First of all, in western music theory there are only twelve notes to choose from to pick the key that a song is in. The key of a song refers to a common note that relates to all of the other notes in the song. This note is called the root note, and if you play it over the song you will see how it fits with the rest of the music.
In order to find the root note you must try and sing it whilst listening to the song and then pick it out on the guitar simply by moving up the frets until you reach the desired note. There are other notes that you might hear at the same time, as in each key there are eight notes that fit with the harmony and make up the octave. Out of these the stand out notes are the 3rd, the 5th (or dominant) chord and, of course, the root note. You will know what the difference is with a little more practice, as you will soon come to hear that none of them has the same 'release' effect or cadence as the root note.
Once you have found the root note you will know what key it is in. For example, if you have heard a note and then discovered when finding it on the guitar that it is C, you can conclude that you are in the key of C.
Now, as I said above in each key there are 8 notes that correspond with the root note. If we use C as our example again, you will see that with C there is also: D, E, F, G, A, B, and C again an octave higher. So you can conclude that once you have discovered the key note to be C you will be able to use all of those other notes with the song. Similarly, if you have listened in and sung a root note and by finding it on your guitar deciphered that it is a D you will be able to use a D, E, F#, G, A, B, C# and the D an octave higher. These notes are all notes of the root note's major scale.
In order to help you remember this it is better if you can remember each of those notes in the scale as a number. Otherwise, you would have to memorise all of the note names in C, then all of them in G, and D and so on. However, if you remember them as numbers it is easier to then move the scale around to correspond to the selected root note. In the key of C we can number them as follows: C=1, D=2, E=3, F=4, G=5, A=6, B=7. Try doing the same for D.
From this it is now important to learn all of the chords that correspond to the collection of notes in the major scale. The chords likewise follow a pattern: 1=Major, 2=Minor, 3=Minor, 4=Major, 5=Dominant 7, 6= Minor, 7= Minor7b5. This sequence is the same for every major scale. So if we look at C once again, the chords are as follows: C major, D minor, E Minor, F major, G Dominant7, A minor and B minor7b5. Let's also try D so you can see how the pattern relates there: D major, E minor, F# minor, G major, A Dominant7, B minor and C#minor7b5. Play them through over and over so that you can hear how the harmony moves through the chords before eventually resolving itself when you come back to the C an octave higher.
As you can see the pattern of chords and notes doesn't change although the root notes do. Therefore, you do not have to learn every combination of notes at this point. Simply remember them as numbers and in terms of the sequence of chords in the major scale. Then it becomes easy to move them around into alternative keys. Try this with a few other keys.
So, to tie all this back into playing by ear, every time you are able to pick it out the root note to a song you should have a map in your head of all of the other notes that you can use by virtue of the fact that you know the sequence of chords to that corresponding scale. In this article I have used the major scale as an example of how these patterns help with ear training, but this method follows for minor keys to. Once you have the root note and the sequence of chords in your head with practice and experience you can begin to play along with music as you are listening to it.
For More Information on Scales and to Learn How To Play by Ear visit http://www.guitar4free.com/scales Free Guitar Lessons and Resources at http://www.guitar4free.com/
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