Should I learn how to read music?

[cleteman]

I don’t read music quickly; so should I put in the time learn how to read music on piano? The reason I ask is that I am accomplished guitar player and I can play piano by ear to a degree, but I’m not well versed on reading Bass Clef notes. I’m a bluesman, so I easily fall into slot on Blues Rock grooves on the keys, but I don’t plan on being a full time piano player. In fact I use a lot piano licks in my guitar playing, something I discovered a few years back listening to Matt Schofield. Anyway, I’ll spend some time on it, but I would like a opinion from someone who is a keys player as opposed to a guitarist “hack” version piano player. Thanks

Topic

We’d suggest you start with our Groove Charts. The groove charts provide a roadmap to the song that includes the chords and the left/right hand interaction. Chuck isn’t much of a reader himself, so he came up with the groove charts as a way to learn the essence of the song without getting bogged down reading notes.

In developing IROCKU, we found that one thing that separates rock from both classical and jazz keyboard playing is the syncopated interactions between the left and right hands. If you listen to any of the great rhythm players, (Nick Hopkins, Bill Preston, Elton John…) you’ll find that the interaction between both hands takes athletic prowess. We focus on this in the lessons because it is so fundamental to rock keyboard. So that said, we suggest that you do learn to read so you can challenge yourself with the rock rhythms. Check out Testimonials and you’ll find that a lot of people are commenting that the left hand syncopations and grooves are breathing new life into their playing. If you always play with a bass player this might not be necessary because you don’t want to get in their way but these syncopated techniques are fundamental to rock keyboard.

If you don’t plan on practicing to become a virtuoso pianist but want to hold your own while playing with a rock band here’s what we suggest:

1) Master the groove charts and get familiar with the different grooves in the common keys your band plays in.
2) Develop a very good left hand groove. The New Orleans and Ray Charles songs are best for this ( i.e. What’d I Say, Hey PockyAway, Tipitina, Hey Now, Cool Jerk, Rockin Pneumonia)
3) For improvising learn the major, minor, blues, pentatonic, and mixolydian scales in the keys your band plays in. Randomly practice playing them over the different left hand grooves. First play whole note scales, then half-note, then quarter, then eighth, and finally play the scales up and down in triplets over as many different grooves as possible. This will develop your left/right hand independence for improvising. Most great rock improvisers use cross-rhythms when improvising and this drill will lead to that. For some good riffs look to Chuck’s solos on the ABB Brothers and Sisters album ( Jessica, Come and Go Blues, Southbound). He packs more into these solos than most keyboardists ever play in a lifetime.