It's all about stage presence .... as a solo performer you need to look at the audience and have eye contact & smiling, enjoying yourself etc, not have their head and eyes buried in a tablet, book, charts, etc, etc, for the lyrics and music it just don't look right to the audiences view of you as a OMB ...... yes it might ok when your in the background playing with others, your not the focal point of the performance,...but at the front of the house it's a no no in my book.

Or, if you are not so gifted, learn to read ahead with a side glance.

I used to video myself performing to see what I looked like if I was in the audience...try it and see it certainly does help you fine tune your stage presence..good luck

Donny PLEASE, nobody is talking about having "their head and eyes buried in a tablet, book, charts, etc, etc, for the lyrics and music ..." I am constantly interacting with the audience, and when I am no longer having a good time doing this I will hang it up ...I'm talking about using it as a reference ... and if it was OK for Sinatra, I think it's OK for me ...

Tony only MY opinion ....

Yes, but sometimes an opinion comes off as a lecture ...
It's all good ... we're good ...

Lee, like Bill Clinton said, "It depends on what your definition of "some time" is. Unless we have played our songs so often that it has sunk into muscle memory, then it will fade sooner than we would like. When I have a song memorized into my finger muscle memory, my mind can actually go into highway hypnosis, where my mind can drift off, and my fingers are still playing accurately, and I can't believe my finger are playing without me for a stretch. Of course, such episodes defeat one of my loves of music, which is to use it for active meditation. However, like meditation, the monkey mind has to be perpetually guided back to centered focus. My learning songs by ear, involves a lot of trial and error (“In search of the lost chord”) so I think I would benefit from learning songs by sheets. It's all about reinforcing learning and memory. Learning to read music better, is on my bucket list. In answer to, "Can anyone learn to play by ear?" I don't think so. We all know some people that are "tone deaf" and cannot sing or whistle a tune. Some people cannot discriminate pitches well. That's certainly a challenge if you want to be a musician.

Under the heading of "Its a funny old game"....

At times I play bass pedals. If I hit a complete mental block when playing a tune from memory, to such an extent that i have to stop playing with my hands, I continue playing the correct bass with my feet even though I am not remembering the chord structure. Then my brain resets, I remember where i am in the tune and carry on at the right place.

My drummer colleague reckons it's something to do with muscle memory. He says he knows I'm going to go blank about 10 seconds beforehand because my playing sounds less relaxed than usual!

I attended a “Play by Ear” course in a music store where I was tuning their pianos. He said, “If you can whistle or hum the melody of a song you can play by ear”. The course was being advertised in T.V.

So what is left? Chords and how they progress through a song; commonly called Chord Progressions. A good part of the 50’s music can be player with three or four chords. That means If I learn the Chord Progression I can play at least 50 to 100 songs by ear. Once you sing, whistle, or hum the melody you will find which chord sounds best.

1-I believe that you cannot give a song your best until it is memorized the chord progression – you will find the melody. Ex. The song More. A quick glance at the music and I memorized the song. The first part of the song used a Chord Progression that I had seen in many times. The second part of the song had another popular Chord Progression that I had seen man times. And so the story goes on.

2-Not being able to read music it is like walking into a library filled with knowledge and not being able to access any of it.
I believe that this is a subject that can help many who visit here – if we all post our ideas of “How To” it will help many play/perform better.

John C.

stop saying to yourself I CAN't DO THAT,...playing by ear is all about you interpreting the music in your own way.....just memorizing isn't really enough..you have to play the song effortlessly sometimes different every time because you can playing by ear that's the beauty of it vs the written chart if your playing alone, everyone cannot do it, but those who do enjoy the benefits of walking alone without your eyes glues to a page all the time,.....it's a different story when playing with others and you all have to be in sync playing the right parts etc,...

lets face it there is NO magic pill for playing by ear...sit down every day WITHOUT THE MUSIC in front of you, and play your songs, over and over again, only repetition which might take years so what? where you going is the key to this?.... you will get the right results and you will be a better player because of it,...don't give up, make your mistakes, forgetfulness, over and over, every day, ....but eventually you will start to be able to just sit down and play songs, sing, with your mind not a chart,....music is a beautiful journey when it's played & created thru your soul,....go for it and good luck....
don't be lazy try it!