Should You Play from Sheet Music or By Ear or Improvise?

It’s an old joke that you get a guitarist to stop playing by putting sheet music in front of him. Classical guitarists bristle at this joke, but even classical players are rarely strong sight-readers.

Most guitarists are more comfortable learning by ear. Improvising. Learning from tablature or chord symbols.

What are the advantages of different types of notation, playing by ear, and improvising?

Staff Notation

When Guido of Arezzo introduced staff notation in the eleventh century, he bragged that it enabled musicians to learn pieces of music more quickly and accurately than by ear.

Staff notation has the following advantages:

1. It often results in greater accuracy. 
2. It is a universal musical language.
3. Rhythm notation is included.
4. It facilitates knowledge of the notes you're playing and flexibility of playing them in various locations on the guitar fingerboard.

Chord Charts

Chord symbols are placed above lyrics. The advantage is this is visually simple. It can work if you already know the sound and rhythm of the song well by ear. The disadvantage is that no information about rhythm or melody is provided.

Lead Sheets

Lead sheets not only include lyrics and chord symbols, but also staff notation of the melody. Lead sheets give you precise information regarding how many measures of each chord you will play.

Lead sheets are versatile and can be used to play the following:

1. Melody
2. Chords
3. Bass
4. Improvise over the chords.
5. Create a chord/melody version on a single guitar.
6. Create your own arrangement for a band.

For music where improvisation is valued, lead sheets provide more flexibility than an arrangement where all parts are written out in staff notation.

Tablature

Tablature was first used hundreds of years ago for plucked string instruments like lutes. Tablature specifies which string and fret to play for each note.

The advantages of tablature include the following:

1. It is specific to guitar and easy to learn. 
2. It provides the player with one location for each note.
3. For alternate tunings, it can be a helpful supplement to staff notation.

The disadvantages are that tablature rarely includes rhythm notation. Also, tablature does not convey information about what note of the scale you are playing. This limits your ability to find the same note in different locations on the fretboard.

Playing By Ear

Playing by ear allows you to learn music whether a notated version is available or not. 

Playing by ear offers the following advantages:

1. It allows you to adjust immediately to what you hear.
2. It hones your ability to hear subtleties that are hard to notate, such as dynamics, accents, and phrasing.

A disadvantage of playing by ear is that it can be time-consuming for complicated music.

Playing Your Own Music

Creating your own music can be a fun and deeply rewarding experience.

There are two ways of creating music, improvising and composing.

Improvising is creating music that you do not plan to play again in the future.

Composition is creating music that you plan to play again or invite others to play in the future.

The advantages of improvising are:

1. You can go with the flow of your ideas in the moment.
2. It can be done with little time commitment.

The advantages of composing are as follows:

1. It allows you to refine your ideas so you can present them to others in their most polished version.
2. It allows others around the world to perform your music.

Should you play from notation, play by ear, or create your own music?

All of the above!

Appreciate the advantages that each has to offer.

Keep making music!

If you want sheet music and tab for Spanish Romance, click here.