Playing by ear

I've been trying to figure out how to play the piano by ear. I tried for years when i was a teenager, with absolutely no success.

But lately i have been poking around at it and surprisingly, without really trying too hard, i am improving. Normally what i do is play along with whatever's playing on the stereo. My goal is to figure out what key the song is in. If i can do that, i'm happy. Now i can usually figure that out before the song is over. (In the last couple of years, Bob Dylan in concert seems to be using all the black keys, maybe that's why he's playing the piano instead of the guitar).

Today, i was playing around with chords. Chords are hard for me to figure out. Too much going on. But as i was stumbling around, i figured out the main riff in Tom Petty's "Freefalling". Just like that..then i put it on and it was even in the right key. That could have been luck, i suppose. But it sounded perfect. That was a major breakthrough for me. Maybe i'll figure out more stuff one of these years.