You did that too? LOL.
Glad I wasn’t alone! :-)
Rock On, My FRiend!
My late beloved girlfriend was a very accomplished internationally acclaimed professional classical viola player in an award-winning string quartet, as well as a pillar of the Boston area professional classical community. She had amazing chops and could sight read anything, which always amazed me since I’m not very good at doing that.
But what amazed her (and so many of her professional colleagues) was that I could hear something and play it by ear on my guitar. It used to be a source of wonder to me how many really brilliant classical players (of whom I met many during our relationship) couldn’t even recognize a simple blues progression when they heard one.
Nothing like copping licks of recordings to build those ears.