I try to do both...

Playing by ear, i can easilly find my right hand parts
But recognicing chords, espescially the more advanced ones take me some more time
The fun thing is when i play by ear, i easilly memmorise the song
When i play from sheet music, its mostly piano style arrangements

Keep in mind, i am far from a professional musician, just a homeplayer trying to have some fun, and playing as good as possible..


The other thing i want to share with you, is that the new keyboard music coarses, like the one my nephews use, try to encourage both, and are meant to develop both at the same time... Sometimes they have excersises that make them replay by ear, while other times they get to improvise and play fee.... The course teaches both left right hand arranger playing, as full keyboard piano arrangements... There is a bit of everything, even the dreaded etudes...


So i leave the opinion whats better to the pros, while cherrishing the tought that kids nowerdays learn both... Where in my good old organ childhood days, we only learned to play from sheetmusic and replay the piece allmost till eternity till we knew the notes from our head..