reading music

Mo Law-ka · Post by **Mo Law-ka** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 7:03 pm

how many of you can?

im interested in learning how. what are some things i can do to learn? i have a classical book and i found a few "simple" pieces and theyre still kicking my ass.

any tips?

James · Post by **James** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 7:09 pm

Hang in there and show those pieces who's boss.

I can understand a fair bit of notation but definitely can't sight read. I'd say that using it to learn a song you're familar with but can't play, with a mixture of 'by ear' and trying to follow the score will help you. Also, just listen along to some slow solo piano pieces and follow the score. It'll help a lot with following the rhythm and you can pretty much choose your own level of involvement as far as following the picth goes.

Read up on scale notation (number of sharps and flats) and the bit of theory that goes with it, and make some quick cards (not sure the lame name that comes with them, but they're common in learning a foreign language) and see if you can recognise the notation for scales (ie shuffle the cards up, and then go throw them stating the scale you think it is, and turn the card over to see the answer you've written on the back).

Haze · Post by **Haze** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 7:20 pm

i got nothin on sheet music
i call it shiit music, but thats about all i have done with it =)

esteban · Post by **esteban** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 7:22 pm

i was in band in grade school, so i can read it.

but moving it to guitar is pretty hard, what with chords and such. knowing piano would probably eliminate any problems.

you just have to practice, and it'll come around.

Ninja Mike 808 · Post by **Ninja Mike 808** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 1:28 am

I can, but I can't read and play... I jus know what I'm looking at mostly.

Justin J · Post by **Justin J** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 6:55 pm

i knew how to read music from playing viola in school. but viola uses a different clef, so i didn't really know how to apply it to guitar. last semester i took a classical guitar class at college and was able to pick up sight reading fairly quickly.

Sparky · Post by **Sparky** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 7:35 pm

I took classical piano lessons growing up, so with those 7 years of piano combined with the 4 years I took formal guitar lessons, I'd say that yes... I can read sheet music.*

*However, I can hardly sight-read worth dick now. I was quite the sight-reader back in the days of piano. I'm still kicking myself for not keeping a tighter practice schedule. I can still play the piano, but as far as learning new songs goes... forget it. Needless to say, my music reading skills are a bit rusty.

BobArsecake · Post by **BobArsecake** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 7:36 pm

I used to be able to when I played the violin, and with guitar music I can if I'm given enough time to look at it and work it out. So I can't read it effectively or to put it into useful practice.

american ingenuity · Post by **american ingenuity** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 5:48 am

I used to be able to read music cuz i played violin for a year and trumpet for a year but the only thing i can remember is the value of the notes and EGBDF and FACE

american ingenuity · Post by **american ingenuity** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 5:48 am

I used to be able to read music cuz i played violin for a year and trumpet for a year but the only thing i can remember is the value of the notes and EGBDF and FACE

tribi9 · Post by **tribi9** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 6:07 am

american ingenuity wrote:I used to be able to read music cuz i played violin for a year and trumpet for a year but the only thing i can remember is the value of the notes and EGBDF and FACE

Out of your 102 posts, how many of them are double?

Ninja Mike 808 · Post by **Ninja Mike 808** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 6:11 am

tribi9 wrote:
american ingenuity wrote:I used to be able to read music cuz i played violin for a year and trumpet for a year but the only thing i can remember is the value of the notes and EGBDF and FACE
Out of your 102 posts, how many of them are double?

Half?

american ingenuity · Post by **american ingenuity** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 6:15 am

This is all over active clicking goin on right now

Post by **Mike** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 8:03 am

The thing to do is to learn to play by ear, it's universal and far more useful.

Mo Law-ka · Post by **Mo Law-ka** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 3:08 pm

it's kind of hard to play by ear when you have nothing to base it off of.

Post by **Doog** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 3:14 pm

The more you learn by ear, the better you get at recognising intervals (distances between notes/chords) and the sound of widely-used chords, so it becomes a lot easier.

That said, something other than riffy or chord rock music, it can definately be a big to learn how to read stuff. I can't really read it myself, but I can just about programme it.

Definately wanna strike a balance, though- my missus can sight read piano and cello sheet music but is shit at figuring stuff out from scratch, because she's never had to.

Post by **Mike** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 3:15 pm

Mo Rocca wrote:it's kind of hard to play by ear when you have nothing to base it off of.

Practise makes perfect.

As an example I couldn't sing harmonies until about 4-5 years ago, I learnt by practising. Now it's second nature.

benwalker · Post by **benwalker** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 4:45 pm

it's a big balance. i did classical ages ago and found that a lot of people who've spent their entire time reading music just can't play a thing without having a page of fly-shit in front of them.

as far as guitar goes, if it's strict classical i'll read the dots (which fwiw is more like piano music but all on the same stave). if it's anything else, give me tab and cd player with a pause button.

theory is kind of useful aswell. i've never had any band experience from knowing i'm playing in Em, and where the notes for that scale are all over the neck. then there's the other extreme of vai-like twunts who'll happily wank away with no discernible melody and then claim "oh, it was a combination of aeolean/dorian, modulating via a transposed phygrian figure up around the 22nd fret"

riiiiiiiight.