I learned Uncle Bernard's Polka by ear and played it to a friend - a flautist. He said your only playing half the notes. I personaly don't hear or cannot detect all the notes in country dance tunes.

About 7 years ago I bought a mandola and played a few things by ear then got out music, which I couldn't read but to tunes I knew. I played each note one at a time. With jigs the tunes jump out pretty quickly diddly, diddly so to speak.

I wasted years trying to play the tunes of folk songs - most don't have much of tune but jigs and hornpipes, etc. do and they jump of the page even at slow speeds.

I say to anybody do what I did I now have access to thousands of geat little tunes

L in C#