Now, how does this translate to guitar?  Well think about it for a moment.  What are you doing when you improvise a solo, be it chords or single lines?  You are composing on the spot!  I have found that it is all in the ears.  I still work on ear training and have found that exercises that I learned years ago are still valid and still helpful in furthering my aural proficiency today.  There are many good methods for training the ears.  I am a guitarist, but could not stress enough the importance of working the ears from an acoustic piano.  A reasonably well-tuned piano is unbending, clear and concise for finding accurate pitches.  One exercise that has proven quite useful to me has been this:
Play a simple cadence :  I, IV, V, I on the piano, let’s say in the key of C, to get that tonality and all it’s relative pitches into your “hearing”.  Take a pencil with a good eraser on the end and strike a random note with the eraser on the piano without looking at the keys.  Now say the pitch you’re hearing out loud.  Do this over and over.  Be aware of the intervals that cause you grief--the ones that you seem to miss most of all.  Those are the pitches you have to learn to “hear”.  As you progress you can add a second pencil (a second pitch), a third and so on.  (DO NOT advance to more than one pencil at a time until you are getting it right ALL THE TIME.  When you’re confident you can find any single pitch THEN move onto two pencils, and so on.)  Be certain to replay the cadence between each or every few pencil hits of the piano to reinforce the key of the moment.  But as you progress, you’ll be able to hear pitches/intervals without even having to reinforce the cadence.  That’s when you know your “hearing” has really matured.

Another great exercise has been to pick a pitch, let’s say “Ab”, on the guitar.  Sing the note “Ab” with a good breath.  Now, as you play random chords on the guitar (or piano) sing the note “Ab” and hold it through the successive chords.  As you do this, learn to “hear” the different colors created between your “Ab” and any/all of the intervals of the random chord of the moment.  Notice the varying degrees of brightness or darkness between your pitch and the chord of the moment.  This will force you to learn to listen to melody against harmony in a more nonstandard fashion.  It gets rid of any preconceived directions you may have normally developed and opens your mind up to many new possibilities of melodic and harmonic development that you may not have thought of before.  Obviously, not all the chords you play will work with the pitch you’re singing, but this too will help you identify what works and what doesn’t.

Finally, a last exercise that is great for your ears:  Record yourself playing a random chord progression.  You can use any type of chords you wish, in any sequence.  However, try and keep the rhythm simple and steady, preferably somewhat slow (I use one chord per bar).  The goal is to visualize shapes in your head and to “hear” where you’re going, so playing a progression fast is somewhat useless.  You can increase the speed as you get better, but there will really never be any point in playing it too quickly.  OK, you’ve got your random chords recorded on a tape player, computer, or what have you.  Now push “play” and improvise over the random suite.  Remember, the goal is to visualize shapes in your head and glide through the chord changes--like riding over waves on an ocean.  It’s a challenge and it’s a lot of fun.  And most importantly, it’s great for your ears.  Even if you don’t think you’re getting anything from it, believe me you are!

There are many factors in being a good listener and there are many ways to listen.  The above exercises are meant for anyone trying to become a better identifier of sound colors in music, and ultimately become a better improviser.  If you are a beginner musician however, I would highly suggest that you seek out a good ear training educator to really get the most benefit.  Being a good reader of music is another way one can reinforce “hearing” rhythm and pitches.  That’s another can of worms we’ll open later on.

© 2007 Bob Dee

Editor's note:
Bob Dee has performed with such luminaries as Ronald Shannon Jackson, Dave Douglas, Charlie Thomas of the Drifters, and with the Belzonics behind Law and Order actor and comedian Richard Belzer, to name a few.  Dee has produced and released two CDs under his own name and has toured Europe, Asia and the U.S. performing in major festivals, clubs and on live radio broadcasts.  Dee has also performed on countless radio and television commercials, has composed for television, including Martha Stewart Living and written for music libraries as well.  Dee currently lives in New York City and teaches guitar at the renowned Harlem School of the Arts.

Bob's websites are:

                    bobdee.com
                    myspace.com/bobdeetunes