by ear

"I have to play it by ear as I have no money. God has always come through, so I'll see what God sets up next."

Oscar grew up having piano lessons but has learned to play the organ by ear.

She does not "read" music – although she is learning music braille – and does it all by ear.

She started playing piano by ear when she was 4 and before long was studying the work of Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and Schumann.

The irony is that my father, my aunt and my grandmother played by ear with near perfect pitch though I don't know that any of them could even read music, and though I could, I never had it in me the way they did down through their soul.