Playing by ear

I am feeling tired from the long day. But on the positive note, I have managed to play through close to half of the second movement of Dragonetti's Solo in e minor. However, my playing sounded quite unrefined yet. Nevertheless, at least I have made a small step forward when it comes to practising on the double bass.

Half an hour of tonight was spent practising the first half of the second movement of Dragonetti's Solo in e minor on the double bass. Subsequently, when my body urged me to take a rest from the physical demands of playing the double bass, I walked myself towards the piano and started pressing the keys away.

I must first qualify that I have no formal education in playing the piano. I know where the respective keys are and I know how to press the keys. That should be about it. My purpose of being at the piano was to play out the entire second movement of Dragonetti's Solo in e minor so that I know how it sounds like.

I think to some extent, I found it easier to achieve a better intonation if I were to hear in advance how the notes should sound. The only thing is that I have yet to develop the skill of having a perfect pitch whereby I could even hear the sound when I see the written note. As such, I figured that since I could not hear how the notes would sound in my inner ear, I might as well play the notes out and hear how they should actually sound. Do you consider that I play by ear? I don't have any clue if this were the case.

Meantime, I am looking forward to taking a break from work so as to practise on the double bass.