I started off playing by ear when I was 5 years old, then at the age of 15 I started taking music lessons to learn how to read music notes, then after 5 months I was able to read and play, then I felt that I am loosing the ear sense of music because now I have to read everything I play. Then at the age of 17 I decided to go back to play by ear (till now). I think I did the right thing because every time I meet one of my old colleagues at the music school, I can tell from their playing style that they haven’t improved a lot over the last 20 years.

Maged