Thanks fellas for all your comments, particularly to Chuck for making me feel happier (not proud cos you know what comes after that) and to John for his advice.
Yes, John C I can whistle virtually any tune you can name, which brings me to the point which I suppose I was really trying to make and which I suspect may be behind your question.
Playing by ear. Now,I'll disagree with you Chuck about the limited number of tunes that some people can play by ear. I've met two or three over my life time who had the gift of being able to play any tune they were asked to. A few years back I saw a jazz pianist on TV who could do this and he was asked how he could possibly memorise all this music. He answered by saying that all he did was to remember the melody and that most people could recall any tune that they had heard (which I go along with)
and then went on to say that when he heard the melody in his head he could also hear the harmony (which I also think most of us can). But,he could also identiy the chord progression and play this on the keyboard and improvise on the melody. Now this is the gift which I wish I had, and is one which pretty well all pro players have?
How about that?!!
Ogre