I gave up guitar for a while to learn some piano, in hopes that reading music would help get me out of the rut I was in with guitar.
Well now I am back, but am not sure how to apply the written notes to the fretboard! The staff calls for a C, but which C? Does it need to be on a specific string or can it be in any old place? Down an octave Up an octave? If I see the Middle C note on the staff I know where to play it on the piano, but am not sure on the guitar...
I have nothing to landmark off of anymore!
Can somebody give me a push in the right direction please?
S.
A string 3rd fret.
Standard Notation for guitar is written one octave higher than "standard".
The middle C on a piano is on the first ledger line below the treble staff and is 261.1Hz. The same pitch (256Hz) on a guitar is found at the 1st fret of the B string, but, as I'm sure you're aware, this is written on the first space above the centre line (B) on the treble staff.
The 3rd fret of the A string is actually 130.05Hz, which is one octave lower than middle C.
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
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Greybeard - What do you mean about 261.1Hz and 256Hz being the same pitch? :? Both notes (piano middle C and guitar str2 fret1) should both be 261.1Hz, no?
What greybeard said.
To elaborate - In fact then it depends on whether the piece you are looking at is written for guitar or some other instrument. If you are to reproduce a piano-piece in exactly the same pitch, You have to play the middle C on 1 fret 2nd string (or 5th fret 3rd string, or 10th fret 4th string or 15th fret 5th string ...). All the notes above the second line you will have to play in higher positions up the neck. And similarly, if a piece for guitar was notated like it sounds we would quickly run out of ... what are they called ... ledgers. You would need a at least a dozen of them to write out the low E string. If you play "piano middle C" one octave lower, the lowest tone on the guitar needs 4 legders and the high E (as on a violin) is in the space between the top two lines.
Fretsource - the piano is ... ... arg I don't know the english word - something to do with temperature probably... in order to play in all keys the tones are adjusted somewhat from where they "should" have been.
lars - on very thin ice tonight :lol:
...only thing I know how to do is to keep on keepin' on...
LARS kolberg http://www.facebook.com/sangerersomfolk
Fretsource - the piano is ... ... arg I don't know the english word - something to do with temperature probably... in order to play in all keys the tones are adjusted somewhat from where they "should" have been.
Lars - Do you mean "equal temperament"? If so, the guitar is also an "equal tempered" instrument. I think Greybeard just made a typo. Both notes are the same pitch - 261.1Hz - Greybeard? :)
Yes - this seemed perfectly reasonable late last night :roll: But now I don't know why I always have to say something about things I only have a vague confused idea about :oops: . Sorry - I will happen again :lol:
...only thing I know how to do is to keep on keepin' on...
LARS kolberg http://www.facebook.com/sangerersomfolk
Greybeard - What do you mean about 261.1Hz and 256Hz being the same pitch? :? Both notes (piano middle C and guitar str2 fret1) should both be 261.1Hz, no?
Sorry, my mistake, I typed the wrong frequency in, copied it and forgot to correct one of them. The value for Middle C is 261.1 Hz.
Sorry, beg pardon.
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
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So the 3rd fret on the A string it is!
As long as I have a place to start I should be able to figure it out...
S.
So the 3rd fret on the A string it is!
Maybe :)
It depends on what instrument the music is written for.
As others have said, if you're looking at guitar music, the first ledger line under the staff is the A string, 3rd fret (or the low E, 8th fret). But if you're looking at music written for piano, or vocals, or flute, or anything else that's written in concert pitch, you might want to transpose UP one octave, and play the "real" middle C - the 1st fret of the B string (or the 5th fret of the G string, etc)
I'll often take vocal scores and work out melody chord arrangements. When you do that, you want the vocal's note to be the highest one in the chord... if you play it like it was written for guitar, your chord options are really limited.
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
I gotcha
Im looking at reading music for guitar.
I do have some simple piano arrangements that I am going to try to work out on the guitar just to start to get a feel for it, but mainly im looking at just playing guitar music
S.
Completely aside from the question, I just verified the answers given for myself on my son's electronic keyboard (and of course Noteboat, Greybeard et a were correct). Middle C = B string first fret.
Then I changed the keyboard to make a guitar noise, and it seems to auto-magically have transposed itself, so that the middle C key plays the C one octave down (A string, 3rd fret.) The little LCD screen showed the same note on it's staff display (which makes sense, given that I pressed the same key).
Well, I thought it was cool.
As you were.
I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep
Then I changed the keyboard to make a guitar noise, and it seems to auto-magically have transposed itself,
:D
Another situation where this crops up is writing for midi. I've lost count of how many times I've written something out without taking enough care to select the right instrument voice, and then loaded it into another program and ...aaaaarrrggghhh.... all my nice little dots and squiggles just migrated up or down the page onto a forest of ledger lines.. Fixable, but avoidable if I'd paid more attention in first place.... :oops:
Chris C, another West Aussie. On ya mate.
This middle C issue gets raised a lot. I asked the question some time back on this forum myself. Maybe this could be a topic for a simple lesson to make it a permanent feature.
Keep in mind that the 6 strings on a guitar span farther than one can reach on a piano. I don't have my tab-to-standard program with me, but when you play a standard C-chord on guitar, you start one octave below middle-C, but the highest note is the E above. Ignoring voicings, if someone asked you to play a C-chord on the piano, you would usually play C-E-G starting at middle-C.
So if you're simply converting guitar chord charts to simple piano chords, starting around middle-C is a good idea.
One fun excercise is to play these chords on the piano: G Em C D, 2 beats each, repeat. If you use the inversions carefully, your right hand is always centered over E, and your left hand never moves.
