So I wanna improve my tone hearing because it sucks very badly. I want to try to pick up some songs by ear.
What are some easy songs to pick up by ear? Preferably in standard tuning.

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Judas Priest....Most is very easy.


If you like that kind of Stuff....which I do very much.

Try some Iron Maiden stuff. The "British Heavy Metal" thing uses less distorted stuff, and thus, easier to distinguish the note, IMO. I'm shit at ear too. Which is why I do not tab for this site.

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most metallica is pretty easy to pick up, even the solos.

I dunno kinda weird, but one of the first songs I figured out by ear was "Powerslave" by Maiden. But yeah, something like the rhythm to "The Trooper" is simple to figure out.

As terrible as they are now, Kirk Hammet was a very articulate lead guitarist back when they were good.

Fear Factory - Replica

That one was the first one I picked up by ear.....it's not hard at all.

Start with songs in Standard tuning. The notes tend to be a lot more articulate and blend in a lot less than that of a lower tuning.

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Learn your E minor (open) scale, then move onto some songs by this kind of band and you'll soon pick things up. Knowing the songs generally are derived from this scale, you'll also pick up intervals and become accustomed to it.

As you pick up the intervals, you'll start to 'feel' certain ones between notes without even thinking, such as I'm sure a lot of people on here have that 'skill' when they hear lovely minor thirds. Being able to determine the next interval will increase your learning process's speed as you're able to predict where the next note will be. For learning these, scales or 'popular riffs' are generally good. The few handy of remembering some of the intervals are things like remembering:

1/2 tone - Easy to remember from the intro to Beethoven's Fur Elise
(2frets)full tone - I know this one through the many hair metal-esque riffs of learning Yngwie Malmsteen stuff, where this is often played amongst a pedal: a--5h7--
minor 3rd - Learn some cannibal corpse and you're hooked. Until then work on them by learning to do minor third trills, and the interval's 'harmony' will soon be clear.
4th - The interval in the 'wedding song' - derrr...da-da-daaahhh
Aug4th - Has a very distinct sound, a good song to show it is "The Negation" by Decapitated.
5th - You'll know this from playing powerchords and will feel the distinct 'lift' it provides to it's previous note.
8th - octave. Remember this from many cheesy disco lines (dum-DE-dum-DE-dum-DE etc) as well as TV gameshows etc


(Some may require down tuning)

Iron Maiden
Slayer
Metallica
Megadeath

Besides that kind of music, look into some of the cheesy hair-metal acts, they too love that scale. Can't think of many, but look at LA guns etc...

The first riff I ever figured out was part of the soundtrack to Caslevania

Sorry for such a long post. I'm home bound with the bubble-guts

I can relate to this ... I can't get enough of harmonized minor thirds, especially in trill form w/riffs.

i dont really know how to explain wut to do, but this is how i did it. when i first started playing,, i got tabs for Nothing Else Matters, from metallica. i learned the first part, and sorta corresponded w/ octaves and all the figure out stuff(since i never took lessons) and u just pretty much take the slower songs and find the right notes, and eventually u can start to figure out the faster stuff, and guitar solos. a way to help find out the guitar solos is to try and figure out wut scale the person is using and learn how he mixes it up. u could also get a system that slows the song down while keeping the same pitch.

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Some of the first songs that I figured myself out in their entirety were Amon Amarth songs. They're not really fast so it's easy to figure out the riffs. Metallica or anything else with an assload of powerchords is pretty easy to pick up by ear, but why do that when pretty much all of their songs have been tabbed for you already. Just go find some song you really like that hasn't been tabbed, know what tuning it's in, and sit down with your guitar and have patience. Move your fingers all over the fretboard and try every single fuckin' note til you find what they're playing. Eventually you'll pick up stuff a lot faster.

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That's right...and the cheesy hair metal of the 80's is among my favorite stuff.
LA Guns is very easy as is Guns & Roses.
I learned the rhythm for every song on Appetite For Destruction within one or two tries.

How about any Frank Zappa stuff?

Yeah i am only kidding, that stuff is the hardest. Steve Vai did an entire album when he was 18-19, which many of you may know.

But to relate to topic, my teacher suggested to start out, which worked amazingly, just carry your guitar around and try to tab out different things you hear. The radio, TV, and especially video games. My sis was playing sonic and i got some of the cool themes from there going. That was all when i started out, but as you get better, something that will be less boring, try getting peoples tabs, finding a problem area, then work out fixing it. It comes up much much more than you think, even on those so called '5 star' tabs that are rated by the members.

[QUOTE=deifiler]Learn your E minor (open) scale, then move onto some songs by this kind of band and you'll soon pick things up. Knowing the songs generally are derived from this scale, you'll also pick up intervals and become accustomed to it.

As you pick up the intervals, you'll start to 'feel' certain ones between notes without even thinking, such as I'm sure a lot of people on here have that 'skill' when they hear lovely minor thirds. Being able to determine the next interval will increase your learning process's speed as you're able to predict where the next note will be. For learning these, scales or 'popular riffs' are generally good. The few handy of remembering some of the intervals are things like remembering:

1/2 tone - Easy to remember from the intro to Beethoven's Fur Elise
(2frets)full tone - I know this one through the many hair metal-esque riffs of learning Yngwie Malmsteen stuff, where this is often played amongst a pedal: a--5h7--
minor 3rd - Learn some cannibal corpse and you're hooked. Until then work on them by learning to do minor third trills, and the interval's 'harmony' will soon be clear.
4th - The interval in the 'wedding song' - derrr...da-da-daaahhh
Aug4th - Has a very distinct sound, a good song to show it is "The Negation" by Decapitated.
5th - You'll know this from playing powerchords and will feel the distinct 'lift' it provides to it's previous note.
8th - octave. Remember this from many cheesy disco lines (dum-DE-dum-DE-dum-DE etc) as well as TV gameshows

Besides that kind of music, look into some of the cheesy hair-metal acts, they too love that scale. Can't think of many, but look at LA guns etc...

Out of all the posts in this thread, the above quoted is the best advice , NOT TO KNOCK ANY OTHERs OK SNIPERS
Simply put learn your scales , learn your theory , then you will be able to start slowly at first but with practice start recognizing patterns .
Most music is predictable , not all obviously , but generally shit has to follow a pattern , thats why if you know your modes and know for instance the key of G major what chords and notes make up that key. you begin to see patterns , obviously people put in passing notes or notes that really dont fit on occasion to spice it up .
basically once you learn your theory and your scales figuring out a song gets easier , it does take alot of practice to ear train , just like anything else practice practice
good luck

ok thank you all so much for some very good advices

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most of the opeth songs are easy to figure out by ear.... especially blackwaterpark (Drapery Falls or Funeral Portrait).... two songs which I even figured out after having only played to months of guitar...

The last song I figured out is virtual emotions by martyr...
easy too

If you like fusion you should try Karcius.... they have easy riffs and solos...

If your more jazz orientated then try to play "You Speak my Language" by John Scofield & Pat Metheny from the album "I Can See Your House From Here"
good jazz

if you want to try diffrent tunings, I can only say, figure out Ram-Zet - Intra....
very easy riffs, only the solos are hard....

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the first song I did (and one of the few) was black sabbth's sweet leaf. thats a really simple one to figuer out
i kinda stumbled apoun one of the riffs then from theire figuerd out the rest of the song

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i think some vai stuff is great for ear playing like:
wispering a prayer and liberty. great melodys that are easy to remeber

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I think its important to know a tad of theory and have some knowledge of the modes , then its a easier task to try and train your ears .

Without that

Its like just getting into a car without having knowledge of how to operate any of the equipment such as brakes or the steering wheel etc the result is you will probably crash .

Most of music is formulaic , follows recognized patterns , really trained musicians can break those rules , but they dont do it willynilly They are schooled so they know how to do it and quickly resolve back . otherwise it sounds like shit .

Learn your scales learn your keys ,Then it will be lot easier to figure stuff out , Today they have gadgets that slow riffs down to make it easier for you

And to the Dude who figures out Vai can you really figure Vai stuff by ear , then you got a great ear if you can.

some Morbid Angel isn't too hard to figure out, songs like Immortal Rites or Rapture. Rapture was the first song I figured out by ear.

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almost everything from ac/dc and black sabbath

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I must be in a room with some musical genuises , Cause alot of the stuff , like morbid angel , vai are very technically difficult .

Without proper training your not figuring out many songs except for the simplest .
So to all those that claim to figure out yngwie and COB and whatever , either you really are prodigys or have perfect pitch or you really know your theory scales and all.

So do yourself a favor , learn the scales learn theory and thats half your battle , Look in conclusion Im sure theyre our guys in here that have unbelievable ears.
I had a friend who wasnt really a schooled musician but a great great guitar player , He could hear something once and voila be playing it.
he figured out Rushs song trees in like 20 minutes
He could play segovia , The fuck was exceptionally gifted and I hated him because he was so good. he had god given ability. Most of us dont , So learn the scales learn theory it will help your ears.
good luck