Hopeless with pitch that's firm? Australia following on edgily at first (4-4)
I believe the answer is:
tone-deaf
'hopeless with pitch' is the definition.
(tone deafness is difficulty telling musical pitch)
'firm? australia following on edgily at first' is the wordplay.
'firm?' becomes 'toned' (I've seen this before).
'australia following' becomes 'af' (this might be a standard abbreviation I've not previously seen).
'on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'at first' indicates taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'edgily' is 'e'.
'af' put after 'e' is 'eaf'.
'toned'+'eaf'='TONE-DEAF'
'that's' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tone-deaf that I've seen before include "To deafen? (anag)" , "Musically challenged" , "Unable to distinguish variations in musical pitch" , "Not able to distinguish pitches" , "Unable to perceive differences of musical pitch" .)