• Registered: 2007-04-15
  • Posts: 10

Topic: Sight-Read'g; Toddlers' Steps; Tutorial Self-Help Sources ?

<font color="darkred"></font><i></i> ... OKAY, THIS IS MY 2nd POST, & I HOPE I CAN WORD THIS Q PROPERLY. ... I AM 55 YRS.O. & HAVEN'T PLAYED G. FOR OVER 20 YRS.; NOW OWN MY 1st ELECTRIC. ... @ CURRENT TIME, AM WORKING W/ MASON WM.'s "CLASSICAL GAS". I AM ENDEVORING TO FINGER THE STRINGS AND SIGHT-READ THE PIANO-MUSIC STYLE NOTES' WRITTEN. TO FACILITATE, I HAVE : MADE 1/8th" MEMO's BESIDE THE NOTES ON THE STAVES, INDICATING : STRING NUMBER / NOTE NAME / FRET. I AM HOPING SIGHT-READING WILL IMPRINT ULTIMATELY. I DO KNOW I HAVE A CERTAIN DIFFICULTY : BY THE TIME I 'LEARN' A SCORE, I HAVE MEMORIZED IT, AND SO, HAVEN'T GAINED FACILITY W/ SIGHT-READING. Q : HOW CAN ONE GAIN FACILITY @ SIGHT-READING ANY PIECE FRESHLY ATTEMPTING ? OR : DO ALL FRESH SCORES REQUIRE PRACTICE, & THE CONCOMMITANT MEMORIZATION CAUSES MOST OTHER FOLKS TO NEVER LEARN TO SIGHT-READ QUICKLY ? COMPLICATED Q ; SORRY.  ...  Q : TO CONTINUE A SECOND THEME IN THIS POST.  ...  I ACQUIRED THIS ELECTRIC G. ONLY DAYS AGO. @ MOMENT , HAVEN'T YET BEEN ABLE TO INVEST IN LESSONS ; AM TEACHING MY SELF. I REMEMBER A FEW CHORDS ; DID A BARRE SUCCESSFULLY EARLIER THIS P.M. ; HAVE A FEW STYLES OF STRUMMING RHYTHMS REMEMBERED. Q : WHAT DID YOU (READER) DO, WHEN YOU 1st BEGAN TO STUDY G. ? (PLS. LOOK BACK AT YOUR BEGINNER'S BOOKS, & TELL ME.) LIKE I SAID : I'M AN OLD DOG, CHASING A NEWLY DISCOVERED TAIL ! (HIS OWN ! DOG BEING A DACHSHUND WRAPPED AROUND A TELEPHONE POLE !) WHAT A TRICK ! JOKE'S ON ME ... SMART, BUT DON'T KNOW WHAT MATERIAL TO BEGIN W/.  ...  I LOVE BLUEGRASS, CLASSICAL, CHURCH XMAS & EASTER MUSIC, COUNTRY, EVEN SOME ELVIS. I SO WANT TO BE ABLE TO DO ALL THIS ... ALREADY !  ...  Q : WHAT'S BEST SOURCES 'OUT THERE', FOR TUTORIAL SELF-HELP? I FINALLY FOUND PRINTABLE CHORDS @ ANOTHER SITE : THE A's -> G's ; MAJORS, MINORS, MAJORS BARRED & MINORS BARRED. (FOUND THE CHORDS AT : << www.WoodenPicks.com >>.  AND I'VE PRINTED 100+ PG's OF FREE E- BOOKS. SO I'VE GOT THEORY NOW, FOR STUDY PURPOSE. WHAT IS MY BEST TRAIL FOR TODDLER'S STEPS BEGINNING ?

  • From: Bellevue, WA
  • Registered: 2006-06-15
  • Posts: 3,336

Re: Sight-Read'g; Toddlers' Steps; Tutorial Self-Help Sources ?

First step is to turn off the caps lock on your keyboard.   TEXT LIKE THIS IS REALLY REALLY HARD TO READ!!!


Capitalization and punctuation will go far in furthering any communications problems you might have.


Having said that...


Sight reading music is hard.  Even people who are trained in music have to practice a lot to be able to do it.  The ability to sit down and play a piece perfectly with no prior rehersal is someting that only top level musicians can do, and even then, even top level musicians practice and reherse every day.   Sight reading is actually a competetive musicians "sport," as it were.   So don't expect to be able to sit down and read perfectly, as there are few people that can actually do it.


But that doesn't mean you shouldn't learn to read standard notation.   You should before all else be able to identify key and time signatures, and understand rhythm and tempo.    Learning "this note means fret here" is a good way to start as it will help familiarize you with the finger board and the notation stave.   But it won't give you understanding.   For that, you need to study music theory a bit.   You should know what a major scale *is* and how it is derived.   You should know and understand how other scales, chords, and modes are derived from the major scales.   You should be able to understand why certain chord progressions progress the way that they do.


Music is a highly formalized framework in which artistry can grow.   Understanding it is only benneficial to you as a musician.


But first things first.  Turn off the caps lock.  <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_biggrin.gif" border=0 alt="Very Happy">

Someday we'll win this thing...

[url=http://www.aclosesecond.com]www.aclosesecond.com[/url]

jerome.oneil's Website

  • From: Nottingham, UK
  • Registered: 2006-08-08
  • Posts: 690

Re: Sight-Read'g; Toddlers' Steps; Tutorial Self-Help Sources ?

First thing for country is to make sure your amp has a clean setting (no gain or overdrive) and turn the tone controls full-on on both guitar and amp. This should give a 'fat' tone that is very 50s, very Scotty Moore and Johnny Cash.


Have you got the basic open chords down so far? The ones to bother with are E A D (hey, you can now attempt Johnny B Goode) and G F C ('Singing The Blues' comes to mind). Leave B till you really need it for a song.


Don't bother with barre chords this early on, for that matter leave scales and solos alone too. If you love country then you need the basic Travis pick often known as Clawhammer. Once you've gotten this nearly all modern country songs will open up to you. Don't try the more advanced picks, picking books have to cover these to be complete but there's only one you really need. 'Success' is a good slow song to practise these on (you just don't want to hear me sing it!).

'The sound of the city seems to disappear'