Reading Music vs Tab

[hoven]

I have been through several instructors and none of them seem to want to teach me how to read music. Every time I bring it up I get some resistance. They claim that tab is an easier way to accomplish the same thing.

To me reading music gives you a much better understanding of the song. It is very easy to see what key you are in, where the accidentals are and relationships between the notes (i.e. easier to recognize thirds, fifths ect).

Are my instructors correct or are they just being lazy?

[DanF]

Lazy. I wouldn't waste my money on someone like that.

-Dan

[Anubis]

I have no idea how to read music and don't care to much about it.
This subject is something there have been a lot of debates about.
Fact is most guitar players don't know how to read music.
It would be great if I could do it but I am to lazy to learn and I really don't have much use for it.


It is very easy to see what key you are in, where the accidentals are and relationships between the notes (i.e. easier to recognize thirds, fifths ect) Maybe you're right.
Since I can't read music I don't know.
But what I do know is that I have no problem to understand what key I'm in even though I don't read music.
Recognizing thirds and fifths is something I can do to but I don't understand why it's important.

[phantom]

i had to learn sightreading about 10 years ago and everybody said "if you wanna get the studiojob there is no way around reading music!"

that's 10 years ago. i've done about 200 small and big studiojobs since then and never came across someone handing me out a piece of paper with notes written on it saying "play"!

so for me there was no use at all. i can just remember that it was a pain in the *** to learn.:(

[S.Carter]

Originally posted by DanF
Lazy. I wouldn't waste my money on someone like that.

-Dan

Dan is right!

If a player does not want to learn to read, that's his business. But if a student says he wants to learn to read, it's the teacher's business to teach him.

Learning to read can be hard. But teaching someone to read can be hard to, and that's why a lot of lazy teachers don't attempt it.

Steve

[Bongo Boy]

Another possiibility is the teacher doesn't know how to read either but didn't want to say so. For an instructor to say 'tab is an easier way to accomplish the same thing' implies that the instructor and student share a common idea of exactly what 'the same thing' is that you're trying to accomplish.

It's clear that this isn't the case. It also seems clear that many guitar instructors don't publish a syllabus for their classes--a syllabus would be a great place to start the first conversation with an instructor, I'd think. Even if the instructor doesn't have one, he/she should be willing to build a custom one with you on the spot.

What I wouldn't pay for is an open-ended, verbal arrangement with a guitar player, unless maybe she was really, really cute. :D

[S.Carter]

Originally posted by Bongo Boy
It's clear that this isn't the case. It also seems clear that many guitar instructors don't publish a syllabus for their classes--a syllabus would be a great place to start the first conversation with an instructor, I'd think. Even if the instructor doesn't have one, he/she should be willing to build a custom one with you on the spot.

Good point.
When I taught at Berklee, we had a standard syllabus that I pretty much followed with most students, and then we'd agree on supplementary things.

If I go back to teaching guitar students, I'll follow your advice.
Thanks for the reminder!

Steve