I am an ear player and have always been. Of course reading music
is an important thing too. Most tunes I can hear the chord changes easily. Sometimes you find a song that has complex chords and changes. I found that "The Girl From Ipanema" give me a fit as the chords were different from the average. In this case I bought the music and read the chords which solved the
probmen.

Reading music certainly has it's advantages but I must agree
that ear players have more of a "feel" for improvisation and
that makes the music so much more pleasure to listen to.
The combination of both reading and ear playing is the ultimate.
Rico is a perfect example of ear playing at it's extreme. Lloyd

I am a ear player and agree with Rico. To be able to hear chords and know where they fit in a song is certainly a gift
from God. An ear player can improvise and add interest that
a pure reader simply cannot.

The ear player can have trouble when a piece of music has chords that are very different from the norm.

The song "Girl From Ipanema" gave me a fit to try and learn so
I bought the music and from that I was able to get the right chords and play it. Being able to read music and also have a
gift for ear playing is the perfect combination. I certainly
am thankful to be able to "hear" those chord changes and put
them in the right places. That's my story and I'm sticking to
it. Lloyd