Can you read standard music notation?

[guitarrob]

I was curious as to how many people in the forum could actually read standard musical notation. I find many young player(meaning new to the guitar) seem to be content with tab and never go the extra step.

I know is some styles, if you don't read standard notation you are not even taken seriously and in other styles, nobody cares.

Personally, I have started learning the basics of sight reading thanx to the advice of another member so I was curious about this question.

Opinions?

Thoughts?

Insights?

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: Can you read standard music notation?

I can read basic stuff but beyond that I just don't use it enough and forget most of the stuff I don't ever use. That said, I don't use tab very often either. Lots of ear these days.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Can you read standard music notation?

I can read, but I cannot sight read...meaning that if you give me a piece of sheet music, I can learn it, but I can't just sit down and play it. And I am 50x better with bass clef than with treble clef. That's because I learned to read playing trombone/baritone horn, tuba, and bass. I could read pretty well for classical guitar for a while, but I am horribly out of practice now.

I can barely read straight-out tablature at all. It has to be the tab running underneath the sheet music as a simple reference for me to make any sense of it. I prefer standard notation with position notes on it.

 

[zenmindbeginner]

Re: Can you read standard music notation?

I am self taught and never received an ounce of proper musical training. I did manage to learn the notes on the staff and know what quarter and eighth notes are etc. I know major and minor but that's really it. I think I only know the pentatonic scale and that's it.

I usually just map out what notes are out of key sonically and just don't play those. lol.

I've tried to learn music theory but I couldn't make any progress... I have no idea what a I chord or a IV chord is... I couldn't tell the difference between a natural minor vs harmonic minor if I had a gun to my head.

Always wanted to learn theory 'cause my illiteracy is holding me back big time.

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Can you read standard music notation?

Learned both to read and construct...
Never used it much and have forgotten it all about now...haha
1987 is a long time ago now

 

[guitarrob]

Re: Can you read standard music notation?

I am self taught and never received an ounce of proper musical training. I did manage to learn the notes on the staff and know what quarter and eighth notes are etc. I know major and minor but that's really it. I think I only know the pentatonic scale and that's it.

I usually just map out what notes are out of key sonically and just don't play those. lol.

I've tried to learn music theory but I couldn't make any progress... I have no idea what a I chord or a IV chord is... I couldn't tell the difference between a natural minor vs harmonic minor if I had a gun to my head.

Always wanted to learn theory 'cause my illiteracy is holding me back big time.

I was in the same boat as you when I was younger. I quite playing for a some years (Don't ask) when I decided to start back up (not too long ago) I wanted to learn whatever theory I could. Which I what I am doing now, figuring out what I can and asking for help when needed.

I can give you some basic pointers if you like, what a I or IV chord is...difference between natural and harmonic minor..etc. There is lots of great information on the net also but you need to know what questions to ask. Not to mention boat loads of accomplished musicians around here with theory skills far beyond my current level...

let me know if I can help.

 

[Bludave]

Re: Can you read standard music notation?

I can read basic stuff & Chord charts, but if someone through sheet music in front of me & expected me to play it..... Fawgetaboutit!


I studied Jazz guitar from a Piano teacher. He was a really good musician and I found the time I studied with him very helpful. It was he who really made me understand theory & notation & how it related to the fingerboard. Later in life I studied with a blues player & a slide player. I got all kinds of stuff from all of my teachers, but I have to say my first teacher who was really a good friend really taught me how to play. He was just a kid a year or two younger then me( I was 13) and he was just a natural. He is the reason why I play today.... I wish I had the funds back then to study formally. I didn't so my ability to read is limited.

 

[lpmarshall]

How do you make a guitarist stop playing?

Put sheet music in front of him.

I can't read music to save my life.

 

[DankStar]

Re: Can you read standard music notation?

no - but it seems like it would be the best way to document a song you've written in a format that has all the information needed to recall what you played exactly how it should be.

I've tabbed out stuff but not really remembered the appropriate pauses and nuances. I've recorded stuff (just audio) and not known what I played or what position on the neck I was at. A video is ok, but even that doesn't have all the info, like the tempo and time signatures.

 

[guitarrob]

Re: Can you read standard music notation?

Yes, tab only shows limited information. Standard notations shows you everything related to the music.
I have started learning to read standard notation but I think I will have to keep brushed up on it or else you wold forget about it, if it is not used.

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Can you read standard music notation?

Read and sight read, bass and treble clef.

I dont use it a lot but it's a nice tool to have. Not so much with popular music but with classical and jazz it comes in handy.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Can you read standard music notation?

No.

I learnt some of it (could read & play stuff like Twinkle, twinkle little star ) when I was 8-9 & took violin classes briefly, but it was all forgotten pretty quick.

I have a basic working knowledge of theory that I've picked up myself over the years, but that's it.

There's times I wish I knew more ...but the truth is, even the stuff I know, I've hardly ever put into practical use. I just go by ear.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Can you read standard music notation?

yep. read and write music all the time. Its a useful skill i reckon. Ears are good too. The more skills you have at your disposal, the better off you are as a musician.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: Can you read standard music notation?

I can read music. I cannot play something off the first sight read though.

Someday!

 

[zenmindbeginner]

Re: Can you read standard music notation?

I was in the same boat as you when I was younger. I quite playing for a some years (Don't ask) when I decided to start back up (not too long ago) I wanted to learn whatever theory I could. Which I what I am doing now, figuring out what I can and asking for help when needed.

I can give you some basic pointers if you like, what a I or IV chord is...difference between natural and harmonic minor..etc. There is lots of great information on the net also but you need to know what questions to ask. Not to mention boat loads of accomplished musicians around here with theory skills far beyond my current level...

let me know if I can help.

Wow, that is plenty cool of you and I will try not to bother you much with my seemingly endless lack of knowledge! Thanks GuitarRob!!!!

 

[Chris of Arabia]

Re: Can you read standard music notation?

Not at any level that makes any practical sense - I'm barely past finding middle C. I can do tab OK though.

 

[guitarrob]

Re: Can you read standard music notation?

Wow, that is plenty cool of you and I will try not to bother you much with my seemingly endless lack of knowledge! Thanks GuitarRob!!!!

I can only offer my understaning thus far as other people sourn here have been offering me insights and information also so I figured the right thing to do is makes sure it goes around to another that would like to know.

 

[zenmindbeginner]

Re: Can you read standard music notation?

I can only offer my understaning thus far as other people sourn here have been offering me insights and information also so I figured the right thing to do is makes sure it goes around to another that would like to know.

Incredible insight and knowledge you have imparted.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Can you read standard music notation?

I used to be pretty good at playing right off a sheet (classical guitar).

Oh what would I give to trade for better ability to play by ear

Useless skills are so much easier to learn.

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Can you read standard music notation?

I can read standard, but not by sight. I have to see where it's going first so I know which Pentatonic box it relates to :lol:
From there, I can extrapolate.

It helps a lot if I have heard the song before, though. I first took a Jazz III (guitarist in the school Jazz band) class in high school back in '85, having had no other music lessons, just what I'd learned by ear. They taught me how to read notation, what a whole/half/quarter/etc note looked like, then stuck a sheet in front of me - Sade's Smooth Operator. I'd heard the song briefly (wasn't my bag), but never tried to play it.
So I asked if they had the album, and they played it once as I read along. About 1/4 of the way through, I had it and was playing along with the record.
The other guys who had been playing horns and such for years were still trying to get the groove of the song, though they could sight-read. So while they taught me more about the technical aspects, I was able to teach them more about the feel, and memorizing a song.
Having grown up on sheet music, they couldn't play a song without reading along, whereas I could play about 20 songs at that time from memory, though they were mostly repetitive rock.

But, when they gave me the music for "The Heat Is On", I didn't need it, which amazed them, particularly the solo. What amazed me was they couldn't remember a song they'd heard since they started playing.