Here are a few basic ideas about what music theory rock music students really need, and what they don’t!

If they are playing drums there is very little point in them learning to read the bass clef or treble clef notes – you’ll want to focus on Drum clef notation and rhythm. Concentrate on the clef that is used by their instrument, and the aspects that are most important to it. Rhythm is the area that most guitarists struggle with. Reading the bass clef notes can be a struggle for bass players

Practice score reading while listening to recordings

Have the students name the notes as they follow along with printed scores, while they listen to the recording.

Read carefully real sheet music from a music store

There used to be loads of ascii tabs around on the internet for guitar, bass and drums, but there is nothing like real sheet music for learning to read music. Go to the music store and buy some. Do your music reading a favor and support the musicians who created it at the same time!

Hopefully this has given a couple of ideas for rock musicians who want to improve in this area. With a little bit of the right training and a good attitude it really isn’t that difficult to learn to read music.