at the moment I`m trying to figure out the chords to the rolling stones song
`angie` by ear. I`m not going to sing the melody; I will play that too. I`m figuring out the melody and chords to the intro with my right
hand, and now I`m kind of at a loss as what to exactly do with the left hand.

Usually when I start off playing by ear in the most simplest stages of learning
a new song, I usually play the chords and melody with the right hand, and I`ll
try to set a rhythm by playing single notes with the left hand. In other
words, I try to keep the left hand part simple, especially when I`m first
learning a song. I`m not sure if I`m exactly synchronizing what I`m doing
with the left hand with the right, because when I play with the left hand, I
just play what I think "sounds good". I don`t exactly look at my right hand
and say "looks like I`m playing something that looks like a Fmajor7 chord with
my right hand, so I better play the root note with my left hand". I will just
play any note at random with the left hand, as long as it doesn`t sound like it clashes
with what the right hand is playing.

Now I`m playing this song "angie", and I`m wondering if I should use more of a
`thought process`, when playing with the left hand. I`m playing chords and
sprinklings of melody with the right hand, and now I`m wondering if I should
make sure that the left hand plays the bass note or the fifth note of the
chords I`m playing with the right hand. But if I do that, it will take some
more memorizing, as I will have to keep track of what chords I`m playing with
the right hand, and synchronize the left hand. I will also have to look down
at my hands much more, to see what I`m playing, so as to move the left hand
around to play the root notes of chords, as opposed to what I`m doing now. Any thoughts
on this would be appreciated. How do you play by ear with the left hand?

thanks,