Originally Posted By: MarioD
Eddie, like you I am old school MOST of the time. All young students who come to me must learn how to read music.


Reading is a tool, but it goes deeper. Do they know the Circle of 5ths and WHY chords relate to each other? Do they know the steps of the scale (tonic/root, subdominant/4th dominant/5th) etc? Do they know WWHWWWH (Whole and Half, the intervals of a scale)? If they don't know that stuff, they will only be able to play in C. Throw Eb at them and they don't know the scale.

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BUT you do not need to learn music to make good music; others have to transcribe what they play. Wes Montgomery couldn't read a note of music but he was a fantastic player. What about The Beatles? They wrote some fantastic music with no music knowledge, just very good ears.


You can throw examples out all day of people who didn't read, but consider it this way. The Beatles did NOT have no musical knowledge. They just didn't KNOW they had a lot of musical knowledge. You don't write chord changes like they did with no knowledge. Learning theory is not knowledge. Theory is tools. When you drive a car, are your tools in the trunk for when you need them or in the front seat next to you?

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So back to the point Joanne idea is a good one.


Yes. There will be a market for it. I just won't be in it, but she already acknowledged that this isn't aimed at someone with now over 64 years of experience and a degree in the field. This is aimed at the "campfire" player. Run with it and see how it goes.