JesseDezz said:

Hmm...We all seem to be getting our information from different sources. I've read before from an interview that he is quite a fan of Chopin and Debussy and has played through mostly all of their works. I also read that he was in a piano competition of some sort at one time, for gradeschool-age kids. This could be a gross misreading on my behalf, and if such is the case I am happy to admit the error.

And, no, I am not EVH's plumber, so I do not frequent his house. However, I was simply expressing an opinion based on what I have read about other musicians and heard from many more. To be honest, it just takes a lot of time to write down music and because of this, many simply prefer to just play by ear or tell band members their parts or something like this. IF Eddie can read music, then it MAY be that he would rather write a song and rather than record it on paper, just go right ahead and record it in his home studio. It's much more hands-on and gives one more of an idea of the exact sounds and timbres present in one's composition.

The fact that being unable to write or read music is in no way connected to one's raw musical ability is, however, obvious, and should have already been noted by reading above a few posts. It is already apparent that many of the best musicians currently being heard are, strictly speaking, "musically illiterate," and this includes the majority of my favorite musicians.

By the way, Tony MacAlpine IS an excellent example of a very learned classical pianist who is also one hell of a guitarist.

Are you people shitting me? So what, Jimi just knew how to play the chords? What about the solos? Can i possibly become a great guitarist without knowing how to read music? Is it possible? These are just some of the questions i need answering

AzurePanther said:

Of course you can be an excellent musician without knowing how to read music! You can be a great musician, and it wouldn't matter a bit if you knew how to read music or not. Music is an entirely aural process; printed music is just a manner of distributing that music for others to reproduce. I'm pretty sure Bach had every piece written in his head and only wrote it down for "posterity" for his students and his children to play.

issac hayes can't read music but like barry white he knows what to do with that orchestra...

What is reading music?

This is such a myth among muscians.

Ice9sFine said:

Actually, I've hears some reports that for a lot of pop and rock musicians, while it may be helpful for some to be able to read music, it is a hindrance to others, since most pop and rock music is improvised. Especially the guitar solos and extended keybord jams. I imagine that Charlie Parker and Miles Davis didn't spend a whole lot of time thinking about music theory when they composed their amazing horn solos.

Prospect said: