Do you trust me?
Actually, that's not important right now. Right now, I just need to ask you a few leading questions:
Have you ever wanted to learn a song, only to discover there were no tabs, no lesson videos, and no chord charts anywhere online? Or maybe you've spent 20 minutes searching for the "correct" tab, only to discover there are 17 different versions and they're all wrong?
Do you wish you could hear a song and immediately start figuring it out for yourself instead of waiting for someone else to explain it?
Have you ever learned a song from tabs and thought, "Okay, but how did they figure this out in the first place? And how do we even know it's accurate?"
Do you feel like musicians who can learn songs by ear possess some kind of mysterious superpower that you'll never have?
Do you want a practical, real-world approach that works for guitarists who just want to figure out music they love? (And maybe show-off a little that they can play by ear?)
Have you ever watched someone learn a song by ear in five minutes and felt personally attacked?
Do you secretly suspect that learning songs by ear might be one of the most valuable musical skills you could possibly develop? But deep down do you consider that ear training abilities won't necessarily make you truly happy and satisfied in your interpersonal relationships?
If you answered "yes" to all/most/some/one of these questions, sounds like a skill issue it might be time for you to join me on the path to ear training mastery.
When I first started playing music, I had a friend who could listen to a song one time and immediately play it. Actually, he could hear it less than once, and start playing along mid-song. And this guy was in middle school. It made me so mad, because I couldn't even figure out what the first note was.
So I did what most guitarists do: I relied on tabs.
And don't get me wrong—tabs are great. I learned hundreds of songs from tabs. Maybe thousands. But over time I noticed something...
The musicians I admired most weren't constantly looking things up. They weren't waiting for someone else to upload a lesson video (partly because YouTube didn't exist... but still). They weren't digging through TAB books.
They could just... figure things out.
A riff, a melody, a chord progression, a bass line - it didn't matter. They had developed the ability to listen to music and make sense of it.
And the more I got into music, the more obvious it became that this wasn't some magical talent they were born with.
It was a skill.
So I started working on it. A lot.
But nothing changed! No matter how hard I tried to really hear every note and each chord, I continued to struggle. Honestly, I barely even struggled - I just flat-out failed. For years.
Then, after years of frustration, I finally stumbled upon the truth.
The problem wasn't that my ears were bad. The problem was that I was trying to hear everything.
I thought learning songs by ear meant identifying every note, every chord, every little detail the moment I heard it. But that's not how musicians actually do it.
Great musicians aren't hearing everything. They're hearing and understanding the important things. They know what to listen for, and just as importantly, what not to worry about.
Once I understood that, everything changed.
Today, I learn at least four new songs every week entirely by ear. Chords, melodies, riffs, bass lines, solos (☠️) - whatever I need to learn, I can usually figure it out because I know how to listen for the clues that actually matter.
And that's exactly what I want to teach you, along with encouraging you to practice to perfection.
My goal is to help you do something musicians actually want to do:
Hear a song you love and figure it out for yourself.
Not only is it one of the most useful skills you'll ever develop as a musician, but it level-ups every aspect of your playing. If you aren't playing by ear, are you even playing music?
Now it's time for you to trust me.
(Also, yes, you are still playing music even if you aren't playing by ear. I was just being combative to sound confident.)
START THE COURSE!INTRODUCING
HOW TO LEARN SONGS BY EAR
Why Ear Training Matters
It makes you independent
When you can learn songs by ear, you're no longer dependent on tabs, chord charts, lesson videos, or somebody else doing the work for you. If you hear a song you love, you can start figuring it out immediately.
It dramatically improves your musicianship
Learning songs by ear trains you to hear chord progressions, melodies, rhythms, song forms, and musical patterns. Instead of just playing notes, you start understanding what's actually happening in the music.
It makes learning and memorizing songs easier
When you learn by ear, you're not just memorizing finger movements—you're learning sounds and musical relationships. As a result, songs tend to stick in your memory much longer and make more sense when you revisit them.
It improves your improvisation
Improvisation becomes much easier when your ears know where the music is going. The better you get at recognizing sounds, the easier it becomes to hear ideas in your head and play them on your instrument.
It teaches practical music theory
Learning songs by ear naturally teaches you about keys, intervals, chord function, common progressions, and song structure. Instead of learning theory as a collection of rules, you learn it through real music.
It changes how you listen to music
This might be the biggest benefit of all. Once you start learning songs by ear, music stops sounding like a wall of sound. You begin to hear the individual pieces, recognize familiar patterns, and understand how songs are put together.
And once that happens, you'll never listen to music the same way again.
The ability to learn songs by ear isn't reserved for musical geniuses.
It's a learnable skill.
And if I can learn it, there's a very good chance you can too.
ENROLL NOW
This Course Is For You If You...
- Have always wanted to learn songs by ear, but have no idea where to start.
- Feel completely dependent on tabs, chord charts, and YouTube tutorials.
- Can play songs on guitar, but struggle to figure them out for yourself.
- Want to stop guessing and start understanding what you're hearing.
- Have tried ear training before, but got stuck identifying random intervals and never learned how to apply it to actual music.
- Get frustrated when there are no tabs available for a song you want to learn.
- Would like to learn songs faster, memorize them more easily, and become a more independent musician.
- Want a practical, step-by-step system for figuring out chords, riffs, melodies, and entire songs by ear.
- Would love for someone to walk you through the process instead of telling you to "just use your ears."
- Secretly suspect that learning songs by ear is one of the most important musical skills you could develop.
What's Included...
CORE LESSONS MODULE
Ear Training (12 Lessons)
A step-by-step guide to the fundamentals of ear training, including:
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Finding the key, root movement, and tonality.
- Identifying melody using solfège and scale knowledge.
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Hearing and identifying chord changes based on function.
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User-friendly music theory to understand how it all fits together.
- Understanding song form.
2 ADDITIONAL MODULES
"ACTUALLY LEARNING SONGS" and "WHAT ARE WE DOING HEAR?"
In addition to guiding you on how to practice and process this course, these modules provide real-world examples and plenty of motivation, tips, and extra resources.
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Watch and learn as Stuart learns 2 songs in real time.
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"Learn Any Song in 12 Steps" System.
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The Philosophy of Playing by Ear
- How to Cheat (at playing by ear)
PRACTICE EXERCISES
UNCLE STUART'S JAZZ FAKEBOOK
Practice makes perfect, so get to work!
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Drills for chord progressions, melodies, internals, and more!
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
PRINTABLE HANDOUTS
These handouts provide quick reference and guidance for important concepts and exercises.
- Scale and chord reference charts
- Note name reference
- Helpful external resources list
uPeople of the World, Friends and Relatives,
My name is Stuart Alexander Lehman-Brown
...and I have a complicated relationship with learning songs by ear. I have a complicated relationship with most things.
On one hand, it's one of the most valuable musical skills I've ever developed. On the other hand, it led to countless hours of stopping recordings, rewinding the same five seconds over and over, and repeatedly discovering that the chord I was absolutely certain was correct was, in fact, not correct.
Still, learning songs by ear completely changed the way I understand music. It helped me learn songs faster, memorize them more easily, improvise more confidently, and become far less dependent on tabs and tutorials.
After earning a Bachelor of Music in Contemporary Writing and Production from Berklee College of Music, I settled in the San Francisco Bay Area, where I've performed with bands, recorded and produced multiple albums, and taught over 50,000 lessons.
Now I'm living my best life teaching guitar, learning songs the hard way so you don't have to, walking my dogs, and playing Elden Ring Diablo IV Sudoku.
SIGN UP TODAY!
Tools for Every Guitarist:
How to Learn Songs by Ear
14-DAY MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE
If you aren’t completely satisfied with Beyond Basics: How to Learn Songs by Ear, let us know within the first 14-days for a full refund. No questions asked.