Hi there! New section, new topic! Today, we won't actually start to learn something, we will try to figure out why is it useful to learn to read sheet music. I separated this series from the other courses because they won't be about music theory but strictly about reading sheet music, I will teach you everything you need. Well for now let's see why you need to give it so much efforts.
Obviously, if you want to know why you should learn to read sheet music, you should first understand why they are useful. First, it is a common notation system, which means I could write a song, send it all around the world and each musicians who knows how to read could be able to play the song exactly how I imagined it, no other notation system can do that (yes my guitarists friends, even tabs can't do that as we will soon see). Sheet music allows you to learn a song you never heard before, and it is a wonderful source of new material for you as a musician or composer.
Which leads me to the next point, if you plan on becoming a famous songwriter or composer, especially if you can't play it all by yourself, you will need to know how to write sheet music, otherwise you will be stuck, you won't be able to communicate your hard work, what a waste isn't it?
Thirdly, even if you do not want to write master pieces, thus, are a musician or singer and only want to play or sing for bands or orchestras, you are still in deep sh*t, because at the audition, you will be handed a sheet music to play from, not a tab.
Finally, those situations when you are unable to play what you are asked to won't do good to your reputation. You do not appear professional and we do not want that to happen.
You have to understand my point, I am not trying to convince you that sight reading is the end-and-all of music, you won't be a maestro and get all the jobs you want only because you can read, but it is best to know how to.
For the vast majority of the musicians, it is obvious, pianists, saxophonists and any other, sight reading is a whole part of their learning. The reason for this is they have no efficient alternatives aside from their ears. On the contrary, for guitarists, bassists and drummers, there is an alternative: tabs. If you had asked me some weeks before, if tabs are the best to learn, I would have answered a big and wide "YES!", now, my opinion is mitigate.
When I started to learn guitar, all I wanted was to play songs I liked, I jumped on my computer and search some tabs of songs I already knew, nothing complex, I read, I play other and other until I can play the whole song, then I take another tab and so on. However, there was a problem, sometimes, I stumbled upon old rock songs which were like "cornerstones" for guitarists, but I had never heard them before, I tried to play them but I could not get the rhythm and tempo right, I had to search for the songs and listen to them before being able to actually play them.
I thought it was nothing, we are at the internet age, a quick google search and it is done, nothing to worry about. Well, I quickly realized how much I had limited my self and I regret. Now I use tab readers software, like Guitar Pro, if you already have used one of them, you know that there is two part of the tab: the actual tab, and its sheet, you have the two in one. I tried to read it, to guess the song without listening to it, it was a complete failure, it took me ten minutes to understand two bars of it, thankfully I had a very basic knowledge thanks to a book, which I never finished.
If I started to learn guitar, it is to become a musician, it is my journey, my dream, and realizing that I wasn't even able to sight read and play a simple bar sounded like a failure to me. That is why I am trying to make up for my poor decision with training, and in the mean time, I will share my new found knowledge with you, in this section!
However, tabs are not completely bad, they allowed me to start to play with a minimum investment in the process, I practiced my skills almost immediately, thus they are useful for beginners to jump up directly to juicy part, playing if you did not guessed, and they are also easier to write and to find than sheets (while I am at it, if you want to buy songbooks or sheets, there is awesome website, here, they have almost everything, from folk to metal for musicians and singers).
But still, if I was to teach guitar to someone, I would add sheet music quite early, as boring as it can be, because tabs are limited by their lack of effective rhythm representation, time signature, accents, tempo... and tabs have a shorter learning curve.
To sum up, whether you are a musician or a songwriter or even both, learning to read sheet music is not an obligation, that's what is cool with self-teaching, you can customize as much as you want, but if you do learn, it won't have any downside! Only raw profit!
Which leads me to the next point, if you plan on becoming a famous songwriter or composer, especially if you can't play it all by yourself, you will need to know how to write sheet music, otherwise you will be stuck, you won't be able to communicate your hard work, what a waste isn't it?
Thirdly, even if you do not want to write master pieces, thus, are a musician or singer and only want to play or sing for bands or orchestras, you are still in deep sh*t, because at the audition, you will be handed a sheet music to play from, not a tab.
Finally, those situations when you are unable to play what you are asked to won't do good to your reputation. You do not appear professional and we do not want that to happen.
You have to understand my point, I am not trying to convince you that sight reading is the end-and-all of music, you won't be a maestro and get all the jobs you want only because you can read, but it is best to know how to.
For the vast majority of the musicians, it is obvious, pianists, saxophonists and any other, sight reading is a whole part of their learning. The reason for this is they have no efficient alternatives aside from their ears. On the contrary, for guitarists, bassists and drummers, there is an alternative: tabs. If you had asked me some weeks before, if tabs are the best to learn, I would have answered a big and wide "YES!", now, my opinion is mitigate.
When I started to learn guitar, all I wanted was to play songs I liked, I jumped on my computer and search some tabs of songs I already knew, nothing complex, I read, I play other and other until I can play the whole song, then I take another tab and so on. However, there was a problem, sometimes, I stumbled upon old rock songs which were like "cornerstones" for guitarists, but I had never heard them before, I tried to play them but I could not get the rhythm and tempo right, I had to search for the songs and listen to them before being able to actually play them.
I thought it was nothing, we are at the internet age, a quick google search and it is done, nothing to worry about. Well, I quickly realized how much I had limited my self and I regret. Now I use tab readers software, like Guitar Pro, if you already have used one of them, you know that there is two part of the tab: the actual tab, and its sheet, you have the two in one. I tried to read it, to guess the song without listening to it, it was a complete failure, it took me ten minutes to understand two bars of it, thankfully I had a very basic knowledge thanks to a book, which I never finished.
If I started to learn guitar, it is to become a musician, it is my journey, my dream, and realizing that I wasn't even able to sight read and play a simple bar sounded like a failure to me. That is why I am trying to make up for my poor decision with training, and in the mean time, I will share my new found knowledge with you, in this section!
However, tabs are not completely bad, they allowed me to start to play with a minimum investment in the process, I practiced my skills almost immediately, thus they are useful for beginners to jump up directly to juicy part, playing if you did not guessed, and they are also easier to write and to find than sheets (while I am at it, if you want to buy songbooks or sheets, there is awesome website, here, they have almost everything, from folk to metal for musicians and singers).
But still, if I was to teach guitar to someone, I would add sheet music quite early, as boring as it can be, because tabs are limited by their lack of effective rhythm representation, time signature, accents, tempo... and tabs have a shorter learning curve.
To sum up, whether you are a musician or a songwriter or even both, learning to read sheet music is not an obligation, that's what is cool with self-teaching, you can customize as much as you want, but if you do learn, it won't have any downside! Only raw profit!
Prepare yourself for the next lesson, which will come soon, be patient, or you can check on the Musikal Knowledge timeline on facebook or twitter, click on the icons and visit our sponsored link:
Learning music theory is useless if do not make music! And playing an instrument helps you to understand all that theory! Musikal knowledge have you covered: Alfred's Teach Yourself Rock Guitar
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