"T" my maintenance guy is a bass player. I bought him a brand new bass guitar last Christmas. Today he and I went to a local Guitar Center to shop for a guitar that would be easy on my trigger fingers. I saw him slapping and all that on the bass guitar and I knew he could play well, but I was shocked to find out that he didn't know any of the fretboard notes!!! I had installed a bass tuning app in his phone and mine before. We pulled out our phones and opened the bass tuning app. My, he didn't even know what note each open string represents except the lowest note E string. I said to him, “OK, I am going to sing We Shall Overcome in C. You accompany me.” He didn’t know where to start. I took the bass guitar from him, found out what each string note is from the app, and began to play and sing old black gospel tunes and spirituals; Precious Lord, Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Seen, Down By the Riverside, Glory Halleluiah Since I laid My Burdens Down, and etc. I am no bass player but the guitar is my second or third instrument next to piano and accordion. I was showing him the 1st fret on the E bass would be F, F#, G, G# or Ab and so on. As I kept playing just the roots and 5ths while singing different tunes, I guess a light bulb went on for him. He blurted out some ugly words on me that I am not going repeat here. It was meant to be a compliment. He knew where to go from there. In his own words, he was elated. As I was driving, I offered to take him to dinner. He was so excited that he turned it down. He couldn’t get over his excitement. I shared with him about a guy who used to give me black gospel lessons on the keyboard more than 10 years ago. He couldn’t teach me nor could I learn from him; he couldn’t spell out chords or notes though he played all kinds of fancy chords and progressions. He just played it. Another pure ear player. Now I am thinking of a professional guitarist Doyle Dykes who can’t read a single note. Once my friend put out a piece of music and invited Doyle to play wit him. That’s when Doyle said that he doesn’t read music. I think I posted his video before, but if anyone cares to watch, here’s Doyle playing the Lord’s Prayer from a request at Taylor Guitar booth, Winter NAMM 09. He is a pretty humble, down to earth guy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYIHTowOPbs

Never seen the point of playing by ear, it's much easier to use your fingers.

Bill

Listening to him play,he has a God given talent. To change horses in the middle of the stream would be disruptive,at best. If it ain't broke,don't fix it.

Beautiful guitar work. Several famous jazz players, notably Jimmy Smith (organ) and Errol Garner (piano "Misty") didn't read music, but most of today's top jazz players do. As a general rule, most 'ear' players tend to play some of the simpler forms of music such as blues, folk, and rock. Very few become 'world-class players' and almost to a man they'll tell you that they wished that they could read. Of course 'reading' means different things to different people. Reading a 'fake sheet' and playing a simple Presbyterian hymn from a standard sheet are two different things. IMO, the best musicians can do both.

chas

The Beatles played all by ear in the beginning ,not reading notes at all .

I

Yes, for someone like Doyle Dykes who travels all over the world, being able to read a few notes would not do anything for him. However, in the case of my guy "T", who is an extreme case of "ear playing," (it was fascinating for me that he would play the bass without even knowing string notes let alone fingerboard notes) just knowing the fingerboard notes and a little theory would go a long way. That's why he said it opened up a whole new world for me as he was watching me play the roots and 5ths of I, IV, and V on the bass guitar.

Chris

Speaking of the Beatles, I found this video; Doyle Dykes Classical Gas Beatles Medley. I enjoyed his story as well as his music.

Playing by ear is fine... but when I play octaves... it hurts my nose

That's cuz your big schnozz blocks the view of the whole keyboard.

Uh oh! I know a Philly guy isn't going to take that lying down .

chas