How can musicians who can’t read music still write songs and play music?

Question

I saw a video where Dave Grohl was talking about how he can’t read music. How does that work if he’s writing and performing songs?

In: Other

Answer 1

Think about speaking and language acquisition as an analogy for playing music by ear. Kids learn to speak before they learn to write. You can play a song or make one up without knowing how to write the notes down. Adults who can’t read and write can still understand verbal language and communicate well.