Ear Training for Guitarists
Hear it, name it. Short rounds of interval and chord recognition on a guitar-like tone, with a streak to keep and a list of what you keep missing.
How to Use the Ear Trainer
- Pick Intervals or Chord types, and a level. The answer buttons show only the options in that level, so beginner rounds are a choice between five sounds, not thirteen.
- For intervals, choose whether the notes go up, down, or sound together. For chords, choose strummed or picked one note at a time. Mixed draws from all of them.
- Press Start. Listen, then choose. You get the answer immediately, and a song cue if you missed an interval.
- Press Next and keep going. The score, streak, and your best-ever streak sit above the question.
Why Intervals First
An interval is the distance between two notes, and every melody, riff, and chord is built from them. If you can hear that a phrase rises a perfect 4th and then falls a major 2nd, you can find it on the neck without hunting. If you can hear a major 3rd inside a chord, you know it is major before your fingers move.
Guitarists have a head start here. Standard tuning is four perfect 4ths and one major 3rd — you hear those intervals every time you tune by ear. A power chord is a perfect 5th. The Beginner level starts from exactly those sounds and adds names to them.
Every Interval and Its Song Cue
These are the cues the trainer shows. Each tune starts with the interval in question, so singing the first two notes gives you the sound. They are approximate — cues are scaffolding, not the goal.
| Interval | Semitones | Ascending | Descending |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minor 2nd m2 | 1 | Jaws theme | Für Elise (opening) |
| Major 2nd M2 | 2 | Happy Birthday | Mary Had a Little Lamb |
| Minor 3rd m3 | 3 | Greensleeves | Hey Jude |
| Major 3rd M3 | 4 | When the Saints Go Marching In | Swing Low, Sweet Chariot |
| Perfect 4th P4 | 5 | Here Comes the Bride | Eine kleine Nachtmusik |
| Tritone TT | 6 | The Simpsons theme | the same, falling |
| Perfect 5th P5 | 7 | Twinkle, Twinkle / Star Wars | Flintstones theme |
| Minor 6th m6 | 8 | The Entertainer (3rd–4th notes) | Love Story theme |
| Major 6th M6 | 9 | My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean | Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen |
| Minor 7th m7 | 10 | Somewhere (West Side Story) | Watermelon Man |
| Major 7th M7 | 11 | Take On Me (chorus) | I Love You (Cole Porter) |
| Octave P8 | 12 | Somewhere Over the Rainbow | Willow Weep for Me |
Hearing Chord Types
A chord's type is decided by one or two notes. Major and minor differ only in the 3rd — one semitone. That is the whole Beginner level, and it is the most useful distinction in music. Intermediate adds the two unstable triads, diminished and augmented, plus sus4, which has no 3rd at all. Advanced brings in the sevenths: dominant, major, and minor.
Try both playback modes. A strummed chord is how you will meet it in a song; an arpeggio lets you hear each note land, which is how to work out why it sounds the way it does. If you miss a chord, replay it as an arpeggio and listen for the 3rd.
Using the Weak-Spot List
Once you have answered a question type at least four times, the trainer starts scoring it, and anything under 80% shows up under the game. This is the useful part. Most people have two or three intervals they consistently confuse — minor and major 6ths, or the tritone and the perfect 5th — and the fix is to drill just those, side by side, until they separate.
Nothing leaves your browser. There is no account and no server; the stats are local storage, like a saved game.
From Ears to Fingers
Once an interval is reliably yours, take it to the neck. Play it on one string, then across two, then find it inside a chord using the chord finder to check your work. And tune first — the chromatic tuner is a click away — because a guitar that is ten cents out teaches your ear the wrong thing.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long should I practise ear training each day?
Five to ten minutes, daily, beats an hour once a week by a wide margin. Recognition is a memory skill, and memory consolidates between sessions, not during them. A round of twenty questions here takes about three minutes.
Which level should I start on?
Beginner, even if you have played for years. It covers the intervals you already know from tuning and power chords — 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, and the octave — and the point is to attach the name to the sound you already recognise. Move up when you are above 90% for a few days running.
What are the song cues for?
Every interval is the opening of some tune you know. A rising perfect 4th is the start of Here Comes the Bride; a rising major 6th is My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean. When you miss an interval, the trainer shows you the cue for it. Use it as a crutch until you no longer need it — most people stop needing it within a couple of weeks.
Why is the tone a plucked string instead of a piano or a beep?
Because you are training to hear these on a guitar. Overtones differ between instruments and change how an interval feels; the trainer uses the same plucked-string synthesis as our chord library so the sounds match what you will hear from your own instrument.
Where is my progress stored?
In your browser only. The best streak and per-answer accuracy live in local storage on this device — nothing is sent to us, and there is no account. Clearing site data resets it.
What do the keyboard shortcuts do?
R replays the question, N or Enter moves to the next one, and the number keys 1 to 9 choose an answer in the order shown. You can do a whole round without touching the mouse.