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PianoManChuck wrote:"By Ear"... easy (for me)... its something I've been able to do since age 6. I know every note (and chord) I hear, and know exactly where those keys are on the piano. So if I've "heard" the song, I pretty much can play it...

Nice work, Chuck! BTW on the lyric "look up to the sky" the correct chord is Bb7, not C as you have played. Ya, I have the "gift" / curse as well and caught that bit straight away.

How do we do it? Well, both of my daughters have perfect pitch, so there is a genetic component I would think. My oldest daughter amazed us all when she was 3 months old... I was having a conversation with family while Christmas dinner was being made, and little Allie was in her travel chair on top of my grand piano. I was noodling about on the keys and noticed that Allie was humming notes that I was playing. So long story short - I played a series of individual notes and Allie was able to match every one. This became a cool parlour trick for us, but only lasted a short while before she stopped doing "the trick" for me... however, to this day she and my other daughter can hear/play anything on guitar and piano.

As for the "curse" part of it: My instrument has to be tuned to pitch. As n example, if I play an old beater acoustic piano that has dropped a semitone over the ages, I 'm useless on the thing... because if I play a C but hear a B, my mind glitches. I can't use transpose buttons for the same reason. If what I see ain't what i hear, snap....

PP/RP has been very rare among my students over the years, but I've been amazed by one particular autistic student who can identify any note, chord or interval, he is infallible.

I ran your video again, you've missed a few other chords as well, overall a good cover though!

BTW I can't use a capo on a guitar either, totally derails me

Personally I don't give a dam if he followed the queen music score exactly.

It sounded brilliant to me and I find pianomanchuck a real inspiration. His interpretation doesn't have to fit exactly with the original (my covers never do), I prefer it not to to be honest.

rrricky rrrecordo wrote: Nice work, Chuck! BTW on the lyric "look up to the sky" the correct chord is Bb7, not C as you have played. Ya, I have the "gift" / curse as well and caught that bit straight away.

Nope... not a C chord that I played... listen to it again. I'm using G-Bb-C-E on the right hand... last I checked that does not constitute a C chord (never mind the left hand... that's doing the bass/accompaniment). Don't forget, what I play is NOT the piano part that everyone tries to do, but the overall song as I hear it (all instruments and all vocals combined as well as I can get it into just ten fingers (usually 8 fingers most of the time)).

Ojustaboo wrote:Personally I don't give a dam if he followed the queen music score exactly.

It sounded brilliant to me and I find pianomanchuck a real inspiration. His interpretation doesn't have to fit exactly with the original (my covers never do), I prefer it not to to be honest.

Thanks! I don't always follow originals exactly... I try to reproduce what *I* hear (all instruments & vocals) into what I feel it should sound like on the piano. I've been known to change a few things around sometimes into something I feel fits better. But in this case, I played what I heard in my mind, the best way I could reproduce it.

rrricky rrrecordo wrote:I ran your video again, you've missed a few other chords as well, overall a good cover though!

Maybe we could hear you do a version of this by ear? I'd like that... I think others would too!

rrricky rrrecordo wrote: BTW I can't use a capo on a guitar either, totally derails me

Well, don't feel bad... I can't even play guitar

PianoManChuck wrote:]Nope... not a C chord that I played... listen to it again. I'm using G-Bb-C-E on the right hand...

C7 with your root in the bass bro, but it's a Bb7 which G-Bb-C-E ain't

Ojustaboo wrote:Personally I don't give a dam if he followed the queen music score exactly.

please forgive another side effect of the curse

yes very good indeed