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Location: Michigan | I am a guitar strummer that cannot read any type of sheet music.I started playing by copying what I saw other guitar players do.I did learn what basic chords were and where on the guitar they were located.
Do any of you play out(professionaly or just playing in front of the general public)and still cannot read sheet music?
Is it important to know how to read sheet music?
I have heard that some artists cannot read any sheet music but they can still write songs.
What do you think ???
Does it really matter on how well you will develop your guitar skills if you can or cant read sheet music? GWB |
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Location: New South Wales, Australia | G'day GWB. I went to piano lessons for eight years as a kid (hated every minute of it) so I learned to read music.
Been playing guitar now for 27 years and have never had the need to read, however, I do think learning some musical theory is great for taking your playing to another level.
I think it depends on what sort of stuff you're doing. I'd imagine classical guitarists in particular would have to be able to read music.
I saw an interview recently with Tommy Emmanuel where he said he was able to easily follow chord charts but couldn't read a note of music. So if it's OK for him I guess it's OK for most of us. If you can hear a tune in your head and know a few chords you can still write a song. |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | I don't. I have trouble reading TAB, if it gets complicated, also. Just enough to figure-out a lead/intro. Chord notation is cool, providing you already know the song's rhythm, tempo, etc.
But GWB, if I are writing a song, I'm guessing I would just finger-around until I got something that sounded good to me, the write then chords down so I don't forget.
And if it is a great song, that gets famous, some geek will figure-out the correct notation when you publish your lyrics.
--apparently OZ was typing about the same thing when I was typing this...
He said it more eloquently-- |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | I was in a trio recently where I was the only one who couldn't sight read. The multi-instrumental member of our group, knowing I was a songwriter, commented; "isn't that like being a writer who can't read?"
It is.
I feel handicapped every day I pick up my instrument.
At the same time, I can hear polyrhythms that most white folks miss. (Sorry about any negative allusions, but it's true..and I'm pale as they come.) So, i carry my weight, and try not to get in everyone else's way.
Where my weakness fails me, I let my strength (and believe it or not, the ability to keep my mouth/hands shut) make up the difference. But make no mistake, it's a weakness.
Reading music well won't keep you from hearing what you do now in music, it will just help you hear more. |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Originally posted by fillhixx:
I was in a trio recently where I was the only one who couldn't sight read. The multi-instrumental member of our group, knowing I was a songwriter, commented; "isn't that like being a writer who can't read?" A writer who can't read... That is a Story-teller, Folk-Historian, or a Medicine-Man/Woman.
But your point is well taken. |
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Location: Upper Left USA | EGBDF, FACE.
That's it.
I can't read the language I speak is what Matt Smith would tell me.
TAB is getting easier. |
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Location: PDX | You still need the bass clef there Mike :)
I read music and still suck as a player. But i am glad i do. Most songs i want to play can't be found in tab. I just got "Just Standards Real Book" put out by Warner Bros, and if i didn't know how to read music it's just a bunch of chords - no melody lines. How would you know WHERE to play those chords without the melody line? You wouldn't, plain and simple.
Besides i think it is a lot of fun to pick up a violin or cello book and be able to play whats on the page. Some really great melodies are found there.
But do you need to read music -- no. As it has been stated, many very good guitarists don't read music. And some are gifted with a great ear. I guess i find reading music as rewarding as learning a new song. Just part of my musical journey. Oh, and i can read tab as well.
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gh1 |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I could read the notes from playing in band since grade school and then choir in college, but a couple years of piano never taught me to read the chords. I play mostly by ear and am starting to get faster at tabs, but frankly, 90% of the tabs are wrong.
I never play out, so my inability to read sheet music is irrelevant to that issue. A lot of the sheet music I have isn't right either, so I can't see how reading it will do any good. |
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Location: New South Wales, Australia | Originally posted by Old Man Arthur:
--apparently OZ was typing about the same thing when I was typing this...
He said it more eloquently-- [/QB] Well, thankyou Arthur. I aint never been called eloquent before. :D |
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Location: Omaha, NE | Originally posted by guitarwannabee:
Is it important to know how to read sheet music? It all depends on what you want to do.
Personally, I think it is a trememdous help. You should be reasonably fluent in standard notation as well as tab. You should also know where the notes are on a piano so you can plink out simple melodies to see how they sound. |
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Location: Waurika OK | I can't read music either, but I wish I could.
When starting out at about age 12 or 13 it was learning chords so I could accompany myself singing and for the most part it has remained that way.
Of course reading music is not of much value without tons of practice and learning your instrument and having some ability.
As to the afore mentioned bass clef, isn't it:
Good boys do fine always and all cows eat grass? |
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Location: North Carolina | I can use it as a reference, but do not sight read. |
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Location: Bluffton, SC | Not a note but it's hardly slowed me from butchering a boatload of songs. One could only imagine what I could do if I could read. |
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Location: ranson,wva | i cant read sheet music and i can barly read tab...if it wernt for tab and my wall sized chorde chart id be screwed...lol jason |
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Location: Central Oregon | I can't read music. I struggle with tab & have to relearn it every time I need to use it, even though it's basically pretty simple. I wish I could read music but I simply don't have the time to devote to learning. There are numerous little tunes I've come up with over the years that I've lost because I couldn't write them down & was to lazy to record them at the time. I've been hacking away at the guitar with varying degrees of interest for 50 years. If I could live another few hundred years I might be able to accomplish most of the things I'd like to learn & do during my life, both musically & otherwise. |
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Location: USA | I was reading charts and was able to write them...but...i lost interest in it.
I do all my writing from the heart and soul.
If I do a cover its all by ear. |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I guess in the most basic sense of EGBDF and FACE I can read music, but find no use for it in guitar and totally disagree with the "speaking a language you can't read" or being a "writer that can't read" analogies. Now, music "theory" on the otherhand, especially as it applies to guitar or "guitar theory" I wish I knew better. As Styll states "writing from the heart and soul. If I do a cover its all by ear."
I can honestly say in over 40 years I never recall ever regretting not learning to read music with regard to guitar. Now for Piano, that's a different story. I'm not a keyboard player, but I can play some stuff on the keys and wish I knew how to read music to make up for the fact I'm not a keyboard player so I could play more. |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Illogical. You want to be able to read music to play piano, but then forget it when you play guitar?
To my mind, theory goes right along with reading. I learned (and promptly forgot) a lot of that stuff in my teens.
It meant I couldn't join the Swing Band that the sight reading trio I mentioned earlier was invited to help form. That would have been cool.
Lack of knowledge = lack of opportunity everywhere in life. Does it keep you from enjoying life? Not a bit. It just reduces the options. |
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Location: nyc area | I have been a proffesional musician almost my entire life. Im all my work, I read music maybe 10 percent of the time. However I read chord charts ALOT. I guess the secret is preperation for that 10 percent.
The most important skill is musicality and a great ear. Knowing by experience what you're hearing and what to play. Remember, they call this PLAYING music... for most of you, this is how you express yourself and relax... Have fun! |
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| I read chord charts for guitar and bass, and sight read for bass, baritone and tenor vocals.I also score piano. |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | "To my mind, theory goes right along with reading."
In mine it doesn't, and one has nothing to do with the other, and also Piano Theory and Guitar Theory are totally different. I have always felt this way, but more recently found something called Fretboard Logic that I wish I had 40 years ago.
Now on a more cerebral sense, sure, I wish I knew a lot of things, just for the sake of knowing them.
I'm just saying for me personally, I have never had a use for sheet music for guitar, but I have had use for theory as it applies to guitar and wish I understood it better. |
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Location: SoCal | Why would I need to read music when I only know 3 chords?
I would imagine that reading music and knowing theory can be a great help if one wanted to get beyond 3 chords. To understand how chords are constructed, to be able to play 5ths, 6ths, etc, would be a great help.
But there have been great guitar players who didn't read and still were great players. Django Reinhardt and Glen Campbell come to mind.... |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | I like the analogy between reading and speaking a spoken language and reading and just playing music. It's possible to be eloquent without being able to read english, but it's a lot easier if you can.
My ability to read music is really limited, and I know it limits my musical eloquence. I compensate for it by recreating songs in a way I can play, working within my limitations. |
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Location: PDX | Here's how Al DiMeola put it:
....we feel that we must first define a musician and a player. They are not necessarily the same. A musician is one who can read music, has a good working knowledge of music theory, chords, scales. arpeggios and is able to play all styles of music from rock to classical. In other words he has to know it all. The player can play well, but he doesn't necessarily know what he is doing because of a lack of knowledge of theory. A good player is generally self-taught and does not know how to read music or have a good working knowledge of theory, chord, scale, and arpeggio construction. He relies on his ability to hear certain chord changes and his natural talent for playing leads that he feels sound correct."
With slight paraphrasing from his book "A Guide to Chords, Scales, & Arpeggios" written with Bob Aslanian. You wont be finding any tabs in there.
FWIW
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gh1 |
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Location: Tucson, AZ | ..totally "self-taught," but 'yes' I can sight-read notation, albeit slowly. |
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Location: Snåsa, Norway | IMHO standard notation is a good way to visualise music, by giving both rythm and pitch from the sheet. Tab gives more info where to find the notes on the fretboard, but less about the actual piece of music. Chord charts give even less detailed info, and are still good enough for many purposes. Reading music is useful, but not crucial for being a good player. Knowing the instrument well, having well trained musical ear and knowledge of music is the most important skills. Learning the fundamentals of sight reading should not be to difficult for anybody, though? |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I think Al DiMeola (and others) hit the nail on the head. I (like many here I think) consider ourselves "guitarists" first and foremost, musicians second. When I think of someone who is both, I think Frank Zappa. Lots of others, but he comes to mind first. A master of the guitar, a master of written music, and a master of the Theory behind both.
I still fail to see where knowing scales and increments on an instrument, including knowing each of the notes, has anything to do with the ability to write it down or read it in NOTE form... unless of course that's what you want to do. For guitar, tab makes more sense. I think for a piano or keys, music makes more sense. For me, I wish I knew theory better. |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | I miss ol' Frank. Even if he always played Caam-middee Music! |
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Location: East Tennessee | I can't read music but I use tab sheets a lot.
As Miles and others have said "Knowing some theory would help when figuring out what an "F6add9" means without having to look at a chord chart. |
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| I compare this topic to pianists. There are basically 2 types. One type can read and play any score but can't play by ear. The other type can play anything by ear but can't read the score. I only knew one guy in college who could do both. And, as it turns out, he was a jazz pianist..go figure.. |
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Location: big island | i can't read music or tablature. probably could if i gave it the effort. i despised school and only did just enough to pass each grade. i hunt and peck when i type cuz i couldn't stand typing lessons. i play music professionally (vocals, guitar and ukulele) and have sang in many community and church choirs but still couldn't tell you one note from the next. it's all in the heart, the tapping foot and the musically inclined fingers. |
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Location: Tucson, AZ | Originally posted by Steve:
I compare this topic to pianists. There are basically 2 types. One type can read and play any score but can't play by ear. The other type can play anything by ear but can't read the score. I only knew one guy in college who could do both. And, as it turns out, he was a jazz pianist..go figure.. ...jazz was one of the major reasons for my educational odyssey from 'player' into 'musician' because I wanted to know WHY as well as HOW!
...just another wannabe chordal jazz player. |
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Location: Omaha, NE | I think there are a lot of different levels to "reading music".
- Some guys can look at a written piece, and after a bunch of trial and error, play what's written.
- Some guys can look at a written piece and play it pretty much correct the first time through.
- Some guys can look at a written piece and 'hear' it in their mind without ever playing it.
Of course, 'written piece' can mean standard notation, Nashville notation, figured bass, tab, whatever.
I was in band from fifth grade through high school. That really helped bake in a knowledge of standard notation.
When it comes to reading, I am reasonably good with tab (depending on how technical a piece is, I might be able to sight-play it, or I might need a little while to get it down, or I might need a year...). I am halfway decent with standard notation: I can plink out tunes on a piano, I can read notation and more or less get an idea what the song sounds like, I can pretty effortlessly process the time information in standard notation. I can pretty much sight-play something in Nashville notation. In fact, I just got back from playing at a first communion service at my church. One of the pieces I had never heard before and sight-played after I listened to the first couple of bars to get the idea.
But to amplify on the point made earlier, being able to read music doesn't make you a musician any more than being able to read text out loud makes you an actor. There is obviously a ton more to it than that.
I was discussing this with the bass player in my band. He was a studio player for a major record company in LA for 10 years. He described a process where you would show up, be handed a sheet, given a few minutes to sort it out, then the producer comes on the intercom and says something like "come on guys, studio time is $2000 an hour. Lets get this done now" and you would be expected to put down a take right then. That is a level of craft that most of us will never achieve, but its also a unique and isolated thing. Its not like the guys that can do that are automatically good entertainers. They are just good studio players.
Back to the original question, I think a player who is interested in expanding his skills would be better advised to practice some serious ear training before bothering with learning notation. I think one of the most effective ways of improving musical ability is to be able to "echo" a simple lick: You hear something, and immediately play it back. Correctly. Without any 'fishing' for notes. Once you can do that, you can play anything. |
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Location: Buffalo,NY | I can't read Music and know very little theory. I've decided to learn a little bit of theory to help me understand how to play a little better. I have a son who studies at a Music Conservatory and theory is very important to him . It's not that important to me because I'm not a professional musician.
I could have this wrong but I think it was Chet Atkins who was asked:" do you know how to read music?" and his response was : " Not enough that I let it interfere with my playing."
So I'm trying to do the same thing.
Regards,
Tom |
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Location: Orlando, FL | I can sight read music well enough to take a fiddle tune and play it on guitar. But I prefer tabs with standard notation above so I can refer to the tab for fingering and the notes for timing. |
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Location: Michigan | Lanaki,
I have a question for you??? You recently shared a fantastic song that you did and put it on You-Tube .
Did you write the guitar parts down as you were going or is this something that you just kept going in your head?
If you didnt write out the song on paper,,,
Do you ever play it the same way twice or do you just play it the way you feel it at that peticular time you are playing it???
By the way that is a coooool song . GWB |
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Location: Cherry Hill, NJ | Most guitar players are not sight reading musicians. I myself thought I played by ear, until I played with a formally trained keyboard and flute player. They told me I play by feel, which kinda makes sense. I can read music, but struggle with it, I use the chord chart method. After about 15 years of playing guitar, I did take music and chord theory classes. It helped me expand my music, and it became much easier to figure out songs by "feel". |
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Location: big island | GWB,
i would not know how to write the music down. i don't think i have ever played the song exactly the same way twice and nobody would know the difference unless it was recorded or someone studied that video to play the song themselves and then heard me play it again. it would not vary much though.
after playing for nearly 40 years, i can listen to most songs and hear the chord progression in my head and then play them on the guitar without ever seeing the chord chart. i have been mainly a rhythm player, and a very good one at that :cool: all these years and only started doing leads within the past two years out of necessity. |
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Location: Cherry Hill, NJ | Lanaki
That was wonderful, I love your playing and style. It's really so original. By the way I always felt a good rythm guitar player is hard to find. Great stuff. |
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Location: big island | thank you, tommy! |
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | I'm pretty much with Designzilla. I can read music from all my years in a professional symphony chorus, but primarily use the notes for timing when playing. In the Praise Band, we have to be able to read music at some level because we do maybe six new songs every week. If I miss a practice or otherwise don't have the music, I just ask the pianist what key it is in and generally pick it up by ear. At times, the chord tabs may include those that I'm not real familiar with so I'll need to look them up (i.e., 9ths, 11ths, 13ths). Although I'm getting much better at figuring them out (theory?), I do better by memorization. Our trumpet (band leader) takes a lot of lead but then will also ask me to take it on an intermediate verse or chorus, and that is all by ear. Yesterday morning, our band leader asked me to play the introduction of a hymn for the benefit of the Congregation just moments before we started. I looked at the notes, recoginized the tune, then played it by ear. I believe that by playing primarily by ear, we develop a sense of feeling for the music and can make it our own, although in doing so, we are not necessarily true to the composer. |
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Location: Athens, GA & Gnashville | I just stick to reading books. |
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Location: NJ | I started by just learning chords and then appying them to songs right away.
I made a concerted effort to learn how to sight-read when I started to learn how to play the flute, but once I had the embouchure and the fingering "down", I cast that aside and pretty much forgot it . . .
If I'm vaguely familiar with the song, I really just need the chord changes to play it.
This weekend, we rented "WordPlay" which was an IFC documentary about the annual NewYorkTimes CrosswordPuzzle competition held every year up in Stamford.
One of the guys they profiled was a professional Piano Player from NY. This guy's job pretty much entails going to various NY theatres and rehearsal halls, sitting at an upright piano and playing whatEVER music people bring in and plop down in front of him for their audition. A goodly portion of the material is stuff he's NEVER heard before. I admire someone with that type of ability.
The object of the profile was to show the correlation of someone with musical ability and how it relates to quickly solving crossword puzzles (being able to quickly "scan" a page and disseminate multiple information simultaneously). Evidently, the best puzzle-solvers are musicians and those who utilize heavy math skills.
It's an interestiong flick, and worthy of a rainy Sat. afternoon rental. |
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| My mom played the flute. I remember the 'embochure' technique was quite a challenge when I tried it. I've known a few floutists who could play in all 3 registers. Must be a talent I don't have.. |
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Location: NJ | The low/middle registers have a lot t'do with how you "roll" the instrument to/from you . . . hitting the upper register just has a lot to do with how "forcefully" you play . . . |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Flautists and Clarinetists always look like the most unhappy people in the band. But it's just the embrochure.
For some reason, the tympany player always looks happiest. Maybe because he just snuck in from the pub in time for his bit... |
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Location: SoCal | I do read chord charts in the band at church and I do read tab to learn fingerpicking specific tunes (I'm not good enough with my ears to learn any Jerry Reed tunes any other way). But I always rely on my ears to be the final judge. Guitar music written out over sheet music is usually based on the piano music and is usually a guide rather than the definitive word..... |
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Location: Omaha, NE | Originally posted by cliff:
This guy's job pretty much entails going to various NY theatres and rehearsal halls, sitting at an upright piano and playing whatEVER music people bring in and plop down in front of him for their audition. A goodly portion of the material is stuff he's NEVER heard before. Its amazing what the human mind is capable of, isn't it?
Even when I was pretty serious about it, I could NEVER sight read anywhere near that well. I used to try out for various jazz bands (playing saxophone) and the audition almost always included a sight reading test: Drop the music in front of you and off you go. I never really did get good at that.
Sight reading music is really no different from sight reading text. Think of how much time and effort we spent in grade school mastering that skill. Put the same amount of effort into sight reading music, and anyone could do it. |
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Location: NJ | I started out learning the guitar and learning to read. treble clef in first position comes natural to me.
at the height of my sight reading I could read in 4 positions on the fingerboard.
Like a language if you don't use it you lose it and what remains is the treble clef first position for me.
I can sight read tab and nashville numbers but that does not take too much effort even for the hardest anti reader.
wish I kept it up. I would be a more valuable player.
where the hell did I put that sheet with the circle of fifths????? |
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| I remember that chart, the 'circle of 5ths'. Any diminished 7th chord could be notated four ways.
Other than that it's still kind of confusing.. |
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Location: Montreal, Canada | After learning mostly by ear and tabs, i put the guitar away for about 15 years. When my daughter started to play some music in school, she wanted me to show her my old guitar and play some songs with her, but i couldn't read even her basic music parts.
She wanted to learn to play guitar, so i enrolled us both in a class 3 years ago. She has since left the class (she's 10 and wanted to try something else) but i have kept on going.
So far i can read most music basic parts and i have no problems with tabs. One of the hardest things has always been to convert back and forth the notation from french to english as i'm a french-canadian from CDEFGHAB to DoReMiFaSolLaSi.
Take a look at the Alfred method if you wanna learn how to read standard music. I found it very easy to follow with lots of practice material. It's probably the best one out there.
Yves |
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Location: big island | "cdefgHab"? is there an "H" chord i don't know about? |
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Location: Montreal, Canada | It's the special chord only us frenchmen know about.... :) Damn typos !!
Yves |
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Location: big island | when i look at written music, all i see is a bunch of black and white boys jumping over a fence. |
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Location: Marlton, NJ | "cdefgHab"? is there an "H" chord i don't know about? Obviously as a French-Canadian, he's got hockey on the mind with the playoffs approaching - Les Habitants - go Rangers! |
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Location: Marlton, NJ | I have a basic understanding of reading music notation. As someone said earlier, it helps during worship services when we learn new songs every week and the piano-playing leader doesn't always have chords for me. I try and figure out the chords from the notes and the key. It definitely helps with the timing as well - especially when the timing changes several times in the middle of the song. |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Originally posted by Mauray1:
Take a look at the Alfred method if you wanna learn how to read standard music. I myself am a graduate of the Alfred E. Newman skool us improvizashun.
Yves; have you voted yet?
lanaki said:
"cdefgHab"? is there an "H" chord i don't know about? Actually it the 'habitant' chord. No one uses it, because it grates on almost everyone. Invented by Gilles Vigneault one night at a gig in Sherbrook Ontario when an Anglo drunk kept demanding a rendition of Les Bicyclette de Belsize |
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Location: Montreal, Canada | Good one fillhixx !! I'm actually on my way out of the office to go vote....but in my case, i'll be fair and vote for everyone !!!
Seriously though, it's been a very tight three way race here in the past month and we're looking at our first possible minority goverment in over a century !! Sounds like fun !!!
Yves |
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Joined:
April 2006
Posts: 1017
Location: Budd Lake, NJ | I can--I majored in clarinet in college, and took theory, counterpoint, etc. It has carried over into my limited ability to play keyboard, and I can figure chord progressions and vocal parts out fairly quickly; it's helped my bass playing a whole lot, but not so much my guitar playing, especially in the area of technique. Play a classical piece? Not. Lead guitar? Not. I don't think my guitar playing is on a level with the knowledge I struggled to acquire all those years ago now, but I find that I really appreciate pieces that are more than a half a dozen or so chords.
Karen and the crew
Gertrude (1111-4), Jewel (CE868LX-4), Blanca (Viper natural), Jazzey (Maple Tornado), Gilda (Guild), Sugar (Steinberger Spirit 5-string bass), Plink (Galiano mandolin), Twang (Vega 5-string banjo) and Shriek (Fiddle of uncertain antecedents) |
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Joined:
July 2002
Posts: 1900
| I studied music education in college. I still have one of my text books 'Piston's Harmony'. I score piano occasionally. But, orchestration is quite a subjective thing. Ask Rachmaninoff.. :) |
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Joined:
April 2006
Posts: 2491
Location: Copenhagen Denmark | Hmm...Guitar, Piano,Flute,Clarinet have been mentioned,all are instruments that are Pre-tuned..
otherwise ,many comments have been made,yet Mr.O and private Eye Nailed it Right on the Dot..There`s so much to Learn,so much to Know,Take U`re pick and Do U`re thing,Good Luck ;)
Vic :cool: |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | I learned something from this thread. I never knew that a person who played the flute was a "flautist". I always thought that was a person who tooted from the other end. Even though I was a clarinetist, I was always the "guy with the clarinet". All the other clarinetists were "girls with clarinets." Never heard of flautists and would have thought it had to do with flatulence. This forum is so educational. I'm still not going to call my neice a flautist, though. She might punch me. |
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 713
Location: Alberta, Canada | I took 3 three years of piano lessons when I was a youngster, and I can read for it but not like I used to. It would probably take me days to get a song down now.
My mom got me started playing a few chords on her old Harmony arch top when I was about 8. Spent the next 6 years sporadically picking up the guitar. When I was 14 I got to spend some time with an uncle who plays and he would have me play rythm to drive him in songs he was trying to learn.
That got me inspired and I purchased a nice Kasuga rosewood dreadnaught and some books with the chords above the lyrics.
Literally, every night, I would go to my room and practice (partly to get out of doing dishes) strumming and singing. I got just good enough to allow me to sing what I wanted and have stagnated ever since. As long as I can get the melody stuck in my mind and can pretty much figure the chord changes.
I can get around the top 3 frets pretty good and dip up to the 5th occassionally, but am now struggling to better my playing.
Bass I learned on stage, but that's a whole other story.
I know people who can sight read a piece for the first time and play it note for note but they have to play it many times before you can hear the expression in the music. You can't feel it 'til they do. (Stop it )
Both camps have there + and -, and if you can feel the groove, it really doesn't matter which one you belong to as long as you're enjoying doing it.
Dave |
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Joined:
May 2004
Posts: 383
Location: Indiana | If I have enough time I can figure out what the notes are. But I cannot sight read. Been playing by ear for 43 years and have rarely regretted it.
Bill |
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Joined:
April 2006
Posts: 2491
Location: Copenhagen Denmark | "playing by ear for 43 years and have rarely regretted it"
How`s the Ear holding up :confused: ;)
Vic :cool: |
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Joined:
November 2005
Posts: 4833
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Cheap Trick have the perfect song for this occasion.
(And when don't they?....)
Everything Works If You Let It |
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Joined:
March 2007
Posts: 97
Location: North Cal. mountains | Rocket Science. That's how I would describe tuning a steel guitar. But, my brother did it and plays with the finest of musicians. He rarely got one of his own songs on the radio or even the flipside.
He makes it obvious that it is about the front.
Take it and fake it and you could make it. Shy will be passed by.
Jam, learn, get your ass kicked and then embraced by the old guys.
It's worth every moment of hurt to get one day when they say, "This kid is really good".
Strive for that.
They will let you know how much you don't know, but if you are a very good writer, they will help you.
Rev |
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Joined:
March 2007
Posts: 97
Location: North Cal. mountains | By the way, my brother can't read tab. He made it, but not for him.
A songwriter needs to make something bigger.
You need to be thicker-skinned.
Having a song ignored is like having a child seen as inadequate.
Be tough. That song's a part of you, but you might hear, "You're the reason our kids are ugly".
Get over it and get tough and get out there and get some experience. Your ol' guys will definately kick your ass in a meanish-loving way and will tell you EXACTLY what you need to know if you have the balls to ask. If you don't have the balls to ask, they keep laughing at you.
Step up, sweetheart. It's not as simple as sheet music or not. |
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Joined:
April 2006
Posts: 2491
Location: Copenhagen Denmark | "Step up, sweetheart. It's not as simple as sheet music or not "
Ain`t that the Truth !!
Vic |
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Joined:
May 2004
Posts: 383
Location: Indiana | Originally posted by Enfant Terrible aka V-Elite:
"playing by ear for 43 years and have rarely regretted it"
How`s the Ear holding up :confused: ;)
Vic :cool: Huh? |
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Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 2246
Location: Yucaipa, California | yup, read music... still have trouble with reading tab though... |
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Can You Read Music Or Not ?