True, especially players who came of age in the 50s, 60s and 70s in the Rock/Soul/Blues Circuit like Billy Sheehan, Dusty Hill, Geddy Lee, Tommy Shannon, Berry Oakley, Larry Taylor, Larry Graham, Billie Cox, Willie Weeks etc.
As Billy stated in an interview (and I can vouch from experience) it was possible to gig 6 or 7 nights a week playing Rock and Top 40 covers during that time. I know a lot of players from that era who cut their teeth on that circuit and learned by copying records before writing original tunes and bass lines using the musical ideas they picked up by ear.
There was really limited material available at that time-maybe the first Carol Kaye books, the Roger Filiberto methods for Mel Bay and some Jazz String Bass methods and teachers were few and far between (and never at Music Schools who looked on Electric Bass as a "toy" for the most part). Considering the abundance of information available now it's almost impossible to avoid "formal self-teaching" at the very least (even a subscription to Bass Player will do that). I'm not surprised that players who came of age in the 80s, 90s and 00s would be skewed toward Music Schools or Private Lessons.
An ear player hears the notes and responds, rather than the trained idea that you can learn to hear and see notes. Within the trained idea is the theory that has be documented and written about over the centuries, where as for the ear player there is what he can understand as explained to him in the time limits available to him, what he is listening to, or the person explaining it to him.
This is all very well but there are outside influences that can be considered for each of these players in the form of learning difficulties or problems.
Dyslexia for example can make a player belive he is an ear player because he cannot organise written material but can organise audio material. In day gone by before many modern education systems began to recognise such conditions, such students were branded stupid, un-teachable, and not worth the resources of a teacher or school to work with them one on one.
In recent years there has been an increase in those now recognised with learning difficultes in many areas where you would have thought it almost impossible to function. Actors such as Orlando Bloom, Henry Winkler, Patrick Dempsey, Anthony Hopkins, Whoopi Goldberg are just a few who suffer from Dyslexia and state that learning from scripts and retaining the information was not as easy for them as it seemed to others, but the found ways to do it.
When i moved to Secondary school i started to stuggle with subjects, and my music suffered. Eventully after being branded un-teachable with an inability to learn by a few teachers i was sent for special lessons to help me catch up. Luckly for me the teacher there quickly identified me as not stupid, but unable to read properly as my eye sight was blurring when i looked at small print. One pair of glasses later and i was back in class and getting back on top of my education. It could have been so easy for me to accept that situation of being branded un-teachable and un-able to learn if it had not been for the intervention and experience of that one teacher who correctly identified the real reason for me not learning. My desire to learn took me far and wide and kept me occupied and playing constantly in the desire for music.
This is in fact the way of those that want to learn, want to be involved, they will find ways to seek out teachers, lessons, new infomation regardless of obstacles. When i read about students or players not having the resources close to them as the reason why they don't do more with there music education, i know deep down that they would never really have a chance in certain areas of pro world music. Their attitude, desire if you will, is not there, and that is essential in the pro world. Attitude i find is what seperates a successful pro from the rest of the field. That attitude i believe is present in the learning stages of many crafts, to accumulate knowledge and skills that make it almost impossible for employers to say no to you and when the big opportunites arrive, they are equipped and ready to cope with them.
Yes a formal music education is not a pre-requsite to be coming famous and earning millions...if that is how you view the purpose of a musical education, because luck plays a part in that, not musical skills. I sometimes wonder how many players that are call themselves "ear players" just accept their situation because luck dealt them a good hand?
