Hello ogre, If you cna whistle ot hum the melody of a song, then you can play it by ear. Point; My wife started to take piano lessons at the age of five. She attended the School of Preforming Arts in N.Y.C.--The Moving picture Fame was about this school.

When she played on her Stienway Grand you sat up and listened---But---take the music away from her and she was helpless. She could not play the simplist of tunes without music.

Native ability is not the issue here. I have taught classes on,"How to play without music". The same subject was on TV some years ago, and is now again.

If I can hum/whistle the melody, I CAN FIND THESE NOTES ON MY INSTRUMENT!!
When I decided to play keyboard, I made a decision not to rely on the music as I did with my guitar studies. My wife and daughter often complained about the wrong notes I was playing. I knew that given some time my mind and my hand would get together--and they did.

1-You can fake a melody--hit a wrong note and recover quickly--and the better the pro, the quicker the recovery--but a wrong chord will be noticed easily.

2-You must study about chords and chord progressions. Most everything else will fall naturally.

I have music on my stand whenever I preform--I use it as a guide. There have been times to my surprise, that I was not even playing the song that's in front of me.

1-And yes, over the years you will change some of the original notes of the song when you play by ear--and so what. I try never to play a song note for note as it is written. I want to take liberty, it adds ME to the song. No reflections on anyone else, but I bore easily when I hear a song played note for note.

Ogre, I am now teaching 6 students ages 65 to 83 years of age. They are all learning chord construction, chord progressions, chord substutions, and HOW TO PLAY WITHOUT MUSIC! Ogre, if you have the desire, you can and will do it--When Chet Atkins a famous guitarist was asked, "Do you read music?", His answer was, "NOT ENOUGH TO HURT MY PLAYING". So very, very true.

Happy Playing, John C.