Playing By Feel

Johnny Moeller of The Fabulous Thunderbirds (clients): I can't read music. I always learned by listening and playing by feel.

I grew up in Denton, Texas, which is north of Fort Worth. There's a big music school there called North Texas. It's a famous jazz school. Lots of great players came out of there. But when I started playing, I went straight to the blues stuff. 

For a time I wished that, after high school, I would have taken some courses and learned to sight read. But then I thought, "I won't be able to play Jimmy Reed if I do that." 

It would mess up my blues sensibilities.