My guitar teacher has been teaching me allot of things and one of those that he values as important is sight reading using music sheets. Is this really that important for someone who wants to learn music and guitar?

_________________

Fender Highway One HSS Stratocaster '09
Modified Fender Champ600
Honer Special20 Harmonica

Music theory on its own is very important to a musician. The play by ear crowd will no doubt disagree. But how many race car drivers, nuclear physicists, or any one else with a trade has no understanding of the theory behind their profession?
Guitar and guitar shaped instrument players seem to be the only musicians that think they can wing it playing by ear. You won't find it out of brass, wood, key or even percussion players.

Sight reading is a part of that but of less importance. Unless you decide to go into session work where you'll literally be thrown a music score and told to play it.

_________________
No no and no

+1

_________________
you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Hi Strat0Blues: turn the question around. The argument against be able to sight read is an argument in favor of knowing less rather than more. Suddenly doesn't sound so smart, does it?

This thread will now fill with people listing all the famous, successful musicians who can't read music. But the fact remains, if they could they'd be even finer musicians. Who wants to aim low?

Cheers - C

_________________

Knowing how to sight read (I'm a play by ear guy) is a plus whether you use it or not.

_________________
The blues ain't nothin but a good man feelin bad.

Yeah,there's plenty of people who are famous and can't do anything except play by ear,but there's many more who make a living playing music who can read music,if only chart reading.
Anything that helps you master your instrument is a good thing to learn.

Yep there's plenty of guitar gods that cant read music, don't know any theory. Just play by ear. What a absolutely tremendous sense of musicality they have.

Look at them though. Most rose to fame in a time when pop culture music was relatively new. So you were either hip or a square. Anyone slighting their abilities would have been proclaimed a square.
Now those same guitarists have weighty reputations. Could they in today's world achieve the same success?
Which modern unschooled guitarist could compare to Beano era Clapton or Hendrix.
I am convinced that those players saw a need and exploited their ability to meet it. So unless you can guarantee you'll do the same, you've a very uphill battle ahead of you to gain the same notoriety.

If the education is there, take it. It's far easier to learn something now than in the future. Though I will grant you that learning to sight read is downright boring. I left it alone for decades. All because I wanted to jam along to Chuck Berry records rather than play baa baa black sheep to some paper.
Two years ago when I finally committed myself to learning to read, I realized exactly how much of a mistake I'd made. Yep tabalature predates score and in some ways conveys pitch more accurately. It can't convey timing though. With modern music timing is everything.

_________________
No no and no

Like Ceri said More knowlege is always better.

With today's technology there's more knowledge out there than ever,it's a tough time to try and make your mark in the music world.
I've been around musicians since the late 50's watching my Uncle and his friends in bands,and I've been playing since the '60s....I think there are more talented guitar players now than I've ever seen,it used to be there was always one or two hot guitar slingers around that everybody watched and learned from...now they're everywhere,and I think it's because you can find out how to play things with the "new" technology.
Used to be it was sitting in a room wearing out records like nikininja mentioned,now there's so much more,it ain't just about talent so much anymore...so learn as much as you can.

i agree with you reb.
plus i agree with niki below your post.
a lot of guys out there dont know a lick of theory or can even tell you what they just played, but they can show it to you again. a lot of these "guitar gods" came about when
it was a time of can you play or not type of mentality. there wasnt a whole lot of need for
theory or writing down stuff in a certain way. well that time has passed.
today the industry has become way more demanding than they were just 20 yrs ago.
you cant go into a studio and take up every bodies time trying to learn a part or having somebody show you a part. they wont deal with that and have other things to move on to.
so yeah reading music is important. thing is, it depends on how far you want to go in this. some people are just happy knowing a few "coyboy" style chords and thats all they want to know. some folks are a bit more demanding and want more out of their time and troubles. so if your guitar teacher wants you to lean how to read music, do so. hes teaching you a valuable tool and its a part of his teaching methods. it will only better you in the long run. in the short, it can sometimes make your brain hurt lol. take your time and go as slow as you need to.

_________________
63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

LOL... Wow, flashbacks...

Back in high school in the 70's, I remember the band director messing around with our heads. He would randomly toss a piece of sheet music to us and say, "play it".

I took Music Theory back in high school too, and it helped me tremendously with all the instruments I currently play, compose, and record with.

Here's two examples of some very famous bands, for what it's worth:

The Beatles - Yes, I still love the Beatles. They were geniuses at what they did, and influenced every single genre of music. But, I know I'm going to get tied up and flogged for saying this.... The Beatles would not have been what they were if it weren't for George Martin. The Beatles could NOT read music, but knew all the guitar chords, chord structures, and came up with incredible melodies and harmonies. It was George Martin who wrote the score and helped them so much in the studio that he was known as "The 5th Beatle".

Chicago - No, not the current incarnation of Chicago. I'm talking about their famous 70's lineup with Terry Kath, Peter Cetera, etc... Chicago was known as "The Big Thing" back in the 60's before they were Chicago Transit Authority (and then became simply, Chicago). Each member of Chicago earned a degree in music from DePaul University in Chicago, therefore all the members would read/write/compose their own music scores long before computers, Cakewalk, Pro Tools, etc... came around. Also, true fact: The sax player (Walter Parazaider) is actually so good and so extremely talented, that before Chicago, he auditioned for (and won!) a seat in the Chicago Symphony on clarinet, but turned it down so he could focus on creating a rock 'n roll band with a horn section.

yeah you might get flogged. ive been flogged for less, no biggie.

_________________
63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

Welcome to the Forum CoachDave. You have a point, your post was very easy to read, only to lose that point with the last little sentence that wasn't as easy to read. Just kidding. You were kidding about the time and money being wasted on music education, weren't you?

_________________
you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Guitar has become THE American folk instrument of all time. Many small kids 2 to 12 are given a guitar as a gift, when there is little if any understanding of how to play, or much les read music. Most kids Bang around on them for a while and they grow tired of it, or break it, and that is the end of that. Once in a while a kid comes along with a genuwine god given talent and picks it up and gose nuts. Most uf us play by ear boys and girls are somewhere in between. Depending on how much you want it, some of us become damn good. The onley place that I can see that a Formal musical education would be necessary is in a studio where you play song after song and have little if any time to memorise a peice of music and are forced to read. Otherwise "WE DONT NEED NO EDUCATION"// // "LEAVE US KIDS ALONE".

PS They shold have taught me how to SPELL, and to H@#$ with reading music
----Danny,