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Learning piano chords by ear is a bit like listening to a song on a radio station and learning the harmonies in the chorus. Chords follow different structures, for example you have the major and minor chords then the 7th chords and different classical and jazz chords. Once you know the basic chords you can begin to learn them easily. For example a standard chord is made up of 3 different notes. These will be the first, third and fifth notes on a piano scale from middle c to the next c left and right of the keys. And for example different chords have different notes. C is c,e,g - D is d, f sharp, a and so on. An easy way to learn the chords is to learn the sound of each note on a piano scale from middle c, one octave right and left to begin with. Then you could learn some intervals because chords are all about intervals. So you could learn a 2 step interval or a fifth. These just mean different notes. For example, C D, E, F, G, A, B, C and then the black notes, will be sharp if they are to the right of the note or flat if they are to the left. Going from a white note to a black note is a half step and going from a white note to a white note is 1 step. A major or minor standard chord uses the first, third and fifth notes and uses some sharps or flats as well. Once you're familiar with the notes and sounds of chords learning chords by ear becomes quite easy. You'll be able to hear what major and minor chords sound like and also be able to tell the intervals between the notes. In fact there are some free online services which help you practice and learn to hear different piano chords and intervals by ear and I recommend doing a search for these as they are very easy to use. You can test yourself and get scores starting from beginner level to advanced. Or if you have your own piano or keyboard you can practice playing the chords, notes and intervals and then remember what they sound like.

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