Rock musicians with musical education.

Kenny Aronoff (best known as John Mellencamp’s drummer in the 80’s-90’s) is a very well educated and trained musician (check his history on wikipedia if interested), yet is imo a very boring drummer. "Stock" parts, nothing special. Springsteen’s drummer Max Weinberg reads music (required to play in a Broadway pit band as he did prior to being hired by Bruce), yet is a complete bore. Very pedestrian, no imagination, no identifiable style or personality.

Band drummer Levon Helm was completely self-taught, but learned the 13 basic rudiments (the equivalent of tuned instrument scales). That enabled him to play a press roll---about my favorite type of drum "fill", as employed to great effect in "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down". Roger Hawkins (Muscle Shoals drummer, heard in all the great Atlantic Records albums produced by Jerry Wexler---Aretha, Wilson Pickett, etc., as well as in Paul Simon’s "Kodachrome"---a killer drum part, and Box Scaggs "Loan Me A Dime") played as good a press roll as I’ve ever heard (as good as Buddy Rich).

Ringo Starr was (and remains) unable to play the press roll, never having learned the rudiments. That restricted his ability to progress technically, but he’s done "okay" in spite of it ;-) . The Beatles may not have sounded as good if they had a technically better drummer. His creativity and imagination served he, they, and their music well.

@frogman: You make a good case, with which I agree wholeheartedly. The only genius I’ve known majored in music in college, got his masters in education, and spent his final years (he died from a heart attack at only 55 years of age) recording Bach works at home. When I was recording with him in the 70’s, the only Pop music/writers/musicians he was interested in/liked were Brian Wilson, Randy Newman, Dylan, and The Band. Talent (a great songwriter, he decided not to persue a career in music), education, and taste, the trifecta.

@simonmoon: Actually, it’s three chords ;-) . And in especially good songs, a bridge (middle 8 in England) adds a couple/few more

Schooling can help one develop one’s inate talent, and understanding theory---however learned---can help make a better musician. But remember, Danny Gatton was completely self-taught, as is Ry Cooder. Of course there aren’t many Gattons and Cooders walking around.

Musical taste is a whole ’nother matter. Learning what NOT to play is just as important as learning what TO play. I’ve heard a lot of technically advanced players whom I don’t consider very musical.

To hear the member of a Rock Band who possesses and displays a very deep musical education, listen to Garth Hudson’s extended opening in The Band’s live performances of "Chest Fever" (referred to as "The Genetic Method"). Classical, Jazz, R & B, Blues, Hillbilly, Pop--he knows it all.

Old musician joke: "Do you read (music?)". "Yeah, but not enough to hurt my playing."

Now, name any formally-educated songwriter you care to cite, and compare his or her compostions with those of, say, Brian Wilson, Paul McCartney, or John Lennon. Whose songs do you prefer? Education cannot transform modest talent into genius. Studying J.S. Bach's compositions will help one understand them, but not necessarily how to write like he.

There is always the school of hard knocks.

@edesilva: It was actually Garth Hudson---The Band's organist---who was allowed by his parents to join under the cover story that he was providing the other members with musical education for $10/wk each. Garth was playing Classical music in a relative's funeral parlor (! ;-) while the other members were already playing in bars.

Band bassist Rick Danko said when Garth joined The Band he asked Rick if he knew his scales (he didn't). Rick says learning them was the best advice he was ever given. Garth was not a Rock 'n' Roller, but a listener and lover of Jazz and R & B, pianist Bill Evans and Ray Charles particular favorites. To call a superior Rock 'n' Roll band like The Band makers of "garbage" music is not only a display of extreme ignorance, but also of smug superiority, a constant with the utterer of that statement.