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Who Can Actually Read Music ?


damian

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I've always tried to read music.

I get confused sometimes but usually E-very, G-ood, B-oy, D-oes for the lines and F-rogs, A-lways, C-an, E-scape for the spaces.

When you read base parts, drop down one line and adjust accordingly.

 

I took an into to music class a long time ago. Some of it stuck with me.

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It's great if you want to be able to walk-in and do studio work. (a friend of mine does that)

I read music when I played trumpet & french horn in school.

My teen years of "mind altering experimentation" seems to have deleted the skill from memory. [blink]

I wish I could still read music.

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Yes, and no it's certainly not overrated.

 

Standard notation is used for composing and transcribing (i.e. hear the tune in your head and write it down immediately away from an instrument), the reverse holds as well: to hear what music sounds like just by reading the notation. Try doing either of these things with TAB.

 

Learning how to read, engaging your ear at the same time, is one of the best things any musician can do.

 

Tip - treat all keys equally and think in terms of scale degrees (google solfege), not note names.

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I have read music all of my life. I recently decided that even though I have played guitar for over forty years, I should take some guitar lessons to learn more about playing.

 

My instructor of course gives me my lessons in tab format and I am used to reading music and Chord diagrams. I am struggling reading tabs because the numbers do not turn into notes in my mind like reading music.

 

Reading music is not over rated.

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My instructor of course gives me my lessons in tab format and I am used to reading music and Chord diagrams. I am struggling reading tabs because the numbers do not turn into notes in my mind like reading music.

 

Ask him to supplement the TAB with standard notation.

 

If he doesn't, find another teacher.

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i can read music but i usually only do so when im reading a music sheet for piano. reading music really isnt called for that much nowadays, everyone has their tabs they can look up to learn songs for guitar, mandolin, bass, ukulele, etc. me personally i find it much more satisfying to learn a song by ear, it is skill building and much more satisfying knowing you did it yourself. i didnt have this same outlook when i first started though. to me tabs were a quicker means to an end, i didnt really think about how lazy and impatient that was making me when i wanted to learn a song i like.

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There is an advantage for reading music. When I see a guitar I don't see patterns. I see the notes. Because I learned on piano first I don't need to worry about how many flats or sharps a particular scale has (I never needed to learn the circle of fifths). It makes playing guitar so much easier IMHO.

 

Here's an example. My son learned piano first. After he learned 4 scales I parked him in front of a guitar. It took about half an hour for him to remember the strings. Then I told him to tell me each note on the fret by simply counting the frets and going through the chromatic scale. He got it all in about an hour.

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Yes, I read and write music notation.

 

Regarding an over rated skill -

 

Until recently, the time it took to learn to read music notation was well worth it, and I still use the skill regularly. You could always get by without it, using chord notation, chord diagrams, or tablature. Even more so now. In the last decade or so, the proliferation, availability and popularity of tablature has marginalized the skill of reading music notation. The advent of the portable audio recorder also diminished the need for reading and writing music notation. It's gotten to the point where most players I come across don't use music notation, even if they have the skill. I won't say it's over rated, but it's usage among guitar players (stringed intruments) is falling off.

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I don't read music, and I Wish I did/could...and be prolific,

at it. Things would be so much easier. Would it make me a

better player? Maybe, maybe not. Some of That has more to do with

innate talent, than the ability to read music. But, it would

make things a lot easier...IMHO. Especially jumping genre to

genre, and for sight reading, on the fly. That Education, and

ability, as well as great technique, are never a bad thing.

Classical training has great discipline. Good players, often

"relax" from that, by playing Jazz, or even Rock. But, how you

choose to use, that discipline, is really up to you.

 

If I didn't have AADD, and the attention span of a gnat, I'd really

try to learn, to read music, even at my age.

 

CB

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Yes I can, no it's not.

 

I don't do it a lot, and sometimes I think I might have forgotten how. But whenever I try to read something I get it right. It's like being able to read another language as well as speak it. It makes thing a lot easier, and it makes playing by ear easier just because the concept of repeats, rhythm figures, Fills, Vamps, Codas, and such are visualized.

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Is this also simply your experience, or do you have a citation?

My experience as well.

None of the youngsters are even bothering to read music if all they play is guitar.

 

As a kid, I wanted to learn piano.

Several girls I dated over the years were accomplished pianists and could read music well.

They couldn't help me on guitar because it was so foreign to them.

 

I know several music teachers who drive home the importance of reading music, and I believe 'em.

Seems to me that guitar tab (I use 'em now and then) are the musical equal of text messaging.

 

omg

 

wtf

 

lol

 

rotf-lmfao

 

It works for some things well enough, but only a fool would think tabs are sufficient to replace musical notation.

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Riverside -

 

Simply my experience.

 

It would be interesting to see a poll/study that addressing how many can read standard notation, and of those, how many regularly use the skill.

 

I would guess that outside formal music schools, most beginning guitar "lessons" use chord diagrams, chord notation and tablature, and skip standard notation. And in my experience, that's were most of the players I know are it - because it's faster - no standard notation skills.

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Yes, I read music.

 

Probably 75% of what I do as a guitar player involves sight reading standard music notation, and couldn't be done otherwise. All guitar players would benefit from at least a "working knowledge" of music literature.

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I can read music: I am not very good though, and reading cold where I've never seen the sheet before and/or don't know what I am playing is always a challenge. Especially if i'm staring at something written out in a "piano" key... ;)

 

I was already studying drums/percussion when I started teaching myself guitar (in my teens), and my first melodic "teacher" was my stepfather, a professional pianist (as is my mom). We'd sit at the piano and he'd teach me theoretical stuff: scales, relative minors, the circle of fifths, etc. I started to learn the notes on the page by watching him play and applying what i'd taught myself on guitar up to that point. After that I started taking formal guitar lessons, playing in the school jazz band, etc.

 

In hindsight, really wish I'd learned some piano: the pressure of living with two professional piano players scared me off though. But wow what a resource that would have been...

 

There are things you need to learn on guitar that you don't necessarily "read": improvisation, picking techniques, etc. But being able to read is a valuable skill, as you can then play things you haven't necessarily heard or know cold yet (even if you end up faking a bunch of it.) For example, going by mom's at Christmas and pulling out her fake books of christmas carols: the kids love it! (I'm even getting her to re-copy some stuff in my preferred keys...) [biggrin]

 

and now, I also have to find a new guitar teacher, to help me with my finger picking, hybrid picking, etc. etc... you're never too old to learn!

 

Don

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