Thanks, David

I think what you said is pretty accurate. Well, there are plenty of people who can sight-read note for note at speed.

In years past, I found understanding music theory from a guitar perspective difficult. I got a piano with the idea that it would help. It certainly was valuable because it is so visual. Drop the third by a half step, and you form the minor, for example. Where is the third on the guitar?

The more theory one knows the less trouble it is to guess what the next chord may be, especially if it stays in key. Melodies are discreet and pretty much unique, which is why we can copyright them. Learning a melody does not lend itself to interpretation. Change the melody line, and it is not the same song. Songs frequently have highly recognizable features other than melody. What I call "signature licks". In years past, we never played a lot of cover songs, but when we did, they were pretty close to the original. The lead guitar player and the keyboard would play their own solos but then come back to the original idea. We were lucky; both Lewis and Morrow could hear something one time and play it back note for note.

Perhaps one does not want to play "the same song," and on rare occasions, the new version is better than the original.

I am trying to discover what I actually know. For example, I played every chord in every inversion on the piano in the key of C just to see what I could remember. Then, I played the same in other keys. Some keys were easy, and some were not. To figure out a path forward, one needs to know where one is at.

It would be wonderful to hear something and play it back, note for note. Unfortunately, I can not do that, so I have to use some other method.

So far, sight reading is the only thing that has been very useful in filling in the notes I can't seem to hear and remember.

I know the answer, it has always been contained in the work I was unwilling to do...lol

Billy

“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig?
“Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”