I agree that standard notation shouldn’t be the only way of learning a song. I think it’s good to have a choice.

The main purpose of the article was point out what I think some of the benefits to reading music are, not to say that it should be the only way.

I think a lot of people see tablature and think, “that must be easier than learning to read music.” So they never even try, but if they did try, they might find it isn’t as hard as they might think, and some things might be easier.

I found your site on delicious.

I’m pretty crummy at reading music. Sometimes I mess up Gs and Bs or Ds and Fs, especially in chords. But, I still manage. Playing along with a recording helps a lot because its obvious when you have made a mistake.

When you are learning a new song you’ve probably heard it before. Its more like “hey, that sounds cool, i wanna play it” rather than “hey, look at the typography of the sheet music, i wanna play it”.

Yes you don’t have to be super duper good at reading music. It shouldn’t be the only way of learning a song.

Anyway, keep on writing.