Quote:
Originally Posted by SunnyDee
I'm only speaking for myself here, not the OP, but "just do it" assumes a great deal of understanding about music that I just flat did not have and I never would have figured out in the time I have left on earth without some information. It seems to me that some people, when they talk about playing by ear, are really saying they listen to something over and over with the instrument in hand and try notes till they find the right ones and then remember what they "figured out". That's a different thing, imo, than knowing how to play a melody you hear because you know the intervals of the melody and also where those intervals are on the guitar. People who can really "play by ear" know how to play a piece without trial and error, as far as I can tell.
People who can also discern pitch are, I think, less common than people who can play the intervals which is a fairly easily learned skill set.
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From previous posts I believe that you're successful at systematic learning and I understand that, being more a left-brain guy myself. In my 4+ decades of playing music, and my observations of many musicians, it's generally folks who have the least inhibitions and preconceived ideas about how to learn that take best to learning by ear. Doesn't mean they all have equal abilities; some are naturals, most (like me) have to work a lot more at it. I think a general definition of 'learning by ear' is very broad and includes the whole gamut from 'heard it once and can play it' to 'spent 2 weeks learning it bit by bit via trial and error'.
I've recently spent a bunch of time with a jam group of fiddlers, most of them had the same teacher. These are beginner/intermediate to intermediate fiddlers, mostly women, and every one of them has ear learning ability far above what I've encountered in the general guitar player population, especially below an advanced level. The fiddle teacher encourages ear learning from the get-go, slow jams in her classes and leads a monthly, open-to-the-public slow jam. Her students take it for granted that you should be able to learn that way. It's like learning to play fiddle - they work at it and get better. Start simple and work their way up, without 'a great deal of understanding about music' to begin with.
I also recently took an intermediate/advanced Irish repertoire class for melody instruments (fiddle for me), taught by a couple who host a very popular bi-weekly jam downtown. 4 tunes/week. Course material was recordings only - played on harp, pipes, penny whistle, accordion, occasionally fiddle or tenor banjo. Most of these advanced students had to work at learning these (sometime pretty intricate) Irish tunes. Bad news for me was, with playing in a bluegrass band and an occasional contra dance crew, I had far less band width for stuffing 4 tunes/week in my head than I figured. But the class was still fun!