Louie Roy said,"There is only one way to play any string instrument and that is by ear"
Harmonic Miner said,"Sheet music is not something I ever learned. You don't learn to speak by first learning to read."

There are certainly more than one way to learn to play any string instrument. Different people have different learning styles and I wouldn't be so arrogant as to say that everyone should learn to play the same way as I did. And while "you don't learn to speak by first learning to read," that doesn't mean that you should never learn to read. I played for at least 5 years before I taught myself to read music and I'm glad I did, because although I'd rather learn a song or tune by hearing it, there are many books with thousands of fiddle tunes in them and it's nice to be able to read them.
I realize that there are people who can speak very well without knowing how to read and there are also those who play very well without knowing how to read music, but learning to read music will not hurt your playing ability any more than learning to read words will hurt your speaking ability. If your way of learning works for you, great, but it's your way, not mine.