[bender-freak]

i am a "by ear" player almost totally since i only barely read music well enough to be dangerous to myself and an annoyance to someone that CAN READ.....

my approach to learning a new song is to listen carefully to it until i "think" i hear the chord changes...then....once i "think" i have them right, i do a search and compare different chord charts and compile one of my own that i feel sounds the closest to the actual song...THEN..i start trying to figger out the melody lines/notes....sometimes i get it right myself without doing the search and sometimes not...

there is a knack for knowing how to "listen to a song" when learning a particular song...

it has been the ONLY way i have been able to put together a pretty good list of Chet Atkins/Merle Travis style tunes and make them "use-able"..

i also try to hang around and play/jam with guys that are doing the stuff i wanna do and do it better than i can and ask questions...

mainly by ear for me..