[AlexanderJW42]

Here’s another way of looking at it…

There’s nothing wrong with playing music while looking at a score/tab/chord sheet. Many musicians play often play their instruments in just this way in many contexts. Reading music off a page and playing it at the same time is just another kind of skill; it doesn’t mean you can or can’t play. As you get more familiar with a piece or a song, you don’t need to read each individual note, but you might still use the written music as a way of keeping track of where you are and knowing what comes next.

Memorization is yet another skill set. Consciously working on this skill is more efficient than just waiting around for it to happen through endless repetitions. I have found it easiest to learn little chunks at a time (a few bars), and then I progressively add more. I pay attention to repetitions and variations in the music to keep track of where I am. It takes time and consistent practice to memorize a piece of music.

Yet sometimes you don’t want to put that much effort into playing a song; maybe you don’t need to be able to play it anytime and anywhere without any kind of prompting. In that case, that’s why music is written down. There’s nothing wrong with it; it’s just another tool.

I prefer to think of the written music as a kind of scaffolding or support; I use it until I don’t need it. But if I REALLY want to play without any kind of written reference, then I need to consciously work on that piece of music.