Chances are You're not that Special!

[tsheldon]

Those guys probably wouldn't have had very good careers either if they had listened to someone like

I don't understand where someone would get this impression.

Reading music is the same as reading other languages. Is it easier to learn and research other fields of study if you know the standard nomenclature? Music is the same. Reading has allowed musicians through the centuries to record ideas and communicate. In addition it's necessary if you're playing any music with a certain level of complexity. Try memorizing a part to a Brahms symphony for example.

Once you learn to read there's no magic switch that is flipped preventing you from playing just as well as you did before.

 

[LowStringNinja]

Once you learn to read there's no magic switch that is flipped preventing you from playing just as well as you did before.

Right, that's the hallmark cry of the guitarist yet to study theory. In highschool, there was this idea floating among us that everything natural about jamming and improv would be lost by studying theory...absolutely ridiculous idea. I've yet to hear anyone finish college theory and exclaim that their musicianship has become destroyed.
It came from childhood competitiveness and feeling intimidated by others, and remarking of the prodigal phenom children that sounded like Carlos Santana at age 13 after playing guitar on their own for just a year. Youtube is full of them today, and they're amazing...and have nothing to do with me. Those kids took to music more naturally earlier on, as music is a natural behavior of humans. I simply excelled at a different rate.

 

[howlin]

It seems I am the only one in my band who can read music. It is frustrating at times. I will show up with a new song all written and each part printed out with both musical notation and tab, but they won't even try it. I don't get it, and I just about don't care anymore.

Sounds like you're playing with the wrong people.

 

[Spin Doctor]

"You are not that special" is the best excuse for giving up. They should teach this in kindergarten from day one. Just line those little kids up every morning and tell them that they have little or no chance of ever doing anything remarkable. Break them down and crush those dreams. That would keep them from wasting time trying to be creative and get them ready for life as a drone.
Perfect.

Stop with the melodrama already...

1) You completely missed the point of the post. Nobody ever said anyone can't accomplish anything they want

2) Having drive and a willingness to work at whatever it is they want is what will make (some of) those Kids special. Not empty encouragement.

3) Planet Earth really isn't a place where everyone gets a trophy. If you are willing to easily give up after being told you are not special, you are probably too weak to make it anyway.

 

[JimmyM]

Yes, yes you did.

That means you've been sight reading longer than 85% of the TB members have been alive.

Guess it beats being dead.

 

[JimmyM]

Chances are music notation reading won't make you special either.

"The universe is a big place and, whatever happens, you will not be missed."

100% true. Even the special people in our society aren't missed when they're gone, so music reading won't make you special. What it will get you, though, is paid.

 

[danosix]

100% true. Even the special people in our society aren't missed when they're gone, so music reading won't make you special. What it will get you, though, is paid.

As usual, Jimmy you have summed up the whole issue in a couple of sentences.
"Man can that guy READ!!!!," said no one ever, but lot of bands and producers have said, "Man, can that guy read?"

I know I have had to turn down quite a few jobs I would have otherwise liked to take because of this particular handicap, including just recently a permanent job teaching high school music - not exactly a dream gig, artistically, but great money for a mortal like me, great benefits, no touring and a pension plan (we Canadian teachers get a pretty sweet deal once we're full time). If I had only spent the time learning to read, I could totally handle the demands of a grade 9 band repertoire.

Reading music (or anything else for that matter) never made anyone special, but not being able to read has certainly held a lot of people back either artistically or economically.

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

It's not that rare. Yes, you will find those stereotypes out there, but in my experiences, most readers I know are a good deal better at using their ears than un-schooled musicians and have more sophisticated options than them, and those who can read but can't improvise or play by ear are more common simply because skilled musicians are less common than unskilled in general, and at least through reading these folks were able to land some work playing, whereas if they didn't read, they'd have long given it up like most people who never learn the nuts and bolts of music making.

Interesting you bring up those who read and work but can't improvise. My mother was like that. She was a music major, taught piano, sang opera, taught choir and vocal, was the organist and choir director for her church, but take her chart away and she was totally lost.
Over the years my sight reading skills have seriously atrophied because I almost never had a gig were I needed to read. Now, I would have to spend a long weekend to do a couple of songs from a sheet.

 

[DWBass]

I've been taking lessons again since May, and I am about to start working out of the book, Patterns for Jazz. This means I have to really confront reading, one of my weak points.

All I can say to newbies is do not be seduced by the stories of bassists like Pino Pallidino and Andrew Gouche, who have had great careers despite not reading. Trust me, you are probably not that good. Learn to read!

I believe all musicians should learn how to read in some form or the other. I learned through piano lessons but had to learn bass clef when I changed to bass. I self taught myself on bass but there was a point I decided to get my reading together and bought an instructional book. I still can't sight read very well but give me a day with the music and I'll literally have it memorized. I have other methods like charts and mental notes.

 

[AltGrendel]

Guess it beats being dead.

..or worse.

And there's no harm in being self-taught. Look what kind of results Zappa had from that.

 

[lfmn16]

Interesting you bring up those who read and work but can't improvise. My mother was like that. She was a music major, taught piano, sang opera, taught choir and vocal, was the organist and choir director for her church, but take her chart away and she was totally lost.
Over the years my sight reading skills have seriously atrophied because I almost never had a gig were I needed to read. Now, I would have to spend a long weekend to do a couple of songs from a sheet.

When I was young and playing full time I playing in classical orchestra's, jazz bands, show bands and what we called top 40/disco bands. Each has it's own skill set. People that can read music but not improvise can't improvise because they've never learned that skill. It has nothing to do with being able to read. I know plenty of people that can't read OR improvise.

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

When I was young and playing full time I playing in classical orchestra's, jazz bands, show bands and what we called top 40/disco bands. Each has it's own skill set. People that can read music but not improvise can't improvise because they've never learned that skill. It has nothing to do with being able to read. I know plenty of people that can't read OR improvise.

I agree. My dad studied to be a symphony conductor and ended up teaching high school band. He also played big band on trombone. He also gigged on upright. He could sight read like nobody I've ever seen. He could take an alto sax chart, play it on a trumpet, and transpose it to a different key while sight reading. I don't know how he did that. He also could improvise extremely well. I wish I had 25% of his talent.
I started with piano lessons as a kid, took up trombone in grade school, guitar on and off about the same time, and bass when I was in the Navy. I played marching band, big band, dixieland, and pit orchestra for musicals before I ever took up bass. I can't say how I really learned to improvise, I guess it just came from participating in lots of jam sessions starting in high school. That is when I was doing pit orchestra work in Portland, OR. There were some good jazz clubs downtown near the theater that hand after hour open jams and we would go after a show or rehearsal and jam for a while.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

..or worse.

And there's no harm in being self-taught. Look what kind of results Zappa had from that.

That's another case of you're probably not that special too. In other words, we can teach ourselves, but there is no guarantee of Zappa or Pastorius results.

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

I'm special, but only until Monday, then back to regular price.

 

[wideload]

My father always told me "Self esteem wasn't meant for everyone."

 

[lfmn16]

My father always told me "Self esteem wasn't meant for everyone."

The problem isn't self esteem. It's people being proud of themselves with no reason to be.

That's what happens in a world where everyone gets a trophy just for showing up.

 

[Metalbasspro]

That's because playing most songs 100% like the recording is boring to a lot of people. Many of us want to add our own personality to the music.

That's great for those who do. Too many are not in fact getting it right they are just getting it wrong.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

That's great for those who do. Too many are not in fact getting it right they are just getting it wrong.

A lot of people improvising never really learned the song fully. Andrew Gouche, in the current Bass Player, tells how Prince stopped him four bars into "Let's Work," and told him to actually learn the song before you play it.

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

That's great for those who do. Too many are not in fact getting it right they are just getting it wrong.

Interesting note on this age old subject. I happen to be listening to a live version of Dark Side of the Moon yesterday. It was very different from the original. This totally removes any credibility of the arguments of the 100%ers. And that is without going into detail on Lynrd Skynrd. Time to put that one to bed.

 

[tfer]

Sadly, music is one of the few endeavours where ignorance is either celebrated, or seen as an advantage.

The ability to read has zero influence on whether a person can improvise or play by ear. That's musicianship.

But, a person who can sight read can get gigs without the ability to play by ear or improvise. A person who can do none of it, will never get a gig.

Yep. You have to know what you're hearing. Just a general comment, not directed at you, just tagged to this post - reading music is not hard. The dot is on that space, it's an A, but since we're playing in Db, it's an Ab. Different dots mean different note lengths. That's about all there is to it. Then you practice and get better at it. "Fluent" at sight reading doesn't mean that you're just fluent at sight reading, it also means that you've improved as a player and can make connections and anticipate the upcoming notes.

I will say that bass is unique in the guitar family. We can do sight reading of notation far more easily than the skinny six stringers. Hey have to play 3,4,5 notes simultaneously and those notes can each be played at numerous spots on the fretboard so you're going from three notes that could be played six different ways to the next three note chord that could be played another six different ways and have to do a lot of mental math to pick the right chords played the right ways. With a lot of experience you can do it, but it's tough. That's why guitarists usually use tab for melodic lines and chord charts with rhythms for the chucka chucka parts.

With piano, on the other hand, a middle C is played at one spot only. A D3 at exactly one key. That's a perfect situation for standard notation.

Bass is somewhere in between. We usually only play one note at a time and can do standard notation with just a bit of practice. Skim the chart and look for any tricky parts, spend a few seconds planning those and you're ready to go.

Most guitarists read the root note, then look at the intervals for the rest of the chord. That will direct them to the proper position on the neck for the required voicing.