Listening Tips from a Master

A couple of weeks ago we looked at the topic of legitimizing the audiophile hobby through the use of professional ear-training tools.

Admittedly the idea of using test tones, chimes and 10-second instrument samples isn’t the most exciting way to engage someone with the concept of ear training, but they are effective in building necessary listening skills that are essential in the world of pro audio.

Taking a bit of a different, and more fun, approach, you can also use real-world musical instruments for ear training. This method is used regularly by music industry professionals like John Cruz, master builder for the Fender Custom Shop, who is often tasked with recreating iconic Fender products from the 1950s and 1960s.

Cruz has made guitars for musicians like Doug Aldrich, Mick Mars, Richie Sambora and Bono, and highly sought after replicas of Stevie Ray Vaughn’s “SRV” Stratocaster and Yngwie Malmsteen’s 1971 “Play Loud” Stratocaster. As part of the building process Cruz balances playing a guitar, listening and scientific analysis to replicate the sounds of classic Fender products.

“A lot of my creations are based off original instruments from the 1950s and 1960s. It really helps me to visit guitar shops and collectors in the area to gather information on certain years. It [also] helps to be able to measure the resistance of the pick-ups as well,” says Cruz. “Weight, grain patterns and density of wood plays a huge part on the overall tone [of a guitar] as well. This is something that all of us builders are conscious of when creating guitars. Being a musician definitely helps to hear certain sonic differences in the instruments. I’m pretty simple though — if it feels good and resonates well before I even plug it in, I’d say it would be a winner.”

Cruz says that even though the differences in building guitars and listening to music as an audiophile pastime are completely separate skill sets, they both require a trained ear to accomplish the job with credibility.

In addition to his skill as a guitar builder, Cruz is also a guitar player whose style is reminiscent of the late Gary Moore. In most cases, he says, he uses the same listening techniques to build guitars to help transcribe the songs that he performs live. Regardless of how the skill is developed and used, Cruz says the requirements for anyone interested in developing their listening skills are the same. “Stay in school … all joking aside, I really developed my ear very early on. I really did not pick up the guitar until I was 17 so I kind of got a late start. I remember I used to sit in my room for hours and work on side one of Rush’s All the World’s a Stage album,” he recalls. “I practically wore the album out. I always had a guitar in my hands no matter where I was at. I even used to sit in front of the TV and watch my favorite cartoons and TV shows and copy all the music I heard. There wasn’t anything I couldn’t play a few bars of.

"Nowadays it really is a lot easier to learn via the Internet and instructional DVDs — I wish that kind of stuff was around when I was young, and I would say that’s the best place to search now [for instruction]. It is really best however, just to sit down and discipline yourself to learn all the notes and scales that you can. Just go for it.”