How Common is Playing by Ear?

[Mandobart]

The "Fields of Gold" poll got me thinking. I've always liked the song, but never played it. I watched the lesson (beautiful arrangement). Being too lazy to retune to double drop D, I tried it in standard and got my own version down in about 10 minutes.

Then I tried it on my mandola and mandocello, then Hardanger viola (all tuned in 5ths C-G-D-A-E). Anyway it's a simple tune and easy to pick out and ornament with arpeggios and harmonics. I did NOT do a note-for-note reproduction, but a completely recognizable, nice sounding version (in C).

I read notation and am good at sight reading. I've never done anything with tabs. For the last 10 years at least though, I pick out tunes by ear.

So for my question - is this common? Do most people need notation/tabs/lesson to learn a new song? Do others learn by ear?

[rockabilly69]

I think for people who play, folk, blues, country, and rock and roll, ear playing is very common, I would think a larger percentage of these types musicians would be playing by ear because of the simple nature of the music, And I think, without a doubt, the more you develop the skill, the easier it is to pick up the songs. In other forms of music though, with more complex chord voicings, I would think learning/playing by ear is less common.

[rick-slo]

When it is easy to hear what is going there's no reason to be using anything other than your ears. If it is hard to hear exactly what is going
on (maybe the tempo on a run or something else is fast, or many notes are being played at the same time and individual notes are hard to
identify, or the timing is tricky, or there are different chord position and/or fingerings possible, or different tunings would fit what you are
hearing then some sort of score or tab is useful.

[Nymuso]

I suspect it's more common among the self taught, vintage players such as myself who learned by repeatedly lifting and replacing the phonograph needle.

[rllink]

Sometimes I hear a familiar chord progression, maybe a riff that I've done before, a melody line that's familiar. Sometimes not and then I have to find it somewhere and see what's going on. But let's face it, if a song is in a twelve bar blues progression, a half way proficient guitar player should be able to hear it and jump on. Same with a half dozen other common progressions.

[Bob Womack]

In on Holy Wednesday in 1770, a fourteen year old Wolfgang Mozart, already considered a musical prodigy, arrived in Rome and heard Gregorio Allegri's fifteen minute long piece, Miserere Mei, Deus. Talk about copyright, this piece of music was only performed twice a year at the Vatican and it was illegal to copy or transcribe it, punishable by excommunication, which was tanamount to banishthe Young Mozart was so taken with the piece that he immediately sat down and transcribed it from memory. At the second performance that week on Good Friday he went to hear it again and made minor improvements to his transcription. We are talking about a piece with two choirs totaling nine voices performing a fifteen minute piece of nine-voice polyphony. Learned and transcribed by ear. When he heard of Mozarts feat, Pope Clement awarded him the Chivalric Order of the Golden Spur on July 4, 1770.
Anyone who can't learn by ear is thus officially made a slacker by Mozart's act.

How does that make you feel?

Bob

[Mandobart]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

<snip>.....
Anyone who can't learn by ear is thus officially made a slacker by Mozart's act.

How does that make you feel?

Bob

Like I'm not Mozart, and unlikely to get any papal recognition.....

[_zedagive]

I search all over the internet trying to find someone playing by their ear with no success. Saw guys playing with their teeth, nose, toes, but not even one with their ear, so I think it's not common at all. And, if that's what you're looking to do, I say go for it dude! Could be a guitar game changer.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by Mandobart

The "Fields of Gold" poll got me thinking. I've always liked the song, but never played it. I watched the lesson (beautiful arrangement). Being too lazy to retune to double drop D, I tried it in standard and got my own version down in about 10 minutes.

Then I tried it on my mandola and mandocello, then Hardanger viola (all tuned in 5ths C-G-D-A-E). Anyway it's a simple tune and easy to pick out and ornament with arpeggios and harmonics. I did NOT do a note-for-note reproduction, but a completely recognizable, nice sounding version (in C).

I read notation and am good at sight reading. I've never done anything with tabs. For the last 10 years at least though, I pick out tunes by ear.

So for my question - is this common? Do most people need notation/tabs/lesson to learn a new song? Do others learn by ear?

I think it's quite common. There's certainly room for all of the ways to learn and play music, but it's good to remember that "music" was always an aural experience and the simple joy of playing even the most basic of instruments long pre-dates any efforts to canonize it.

I've been playing for 55+ years and never felt the need to communicate the process in any written form.

Nothing wrong with any of the other processes, they just aren't necessary for me to be able to derive satisfaction from playing.

[_zedagive]

Nevemind.......

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

In on Holy Wednesday in 1770, a fourteen year old Wolfgang Mozart, already considered a musical prodigy, arrived in Rome and heard Gregorio Allegri's fifteen minute long piece, Miserere Mei, Deus. Talk about copyright, this piece of music was only performed twice a year at the Vatican and it was illegal to copy or transcribe it, punishable by excommunication, which was tanamount to banishthe Young Mozart was so taken with the piece that he immediately sat down and transcribed it from memory. At the second performance that week on Good Friday he went to hear it again and made minor improvements to his transcription. We are talking about a piece with two choirs totaling nine voices performing a fifteen minute piece of nine-voice polyphony. Learned and transcribed by ear. When he heard of Mozarts feat, Pope Clement awarded him the Chivalric Order of the Golden Spur on July 4, 1770.
Anyone who can't learn by ear is thus officially made a slacker by Mozart's act.

How does that make you feel?

Bob

Makes me feel I want to listen to it:





The helium version

[Chipotle]

Originally Posted by rockabilly69

I think for people who play, folk, blues, country, and rock and roll, ear playing is very common, I would think a larger percentage of these types musicians would be playing by ear because of the simple nature of the music

And back in the day (not that long ago) you couldn't just hop on the internet and find tabs for everything. When I played in cover bands in the '80s-'90s, the best way to learn a song was to put on the record or cassette, and play over and over until you got it.

And certainly a lot of rock/blues players didn't have a lot of formal music education. Once upon a time, I wrote out some parts on score paper and took them to band practice. A couple of the guys looked at me like I had just handed them Sanskrit tablets or something.

[nitram]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

In on Holy Wednesday in 1770, a fourteen year old Wolfgang Mozart, already considered a musical prodigy, arrived in Rome and heard Gregorio Allegri's fifteen minute long piece, Miserere Mei, Deus. Talk about copyright, this piece of music was only performed twice a year at the Vatican and it was illegal to copy or transcribe it, punishable by excommunication, which was tanamount to banishthe Young Mozart was so taken with the piece that he immediately sat down and transcribed it from memory. At the second performance that week on Good Friday he went to hear it again and made minor improvements to his transcription. We are talking about a piece with two choirs totaling nine voices performing a fifteen minute piece of nine-voice polyphony. Learned and transcribed by ear. When he heard of Mozarts feat, Pope Clement awarded him the Chivalric Order of the Golden Spur on July 4, 1770.
Anyone who can't learn by ear is thus officially made a slacker by Mozart's act.

How does that make you feel?

Bob

You are officially invited to my place for dinner and drinks, as long as you stay a couple weeks so that I can listen to 1/1,000th of the tales you could tell.In just 2 items (vinyl and playing by ear) I've learned more than I have over the last 6 months.Thanks for taking the time to expand the horizons of us denizens of AGF.

[DCCougar]

Keys are my main instrument. I can sight-read chords, but I pick up most everything by ear unless it's overly convoluted.

[Su_H.]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

In on Holy Wednesday in 1770, a fourteen year old Wolfgang Mozart, already considered a musical prodigy, arrived in Rome and heard Gregorio Allegri's fifteen minute long piece, Miserere Mei, Deus. Talk about copyright, this piece of music was only performed twice a year at the Vatican and it was illegal to copy or transcribe it, punishable by excommunication, which was tanamount to banishthe Young Mozart was so taken with the piece that he immediately sat down and transcribed it from memory. At the second performance that week on Good Friday he went to hear it again and made minor improvements to his transcription. We are talking about a piece with two choirs totaling nine voices performing a fifteen minute piece of nine-voice polyphony. Learned and transcribed by ear. When he heard of Mozarts feat, Pope Clement awarded him the Chivalric Order of the Golden Spur on July 4, 1770.
Anyone who can't learn by ear is thus officially made a slacker by Mozart's act.

How does that make you feel?

Bob

I also like to add that Mozart composed his last few compositions while being stoned deaf.