Originally Posted By: jdew
Reading music a requirement for everyone? Not really.

These people famously didn't/don't/can't read a note:

Eric Clapton
Eddie Van Halen
Paul McCartney
Jimi Hendrix
Dave Brubeck
and last but certainly not least..... Irving Berlin

I'm sure there are others, but these are the ones that occur to me since they get mentioned over and over and over again....

But for myself and for the rest of us mere musical mortals, I say some level of reading skills can't hurt and certainly helps in some situations.



The common response here from people who can't read, won't learn, and want to find the fast lane to being a star.

We also get "Sinatra didn't write" a lot.

If you want to build houses, you have to learn to use a saw.

Reference my common theme that there is a difference between learning songs and learning music. Songs are made out of music.