I can't play 'Mary had a little lamb' by ear. I've recorded as a bassist on several CDs.īut no matter what instrument I play, I cannot hear a tune and play it.
I've studied scales and chords on the bass and have played in numerous folkie, country, rockabilly and swing type bands as well as with singer songwriters. I've been playing for 49 years, starting on guitar, then electric bass, then upright bass. I tried listening to a fiddle tune on Youtube yesterday with the mandolin in hand and though I know the key, the basic scale and though I've heard the tune a dozen times, I could barely reproduce one note they were playing. I have had a mandolin in the house I've been baby-sitting for 20 years and I tried to learn fiddle before so I can read for mandolin in baby steps. I struggle immensely to hear when there is a chord change so I can accompany them but I'm amazed at how the others will sit there and having never heard a tune before, after two or three passes, can play it. The others play fiddles, accordions and there is sometimes one mandolin player. I recently started playing with a French-Canadian folk music group.
