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----- Original Message ----- From: "Bob Wasserman" <[log in to unmask]> > I agree that recordings are the definite source, especially for modern music. I can only use any Rock n Roll sheet music or tabs as a guide and always must learn the songs from recordings. This is even true for my own songs that I had to relearn for a 20 year reunion concert last year, my own tab(cheat) sheets and notes were just useable as a guide only. We ended up changing many keys and tempos anyways for the show. I will admit that my ear is better than my music reading skills. Also, that since every performance varies, each recording has to be taken as a unique version of a given song. It's interesting listening to some cover bands and being able to figure out which recording they learned it from!!! > Well, rock'n'roll appeared at the very end of the "sheet music era"... and by that time the idea of buying a copy of the sheet music for a popular tune and playing it at home on your piano (or, later, your chord organ) was essentially a thing of the past! In the heyday of sheet music, popular tunes had different and identifiable melodies...that is, one could play the melody line of a pop tune and listeners would know almost instantly which song it was. When rock'n'roll became the standard, its songs often used one of a very small set of chord structures, and had similar melodies as well...one had to hear the lyrics to be able to identify the song! Further, most songs of that era were almost completely connected to the hit version by a single performer (or band). Probably the only band of the recent era to perform songs with recognizable melodies were the Beatles (who relied to some extent on earlier pop for suggestions, as can be heard in their versions). Steven C. Barr