Just to let you know, this is quite a can of worms that I have opened, but I am going to follow through on it in detail. I'm told, though, that a good start is to post links to your stuff when you comment on 1.Facebook, 2. Youtube, 3 Hulu and so on. Anytime you can comment in a related forum post your link. I've heard of folks doing this and the next thing they know is, they have a following and a record deal...

Adam,

I basically agree with all you said, except that
you seem to have broken the necessary knowledge
into categories.

I happen to think that a really good musician has
most, of not all of these qualities. A "decent"
rock player, for instance, might be able to get by
with Pentatonic scales, Open, Barre, and
powerchords, arpeggios for bass players, and notes
on the fingerboard, (to a small degree) but what
about the player who wants, or is called upon, to
play more than just rock?

To my way of thinking, a really good player is
stylistically diverse, and this requires a
knowledge of music in general, from rock to blues
to funk, and also earlier forms like cha chas,
swing, "classical," and everything in-between.

I know you were not really saying that in order to
play "this" style, you only need to know "this,"
but I so often encounter players who proudly
proclaim that they are blues players, or rock
players, or whatever players, and when I do, I
know that they have limited themselves to
something similar to what you have listed. I know
that were I to hire them to play a gig, they'd be
pretty good in their chosen genre, but once the
music got too far outside that genre, they'd be
lost.

And even excellent reading doesn't help this. Did
you ever listen to an average symphony orchestra
trying to play swing? Oh, sure, some can, mostly
because the conductor can feel it, and has pounded
it into their heads, but you can't really write
swing on a page; in most cases the players have to
be able to feel it to play it. So most symphony
orchestras really suck at it.

I will fully admit that I may have missed your
point. Are you saying that reading is the most
important skill to learn?

Kelly

thank you for your post!
-The above list is simply the bare minimum requirements to pass yourself off as a musician in each genre. On second thought, considering the current state of what is passable as music, the requirements may be far less.
-I do not believe that reading is the most important skill, but a high level in skill can reall set you apart from your contemporaries and get you jobs! Listening is the most important skill, without a close second. I would love to see a counter argument that could hold even an ounce of water.

Adam,

Well, it seems we agree. I would however, and to
admittedly pick a nit, say that listening is perhaps
less important than hearing :)

But, of course, in order to learn to hear, one must
first learn how to listen.

Kelly