The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
Reply to Thread Bookmark Thread
Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Posts 26 to 33 of 33
  1. #26

    User Info Menu

    Tommy Tedesco's book; "For Guitar Players Only" has a section on sight reading for the guitar.

  2.  

    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #27

    User Info Menu

    My Dad was a music teacher and I started on another instrument when I was 8. So, yes. That's almost forty years of reading. However if it's a really tough chart I have to shed it, you know, some bop thing with a lot of syncopation.

    Guitarists are usually terrible readers because you don't need to read to get to a certain level on the instrument. Sadly, it sometimes becomes a poser instrument. Present company excluded.

  4. #28

    User Info Menu

    I sight read very well on a few instruments. Probably weakest on piano. I cover lots of vocalist duo gigs and usually don't have any problems transposing while sight reading, melodic or harmonic, some are physically more difficult than others. The difficulties are when I don't have the technique to cover what someone has notated.

    I have medium talent....but put the organized time in with organized fingerings on neck... I don't need to watch my hands and also organized sight reading techniques.... Being able to recognize melodic and rhythmic figures so I'm always ahead enough while sight reding to also be able to also watch dymanics, articulations and general road map.... And what's also very important... I'm listening to the rest of the players...we're playing together, locked in.

    Sight reading is a very mechanical skill, great ears are very helpful.... But you don't need creativity, at least not much, just development of the skill.
    Reg

    I am a pro...I don't have any excuses...

  5. #29

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by ChrisDowning
    Yes - the more you read the more you read ahead like you do when reading text. If you think about it logically, as most people can read text, most people could read music to a very high standard. Unfortunately, unlike orchestral musicians doing something like eight hours of reading a day (two three hour reheasals and performances) in our guitar environment we get rusty, or never reach much of a standard.
    So true. I've always envied the horn players and string players that get to read linearly all day long. Guitar reading is often more interpretive. We'll get two beats of G6, then two of B7, then two of Cmaj7, then Cm6 and we are suppose to make something of it. That where having good ideas is an asset if not a necessity for guitarists.

    To practice my stacked chord reading I use to read out of hymnals. Four fingers, two bass clef, two treble clef. Great for the brain.

    Reading in the studio can take on all forms as I note in this blog post...

    Pro Guitar Secrets: Reading for the Studio

  6. #30

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by Dave70
    Tommy Tedesco's book; "For Guitar Players Only" has a section on sight reading for the guitar.
    This is a great book from one of the greatest studio players ever. Tommy Tedesco could be heard on about half of all the top movies over about 25 years. His list of credits is huge - so he has a lot to say in this book about how to make it as a reader and studio musician. What you need to know and don't. Reading was a must do. But he makes the same point David Oakes states in his book "Music Reading for Guitar" (and David Oakes refers back to Tedesco on the subject) - you don't need to learn to read in all six scale shapes in every position on the neck.

    Tommy Tedesco used to write a monthly article for Guitar Player and would share a sheet or two that he'd worked on in the studio, so it was great to get an understanding of what session work was really like and the music you would be expected to play. A lot of that Guitar Player material is in the book. The book went out of print for a while when the Amazon price went up to about $60 for a secondhand copy - came back in print after a few years absence.
    Last edited by ChrisDowning; 01-09-2013 at 07:25 AM.

  7. #31

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by ChrisDowning
    This is a great book from one of the greatest studio players ever. Tommy Tedesco could be heard on about half of all the top movies over about 25 years. His list of credits is huge - so he has a lot to say in this book about how to make it as a reader and studio musician. What you need to know and don't. Reading was a must do. But he makes the same point David Oakes states in his book "Music Reading for Guitar" (and David Oakes refers back to Tedesco on the subject) - you don't need to learn to read in all six scale shapes in every position on the neck.

    Tommy Tedesco used to write a monthly article for Guitar Player and would share a sheet or two that he'd worked on in the studio, so it was great to get an understanding of what session work was really like and the music you would be expected to play. A lot of that Guitar Player material is in the book. The book went out of print for a while when the Amazon price went up to about $60 for a secondhand copy - came back in print after a few years absence.
    Tommy Tedesco and his GP column are a huge part of the reason why I moved to LA to do studio work. Have you seen The Wrecking Crew movie directed by his son Denny? I've seen it twice and gotten to know Denny. Amazing.

    See some clips here...

    The Wrecking Crew | Movie | Tommy Tedesco, Carol Kaye, Hal Blaine, Don Randi, Glen Campbell, Earl Palmer

  8. #32

    User Info Menu

    Yes, but not sight read. I muddle through Real and Fake books.

  9. #33
    You can quickly get the melody when you read, then you have something to improv with too, as well as play the tune the right way. Not being able to read is like driving a car at night with the headlights off.