Eureka! Hosanna! I'll even go so far as to say Gloriosky!!

I've had a book on my bookshelf for years called How to Play by Ear, by M. Emett Wilson.   It was one of the textbooks I was required to get when I attended the Cornish School of the Arts in the early Sixties. We never actually used it that much in class and I just stashed it on my shelves along with other textbooks I kept.

I've just pulled it out and scanned through it. I haven't come to any solid conclusions yet, but I think this could be the very thing for people interested in folk music or other kinds of music, but don't want to get involved in taking extensive (and sometimes expensive) lessons or immersing themselves in classes on music theory. It gives great information on how to hear and figure out what's going on in melody lines, and how to determine what chords to play, and answers to all kinds of other questions that pop up here on Mudcat—all without using written music! Whenever Wilson does use a brief passage of written music, he "translates" it for those who can't read music.

The copy I have was published in 1960, so I went on line to see if it was still available. Apparently it has been reprinted (1982) and it may be available through Amazon or various used book dealers.

HOWEVER—

As I was googling, I found THIS. It gives a synopsis of the book, and then, if you scroll down to where it says, "To get started reading this free material, just go to:   Free Piano Music and click on Free Piano Music. This will take you to another page, where once again, scroll down to where it says "CLICK HERE TO READ CHAPTER 1," and lo! and behold, as far as I can tell, the whole book is free, on line.

It's basically written with piano in mind, but don't let that put you off. What Wilson talks about can apply to any instrument, including the guitar, the banjo, whatever.

Give it a look.

Don Firth