, teach, blog and still have time to come up with new ideas for us to look at, examine and work through. Listening, whether to music or someone talking is a great skill to improve. Sometimes I think we listen but do not actually hear – if that makes sense!
      Thanks again for your contributions. Keep it up!
      John

      • Andy Jendrzejewski

        I would turn that around and say you can hear, but not really listen. Andy

    • Meredith

      I’m an old time player without a teacher. There are plenty of jams I can participate in in my area-San Francisco. Grif’s approach to teaching encourages me in directly useful ways even though Blues is not my genre.

      • lego_ge47

        I’m a disabled Veteran and our local VA has a program of guitar lessons called Guitars For Vets. It lasts about 10 weeks and once a month the teacher has some former members of the class come in and we “jam” for an hour. I get compliments from teacher about my diligent practicing from week to week and I have to give credit to Blues Guitar Unleashed that helps me supplement what I’m learning in the class.:-)

    • Michael Chappell

      Hey Griff, As usual great advice and from my early days in the 60’s as a Drummer in a Pop band, I had to listen to all the songs , that the band wanted to play prior to rehearsal for our Gigs, back then trying to get drum music was hard. But with that experience, I am now having learning Blues Guitar with your lessons that I have purchased and all the Jam tracks, I follow the change of chords quite well in 12 Bar Blues and 8Bar blues but anything else I can’t quite yet pick the chord unless I am watching the Guitarist. But hey this is my 3rd year and I am now retired and loving the practice every day. I jam with my own rhythms with a Looper & looking to expand that with your lessons. But Hey I am a good listener.
      I can read & play Tabs without looking where my fingers are and I can easily play along with Videos on Youtube of songs I am learning.

      Michael -Sydney Australia

      • Ravi

        Good on you, Michael.

    • Pat Goff

      Hey Griff, I totally disagree with those who are saying “You need “something ‘new’ – bon appetit!”

      As it is, you occasionally venture into country music etc, and that is fine, but nothing turns me off quicker than signing up with a web site to learn more about the blues, and suddenly the guy is switching over to mostly bluegrass or whatever! And I am saying to myself what happened ?

      I am sure that will not happen with you, the post above just went against the grain, tho Flamenco might fit right in now that I think about it (?)

      Thanks for your great posts!

    • Jim Kubitza

      Griff, you are right on, right on, right on! As usual. Fairly recently there was a thread on the forum from someone who was having this exact same problem. All of the responses were all about counting. When I said that he just needed to learn to LISTEN, and tried to explain what I meant by that (as you just did so much better than I), I got a certain amount of flack for “dissing counting”. The fact is, as you just pointed out, one can spot those chord changes without counting at all. I would go so far as to say that if one can’t, all the counting in the world won’t help a whole lot because WHEN those chords change dictates the cadence of your counting. If you don’t know when the chords change, counting is akin to trying to shoot skeet with Ray Charles.

    • Len

      Hi Griff,Thanks again,this all makes sense.What I would like to see is if you would take any standard blues song and show how you would put in the rifs,like the jazz players do.Just playing the rifs with no song in my mind,I get lost,Chet Atkins had a way of doing it all,thoughts,I know you could whip out some of Chets songs,like copper kettle etc.Len.

    • Tim Woodward

      I have no problem hearing and recognizing the changes, but I sometimes struggle with turnarounds while soloing and end up repeating the ones I know instead of doing anything new and fun. Would love it if Griff did a lesson devoted to turnarounds.

      • HotLks

        Griff has a short course titled, “20 Turn Around and Ending Licks”.
        Can’t remember if it’s a for purchase course or one of the bonus courses or addendum to another course listing.

    • Mark Arnold

      Great advice Griff I guess I’m with you on this one Tony I actively listen at work and I always find myself analyzing what’s going on in the song or solo funny thing is I’m always saying to myself oh that is what he’s doing or or that’s how that lick goes I’m much better at this than I was back in the 70,s boy I was lost !

    • jim

      This is weird, but honestly, I am not that into music. I really like the challenge of the guitar, but music isn’t really my main focus! And, the more I “actively listen” to music, the less enjoyment I get. I just want to know the chords!
      Might be like a chef..who HAS to eat stuff to taste it, but no longer just enjoys eating!

      • Bill Owen

        I, too, enjoy the challenge and am interested in chording and progressions – through Griff, I’m also learning about timing. Have you thought about, or are you already, looking at different kinds of music (e.g., Brazilian, flamenco)? Sounds like you need something “new” – bon appetit!

    • jide

      Its Griff again hw else can I without ur lesson its awesum ol times keep it up I love dat.

    • Glenn47

      I can’t look at the music of a song I’ve never heard before and figure out how the song goes. I have to hear the song before I can figure the song out for myself.

    • cajuncliff

      So true , so true. I have played guitar for almost sixty years now and have been playing lead in a couple of country and a rock n roll band for that last few years. Not only listening but concentration is the key to not breaking things down on a non typical progression. There are a lot of popular songs out there that don’t follow the 1/4/5, and your ear is going take you just so far on the fly. So you have to listen very carefully to the first verse progression to identify the timing, movement and when the changes occur, and then remember it all on the fly playing the break. Several skills involved. Cliff

      • TA Ratko

        Cliff:

        I recall Nashville session guitarist Tom Bukovac telling his Homeskoolin’ “class” last year that the most common progression in Nashville these days is minor6th-IV-I-V. In Emaj, for example, this would be C#min A E B. This is not the easiest thing to catch, in my view. But now that I know that, I try to discern it in a song, particularly today’s country which really is more like rock to me.

        Interestingly, Tom told us that he’s never been one for music theory, although he indicated it’s key for him to know every note on the neck. I recently heard Joe Bonamassa “confess” in an interview he has no idea of music theory, and really doesn’t know the notes very well, but he did say he knows how to string them together. Both players told the same story Griff just related – they spent countless hours picking up a needle on vinyl, or rewinding a tape, and actively listening to figure things out when they were starting out, as did probably every player you know.

    • R-von

      When I listen to any type of music, from boogie-woogie to classical, my ear seems to focus on the Bass line. If there is no discernible bass line, I create one in my head.
      When I decided to learn how to play an instrument (post-retirement) my first choice was a Bass. I worked on that for 2 years with little progress because I could not find a teacher in my area and the on-line courses only confused me. So I switched to the guitar. But it seems that my musical ‘heart’ still leans towards the Bass.
      A few months ago, I thought I could practice both the Bass and the Guitar but when I make the switch from Bass to Guitar, my hands cannot seem to make the adjustment. So I have to make a decision – Bass or Guitar?
      I sure do wish there was a Bass equivalent to BGU (BBU?)- my choice would then be obvious and easy.

      • rickr

        R-von,
        Look up Truefire.com. They are starting to have great Bass DVDs for instruction.

      • Glenn47

        Have you ever seen a video on YouTube of James Jamerson playing the bass line of Marvin Gaye’s “Ain’t That Peculiar?” Someone had isolated him and the drums. Jamerson was one of the session musicians that accompanied many of the hit Motown artists back in the day. Also there is a woman named Carol Kaye who played sessions bass on many hits including some Beach Boys tunes. She has some cool videos also on You Tube.

        • jim

          ‘The Wrecking Crew”

      • Jeff

        There is a great website run by a guy in England. His name is Paul Wolfe. He has 100’s of free videos on youtube. Just google how to play bass. Paul Wolfe very much reminds me of Griff in his knowledge, approach and passion for teaching.

    • Primo Roy

      The guys in high school that taught me how to play literaly beat this into my head. Little did I realize I was their 50s/60s version of a jam track! It’s songs like “Georgia” where I can hear the chord changes but don’t yet understand where the progession is taking me that drive me insane.
      Gotta conquer this windmill! 😉

    • Vashondan

      I keep going back to this so thanks for the reminder Griff. Spending more time just listening than I used to.

    • Michael

      Thanks for the back to basics reminder, if you can’t hear music- you can’t
      play music!!

    • Bruce

      Yes ,very true , l as a kid learning guitar in the late 60’s n 70’s cherish those memories of listening so closely to the vinyl records of the CCR & Led Zeppelin , and others ,desperatly trying to comprehend what l was hearing,and analyzing them, and then trying them myself on my harmony acustic. So yes Griff is right, it did force us to really listen very closely to decypher those sounds.

    • Fred Gardner

      You’ve provided a whole new way to listen to the Blues and my other passion “Boogie Woogie”.

    • Jim Kubitza

      You are oh so right, Griff. I started playing way back in the 50’s. We only got one radio station. That was it … no TV, nothing else. Records were mostly on 45’s or 78’s. All that was on that radio station was country music … the old stuff. I bought a cheap Silvertone acoustic guitar and a Mel Bay chord book. And proceeded to literally wear out records and cheap phonographs. No lessons of any kind. Just a book full of chord diagrams. No music theory either. You could buy funky “song books” for a quarter that had maybe one country song in them … all they showed was the melody line, the lyrics and the chords over the melody line. So the ONLY way to learn a song was to LISTEN to it over and over and over.

    • cowboy

      good advise…still a lot of songs out there based on the I-IV-V…later.

      cowboy

    • markrh

      every email you send seems to coincide with exactly where I am at. Just returned from 3 days away and didn’t have a guitar with me. I realized that I hadn’t been listening to any music lately, I had just been practicing. Have already planned an addition to my practice routine to include an hours worth of just listening.
      Thank you, Griff.

    • Steve

      Wait a minute, did you just tell me to “stop and smell the roses” in a musical context? Well played, sir! And I agree, if you haven’t really, really listened attentively to the individual and collective components of the songs you listen to, you won’t be able to derive as much useful knowledge from them when you start trying to create music of your own.

      • PAUL

        I GET WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT. THE ONLY TIME I LISTEN TO MUSIC IS IN THE CAR. I DON’T DRIVE THAT MUCH. KJAZZ 88.1. GRIFF I KNOW YOU LIKE THE BLUES . THEY PLAY IT ALL DAY ON THE WEEKENDS. YOU LOST ME WITH THE MUSIC THERORY. I HAVE TO LISTEN TO A SONG BEFORE I KNOW WHERE THE CHANGES ARE. THEN I HUM T IN MY HAD. JUST GET STUCK ON THE TURN AROUNDS AND I DON’T HAVE RECORDER. SO HOW DO I KNOW HOW I SOUND? I HAVE TO ADMIT I HAVE NOT BEEN PLAYING LIKE I USE TOO. TOO MANY PROBLEMS IN MY LIFE RIGHT NOW. YOUR LITTLE WING DEMO AND I ALSO HAVE THE DVD LESSON I PICKED UP MY ACOUSTIC AND DID THEM FROM MEMORY . I’M DUMB FOUNDED RIGHT NOW AND MY GUITAR DOES NOT CALL ME. JUST TO MUCH ON MY PLATE. THANK YOU FOR THIS SUGGESTION. TK GRIFF. PAUL D.

    • DaveyJoe

      Excellent advice Griff. This is the only way to listen. You get more enjoyment out of it too.

    • Mark S.

      I am with you there, Griff. When I started in the 60’s, I bought my record albums and nearly wore the grooves out lifting the needle up and setting it back down just to work out a particular finger-picking. I’m sure my parents and siblings might have gone a little crazy (could explain a few things ;-)). Also helped getting lyrics down at the same time. So when I started playing at our campus coffee house, I had over 100 songs committed to memory. And since I didn’t always duplicate their pickings perfectly, I learned to “make it work”, sort of. One thing I didn’t learn was counting; everything was by feel. That’s my biggest hurdle right now. Have several of your courses and that is helping a lot. Just wish I could practice more….

    • tony

      I think that i understand. Lately I will listen to music while at my work with headphones real ones noise caceling type . Sometimes I will hear some part of the song I never heard before . Guess im not listening very well . The trick is to listen very carefully . If I want to learn some tune I will play it over an over to get it. And I always look up the tune on the you tube and see how others play it . Just to see if I really got it. Some times I am suprised to find that I am off by SINGLE OCTIVE so listen listen poeple . some of the time pros will step down the tuning just to confuse matters . OR even capo up but this i have learned to figure it out . Yesterday I left a responce saying sweet home alabama, werewolves of london but left out all summer long by kid rock listen to these songs { just tempo diffrences }. Also try listening to Desire U2 and rocking in the USA and also a beaver brown TUNE on the darkside . Stones tunes last time and cant you hear me knocking the lics are in E . My 2 cents . PLAY ON AND TAKE THE BREAK AND LISTEN TO THE MUSIC which is a cool tune as well .

    • Sandra Mahony

      Great advice , I practice a lot with tracks from c.d. that I dont know very well and then figure out the cords by listening, and also try my capo on different frets, to get a different set of chords.

    • Anthony Ingoglia

      What I found that helped me is that I wrote a simple 12 bar blues song. Then I sing it, real slow at first, while I play. It forces you to focus on where you are in the song. It also helps when soloing. Instead of just playing riffs that work tone-wise, I end up playing riffs that work with the chord I’m playing because I know where I am in the sequence. It brought me to another level. I think I sound more interesting and it is so much more fun.
      In so many situations in life, whether it be speaking in front of people, or preforming in sports or music, getting out our your own way (feeling comfortable) frees you up to be able to express yourself. For me, doing the above drill, made an amazing difference. I’m actually thinking ahead of where I am in the song. That was new to me and made an enormous difference.

      • Drew

        Anthony,
        THAT is a great suggestion….I am gonna try that.

        Griff,
        Thanks again for all you do (esp. for free)

    • Dan Kaufman

      How did you guess? The right post at the right time!

    • Michael Hughes

      I do this all the time and it amazes me that some guitarists cannot pick out the form from a track. You should be able to pick a 12bar out from a song you’ve never heard before. Once you can do that, improv becomes your friend and you can jam at a moments notice – confidence, playability and enjoyment rocket through the roof at this stage in your learning

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