This discussion - like many of these type discussions - has been very interesting... and gone in a number of different directions. All valid for the point that the writer (of whatever post) was trying to make...

I respect guys who can read. I read enough to learn piano pieces that I want to learn (Randy Newman, Carole King, Elton John - NOT Mozart). I've NEVER had any desire to play guitar by reading. I don't want to be Tommy Tedesco. I did want to be Glen Campbell - but certainly not because he could read guitar notes on a chart.

But TABLATURE has a very valid purpose. And much more so for the large majority of people who have ever wanted to play guitar....

It takes YEARS of practice to learn to play guitar by reading notes. It takes a couple of hours to learn to play a guitar piece from tablature.

I can STILL remember the PURE JOY I felt when I bought a James Taylor songbook that included tablature to his first couple of records. In a matter of hours (or minutes) I COULD PLAY "FIRE AND RAIN" LIKE IT SOUNDED ON THE RECORD. Then "Sweet Baby James". Then "Country Roads". That one book took my acoustic guitar skills up MANY levels in a matter of DAYS (and the weeks that followed). And I could NOT put my guitar down. PURE JOY. And it was what I WANTED to know - the way I wanted to learn.

The discussion of "can you sight read tab" is pretty academic.

You do not use tablature to play FOR James Taylor.
You use tablature to play LIKE James Taylor.

I wish I knew what happened to that book....

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