The language of music uses rhythm most of the time. And rhythm doesn’ t always require pitch.
So how do we capture rhythm? In a“ container.” The smallest basic container for a rhythmic pattern or groove is called a measure. And the size of the measure determines how many beats can fit into it.
As you may know, the most common type of measure is a measure of 4 beats, which we count as 1, 2, 3, 4. In the video, I use a metronome to play various combinations of quarter notes and eighth notes at various tempos. Test your ear and see how well you can identify and duplicate the rhythms I play.
Today’ s second ear training concept is melody. My working definition of melody is: notes that string together to make a phrase. A phrase is a collection of notes that has some artistry to it, so typically, several of the notes are different from each other. Playing the same note over and over would be less sonically interesting, right?
With this in mind, I’ ve made up some simple melodies which I demonstrate in the video. Your job is to tell me if those melodies are the
same or different. By the way, they get more and more complicated as we go.
The last ear training concept for today is harmony. In a nutshell, harmony is what happens when more than one note sounds at the same time. And what better way to hear simultaneous notes than in a chord. There are many types of chords, or as we call them qualities of chords, but the two main ones are Major and minor. In the accompanying video, I demonstrate what Major and minor chords sound like, and I test you to see whether you can detect the difference.
Now, if we want to get to know a civilization’ s culture, we will certainly want to explore its music. This is a bit of a generalization, but Major chords tend to evoke happy thoughts, and minor chords tend to sound sad. Here’ s the thing – you can write a sad-sounding song using some Major chords and a happy sounding song using some minor chords, depending on the context.
So with this in mind, in the video, if you hear a chord that sounds rather happy, you can assume it’ s a Major chord, and that if it sounds sad, it’ s probably a minor chord.
I played a Major chord at a conference one time when I was teaching a workshop, and I immediately turned it into a minor chord. One of the students in the class said it sounded like it sort of“ faded” a bit. That was how he put the feeling into words.
Also, although Major and minor chords are the two main qualities of chords, there are lots and lots of different chord qualities to discover, like augmented, diminished, and the various 7 th chords and beyond, to say nothing of inversions. Today’ s discussion is just the beginning, but it’ s a great start.
I encourage you to go back through the video a second or third time and see how much stronger your ear will be at detecting rhythms, melodies and harmony. If you want to reference the time code markings in the description of the video so you can jump to the concepts you want to focus on, I’ ve got those all laid out for you. But get familiar with ear training, and practice so you can get stronger.
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David Harsh David Harsh is a nationally touring worship leader, songwriter and performing artist. He is passionate about equipping guitarists to discover their potential. Learn more and join now at www. GuitarSuccess4U. com June 2025 Subscribe for Free... 63