I studied the CAGED fretboard logic system, and then just did stuff. Have always "played by ear", but the above really broke it loose. Never learned to sight read, but can manage a fake. Just another tool. The key is to try stuff and play often.

Sing along with your playing, don’t worry about if you’re a good singer, it’s to help you internalize pitch. When you are away from the instrument, practice hearing (audiating)and visualizing small pieces of music like scales, arpeggios, riffs and patterns. Practice singing an A440 before you pick up the instrument. Test yourself against a good reference pitch, like your keyboard. Correct if you are off, and repeat the corrected note. Learn some standard chord progressions and try to find them in popular music. Practice and play, find joy in learning and improving. If you get frustrated, take a break. Good luck on your musical journey. 🎶🎶🎶🚀

at first, it'll likely be easier to play the piano along with some music you're listening to - first, find out which seven notes are in the song that's playing, (the key signature)

if you can start playing two or three notes at once that fit into what you're hearing, you've found the chords.

then find different ways to play the chords

Instrument is good.

You sing "do re mi fa so la ti" to scales up and down scales, but also sing intervals like do mi so mi do which is a major chord and by singing it you'll better recognise what a major arpeggio sounds like. Likewise, singing do fa do will also teach you to recognise the perfect fourth, which can be confused for a dull perfect fifth for some people.

Also, if you don't want to use solfege names for whatever reason, then numbers work almost as well. Ie one two three four five and then one three five for the arpeggios.

Singing to learn audiation is traditional... I think they stopped forcing singing lessons in the 20th century, so a long, long time ago. In my high school class, which prompted me to self teach rather than rely on teachers, we were told to just know what the intervals are. No explanation how. Just know. Obviously some kids had a pretty severe advantage.

Woaaaaah!! This is exactly what I’m looking for.

Were you learning how to properly play the piano, messing around and then BAM, realized you’re playing that theme to brokeback mountain. Who are you just generally messing around, for several months or whatever, and then bam.

Whatever solfege is, that sounds perfect! I’ve been learning how to sing too, after discovering how to use my voice as a baritone.

So you would suggest learning how to sing by the method of transcribing, and then to do the same thing with an instrument and just match up the two?

I can play piano and drums by ear, but can't grasp the basics of guitar, its like teaching a dog latin to me. That said I don't know how to explain it. I can't read or write sheet music; I just feel it. But yeah practise. You'll notice patterns and progressions as the other fellow said, and eventually make your own. One day I was fumbling around on the piano and realized I was playing the brokeback mountain theme without realizing it.

The term is "transcription" or "audiation" and you don't learn it by ear, traditionally it's learned by singing solfege along with certain intervals so that your voice is trained to recognise intervals via singing. If you're purely "by ear" and might feel learning theory is bad, this might be a very tricky thing to learn.

I can’t properly play any instruments yet, but even now I’m already notably better at recognizing and creating patterns. I can only imagine what this is like for a skilled musician

Practice. The more you play, the more you recognize patterns, melody, progressions, etc. And then one day you will be listening to some music and you’ll be like, “Hey, that’s in the key of A!”

Hey! It’s Sandstorm by Darude

That whole album rules

Adomaa - In The Clouds

The Lazer by Personal Trainer

Well , I used to be rock guy and suddenly I'm tired and I'm enjoying a lot electronic, just try to listen another kind of music

Remembrance day by B movie

https://open.spotify.com/album/5rKTtC3GgrjzlAhTlAhlEj?si=5DYG1DKlR-C_ZB9EBstGbw

Maybe it's time to branch out and find new genres to enjoy. Musical tastes should evolve as you age. I've gone through classic rock, adult alternative, electronic/ambient, folk, even some old country. Find some good public radio and you'll find tons of good music, if you can't you can listen to mine via the radiogarden app.

Try the free radio stream of KEXP Seattle definitely help me find new genres. ✌🏻🎶

When I feel like this I stop listening to music and try studying art, reading poetry or other books, engaging in art films, etc.

Either that or delete your entire library and start fresh.

Maybe approach it in a less cerebral way. Find something with a great groove (Funkadelic or Big Brother and the Holding Company come to mind) and just let the music wash over you.

One thing that I do to reignite my passion for music is to go really deep into an artist's catalog, find those lesser known songs and look for the beauty in them.

When in doubt, play some King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, they have about nine million records that slip between various genres and I've never heard anything problematic about their personal lives.

Isn’t a lot of artists pricks? Since I don’t know them personally I can enjoy their music without being bothered by whatever crazy shit they’re doing when they’re not recording. I don’t care about their lives or opinions.

Schubert - dead at age 31 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWnKMzAedK4

Try some comedy.

YerDad

YerDad-Proper Gym Attire

Really funny track