Music Notation Is Your Friend
by Tracy Hardy Johnson
By now, you may have encountered the ongoing discussions: "Why should I learn music notation? Tab is fine for me..." Why should you learn music notation? Certainly there are many musicians who have achieved a great deal without being able to read music. I think that speaks to their great ability rather than to the irrelevance of music notation. You and I will have many more opportunities as musicians by knowing how to read standard music notation, which, unlike tablature, includes time values as well as pitches. Thus you can sing or play a song even if you haven't heard it before if you know how to read music.
Also, there are music styles that just don't exist in tab, such as jazz and Broadway-type musicals. I was called to play for the local theatre company's annual summer musical a week before performances started, a gig you cannot get if you can't sight-read well. Being able to read music just gives you more options as a performer.
Music is a language. Just like your native spoken language, which has a written equivalent, standard music notation is the written form of the language of music that we all hear and play.
Ideally, we should all learn to read music notation at the same time we learn to read the words we speak. But just as we often learn a second spoken language as adults, we too can learn to read the language of music. And just as you must spend time learning to play your instrument, learning to read music will take time and practice to master. At least you don't have to worry about having a funny accent!
I learned to read music about the same time I learned to read words, so I don't really remember not knowing how to read music. I do remember writing the names of the notes in a workbook as part of my piano lessons. I highly recommend using any type of workbook where you learn the notes by writing them on the staff, and learn the names of the notes by writing them underneath the notes. A great deal of good learning happens by putting pencil to paper - it writes the lesson into your brain as well as onto the staff!
You will need to know the names of all the notes on your strings, not just the fret position. You should know instantly that the 7th fret of the D string is an "A" just by looking at it. Then you can associate that note with its location on the music staff.
After you have a sense of where a note is found on the staff and where it is found on the fretboard, learning scales and the relationship of intervals will make more sense.
Search any of the sheet music sites on the Web to find a workbook for learning to read music notation. Mel Bay and Alfred Music are two of many publishers that have methods for every level of musicianship. While there are websites that have information on reading music (use your favorite search engine to find these), I feel you will learn the written language of music the best by writing it yourself with pencil in hand in addition to interacting with the computer.
Consider the learning of music notation to be part of your musical journey along with the music you play on your bass. Devote the same time and effort to learning read the written note that you do to learning to play that note. It really is an essential skill that will serve you well. If you get to know music notation, it will be your friend for life!
