"He plays guitar by ear.
" This is what probably every guitarist dreams of hearing from his or her admirers.
In fact this is one of the most beautiful compliments a guitarist can get.
What exactly is this seemingly magical skill? It means to listen to a song and then play it on your guitar.
Wow! Only an expert can do this.
But don't lose heart.
Experts, too, were beginners at some point of their lives.
And if they can reach a level of playing guitar by ear, so can you.
The Quickest Way To develop this skill, the shortest possible way is to identify with the basic music principles that work behind every hit number.
For this, you need to have a good ear for music for becoming an active participant in music jamming sessions.
Don't get frustrated, if your tutor or any guitarist that you know does not tell you how to play guitar by ear.
They have nothing against you.
The problem actually is they find it difficult, to explain to you how they play by ear.
The guitarists who have mastered this musical skill never considered explaining the "how" part of it.
It just comes naturally to them.
It has been observed that most guitarists who possess this wonderful skill are "illiterate" when it comes to reading typical music notations.
They are also ignorant of the theory that might help them in expressing their skill in the form of some principles of tones and rhythms.
Unfortunately, till today, no musician has penned down this skill into words so that students can read the theory and learn how to play guitar by ear.
On top of it, there is the old wife's tale, which says, "You have either got it or you ain't!" This statement might de-motivate many guitar learners to even try playing by ear.
However, this should not be the case.
Once you gain mastery over the guitar, a time will come when you simply hear a song and you would be able to play it on your guitar! But, one thing is certain - you will have to learn to do it by yourself.
Private Tutors Won't Help If you think your private music instructor will teach you how to learn this skill, you are wrong.
Dig this:

• Most of the guitar tutors teach through traditional books on guitar playing.
  Such tutors can themselves not play by ear, so, it's obvious that they can't teach you.
  
• The courses such tutors teach concentrate on skills like sight reading.
  They pay more attention to technical aspects of playing the guitar such as arpeggios and scales.
  Although they are important elements of guitar playing, they won't help you in learning the art of playing what you hear.
  

People don't care whether you can produce hundreds of practiced songs on your guitar.
The only thing that will make them go "ooh" and "ah" and say "He's a good guitarist" or "She is a great guitarist" is when you play the song THEY want to hear on the spot.
Imagine you are in a party and somebody asks you to play a particular song on your guitar.
What would you do? To avoid falling into embarrassing situations, it's wise to learn to play guitar by ear.