Ear Training Bootcamp for Guitar Players

> I have a lot of ideas for solos and stuff to make/play, but I can't translate them to the guitar. Are there any exercises/courses I should do to improve this?

I think you are talking about Ear Training - strengthening the link between what you hear in your head and what your fingers play, right?

Ultimately this will allow you to translate what you hear in your head onto the directly fretboard. And as you can imagine, its a powerful skill to have. It takes time and practice – like anything – but this kind of audiation development really pays dividends.

But you have to use your voice. Seriously, it doesn't work without you singing or humming - creating the same muscle memory that you use for your fingers but for your throat

If you're a total newb, here are some methods to try.

1. Sing/hum a single note, give yourself 3 tries to find it on your guitar. With every try sing the note again and ask yourself "Is my note higher or lower than the note I just played on my guitar?" Remember there's only 12 notes in music so if you really suck and dont get it after 3 attempts, theres only 9 more notes to try.

2. Repeat with 2 notes. You could also attempt 1 with a friend with them singing the note and you trying to find it.

3. Swap around. Play a note on your guitar and give yourself a few attempts to recreate that same note with your voice

4. Attempt to locate the first few notes of a melody you know really well: Happy birthday is a common choice, as are nursery rhymes and other songs deeply embedded in your brain since childhood. With each of the melody notes ask yourself "Is the next note in this melody higher or lower than the previous note?"

5. Attempt the whole melody.

6. Using the same method, attempt to locate the melody of a song you know e.g. the opening licks of Gravity by John Mayer. Listen then sing the notes you can hear, nail the first note and take the rest a couple at a time.

Those are some practical things you can do. But there's also a knowledge component that will make things easier.

• Learn and sing the major scale, and learn the scale degrees

• Learn the intervals

• Relate the intervals to melodies of songs you know

• Listen to chords and label them with an adjective that describes how it sounds. Major being happy and minor being sad are a given but what about Min7, Dominant7 and Major 7s? My adjectives for these are: soulful, sassy and summery, but you'll have your own.

This is by no means an exhaustive list but I hope that gives you a few pointers.

I also want to stress that the sooner you work on this aspect of your playing, the faster other aspects will improve.

There's a few courses like this Ear Training Bootcamp for Guitar Players around. See what's best for you.