Advice on learning to read music...

Are you wanting to know how to read music or how to sight read music? I know how to read music but my sight reading is awful because I never practice it. I spent a lot of time learning to sight read years ago when I first started because my teacher wanted me to and said it would make me a better player. I now think it was a waste of time. IMHO if your goal is to sit in front of a music stand and sight read a piece then practicing sight reading is what you should do. If it is simply to be able to learn songs, improve technique, etc. I would not spend time sight reading. You can learn to learn songs by ear or use your ear and tab to learn songs much quicker than reading standard notation. Disclaimer: I'm not talk about Mozart or that kind of thing. I'm talking about rock, blues, metal, etc. Ok; blast away :wink:

I'll round out Pearl's post with the contents of Shearer's book 1 - since the actual table of contents shows 38 sections, and it's only an 82 page book, I've seriously abridged this by flipping through the pages :)

Bear in mind it's all about classical guitar technique. There's very little in it that applies to the plectrum guitarist.

The guitar (7 pages) - basic parts, tuning
Notation basics (2 pages) - staff, notes, time signatures, repeat signs
Holding the guitar (2 pages)
Right hand technique: the rest stroke (3 pages... I like Noad's pictures better than Shearer's drawings for this, BTW)
The first three strings (14 pages)
The free stroke (about 6 pages)
Arpeggios (about 3 pages)
Nail care (2 pages)
The D string (4 pages)
The A and E strings (2 pages each)
Scales (about 3 pages)
Playing two notes together (about 6 pages)
Playing three notes together (about 3 pages)
Left hand pivot and guide fingers (1-1/2 pages)
Using rest strokes and free strokes (5 pages)
Playing four notes together (5 pages)
Music of the Masters (8 pages - short studies by Carulli, Sor, Guiliani, Aguado)
Accompaniments (3 pages - these are the teacher's parts for exercises earlier in the book)
Closing comments & care of the guitar (1 page)

blutic,
I can already read music, sort of...(in so much as i can work out what to do with my fingers on the fretboard. Albeit, very slowly)

But i want to gain some sort of fluency in reading/writing music.

If the only course of action to gain this "fluency" is by learning to site read, then so be it.

I also believe it will help me with music theory, especially more advanced theory.

Also,
I've been thinking that learning how to write music might be a better way to start.

This way you are not just learning how to understand each symbol/element of music notation, but you are constructing them from the sounds you play... This may sound backward to some people but i guess i am a bit backward :?

For example.. Pick out a simple (2 bar or so) melody, then write it out... paying attention to notate rest/bends/slides/vibrato etc correctly. Then break down the written piece into it's parts and see if it is correct. (A metronome would be essential for this, btw) .... Almost the same way you would check long division by multiplying the result with the original divisor.

Over time the melodies would get more complex as your skills/proficiency increase. I think this would help with musical memory aswell.

I've tried this recently and realised if the melodies are simple enough i can see a staff in my minds eye writing itself as i play. I've only been toying with this experiment for a couple of weeks though.

Of course this would really only work for practicing stuff at a basic level which is exactly what my initial goals are...

Anyone have any thoughts on this... Good idea, bad idea, get off the drugs??

Thanks again for the input.

J

I'll third the Berkley Method One with DVD. I knew what the notes were on the staff before the book, but since having it, I'm learning how the notes on the staff relate to the notes on the guitar. It starts out basic but gets really interesting quickly, but not so quick your lost. Plus, the dvd is nice because some of the "songs" are duets and you can play along with each part. An added bonus for me has been learning notes of chords by sight reading them. I'm really enjoying it.

You've described the way I thought when I started playing at age 16. That was in 88 and we didn't have powertab, guitarpro, internet tabs, progams to slow down songs, etc. The first day I got a guitar, I took a lesson and my teacher started me sightreading. He introduced me to the concept of music theory as well. I got the Hal Leonard book 1 and learned how to read music and how to sight read simple songs. Then we started working on scales, arpeggios, and other techiniques like hammerons, etc. Back then I did not learn to play songs by ear and tab books were few and far between. I practiced like 4-14 hours a day. I did not learn whole songs, but hundreds of licks and riffs. I practiced all my techinques and I sightread a lot. I did not know what else to do but I figured sightreading will help my ear, and maybe it would help me learn from tab books. I did not get very far. After an extended break I picked the guitar back up and basically started over. This time I spent my time learning whole songs, learning by ear, and improvising to jam tracks. I can't tell you how much better I've become. I had theory classes in college and highschool and I still ready about it every day. Believe me when I say - sightreading will not help you learn theory. Sightreading will not help you to create music. IMHO it's far better to learn songs (to stand on the shoulders of giants) and to just jam. Come up with chord progressions, record them, and solo over them. Or buy commercial jam tracks and solo over them. Forget about writing down music. Use a recorder. I've recorded song ideas on a video camera, hand held mini tape, 4 track, GNX3, and I've even seen people use Ipods and cell phones to record song ideas. Another example: my wife plays the piano - well not really - she sight reads piano music. This she can do quite well. But she cannot play ANYTHING without the music. Sightreading on the guitar is no different. Some may say they learn to sightread sonatas or whatever and they memorize them. If you want to play classical, then you need to sight read. If you want to play everything else, you need to develop musical intuition and that does not come from sightreading. You need to be able to listen to a song - something simple like Smoke on the Water - and get the music going in your head and then be able to pick up the guitar and play it. Your intuition will teach you all the music theory you need. Think of a melody in your head right now. If you live in the western hemisphere and you were to magically transpose that melody to paper it would probably be perfectly diatonic (no out of key notes). The goal for all players should be to create (imagine) music, then pick up the instrument so others can here it to. Sightreading will help your ear and will help develop this intuition, but IMHO not nearly as much as practicing scales, learning songs, and improvising diatonically over jam tracks.

Believe me when I say - sightreading will not help you learn theory. Sightreading will not help you to create music.
I agree that sightreading will not help you create music. Sightreading, while may not necessarily help me to learn theory, i think would help me to visualise music with more than just my ears...
If you can see a, say, decending perfect fourth, or major triad aswell as hear it, then this can only strengthen the knowledge and versatility of the musician's communication skills.. especially as these same skills are common to most other instruments
This time I spent my time learning whole songs, learning by ear, and improvising to jam tracks. I can't tell you how much better I've become.
I also incorporate these into my practice regime, and you're right, these skills are essential to learn. Especially learning by ear.

But like i said before, i find i visualise sounds. Kind of like mild synaesthesia. I see intervals in my minds eye when i hear them. I visualise notes in a grid.. It looks like the mongrel lovechild of a staff and a piano keyboard. By practising reading/writing on a staff until the skills become second nature, i am teaching myself to structure my visualisations accurately in a standard language. I've noticed some promising results in only 2 weeks

...The same way someone learning a second language eventually becomes fluent and begins to think in their new language without the need to translate.
my wife plays the piano - well not really - she sight reads piano music. This she can do quite well. But she cannot play ANYTHING without the music. Sightreading on the guitar is no different.
I think this would only become an issue if you let it... Maybe your wife neglected to work on her musical memory. Learning and memorising whole songs would help in this regard. Like you said before, Sight reading will not teach any theory....Knowing theory minimises the need for memorisation. If you know the theory behind what you're playing, it's incredibly easy to, say, change keys or whatever. Eg. remember the structure and the music will remember itself. Remember the progression, not just the chords. Remember the intervals of the scales, not just the notes.
I try to break down all music i've learned into it's simplest form. And voila, a whole bunch of patterns emerge. IMO the easiest way to learn and recognise patterns is visualisation.

But music is sound, notation is sight... 2 seperate things.. right?
Well, I don't know why but my brain makes me want to combine the 2.... And notation show me a visual representation of a sound pattern... So I need to explore this a bit further..

My whole point here is to compliment my brain/ears with as many tools as possible...

I'm curious if anyone else visualises sounds in this way or something similar.. In which case i'm looking forward to hearing some responses.
The goal for all players should be to create (imagine) music, then pick up the instrument so others can here it to. Sightreading will help your ear and will help develop this intuition, but IMHO not nearly as much as practicing scales, learning songs, and improvising diatonically over jam tracks.
I agree with this statement, but my aim is to become a well rounded musician, and i think denying myself an important skill can only be detrimental to this goal.

Maybe when I have as much experience as you i will look back and agree that learning to site read only took up valuble practice time that would have been better spent on other, more constructive exercises.
Everyone has their own path to follow.. If in the future, if i feel like my path is not headed where i want it to go, I will re-examine my goals.

Sorry for the long post... I could talk this nonsense all night. :roll:

Cheers,

J

Whenever a post like this comes up I'm always surprised how many times it gets turned into an "either / or" choice. As noted here, being able to read (or to sight read, for that matter) is just another tool a musician has the choice to use.

While performing, I never use written music. But knowing how to read music has never hurt my ability to improve my skills. If nothing else, reading music has many times helped me to take songs that some people would never attempt to play on guitar and to create nice solid arrangements.

Saying someone who only reads music doesn't "play" is incredibly misleading. It just means that they have aspects of playing, such as improvising, that need some dedicated practise. As with most things about playing any instrument, we all have our strong suits and "things that need work." But the last thing I'd ever say is that I need one less tool. In fact, while I can't speak for anyone other than myself, I can say with certainty that I need to use all the tools I can get my hands on! :wink:

Peace

I agree with that. Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying don't learn to site read. All I'm saying is that for most people that have jobs, family, school, or whatever there are only so many hours in a day to dedicate to playing. You have even less time to improve if you are in a band and have to keep up all the songs your band does. For me - the time I spent sight reading was a waste. I have no desire to ever sit down and play off of paper. I do that enough at band practice with lead sheets. :D But that's just me. If I were to design a program for a budding guitarist I think I'd start with chords and scales to get them physically playing. Then I'd move into techinques and ear training. After they new the basic chords, open and barre, and a few ways to play major, minor, and pentatonic scales, and after they could learn a few simple songs by ear - I would get into theory. Then have them start using theory and their ears to put together simple songs in the style of music they like. Maybe sightreading would be thrown in as - check this out, you can do this, but it's not really necessary to play rock, blues, metal, country, etc. And to say one last thing, he said in the original post that he felt not knowing how to sight read he is missing a HUGE part of playing. I simply disagree, but then again it's a matter of what you want to do with music. If you are trying to play classical guitar at Carnegie Hall then - yes. If you want to jam some rock at a bar, then no.

i'd suggest finding some staff paper online or drawing some on a piece of paper and going over what each line and space is then how to notate each fret on the guitar from the low e to the 12th fret on the high e. repeat this for maybe 20 minutes a day until it's easy.

Not every guitarist needs to learn to read music. I think that's a safe place where folks can start. But most people are surprised at how quickly one can learn to read music. Not necessarily well enough to sight read on the spot but well enough to handle easy pieces.

If you learn where one note on the staff is each day, then you'll learn the majority of the notes you'll use on the guitar in less than one month. And, once learned, it doesn't leave you or change on you. The E that sits in the top space of the staff will be E forever.

When you think about it, we use our brains to store huge amounts of knowledge we truly don't need - who won the World Series in 1932, the name of the third song on the second side of Revolver, what time the television program that we can't miis no matter what comes on, and what really happened at Uncle Bob's party last Thanksgiving -
reading music takes less effort than learning a new video game.

Now getting good at reading it takes practice... :wink:

Peace

go here then work your way up from grade one songs.

its all in tab and notation,BUT you can print them out and then hold a seperate book over the tab and just read the notation, then test yourself and use the tab.
its all free and it helped me a great deal.

the progressive studies are a great place to start. but beware, some of those pieces are written for REALLy advanced players, of course any one can try.

http://dirk.meineke.free.fr/classical.html

Whenever a post like this comes up I'm always surprised how many times it gets turned into an "either / or" choice. As noted here, being able to read (or to sight read, for that matter) is just another tool a musician has the choice to use.

Exactly.

But, it should also be noted for young musicians, if you want to make a living playing your instrument, learning to read well is essential to maximizing your career opportunities.

In my area there are dozens and dozens of really really good guitarists. The 5 or 6 biggest money makers in my area that I know of all have one trait in common -- they can read anything. So they are the one's the theaters call when they need a guitar in the pit. They are the one's the studios call on first when they need a guitar part played.

They also have their bands and students just like everyone else does, but no one else is ever turning down gigs. These guys are. All the time. They have too -- they have more work than they can take on.

So, while I agree that it's "just another tool" for us older guys. For younger people who might want a career in music, I think it's a pretty essential one. It's the difference between being in demand and being just another guy who can play.