Learning by ear is the best by far, and we live in a period where we can listen to every music every produced. When I learned music, music wasn't as available s

Learning by ear is the best by far, and we live in a period where we can listen to every music every produced. When I learned music, music wasn't as available so you had to learn the pieces the hard way. There is also the problem that human memory has limitations, and if I stop playing something, I will forget it after a couple of weeks, so again musical notation is very helpful. > You're really looking for patterns on the staff rather than the exact pedantic notes that are present in the notation. Exactly. Playing the exact tune becomes boring after a while; music is a fun creative exercise for me, so the notes and chords are a general direction, not a precise roadmap. If I wanted a perfect interpretation, I'd listen to the recorded piece instead of play it.