Panterachat

Hey, i've been playing for about 3 years now, practice at least 8 hours a week. I know a couple of scales, and i've figured a few out. But, still to this day my fuckin ear sucks. I can't figure shit out for nothing.... it takes me so god damn long.. im sittin here trying to figure shit out, and my buddy just naturally starts jamming along with anything. He or I have never taken any lessons. I can play pretty much anything you throw at me short of some really hard flamenco songs, but I can't connect scales, or improvise very well. My ear sucks... any recommendations?
im in a huge rut

play along with records.. find the root of a song and try to work with it. there's nothing really you can do though except practice.

turn the distortion up to 11 and play fast as fuck

or that.

ear training.

8 hours a week? Stop playing this instrument.

Just dink around on your instrument. There's no right and wrong way to play guitar or how to learn. I don't know any scales or any modes, I know nothing when it comes to theory except for a tad bit of jazz theory. When you write don't go in wanting to write something, just jam whatever you want and don't worry about scales or how it sounds, as long as you like it, that's all that matters. And why bother learning someone else's music?

You're not gettin the point... I can play, and play very well. My ear just sucks... and I want to learn other peoples music because you get ideas that way, theyre called influences. I don't want to have to read tabs or music, I want to be able to figure it out on my own. I'm in a very good band, with 2 (1 being myself) technical guitarists... stuff we've written, all originals, no covers. I have no problem making my own music, it's just my ear sucks really bad.

shit wrote:8 hours a week? Stop playing this instrument.

wow, you must practice like 6 hours every day

Your friend probably just has a natural ear for hearing pitches. Like some people are naturally gifted singers and others have to work their asses off.

You can learn to recognize chords just by hearing them. It takes some time to get it hammered into your head. You need to figure out songs on your own, not use tablature. This will force you to play what you hear and over time perhaps you will get a better ear.

In the grand scheme of things, 3 years isn't that long to be playing guitar. So keep at it. I've already been at it for 10 years. Damn I'm old.

watch tv or listen to the radio and play along with any simple melody

If you get some backing tracks with the key listings you should be able to jam with them. Start off with the simple pentatonics scale shapes and progress onto more complex ones. If you get a backing track and its - lets say - blues, or something you're not keen on, stick with it because that way you realise how other stuff sprung from the blues and into rock. Just jam with those tracks and practice as much as possible. Two good things to get are
A) Guitar pro 4 http://www.guitar-pro.com/
this has several handy gadgets such as a metronome and a speed training tool. If you use this regularly that should improve your by ear playing.
B) ACM backing tracks. (I am not sure if they have a website, but I do know that they had a freebie disc packed with a variety of tracks with Guitar Techniques a month or so back. I will try and fish out the address for you and then post it sooner or later.) These guys are great for just jamming along to, and they let you know what key you are in, so you dont have to fiddle about for ages. Soon you'll be able to recognise what key you are in with help from these guys.
Well thats about it, hope this has been useful. Laters.