I started playing organ at about age 4 and although we had music books and something similar to the fake books described, I was not able to reead them at that point. I was able to read a little music and real words as well by the time I started the first grade, but I soon found that that I derived a lot more pleasure when I played by ear, and subsequently that I was better at that than playing from notation.

Today I can read standard notation but I'm not particularly good at doing it in real time. As I grew up I found that reading music did help me to learn the proper fingering / notes for the complex chords and scales, but I still prefer 'ear" play. The other thing that has helped me though is reading and understanding midi notation. Those who still believe in learning by standard notation might want to disagree, and that's ok too, but with midi technology at the forefront, [ particularly for me as a keyboard player in today's world ], midi notation has been instrumental in helping me to write music and to better understand ( and use in real time ) different timings and patterns in general.

AJ

[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 01-27-2003).]