Guitar Legends - Learned by Ear

The Story of the Broken Radio

B. B. King grew up poor in rural Mississippi. When he was a kid, he didn't own records or have music lessons. But his family had a broken battery-powered radio. The tuning knob was stuck between two stations which meant he couldn't clearly get either station. Instead, he got two stations at once. One gospel, the other country blues mixed together in a ghostly, crackly mess.

B. B. King - The Thrill is Gone - Watch on YouTube

B. B. King said "I was hearing one thing out of one station and another thing out of the other. I couldn't tell where one ended and the other began. That's how I learned to play my own way." He listened to the weird hybrid music and tried to imitate both lines at once on his guitar. The result was his signature call-and-response style where his guitar answers his voice.

The One Record Story

Keith Richards has said he really learned guitar because of one single record which was Chuck Berry's 'Johnny B. Goode.' But here's the thing: He didn't have guitar lessons. He didn't have any chord books. He didn't have anyone to show him. He had one battered 45 rpm single he bought with his pocket money. And a cheap Harmony acoustic guitar with a broken string that buzzed. He played the record over and over. Literally hundreds of times. He said: "I must have driven the neighbours crazy. I would lift the needle. Play it again. Lift the needle. Play it again."

Keith Richards - Jumpin Jack Flash - Watch on YouTube

He wasn't trying to memorize 'notes on a staff.' He was trying to sound exactly like Chuck Berry. "I would listen to those licks, then try to get my fingers to do them. Over and over. Until they did. I wasn't thinking about notes. I was just matching the noise." He didn't just copy Chuck Berry's notes. He absorbed his phrasing. That signature Chuck Berry double-stop slide became Keith's own signature Rolling Stones riff style.

Learn Your Favourite Riffs by Ear

With the Guitar Riff app, you can learn the best ever riffs by ear. You can slow it down, transpose and focus on a few notes at a time. This is what the guitar legends did with their favourite songs. But instead of using radios, records and tape players, we can now use mobile phones.

You can use the app as a simulator or with a real guitar

You listen to the app playing a few notes then you copy it. The app tells you whether you are correct or not.

Focus on particular sections within the song to learn.

Slowing down the riff and other settings to make it easy to learn by ear.

1000s of the best ever riffs to choose from.

His Grandmas Record Player

When Eric Clapton was about 13, he had no lessons and no ability to read music. He got his first cheap acoustic guitar (a Kay archtop) as a Christmas present. But he found it incredibly hard to play: "The strings were high, it hurt my fingers, and I could hardly play anything." He nearly gave up because there were no teachers in his Surrey village, and he had no musical education. But he had access to a Dansette record player (a small portable British record player of the era) and a few blues 45s such as Muddy Waters, Big Bill Broonzy, and some early rock and roll.

Eric Clapton - Layla - Watch on YouTube

He would sit in his grandmother's sitting room, alone, putting the same record on over and over. He describes: "I played those records until they wore out." He listened so carefully he would anticipate every note. He would try to match the note on his guitar. Then repeat it dozens of times until it sounded right. He had no idea about scales or written notation. He just heard a note, found it on the fretboard and played it over and over.

Chords as Sound Words

Jimi Hendrix couldn't formally read or write music, and his theory knowledge was intuitive, not academic. He knew how chords worked by sound and shape on the guitar. But he didn't usually know (or care) about their formal names like 'E7#9' or 'Cmaj7.' Instead, he described chords in sound-words. Bandmates have told multiple variations on this classic scenario.

Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze - Watch on YouTube

Jimi would play a chord on his guitar, then say to Billy on bass: "Play this chord here. It's like... dark, but pretty on top." Or "It's that dreamy one." Or "It's like clouds moving." Or "It's the dirty one!" ('E7#9') He'd demonstrate it, not name it and expected them to listen and find it on their instruments.

Record Player Could Only Play at a Slow Speed

Jimmy Page was the legendary guitarist and founder of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. Jimmy Page got his first real guitar around age 12. He didn't have any formal guitar teacher. He learned from listening and he credits British skiffle records and American blues 78s for teaching him. He would literally wear out records on his family's old turntable. He'd lift the needle, drop it back, over and over on the same bar. He would listen so intently he'd memorize the phrasing before even trying it on guitar. He described this in interviews: I'd hear a lick, then stop the record, find it on the fretboard. Then play it until it sounded exactly the same."

Jimmy Page - Whole Lotta Love - Watch on YouTube

"I learned everything by ear. You couldn't buy sheet music for Muddy Waters or Elmore James. You had to listen. And that was the best education." Like many 50s/60s British kids, Page discovered American 78 rpm blues records. But his British record player could switch speeds to handle the those 78 rpm records. He'd play a 78 at 45 or 33 rpm. It would drop the pitch and the tempo. This let him hear fast runs slowed down. He could catch finger positions, bends, and vibrato details. He described it like being able to 'see inside' the solo.

The School Janitor Guitar Story

When he was around 14, Kurt finally got his first guitar. A cheap pawnshop model his uncle bought him. It had a single pickup and was falling apart. Kurt didn't know any chords. No one in his family played. He had no books or teacher. And he didn't read music. A school janitor named Warren Mason showed him the basics. Kurt pestered him in the school hallway until he agreed to show him. Warren Mason taught him. How to tune the guitar roughly, power chords (two-note shapes), the riff to Louie Louie by The Kingsmen and a couple of basic bar chords.

Kurt Cobain - Come As You Are - Watch on YouTube

That was it. "That was all I needed. Once I could play 'Louie Louie,' I could figure out anything." He heard that so many other punk songs used the same shapes, just shifted around the neck. He didn't know theory. He just listened and matched what he heard on records. He once described his writing process: "I just move my fingers until it sounds good." He never cared about correct chord names. He cared about the emotional sound.

Dad modified the Tape Player

John Squire's Dad helping him slow down tapes. When John was a teenager learning guitar in Manchester, he wanted to work out complicated guitar solos from records. His dad helped him modify a tape recorder so it would play half-speed. This slowed the music down one octave, making fast guitar parts much easier to hear and figure out note by note.

John Squire - Fools Gold - Watch on YouTube

Slowing down solos this way is a classic old-school trick (pre-digital!). This enabled John to train his ear carefully. Listening for phrasing, bends, vibrato, and fingerings that were too fast to catch at normal speed.

Broken Foot was Turning Point

In the late 1980s, before Oasis, Noel was working as a roadie for the Inspiral Carpets, a Manchester indie band. He'd help haul gear, set up amps and tune guitars. But one day on tour in America, he broke his foot falling off stage steps while loading gear. He couldn't do any roadie work but instead of being fired, they made him the receptionist at their studio and HQ. He literally sat behind the phone all day answering calls and doing paperwork. Noel Gallagher described it: "I sat there with my leg up on a stool, a phone on the desk, and my guitar. I'd sit there for hours just writing songs. No one rang or bothered me. I was getting paid to sit there. I wrote Live Forever, Columbia, Up In the Sky and all those songs there."

Noel Gallagher - Wonderwall - Watch on YouTube

Noel had no formal music training. Couldn't read music, didn't know chord names except by the shapes and learned everything by ear. He played along to The Beatles, Stones, T. Rex and Stone Roses songs. He found chords that sounded right by moving fingers around and using a capo to change keys without knowing theory. He said: "If I hadn't broken my foot, I'd never have written those songs. That's when I became a songwriter." By the time he joined Liam and the others to form Oasis, he had a full album of ready-made songs.