Okay, well, I have this book of Metallica music, and I've noticed that on a lot of songs, there is notation that is upside-down on the staff. That is, two 8th notes would have the line that connects them under the staff, as opposed to over. All notes are affected as that, though, and not just 8th notes.
Anyway, in this book, I've noticed two songs so far, Batter and Nothing Else matters, that have these. There's an entire riff in Battery that has notes that are upward and some that are upside-down, but there are also two sets of notation on the staff. There are notes that are right side up, and some that are upside down, but they're all played accordingly to the same rythym.
In Nothing Else Matters, it's mainly just sporadic, and there are upside-down and right-side-up notes, but there's only one set of notation.
I don't understand what it's trying to tell me. Anyone?
It's irrelevant if the staffs point up or down, they are the same notes.
-- John
"Hip woman walking on a moving floor, tripping on the escalator.
There's a man in the line and she's blowin' his mind, thinking that he's already made her."
'Coming into Los Angeles' - Arlo Guthrie
All right, cool, man. I wasn't too sure if it was trying to tell me something. I"m pretty sure the two sets of notaion for Battery is trying to tell me something, though. But, I can't be tow sure.
There's actually a convention that music typesetter use. A note stem points towards the center of the staff - so notes towards the bottom have stems up, notes towards the top have stems down. The middle line (B in treble clef) can go either way.
So when they set music, they look for the farthest note in a beamed group, and base all the stems on that. If the highest and lowest notes are the same distance away, they take the direction of the majority of the notes in the group... and if that's still a tie, they flip a coin :)
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Intresting, makes sense that there's a convention used.
-- John
"Hip woman walking on a moving floor, tripping on the escalator.
There's a man in the line and she's blowin' his mind, thinking that he's already made her."
'Coming into Los Angeles' - Arlo Guthrie
There's actually a convention that music typesetter use. A note stem points towards the center of the staff - so notes towards the bottom have stems up, notes towards the top have stems down. The middle line (B in treble clef) can go either way.
So when they set music, they look for the farthest note in a beamed group, and base all the stems on that. If the highest and lowest notes are the same distance away, they take the direction of the majority of the notes in the group... and if that's still a tie, they flip a coin :)
Ahh, cool. By the way, I figured out that the two sets of notation are just two guitars playing simultaneously.
Also, how extensively does your book go into the basis of reading music, NoteBoat?
It's not a book about reading... but since understanding the arrangements of notes is important to visualizing theory, it covers the very basics - note values, the staff, the names of notes related to the guitar. I show major scales in standard notation and fingerboard charts, but as I get into other scales and intervals, it's more fingerboard charts than notation (it saves space to not have it both ways).
There are already a ton of books out there that are good for reading. In my teching, I use Mel Bay's "Modern Guitar Method" and Berklee's "A Modern Method for Guitar". Other good ones that focus on reading are Tommy Tedesco's "For Guitar Players Only", Ted Greene's two-volume "Jazz Guitar Single Note Soloing", Tom Bruner's "How to Become the Complete Professional Guitarist and Studio Musician", and Leon White's "Sight to Sound"
I figured with so much good stuff already written in that area, it didn't make sense for me to dwell on it.
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Oh, and one afterthought about the music being for two guitars... there's a convention there, too. In standard notation, two instruments are often written on a single staff - the note stems of one line point up, the other down - that way each of the musicians reading from the part can quickly identify which one is theirs. Vocal music is often written on a single grand staff:
Soprano - teble staff, stems up
Alto - treble staff, stems down
Tenor - bass staff, stems up
Bass - bass staff, stems down
It makes it really easy for the conductor to see the individual lines. Four-part music written for a single performer (like a pianist) doesn't usually do this, though - the extra beams would clutter up the music and make it harder to read.... and it's not so important which part is which, since the performer has to play them all at the same time.
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Do those books you've mentioned also cover playing in rythym? I had a book by Wolf Marshal that told me to count, "1, 2, 3, 4," for quarter notes in 4/4 and, "1, and, 2, and, 3, and, 4, and," for 8th notes in 4/4. However, it's kind of hard for me to stay consistent because I have no metronome and I have to trust my foot. I was wondering if there was a specific one that you thought may have some helpful hints, or if you knew any yourself you could share here.
I teach the same counting method Wolf does. Rhythm can be tough for some folks to learn... I wrote an article about it this summer.
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