I feel like I always had an ear. I have the ability and the gift to hear a song and really play it in a matter of five to 10 minutes and make my own version out of it. So it's always been easy playing by ear.
I grew up in a household in which they'd always play old skool classic R&B love songs - Al Green, Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye... And my mom has even said that, when I was in her womb, she'd put the headphones to her stomach and play those songs to me!