Originally Posted By: musiclover
As regards reading music there is probably those of us who know the basic notes on the staff or stave and use a recording to help us along, and those who can truly read, and play a perfect copy of a complex song, without having heard it before, or having any recording to hand.

Wonder how many are in last category?


My guess would be over half, and here's why.

Imagine you were a 14 year old kid in the heyday years of Van Halen and you decided you wanted to marry Valerie Bertinelli too and that is MUST be that Eddie is a guitar player, so you decide to take guitar lessons. You mow lawns and save money to buy a guitar (or your mother buys you one) and you march to the nearest music store and ask about lessons. The store tells you they have a great guitar player who teaches and you sign up. At your first lesson, the great guitar player comes in and teaches you 4 basic chord positions and calls it lesson 1. At lesson 2, he asks what songs you want to learn and he starts teaching them to you, because it's likely you want to learn Jump and Panama, with all the flashy hammer on and pull off solo gymnastics. That goes on for 2 years.

The point of that example is this. That "great guitarist" teacher of your may have learned by ear himself, and if he doesn't know theory, he can't teach it. Similar in concept you send your kid to me for Spanish lessons. I don't speak Spanish. What he would get from me is all from Google Translator.

DISCLAIMER HERE! This is just MY OPINION.

"Music" has to be taught by a "music" teacher. "Songs", while they CAN be taught by a music teacher, will likely be what you get from that great guitar player who teaches at the music sore to supplement his income earned at his 2-3 copy band gigs per week, all with an eye on when he can finally live without 2 similarly semi-employed roommates. Music should be taught in a music school.

Now to translate that to adults, we have community colleges available to us that will offer that music basic basics class to us for far less money than what Berklee charges. AND you don't have to audition and be accepted! LOL!!

I highly recommend that Music 101 and 102 to anybody serious about playing. And if you are even more serious and want to learn about the roots and evolution of music, I also suggest music history classes. I once worked briefly with some guys who wanted to do a blues band and I suggest they do Stormy Monday, which is on every list of "All time blues songs" you will find. The drummer was against it because he didn't want to do "Allman Brothers songs". I looked at him, mouth agape, and said "You think Stormy Monday is an Allman Brothers song? Why? Because they play it? Google 'Stormy Monday and T-Bone Walker.' Then get back to me." And he was that way about EVERY song on the list. Born Under a Bad sign was a Cream song, and so forth.

Somebody once said in an interview, it might have been Bon Jovi, that if you have influences, find out who THEIR influences were. There are a lot of people out there who don't know better than to think When The Levee Breaks was a Led Zepplin song. And to them I just shake my head and say "wow".

Learn the craft. If only to respect the craft, learn the craft.