by ear vs offhand

by ear

prep
  • To do by guessing, to improvise. 

  • To play (an instrument) or sing or to learn music without reading or memorizing sheet music; to learn a language without instruction. 

offhand

adv
  • Right away, immediately, without thinking about it. 

  • In an offhand (adjective) manner. 

adj
  • Without planning or thinking ahead. 

  • Careless; without sufficient thought or consideration. 

  • Curt, abrupt, unfriendly. 

How often have the words by ear and offhand occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )