I have a couple things to add,
Learning to read is knowledge. Something all humans strive for their whole lives.
It was said why gain knowledge I probably wont use?
What was the name of that president during the civil war? the one that freed the slaves?
What was the name of that city in Japan that got an atom bomb dropped on it?
What is does H2O mean?
These are all things most of us know the answer to but Why? what possible use am I going to have of knowing these things or for that matter the vast amount of knowledge I have gained over the past 47 years.
What possible good is it that I know who abraham Lincoln was, or that Hiroshima and Nagasaki where destroyed? H2O= water= 1 atom of hydrogen and 2 of Oxygen. I am not a chemist what possible use have I got to know that?
Even if you never use it, it is nice to know.
Memorizing songs?
I really don't want to memorize every note of every song I ever want to play, that (at least for me) is yet another good reason to learn to read.
Lastly, as you know, I am a proponant of reading is good.
I don't believe I have ever heard someone say I sure wish I didn't know how to read standard notation.
That aside I absolutely DO NOT look down or snub anyone who cannot or does not want to read music. I would welcome the chance to play with any one of you, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
Missileman (H20 is 2 hydrogen, 1 oxygen, not the other way around:) )
Regarding cnev's arguments about reading impairing play. Obviously, it takes a finite amount of time for the music to be recognized and then transmitted to the hands. However, this negligible impairment is far outweighed by certain disadvantages of memorization. You can memorize a piece with muscle memory or cerebral memory. In the first case you start playing and the hands do their thing; in the second, you know what's going on and you know what your hands are doing. In the former style, you are at a loss if you make a mistake, or if you are playing in a group that occasionally makes mistakes (that is; if you are human, or if you are in a group of humans). In the latter, you know which way the music is going at all times, and can adapt, because you are using your brain. The problem with this is that you do always have to devote some mental energy to the thought of what's next. It's impossible to make chord changes if you don't know where the music is going. The advantage of reading music is that you can tell where the music is going easily, and devote all that brain power to interpreting, adapting to problems that occur. You really cannot make this idealistic argument that music cannot help you play, especially if you don't read music. The fact remains that there is no perfect memorization. If you read music, your brain doesn't have to worry about remembering what comes next, because your eyes are telling it.
~Sam
Missileman (H20 is 2 hydrogen, 1 oxygen, not the other way around:) )
.
See, I told you I wasn't a chemist :oops:
Can I get a word in edgewise please? There's a guy name of Jeff Healey - he's blind - he's quite a well known popular guitarist. You might want to ask his opinion about whether reading music is important or not. I know that I'd be interested in hearing what he has to say on the subject.
Portamento - The ability to move from a wrong note to the right one without anyone noticing the original mistake.
Harmonics - The buzzing sound that string instruments make.
Impromptu - A carefully worked out composition.
Lets go back to the beginning,
The original question was "Is it worth my time?"
It has evovled into is it Neccesary or is it Important.
Is it worth my time- sure it is, never hurts to have this knowledge.
Is it Neccesary or Important- depends on your situation and what you want to do with your music.
Can I get a word in edgewise please? There's a guy name of Jeff Healey - he's blind - he's quite a well known popular guitarist. You might want to ask his opinion about whether reading music is important or not. I know that I'd be interested in hearing what he has to say on the subject.
Ray Charles couldn't read music either, and you can certainly come up with a long list of other successful blind musicians. I don't think anyone has said you MUST read music to be able to make music - that's simply not true.
On the other hand, it's a failure of logic to say "see? S/he doesn't do it, so it's not important at all". People live within their limitations, and they cope. I don't teach students to fret the way Django did, because most students have full use of their hands. I don't teach them to play like Mr. Healey either - he holds the guitar across his lap, and frets about half the notes with his thumb.
Rejecting learning something because a different individual with different abilities can't do it doesn't make sense to me.
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
I thought I could leave this one alone but since there were some misquotes or misinterpretations of my position let me clear this up.
1.) I do believe reading music is a valuable tool and for certain people it is a requirement to excel in their profession.
2.) I do not beleive that being able to read music has any effect on your ability to physically play the guitar. In other words reading music will not make you play "Better".
3.) As mentioned earlier it is only a must for certain people based on their goals/needs.
4.) As an adult beginner with a limited finite amount of time to devote to the art/skill of playing the guitar, I, and my decision is only based on my personal situation, decided my time would be better spend actually learning how to play the music I want too.
Missleman you were missing the whole point of my posts I was just responding to the question posed based on my own personal situation, the poster could make up his own mind about whether he should learn or not.
And your analogy of knowing some random peices of information, if yu want to use that as an analogy, does knowing those facts help you perform any physical activity that you do better? Bet they don't.
All I am concerned about are the skills necessary to "PERFORM" music correctly, (the physical aspect of playing)everything else at this time is secondary to me.
If that makes me a hack, not a musician whatever that's cool, but I still wouldn't change the decision I made for myself at this time. As D Hodge said, I can always change my mind later. If I decide that I am comfortable with my playing I may decide to start doing some reading who knows, but I'm not there yet.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
actually, knowing how,(through experience), it is you are supposed to strike the boards makes it a heck of a lot easier to break them in half. I suppose you could just read the instructions but that would hurt.
Nick,
I'm not sure what that's suppose to mean although I assume it's some analogy your making to reading music...if so I beg to differ....reading about breaking boards in a book and actually breaking boards are two distinct things...you can read about how to break them all you want...but I bet the that doesn't help you break any
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
No, I'm agreeing. I clarified my wording above.
Experience is very important. Reading how to swim and jumping in a lake will get you drowned. Practice is key.
Reading music is a tool in your arsenal.
However, you should learn to read music if:
A: you want to be able to play from sheet music
B: you want a big leg up understanding theory
It's a big world out there with room enough for everyone.
I just hope someday to have an understanding of theory that in some small way approximates Mr. Krabs's!
Well we all shine on--like the moon and the stars and the sun.
-- John Lennon
