Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum To play by ear/To learn by ear

Does "to play something by ear" mean to play it from memory, without reading the notes?
Does "to learn something by ear" mean to memorize how to play something without reading the notes, or does it mean to figure out how to play something just by listening to it?
This question may sound a little silly, but English is my second language.

To play something by ear is simply learning the music without reading sheet music.

Playing something from memory is just that, playing it from memory no sheet music. Just going off of what you remember, but in that process it is your ear that assists your memory for accuracy.

To learn something by ear is just that. You are learning it by ear not by sheet music.

Usually the terms are synonomous, "Playing by ear, and learning by ear."

hopefully that helped. Maybe someone has a different take on it, but I think thats a pretty practical description above.

That is where I was getting confused - because the two terms didn't seem to be synonomous to me at all. Anyone (including me) can "play something by ear", but few can actually "learn something by ear".
But at least this explains why I see so many YouTube piano videos, where people claim they "learnt something by ear."

Musikeyz has it. Playing by ear is playing a tune that you can hum or whistle without using sheet music or fake books to learn it.

Playing a song that you've memorized from sheet music isn't normally called playing by ear.