Stringsinger It makes a lot of differenence whether you are trying to learn by ear or notes. To me there is only one way to play any string instrument and that is by ear and that is the way I've been playing for 80 years (SELF TAUGHT) and I'm not a bit hesitance to go on stage with any group that I've not played with before due to the fact you here the music even if the lead makes a mistake you can cover it up. There are a lot of good simple easy fiddle tunes you can play by ear and I imagine there are a lot of easy fidddle tune you can play by note but remember you can't play them in the dark when you can't see the music sheet