I'd say ear players tend to get the feel of a tune better than pure readers. However I'm biased, I consider myself fortunate to have pretty good ears and bearable reading ability. If I have to play from music, if it's an arrangement of a tune I know I tend to play what I think it should sound like and use the music as a second line of defence.

An issue I have with a lot of transcriptions Is that they can be inaccurate to a lesser or greater degree. I really noticed this with a book of Elton John songs where the written music was clearly different to the original record. Not usually hugely, but nevertheless different.

Nevertheless, what this music book did was train my ears. I originally bought the book because, like Bachus, I found it hard to "decode" some of the more non-standard chords. As a direct result of playing the music as written, whether I ultimately agreed with the transcription or not, I was playing some interesting chords and inversions (9ths, 11ths, 13ths, flattened / sharpened additional notes, bass not not necessarily having a lot to do with the right hand, etc etc) and now I find there are very few chords that I have problems decoding.

I've never been able to conquer the hieroglyphics, but I can read the tabs just fine. Sometimes I need them, sometimes I don't.

Cheers,

Gary

I can read pretty well - I attribute that to having played in an accordion orchestra as a youth, that played classical music from the original scores - and can play a little by ear ... I've heard many 'ear' players, and they usually are excellent players, and I believe playing by ear gives them an advantage because they hear such beautiful chords ...
As a player, I try to address a song as a singer, playing phrases as if I were singing them as opposed to playing them ... other than classical music, which is expected to be played 'as written', I would not play 'popular' song note for note as written...

[quote][/quote]Reading well is one thing, but the player's interpretation what the composer laid out is just as important.

Ian
I have to agree with Ian. I have been playing since I was 10 yrs old. I started on the accordion. I was taught to read music and memorizing songs. Memorizing songs is not playing by ear. I admire and am envious of anyone who can play by ear. I cannot pick out Mary had a little Lamb but I can read the notes and improvise the music. I could play it in any style rock , country etc. I personally feel that a person is born with the ear as well as being able to sing. If you can sing you have a better ear. I am impaired in both of these categories.

Having been a trumpet player, I can read the right hand parts fluently. I can follow the left hand parts if they are simple, but I play left hand chords 100% of the time and let the arranger to the work.
Having said this, I rarely read anything anymore; I just listen, find the chords, and improvise. I can hear melody lines and most of the time play them without much struggle, particularly in the keys where I am most comfortable--C,F,G,D,A,Bb,E--in that order. One of those keys will suit my vocal range on any song I want to do. If not, push the transpose button.
In think "playing by ear" is somewhat a misnomer. What most of us do is understand the chord structure and the way the chords and lead/fills interact.

I only play by ear.I do wish I have learned to read music too.In all, I do have maybe 10 hours of accordion classes in my life, unfortunately.

Anyone can learn to improvise! Having a good ear is definitely an essential part of improvisation, but also one must understand chord and scale relations which is just music theory...

Like a lot who have written here, I do some of both. I learned to read "reasonably well" as a kid, and use that to help learn new songs. I also had a habit, for many years as a kid (even into college age) of "playing along with the radio", that is, listening to various stations and trying to play along "by ear" - I did a LOT of this years ago, and I think it helped my 'ear' quite a bit.

These days, I tend to learn new songs best by hearing them (esp. good is hearing various renditions and not just one), and if I have a "fake sheet" (or full score), the listening plus having chords/melody, makes learning that much faster.

I find that I may have a chart up (on my iPad) but for many songs I'm playing say ~90% by ear/memory; the chart is just there as a guide to the overall arrangement and I look at it now and then but not constantly.

I do find that I've become, as some people say, "lazier" in that I rely on charts more now (at 55 years old) than I did a decade or two ago. One reason is that I have ~1,200 songs in my repertoire, and I just can't remember the overall arrangement and some details, for all of them. So these days, there are maybe ~200 songs that I can play from memory, but for the rest I need the chart just to get me started, or to help with some chords I might forget.

I've also noticed that my (5pc) band likes having charts available for more tunes, whereas years ago we had no charts on stage. Just our aging brains, I guess! :-)

=Jim=

I am a ear player and always have been. The good Lord gave me a gift to hear chords and place them in the right places.
It's a cherished gift but I know that reading music is a very
important thing. Sometimes if a song has "different chords"
from ordinary(Example: "Girl from Ipanema") These are difficult
to find by ear. The girl from Ipanema gave me a fit so I got the music and from that I found the chords.

This is where problems occur and reading the music solves the
mystery. I would not trade the gift of ear playing for anything.
Lloyd