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Lately I’ve been doing an exercise in ear training while playing guitar and it’s really improved my listening and lead guitar playing ability. I’ve been listening to songs that I’m familiar with while playing the vocal melodies on the guitar.
Start with something easy. “Get up stand up” by Bob Marley or the chorus of Louie Louie by The Kingsmen could be a good place to start…or pick a song that you have stuck in your head already and can sing the melody to. If you’re a beginner or intermediate guitar player, practice finding a few notes and pausing the track to find them and play slowly. Don’t worry if you hit the wrong notes; that’ll happen A LOT in the beginning and improve over time. Keep trying and find fun songs that you want to practice with.