You Might Think About Reading Music
May 15, 2011Lots of people would love to play an instrument and many people already do. But even seasoned musicians need to put a lot of effort into reading music unless they have learned how to do it properly. For the most part musicians tend to use their ears more than their eyes when they are trying to follow a piece.
While it might take less effort and be more comfortable for someone to just listen to a phrase or progression over and over until they figure it out, it can get very difficult very quickly. Most people who are familiar with the guitar will easily determine the right chord sequence for Bob Dylan’s “Tangled Up In Blue” for instance, but give them a more complicated piece of Flamenco or classical guitar and they will be up all night trying to play along.
This is where being familiar with notation can save loads of time and effort. Just like scanning your eyes over a newspaper article or back cover of a book, you can get the basic information very quickly if you can sight read.
It doesn’t matter if all you can understand at first is the tempo or the basic chord structure. With training you will learn to be as fluent in notation as you are with the English language. And the best part is that any education at all will have immediate effects.
This is a great thing to start learning if you are about to take lessons for the first time. The rest of your education will be easier if you have a grounding in notation theory. Sometimes this aspect of learning to play an instrument seems dry and annoying, but it is very important.
Many people are self taught musicians, and even famous rock stars aren’t proficient at reading music. But if you are able to sight read then you will be able to make a decent attempt to play anything you have the notation for.
Discover the shortcut to reading music at iReadMusicNow.com
Leave a Reply