Why is reading standard notation important?

[str8_bourbon]

So...I've been playing bass for about 3 years now, mostly self taught, but i've taken a few lessons. i also play in a few bands(blues, punk rock). i'm familiar with the notes on the fretboard, and i know basic theory, i guess i consider myself on an intermediate level.

I've seen a lot of people on TB advocate the importance of learning how to read standard notation, and that somehow reading tab is counter-productive. I was taught to read in elementary & highschool, and during piano lessons(albeit briefly) when i was a kid. I'm a bit rusty now, but I guess I could teach myself, re-learn it, if I'm determined(convinced). But when I picked up the bass, I taught myself by reading tabs, and have gotten thus far.

I was wondering if somebody could clarify as to what the benefits are of knowing how to read? And, how will it make me a better bassist?

Thanks in advance.

[mkettner]

Other then becoming a better well rounded bass player, I don't see the value either. I know I have been thankful for learning notation for the opportunities where I play in a big band setting or just given sheet music and told to play it, but those are pretty rare circumstances.

[Jazzin']

You can write and read music with it. Communicate to fellow musicians. Without it, you are illiterate.

[Bassist4Life]

Originally Posted by Jazzin'

You can write and read music with it. Communicate to fellow musicians. Without it, you are illiterate.

Right. Music IS a language. As a musician, I want to be able to:
1. Read it
2. Write it
3. "Speak" it
4. Comprehend it
5. Communicate with musicians that know the language

I don't put down or look down on musicians that can't read music. Some of the best musicans in the world can't read music. There's nothing "wrong" with it. IMO, it's important to know the language of music. I won't be able to have a converstaion with a Chinese speaking musician; however, we CAN sit down and read music together. Music is a universal language.

Joe

[Tehdouglas]

SN is MUCH better to write your work in than tabs, once youre comfortable with it and all. Most music colleges require being able to understand Treble and Bass clef as well, and I'm sure knowing how to read SN will be of help in future gigs/jams. Will it make a better player? Possibly. Its the equivilent to learning how to speak a langauge and then how to write it. I would definetly recommend learning SN, it isnt that hard anyways.

[Chili]

i dont think its really important as other stuff you could be learning, but it deffinitly cant hurt to learn it, i was on my way to learning it, got pretty far, but then fought to my self, i never read music, i dont use it for anything, i mainly do things by ear, so i stopped and started alot more on makin my self a better bass player

[spudmaster34]

Originally Posted by str8_bourbon

will it make me a better bassist?

No.

It will make you a beter musician.

[BassChuck]

For the band you are playing with there is probably no demand to read music.... and that's normal. But to become a better musician, you really have to develop skills beyond what you need to get through your gigs.

There are plenty of threads in this forum that have to do with "how can I make better basslines" and things like that. If you have the ability to read music, you can draw inspiration and ideas from all kinds of other music sources. When you know how to read and write music, you'll find that it helps how you think of music and how you organize musical thoughts of your own.

[Snarf]

Originally Posted by Jazzin'

You can write and read music with it. Communicate to fellow musicians. Without it, you are illiterate.

Pretty much. I mean, there are plenty of great musicians that don't read. But they're few and far between. Reading gets you more gigs. And makes life a lot easier. I've heard some horror stories about Al Dimeola rehearsals where he would show everyone every single note, because he couldn't write music. No one wants to deal with that, on either side of that equation.

[superbassman2000]

true...SN is like any written language? its like saying (for the US or england) why is the english language important? i can draw pictures and that'll get what i'm trying to say across right? well, you can live your life without it, but it makes things a lot easier

[tZer]

Originally Posted by str8_bourbon

...I'm a bit rusty now, but I guess I could teach myself, re-learn it, if I'm determined(convinced). But when I picked up the bass, I taught myself by reading tabs, and have gotten thus far.

If your intentions are to be more versitile and better able to adapt to more musical styles and situations, then reading music will help you achieve that. Also, when you can read and write you can "see" music as opposed to simply hearing it. Tabs do not show the "shape" that music takes. You can see patterns, rising and falling and more. Written music is a beautiful thing to look at.

Originally Posted by str8_bourbon

...if I'm determined(convinced)...

I won't try to convince you, that is up to you. But I will tell you that I learned how to read music at an early age (piano lessons at age 10) and went on to play in school orchestras, jazz bands, and many other musical opportunities. Being able to read and write music back then was essential to being able to participate. Today, I am still using my reading and writing skills to learn and share music. So, do what you will - or don't - but becoming more fluent in the language of music is a beautiful thing.

[tzadik]

Also...tabs tell you nothing about rhythm. If you don't already kind of know the tune they are useless....and if you you already kind of know the tune, why isn't your ear developed enough so you can just transcribe it?

Put a piece of standard notation in front of me and I can play yout the tune, how it is supposed to sound, or pretty damn close, first time. (Unless it's tricky, then sure I have to go shed it to get it perfect...but I can get a hello of a lot closer on the first play-through with SN than if someone hands me a bunch of tab.)

I agree that not knowing SN makes you illiterate.

[Aaron Saunders]

This is cut and dry, no gray areas -- not knowing music makes you musically illiterate. Music is a language. It all depends on how serious you are about it, but I cannot conceive of someone actually asking a question like this -- "is it okay for me not to learn something?" Holy lazy.

And yes, not knowing how to read music is a bad thing. How much it affects you is up to the rest of your skills. Successful musicians who cannot communicate with the written note succeed in spite of their inability. You might be able to compensate with great ears, but there will always be missed opportunities if you give up such a basic skill.

[Incognitus]

I have to agree with everyone else on this. I can barely read sheet music, and it can affect what you can do. I had an opportunity (still have it now that I think about it) to play bass for my schools Jazz Band. But I can't read music well enough. And it is also at a extremely early time in the morning and my parents would shoot me if I made them drive me in that early. Man I need a car...

[lemur821]

Originally Posted by superbassman2000

true...SN is like any written language? its like saying (for the US or england) why is the english language important? i can draw pictures and that'll get what i'm trying to say across right? well, you can live your life without it, but it makes things a lot easier

Pretty much. It's hard to explain to a non-reader why they would be better off knowing how to do it, but once you know how it's obvious.

[str8_bourbon]

First of all thanks again for all your replies.

As of now, I play in 3 bands, and in these bands, we create and play original music instead of covers. I write most of the music for one of these bands, using tab. I am able to indicate the key signature, time signature, chord progression, notes and rhythm(for bass, rhythm guitar, lead guitar), with tablature, I guess it's safe to say I am able to communicate with my band mates. But I do see a potential problem if I had to write music for, lets say, a piano.

I've seen people say that tab isn't good, because when you read it, you're thinking in terms of the location(on the fret board), whereas with SN, you're reading the actual notes, instead of mere locations. But as I mentioned earlier, I'm familiar with the fretboard(bass & guitar), so when I read tab, if I see "third fret on A string", I automatically think "C", so I've gotten to a point where I'm no longer reading locations, but rather notes. And I'm able to recognize the relationship, and more specifically, the intervals between notes via tab, because I've memorized the patterns on the fretboard.

A lot of people also say, as someone above mentioned, that you can't read/indicate the rhythm with tab. This is evidently true with most tabs on the internet, but in bass guitar magazines and most books, the transcriptions/tablature includes staves for the notes and the time signature, there are tablature softwares like guitarpro that has these things too. I'd like to think of these as proper tabs, lol.

Like someone pointed out above, the music i play probably isn't very complicated, therefore SN isn't needed, or called for. As opposed to jazz or classical music. But I can't help imagining, if i was to play jazz music, and if i was handed a chart of chord progessions, I could probably manage to improvise, walk over it, with the rest of the musicians.

So i guess, under certain circumstances, for example put in front of sheet music, I am illiterate. But it's hard to accept, after 3 years of learning and understanding, for example how chords, scales(modes) are constructed, and how can they be applied, that I am still completely, musically illiterate, and unable to communicate with other musicians, because I don't read, or use standard notation.

[cowsgomoo]

Originally Posted by str8_bourbon

So...I've been playing bass for about 3 years now, mostly self taught, but i've taken a few lessons. i also play in a few bands(blues, punk rock). i'm familiar with the notes on the fretboard, and i know basic theory, i guess i consider myself on an intermediate level.

I've seen a lot of people on TB advocate the importance of learning how to read standard notation, and that somehow reading tab is counter-productive. I was taught to read in elementary & highschool, and during piano lessons(albeit briefly) when i was a kid. I'm a bit rusty now, but I guess I could teach myself, re-learn it, if I'm determined(convinced). But when I picked up the bass, I taught myself by reading tabs, and have gotten thus far.

I was wondering if somebody could clarify as to what the benefits are of knowing how to read? And, how will it make me a better bassist?

Thanks in advance.

no-one on this thread (and no-one in the real world either) has an unlimited amount of time to do everything they need to do in their particular area of interest to be the best they can possibly be... personally, my time is precious and I have to prioritise what I most need to do... and I work from the assumption that most people are the same

it would be wonderful if you could dedicate x amount of time to be able to learn to read notation, but your musical situation might mean that other things are more important to work on... e.g. song writing, ear training, band rehearsal, technique, whatever

only you can really say what your priorities should be...

I tend to think of notation as a recipe... some people can look at a piece of sheet music and 'hear' it and enjoy it almost as much as listening to it, but they're in a tiny minority... music is consumed through one's ear, the notation only shows you what and how something should be played...

it's perfectly possible to come up with interesting music without knowing anything about how it's read or written in notation.. to say "not being able to read standard notation makes you 'musically illiterate'" isn't helpful or accurate... many professional musicians, who have had their music consumed by a lot more people than anyone here (e.g. Sir P McCartney), cannot read standard notation, but it didn't stop them being able to communicate their music to many many people, and certainly it didn't make them 'musically illiterate'

as for "music is a language".. it certainly is, but in the main our understanding of the semiotics of musical material doesn't come from sitting down and learning notation... it comes from spending a lifetime listening to it, learning (passively for the most part) what the musical material symbolizes... this is why music is hardly ever totally incomprehensible to a listener even if they haven't learned music theory or what it looks like written on a piece of paper...

this is not a 'call for ignorance'... I'm confident in my own notation abilities, and it's been personally a very useful skill to have, but I still maintain it's all a means to an end... namely: helping some listener somewhere get their rocks off via aurally-ingested wonderfulness however you get to that end point is fine by me, but it doesn't necessarily have to be via a sheet of paper with some black blobs on it

[dlloyd]

Originally Posted by str8_bourbon

I've seen people say that tab isn't good, because when you read it, you're thinking in terms of the location(on the fret board), whereas with SN, you're reading the actual notes, instead of mere locations. But as I mentioned earlier, I'm familiar with the fretboard(bass & guitar), so when I read tab, if I see "third fret on A string", I automatically think "C", so I've gotten to a point where I'm no longer reading locations, but rather notes. And I'm able to recognize the relationship, and more specifically, the intervals between notes via tab, because I've memorized the patterns on the fretboard.

What note do you see when you see fourth fret on the E string?

When you read tab, can you immediately tell whether an interval is an augmented second or a minor third? Can you tell what key the tune is in without playing it?

When you see tab for the first time can you play the tune exactly, first time, without ever having heard it?

[Suckbird]

If u play ur own music then u wont need to read.

If u are going to spend most of ur time playing others than, learn how to read i guess.. or use ur ear.

[RoMeRz]

I know this isn't helpful, but I can read the notes on treble clef and bass clef - and I know were the notes are on the fret board - but if I was handed a sheet of music and told to play it I wouldn't really have a clue how it was meant to sound - is that a common problem?

I guess that means I cant properly read SN