Results revealed that although active musicians outperformed former musicians, former musicians outperformed non-musicians in the weakly incongruous condition testing. The findings suggest that the musician advantage in pitch perception in speech is retained to some extent even after musical training and practice is discontinued.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-29733-3

So my friends, the moral to the story is…Keep Playing!
iReal pro is a great way to emulate playing with others whenever you like.

)BOB