A lot of your favorite rock stars have done something similar, though. Without ever learning music theory or even reading music, people like Eddie Van Halen, John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and countless others have aspired to and reached the greatest heights of musical stardom, success, and influence. How did they do it? They played a lot. When I say a lot, what I mean by that is A LOT; as in virtually every waking hour for years and years. They had the necessary passion to do something very difficult with only the most basic tools.

Having a passion is great, but if you are like 99.9% of the world and don’t share the same passion as the musicians above but still want to play an instrument, I suggest you use as many tools as you can get your hands on. It will save you a lot of time and make it so you don’t have to give up your job or your kids.

What I’m talking about specifically is learning to read tablature, standard notation, chord charts, and rhythmic notation at least. Music theory is another good idea. Each of these things helps you to perform different jobs in just the same way as different tools on a job site will help you build a house. Tablature is great for learning exactly which fret and string your favorite guitar player uses to play that guitar solo or riff you’ve been wanting to learn, but it looks cluttered and confusing if the song is performed with mostly chord strumming. Chord charts will perform that job much more simply. If you want to play with other people, standard and rhythmic notation will make it a lot easier. Before I learned to read standard and rhythmic notation it would take my band a week to put a song together. We all played different instruments and didn’t really know how to speak each other’s musical language. Standard and rhythmic notation are the common language for all instruments. When I learned those and played in a band with other people who also spoke that language, we were able to put together as many as a dozen songs in a single rehearsal. It really does make that much of a difference.

A lot of music students resist learning to use a lot of those tools though. A lot of people say to me that learning to read is too hard and Clapton didn’t read music so why do I have to? Well, you don’t have to, but from my experience I can tell you that not learning to read is harder. I understand the desire to do things the way your musical heroes did them. Like them, I prioritized playing music above sports, friends, parties, and other hobbies. I shared the same passion as The Beatles and Van Halen. I also had the time to do it. I was a kid when I played that much and didn’t have a whole lot else to do. I don’t have nearly that amount of time now, I’m lucky that I do it for a living, otherwise I don’t think I’d get to play much at all.

If, then, you are like me and the vast majority of other people on the planet, I suggest that you take the time to learn to use all the available tools. Otherwise you are making it more difficult on yourself than is necessary; like building a house with just a hammer and nails. We’re all trying to have fun here so why not make things easy on yourself?

I could go on to draw a correlation between the personnel turnaround in our bands and any sports team in the world or the personnel turnaround at the company where you work and ask you how you expect a band of hobbyists to keep it together ad infinitum, but I think I’d rather take a more positive approach instead and ruminate about Eric Clapton.

I’m sure the vast majority of people reading this know who Eric Clapton is. He is a legend in rock ‘n’ roll, blues, and guitar circuits. He is considered by most guitar aficionados to be one of the best rock guitar players of all time. He’s hung out with Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles and they were big fans of Clapton. In fact, Clapton has had such a prolific career that he has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times!!! That fact is the true source of this meditation.

No one else has been inducted as many or more times as Clapton. In order to be inducted that many times, he’s had to have been a member of at least three extremely successful and/or influential bands. For Clapton, three bands is nothing. Looking at the list of bands he’s been a member of, you might think he could go through three bands before breakfast. In fact, in the eight years from 1963-1970 Eric Clapton was actually a member of 8 different bands! Count ‘em: The Roosters, The Yardbirds, The Bluesbreakers, Cream, Blind Faith, Dalaney and Bonnie and Friends, Derek and the Dominos, and another band as a solo artist. The Yardbirds, Cream, and Eric Clapton as a solo artist are now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In that time, and since, Clapton has played and recorded with numerous acts such as George Harrison and John Lennon, but I think you get the idea by now, so I’ll digress.

Eric Clapton has been in a lot of bands. He could have gotten frustrated about not staying together with one of these bands and quit but he didn’t. Instead he led most of these bands to success and made the most of every opportunity he had to play. That’s the point I’m trying to make here.

Whether or not you decide you want to be in the rock ‘n’ roll hall of fame is up to you, but as long as we’re dealing with people who possess the freedom to do what they want and the desire to exercise that right, neither you nor I can force any band member to stay in any band. I think it’s safe to conclude from the data gathered here that if one’s glass is half-empty, one would probably notice that one’s Rockology band might not last more than one quarter. If one’s glass is half-full, I’m sure one would be delighted to find out that one’s Rockology band is going to be together for at least three months and one would get to play a gig with these people. You are a free person, so you get to decide which of those two options works best for you.