Last night I was at rehearsal. I was having a hard time playing the rhythm of a 3 note lick. For some reason I just couldn’t get it. After about 30-40 times thru it, I may finally have it down.
I had a short conversation about the notation on the page.
The WL asked me:
“Do you know what this note is?”
“Sure it’s a C” I answered
“Actually it’s a B, but how long is the note?
Oh! That’s a half note…2 counts in 4/4 time”
Doh! I was such an idiot…
This reminded me of a conversation I had with a music teacher some years back.
We were practicing, and he asked me
“How do you know what to play?”
“What do you mean?” I shot back
“Well I read the music, without it, I can’t really play melodies, but you guitar players noodle around all day without a single sheet of music in front of you.”
I waxed on “I play what I feel. If I can hear the melody in my head, chances are, I can play it on the guitar”
Back when I was in High School band and even farther back when I started learning music, I remember having a stand and music in front of me. If you had a solo in a piece, it was written out, and you played it note for note. Now, I just ask for the key of the song, and play along.
Yes I can read music, but it seems like I’ve moved to a place where I don’t really use it. This can work for and against me…as in what happened last night.
So is ask:
Can you read music?
Do you need sheet music to play?
Do you play by ear?
Or
Do you feel the music and let it out?
Filed under: Electric Guitar, Electric Guitars, Guitar, Guitar Practice, Making Music, Misc, Music, Music in School, Playing by Ear | Tagged: Electric Guitars, Guitar Practice, Guitars, Making Music, Music, Playing by Ear, Reading Music
I can read music from my High School band days, I use tab in the two years I’ve played guitar.
I have learned enough theory and scales to be able to improvise on top of chord progressions. Notice I didn’t necessarily say “well”. Improvisation seems to be a lifelong endeavor.
Reminds me of the joke.. how do you stop a guitar player from playing, put a sheet of music in front of him.
I can read music from 5 years of piano lessons, I can play the piano and pluck out notes and such. I can not however, play the same on the guitar, which from a technique and repertoire standpoint.. I’m a far far better guitar player than I am a piano player.
On the guitar I can sit on most things and noodle, play chords and leads an be in tune. On a piano not so much. On a piano however I can pick up a piece of unknown music and pluck it out, never on the guitar unless it’s in tablature.
That sheet music thing…that’s what happened to me last night!
I was going to start with that joke!
I have some books and have started, a little. I’m at the stage where, with some staff and some scrap paper, I can go from dots to a clunky, bad take on a melody.
Not quite true. I have a library book on guitar that has staff and no tab, and it had the intro to “Stairway”, and I was able to go from staff to “There’s a lady who knows” without taking notes. But I already knew how it sounded, because everyone has heard “Stairway”.
I don’t need sheet music to play. A good exercise that I’ve found and have begun to do more is to put on XM and try to play along with anything that comes along. It’s a good way to start picking out keys, and when you think “this lick will sound good here” and find yourself playing along with the session guy, that’s a bonus.
Leads and melodies (not the same thing, but close) I pick out by ear. Chords and structure are a bit too complex to fit in my head, so I like a cheat sheet there.
Yes, I can read music. I never do for the guitar, though (rarely).
The thing is, I am not the best at playing by ear either. So tab it is, or trying to play in 1, 2, 3, 4, etc…
Nope, can’t read sheet music. I have always used tabs. Much easier. Helps you a lot in playing your favorite songs.
From playing other songs you can learn a lot, always listen to what you’re doing and how different chords and nots sound. After a while (depending on how much you practise and play) your ears will take over. Your goal will be to play with your ears. When you master that you can play almost everything you want (ofcourse within the same skill level)
I learned by reading music and reading the the notes and looking at the chord pics. But then I ended up in a band and the real world and sheet music don’t mix.
I took my fiddle and guitar and began to learn slowly from the band members the short forms for the keys to play in, and I learned the keys and then the music came in lumps.
I would see the notes as my fingers on the bridge or the fingerboard or the guitar frets in lumps of pattern.
Each lump was for a specific key and each lump can me repeated up and down the fingerboards.
It is like taking a caged bird and setting it free! This is when my emotion became the music….
Now I watch my Sons learning by ear and tab and I can appreciate the work they are putting into it.
I love it when my Husband and I can jam with my grown sons….