Anyone play an instrument by ear rather than reading music?

Post Reply New Topic

I used to be able to sight read in choir as a kid.

Then I unlearned that skill by accident once on LSD.

I've been playing instruments now since '93. All by ear, never took a lesson. I've been in a lot of bands and never had trouble recognizing the scales people were playing in and writing parts to them, even though I didn't have the words for it. I taught myself guitar, bass, drums and analog synthesizers this way, and written my own parts for more than 80 songs, no problems.

I just learned what the note names and some of the chord names were last year, because I wanted to learn some silly old country ballads so I could busk on the street and make a little money when travelling. So I can now play 3 cover songs, yay!