[delayed]

One of the reasons why I play a whole lot of jazz standards on different instruments is because it builds that feeling of just "knowing" (if I can hear the notes in my head) what I should play. I find "youtube jam tracks" wholly unhelpful, but I spend a whole lot of time playing to backing tracks for stuff like "All of Me" or "Sweet Sue" and playing the melody in different positions/ registers. I have been finding that a lot better for my playing than doing scales (though I still work scales on instruments where I in a learning phase).

But that feeling of "just knowing" is common among a lot of instruments and players.

I know that if I play some fingering on the clarinet, or jut grab a chord on the pedal steel, or whatever it's going to do what I intend without thinking about naming what I intend to do, just like i don't think about spelling, punctation, or letter position when I type (even though I often need to edit LOL).

So I agree- if I am playing bass with folks I will often just start playing without thinking too much about what notes I am playing beyond trying to decide on the general tonic key of the song.

i also “see” guitar parts in my head while i listen to music.

Yes to all of this. I've played since 1993. Music <==> shapes are nearly equivalent for me now. It is cool to hear other people describe it too.

I ran into that from the opposite side when I attempted to learn the guitar, coming from a background in classical piano and woodwinds: my whole conceptual architecture for intervals and harmonies was based on a linear arrangement of notes, and I could not get my head around the way a guitar wants you to just sort of feel the shapes and positions of chords instead. Odd and disorienting experience.

I've been having success playing as you describe, "ear to hand", and then once I have something I like, hand-writing it in tablature so I can lock in the notes.

Before this, I was _mostly_ remembering the "safe" notes, but the occasional stumbles break the flow badly, and the tabs have helped. Surprisingly, since I started doing this, its helped me memorize the scale and make fewer mistakes, generally.