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Junior Member
 
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 10/25/2009 4:10:21 PM
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| i'm toying with the idea of reading music. but i'm an old dog and am not sure if i am up to it. has anyone else learned to read music later in life? was it worth it? i like how Happy picks out the melody in his teaching and i find this dovetails nicely with the knowledge that i learned in ernie hawkins CAGED series. sometimes i take the melodies and pick em out up the neck or in another key for more melody and fretboard practice. i see that Happy has a note reading cd instruction book. mark
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Forum Guru
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Last Login: 11/1/2009 9:39:02 AM
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| my 1st 5 years of guitar lessons consisted of learning to read music and where the note were on the fretboard. Every song taught to me had to have sheet music. My humble opinion is that it really hampered my ability to learn tunes by ear... I became dependant on sheet music and later TAB. Having said all that; knowing how to read music is a good thing.... Dave
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Junior Member
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Last Login: 10/25/2009 4:10:21 PM
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| david, your comments are interesting. i thought learning how to read music would help me musically. you know, reinforce that idea that i am playing notes (as well as the scale), that i can identify, and not numbers (tab). also i thought it might help me develop a better ear... mark
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Forum Guru
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Last Login: 11/1/2009 9:39:02 AM
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| Mark now that you have the basics down and can play guitar.. I do think that learning to read music will help you. my personal issue was that my instructor teaching method made me rely on sheet music... If I were playing in an orchestra or something similar.... Reading music would have helped tremendously. But I was into Rock and Roll, playing in bands in high school and college.... you can't find sheet music for rock tunes (or you couldn't in the early 70's) So I had to rely on band mates to teach me the chords, etc...
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Junior Member
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Last Login: 9/12/2009 3:18:05 AM
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| When I started to learn how to play guitar, my teacher made me learn how to read music. I'm sure glad I spent the time to learn. Than I spent time on learning theory. It might have hurt me learning songs by ear. But, now I can sit down with just about any music book and make my own arrangements. I think reading music helped me to keep playing as long as I have. 20 years.
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Forum Newbie
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Last Login: 5/1/2009 7:12:00 PM
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| Hey Old Dog, I'm an old dog to. My younger years were spent playing a handful of songs, with three cords and I only knew parts of the songs. Sloppy, old beat up guitar that I never changed the strings. I picked it up 2 or 3 times a year. At 63 my wife decided to buy me a guitar for Christmas and when I got it I was wondering, Why this? However, it did generate an interest and I had a desire to learn fingerstyle, on my own, with the help of Homespun DVD's. I can't read music either but I did start out using the TAB's as a reference. Basically, if I wasn't sure about a note I saw on the DVD I would refer to the TAB. I had to study the TAB a few minutes to figure out the note. After doing this for about a year, and quite by accident, I found I could read the TAB pretty good and at times used it to play through an entire song. Now 3 years down the road I would recommend the tab as the only way to go for us old timers. I don't plan on playing in the band. It's mainly for my own enjoyment and it works for me. By the time I learn to read music I will be reading my name in the back page of the local paper so why bother. Mickey
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Junior Member
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Last Login: Today @ 12:29:32 PM
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| This is a great topic with a lot of strong opinions on either side. This is a hugh topic, so let me make just one observation. I think we are talking about the joy and pleasure of music. It's true, you can play the notes exactly as written and it won't sound like music. To make it sound like music involves accent, timing, syncopation, etc. But knowledge of music theory can give you confidence and understanding and greater appreciation of what you are playing. Why do certain chords have a characteristic sound? It is because of the relationship of the notes to each other. Is that important to understand? I think so. There is a HUGH difference between being able to sight read and understanding the notes on a staff. Maybe picking up a piece of music you have never seen before and playing it perfectly first time out is not worth the effort, but chord construction is beautiful when you see it on a staff (stacked thirds, etc.) I believe that seeing how M, m, 7th, Maj7th, etc. relate is important to your appreciation of the music and the pure joy of playing it. There are those who don't read at all - not even tab - and play with more feeling and expression than I (probably) ever will. So can I say they are missing out? Strange as it seems - yes.  Rick
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