If you can, how well can you do it? How long have you been practicing your ears?
If you can't, why not?
Others, YO MAMA

Some people are born more musically inclined than others. This includes having perfect pitch/being able to sight read well.

That being said, I don't think that guitar really teaches musical fundamentals the way being classically trained will.

I tab out every song I learn usually.
And I never really practiced I guess, I just took songs I liked and worked on tabbing them out cuz I really wanted to learn them.

It was always just easy for me. Not trying to be prideful, just explaining how it's been for me.

I mean i can transcribe very basic songs right now. i can't figure out songs that have notes in 1/16 or anything crazy, but I can figure out single note melodies or solos.

Truth be told I was listening to Flo Rida's Whistle song, and I was trying to figure out that little guitar melody that repeats during the whole song. I found the basenotes easily, but I couldn't figure out the rest. Eventually, I looked them up on youtube and was disappointed on how simple it was, but how I couldn't figure the notes out.

i can, tho i havent done it often. thats part of what got me back into trying to produce music, actually. i was messing around with the piano at work and figured out the piano part for my chemical romance - welcome to the black parade. i figured if i could figure that out, i could probably figure out some of the music in my head and play/produce it.

I can - but I am seriously lazy when it comes to sitting down for a song, so i'll find the root of a riff and just kinda play with that.

If I sat down and worked at it, I could play by ear. But I refuse to put that effort in xD

Anyone have tips for breaking down chords by ear? I was trying to learn the intro for Sister Golden Hair by America and ended up looking at tabs because i couldnt figure it out.

i don't have perfect pitch but people rarely do. and it's not that useful in the world of music.
learning to tab out a song (assuming this is for guitar) is an acquired skill. it helps to have been introduced into theory while you're young.

as for chords by ear. learn the barred major chords of every root note on the low-E and A strings. once you have that figured out, you can change the chord into minor, or adjust sustains or diminished chords (usually by just changing on note in the chord). pretty simple and fun once you get it. it'll sound awful at first though

This post was edited by rko_evolution on Aug 2 2012 11:02pm

Thanks!

Eventually, after I had played for long enough and learned where every note was on the neck and what it sounded like, it became way easier. I didn't even notice it was easier until I was just playing along with songs I had never heard before. It'll come with practice.