Playing by ear...

No, I use my fingers.  (rimshot)

It's an old joke... I'm an old guy.

It used to be that every song I learned was by ear.  Listen to the song, pick out the bass notes, use those to find the chords, then learn the lyrics.  There were "fake books" that had chords and lyrics in them, but you generally wound up with a bunch of songs you didn't care to learn to get the one or two you did want.

Then, along came the internet: chords and lyrics for most songs that you'd want to learn, with the click of the computer.  Since many of these sites are crowd sourced, the chords may not be right, but it would quickly get you into the ballpark.

No, this isn't for playing music in a ballpark.  But, I digress.

This morning, I was playing my guitar on the couch while we had the TV on.  Well, after I looked at the Emerald November Select Series on the computer - koa veneers and absolutely breath-taking.  Perhaps the prettiest Select Series of the year, so far...

Seriously, Alistair and crew at Emerald are knocking it out of the park (another ballpark reference) with these Select Series offerings.  I'm digressing again.  And drooling.  These beautiful instruments made me put down the laptop and get out the guitar.  So, back to the story.

There was a group doing a campy version of "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" on one of the morning shows.  I started picking out the chords while they were singing... I've always liked that song.  A few minutes later, I had the chords down and pulled up the lyrics from the internet.

That song sounds great in the original version by the Shirelles.  Doesn't suit my voice, though.  I played it in 3 or 4 different keys to find what I like, including a falsetto.  Joan picked what she liked best and I worked on it.  She is a champ, willing to hear a song played 30 or 40 times while I work out the key and learn the chords and lyrics.  She said, "If it is a song I like, I can listen to it over and over... and I like the way you sing it.  Win/win."

Sweet.

Oh, and if you said, "That song was written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin in 1960," you get 100 bonus points.  I know every generation thinks their music is the best, but this song is a real classic.

I know, it's no "Who Let The Dogs Out?" but Izzy doesn't like that song.  Digressing again?