"None of them can read music... "

Do any of you really believe that musicians such as Paul McCartney, Clapton and many other "ear" players and singers have NEVER bothered to learn anything related to musical theory?

After all, the first thing you learn when you play guitar is what the basic chords are. You'll probably also learn which notes make these up and various sequences etc. A little later on, you will(I know I did)be able to transpose songs etc into different keys even if it's just by using a capo. I can't believe that there can be many strummers out there who use a capo and not know which key they are playing in.

Also, most players will be able to locate where the notes are on their instruments at the very least.

Of course, if you have a very good ear, you'll not necessarily need to know that much about musical theory. In the case of these musicians, they have managed without it very well but I'm sure they all(at some stage) looked into various aspects of it to a greater or lesser extent.

I know of one very good accordion player who wanted to learn to read music and went to classes where the tunes were being taught this way. He found it very difficult to do this as by the time he'd worked out the music, he'd already picked up the tune by ear from the tutor and other students!
So, I'd suggest that this is a reason why the musicians mentioned above never actually progressed either..... they had been so accomplished in playing by ear that they didn't really need it.