Learning by ear

[JM in Va]

I had a conversation the other day with someone about learning stuff by ear...got me thinking about when I used to teach lessons and trying to teach others 'how' to pick stuff up by ear. Soooooooo to make a long story longer, I wrote up a little post about it with some of the things I have swirling around in my head.

Learning By Ear

Happy ear-ing?

[bender-freak]

read your post/tips and couldn't agree more with what you say....i can only read enough music to be very dangerous and never caught on to TABS, so "ear playing" is all i do...

what few lessons i ever gave to people, i always told them there is just as much skill in knowing how to listen to a song as there is in knowing how to play that song.....i also told them after they learned any song, stop and really listen to that tune, and try to think of any OTHER songs they have heard that sound anyhwere even close to that one, and go from there....

i have long been a fan of the Chet Atkins/Merle Travis style and none of that stuff ain't easy at first....but by listening over and over and over and discarding what DIDn't work when i tried to do any of their songs, i finally managed to put together some versions of their stuff that people seem to recognize and enjoy...i've not had rocks thrown at me, anyhow...i still, tho, will go back and listen/listen/listen to the original recordings of their songs that i have played for years and still have many...."oops, what was i thinkin' there on THAT lick????" moments...learning should never stop....