It’s definitely advantageous to be able to do both.

I primarily play by ear. I did learn to read a little while studying music theory and then later when I started learning to play piano when my son first started taking music lessons. I figured I would learn the piano so I could help him with his lessons. My sight reading skills went down the tubes with the piano after about a year when it became obvious my son was doing just fine on his own.

I admire those that can sight read anything. I once dated a music teacher and she had a china cabinet full of sheet music and I used to just go in there and pull something out of the middle of any of the piles and she would take the music and play it flawlessly. I was impressed.

For fretted stringed instruments, tablature far surpasses standard notation IMHO. It’s much more “exact” as far as to where on the fretboard the notes are being played. Especially with the newer TAB programs that include symbols and standard notation for all of the musical nuances.

Bob
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http://soundcloud.com/bobcflatpicke/music-in-the-mountains