[murphaph]

Hi all,
I'm considereing trying to learn to read music and play the guitar from it where possible. Not that I don't get great enjoyment from making music without reading it, but I'd like the skill to be honest!

Now, my question-does anyone here play guitar from standard notation and is it difficult?

I understand that standard notation offers some advantages like conveying not just what notes to play but how to play them, which are absent from tab or (as I do it) just writing chord names above song text and 'knowing' when to change chord from hearing/knowing the song.

Ultimately I'd like to be able to pick up a songsheet and play it. Is this doable?

[jdpaz]

Originally Posted by murphaph

Now, my question-does anyone here play guitar from standard notation and is it difficult?

...

Ultimately I'd like to be able to pick up a songsheet and play it. Is this doable?

It's a little tough. Kind of like learning a simple language (like pig latin maybe).

It takes awhile to get familiar with a piece of music in standard notation just like a tab so you may not be able to just pick up a piece and play it right away.

[allthumbs]

It is called sight reading. Yes it is doable but, it takes a lot of hard work. The downside is that it is like speed touch typing. Your playing by rote. Not learning the material, just copying it. I knew a guy who could sight read for piano. He was too embarrassed to tell anyone at a party that he was a piano teacher because they would ask him to play and without his sheet music he was toast.
It is worth while learning standard in conjunction with tab to pick up the best attributes of each. They work great together in my opinion.

[murphaph]

Thanks guys. Are there other instruments apart from guitar where folks can play them without reading music?

[jdpaz]

You can play any instrument without music. But I think you may mean "traditionally" without reading music.

some of the more popular ones: harmonica, banjo, other folk-type instruments, drums...

[allthumbs]

There are systems out there for playing keys without having to read music. Of course, any stringed instrument can be tabbed. Drums can be tabbed with their own tab system. I have no idea about wind or brass instruments.

[jdpaz]

I've seen tabs---of a sort---for native American flutes.

[monk]

murphaph,
You don't have to learn to sight-read like a symphony or session musician to benefit from reading standard notation.

Learning to read music is easier than learning to read one's spoken language, which most of us begin doing at the age of 5 or 6.

Every piece of music is not nor will it ever be available in Tab. If you learn to read just well enough to pick out notes and chords, nothing will be hidden from you. If you want to turn one of J.S. Bach's Chorales into a chord solo for guitar or create a fingerpicking arrangement from the melody and chords in a fakebook, you can do so.

As with any skill the more you do it the better you get.

Regards,
Monk