Advice For Learning Sheet Music & Theory

[davis60733]

Hi Everyone,

Brand new to the forum and I'm impressed with how supportive everyone is here...

Right now I know nothing... but with time, I'll know something... What websites would folks suggest for me to learn sheet music reading and theory? I've looked at several sites already, but I'm so new I don't even know what to look for... I bought Mark Levine's Jazz Theory Book, but obviously without reading skills I'm not ready for it.

I want to focus on learning sheet music first to build a solid foundation. Why? Years ago, I just played rock music by ear off records (age hint there...). We've all heard that story before.... I have great respect for jazz and want to learn it the right way.

I'm not looking for a quick fix approach and not tabs. I want to learn the real thing - transcription. To be honest, I would prefer to spend a while just working to learn basic sheet music reading and theory, then very, very fundamental technique practice.

Any other advice on metronomes (my timing stinks and my left hand looks like it's taking directions from someone else - that pinky won't stay down on the fret board) or other beginner direction would be appreciated as well. Thanks for your thoughts!

Chris.

[mr. beaumont]

well, first, welcome.

can't read at all? get a beginner book and work through it (it'll teach you a lot, but it'll be boring), and buy a real book as a supplement (great tunes, and some of them quite easy, and you can start applying what you learn in the beginner manual). reading music isn't that hard, but you have to DO IT. if at all possible, i'd get a teacher to kick your butt a little too.

[Gabe2099]

this site is pretty good for starting to read notation and some theory:

Ricci Adams' Musictheory.net

and, of course, this site has a ton of material (i post it 'cause some people come straight to the forum from google and don't see the main site):

Jazz Guitar Online: Free Online Jazz Guitar Lessons, Tabs, Chords, Guitar Chord Charts & Guitar Tuner.

and i attached a pdf file (Joe Satriani guitar secrets) that has some good exercises for the left and right hand, you might find it useful.

welcome to the site and good luck on your journey.

[davis60733]

Thanks Gabe and Mr. Beaumont for your posts. I've checked out the sites you suggested and downloaded the Satriani document!

I've continued to read the previous threads on this site so as not to rehash old material that might bore people.

Prior to buying Mickey Baker's book, I might pick up Mel Bay's Modern Guitar Method. There's another thread in the "Getting Started" forum that suggests Mel's approach might be better to learn reading sheet music first.

I'm an old school kind a guy, and believe you gotta pay your dues (learn to read notation) first thing....

I appreciate your help very much! Chris.

[X-500]

Prior to buying Mickey Baker's book, I might pick up Mel Bay's Modern Guitar Method.

Hello Chris,

That's exactly what I did about a year and a half ago; except I bought Baker's books 30 years ago!
I first bought grade 1 and 2 and finally purchased "Mel Bay's Complete Method for Modern Guitar" for under $20.00. I had it spiral bounded at Kinkos for an extra $7.00 (it was worth it - it can be used on a music stand now). I believe I'm halfway through grade 3 (but who's counting )

However, that being said, this book has been criticised by many for not being "modern." Many students were expecting the latest music from this millenia. I've also read criticisms from instructors that say young students quickly bore from playing music that is not familiar. I take a more eclectic approach and value the timeless pieces that are in this book by Sorr, Carcassi, Mazas ect (albeit rearranged by Mel Bay). Yes, there are what was popular songs from the 1920's and 1930's. It's a good thing jazz afficionados don't get hung up on that !

There isn't much emphasis on theory in the begining and music theory is generally is sprinkled throughout the book in dialouge boxes.

Getting back to jazz, personally, I like Robert Conti's approach to playing (Professional Jazz Guitar Learning Resources). To paraphrase him, he likes to "get the music under your fingers." I interpreted from Conti's opinion that some students emphasize too much on theory and loose sight on playing. I think that Mel Bay's method parallels that approach - at times with many scale studies.

Good luck, have fun and play!

Now if I can only setlle on what BPM to play allegretto ...

[derek]

Reading has been one of the weaker points of my playing, so after looking around a bit, I bought David Oakes book. Found here:

Amazon.com: Music Reading for Guitar (The Complete Method): David Oakes: Books

A couple of reasons why I went this way. First, unlike most methods, he starts you off reading at the 5th fret rather than at the 1st fret, which I don't find very useful. 2nd, he really emphasizes reading the rhythm, which is treated more lightly in most books other than Leavitt's.

I am trying to put in 15 minutes every day on this most boring of pursuits, but I have begun to see improvement. Good luck

[m78w]

Check out the William Leavitt books on reading notation, they're cheap and are a great gateway into learning how to read notes on the page. One of the best ways to improve your reading is to just do it everyday, even for a few minutes. It's like learning a new language, if you want to read French, well the best thing to do is buy a French book and read, same thing with notation.

I learned to read from a very young age, luckily, but when I got serious into jazz a great teacher of mine had me reading solos, Charlie Parker, Wes, Miles etc, at very slow tempos. The goal was to work on reading, but also digest jazz vocabulary at the same time. Though I like a lot of "reading" books, this was really fun to do as I was being exposed to a lot of great musical ideas while working on my reading chops at the same time.

MW

[wordsmith]

.....which I haven't seen mentioned anywhere, is to......write your own tunes, like Beethoven! Perhaps not on such a grand scale - just buy or make your own blank staves, draw the clef and write the time signature at the beginning, and get going. Just say the name of the note out loud as you put it in. And keep count of the totals - remember to use rests - so you can put the bar lines in the right place.

(I started doing this on Guitar Pro 4, when the demo was fully-functional but with a limit of a 24-bar 'save' function. By learning about repeat signs and alternate-ending markings, I quickly got that up to forty something).

Then you can play what you've written, but this time sing the note letter as you play it.

Simple, but that's how a career in rocket science begins - at kindergarten!

[davis60733]

Hello Chris,

However, that being said, this book has been criticised by many for not being "modern." Many students were expecting the latest music from this millenia. I've also read criticisms from instructors that say young students quickly bore from playing music that is not familiar. I take a more eclectic approach an value the timeless pieces that are in this book (albeit rearranged by Mel Bay) by Sorr, Carcassi, Mazas ect. Yes, there are what was popular songs from the 1920's and 1930's. It's a good thing jazz afficionados don't get hung up on that !

Hi Alex,

I agree with you that many younger students lack reverence for days gone by without understanding that today's music originated with the greats of yesteryear. How many know, for example, that Kieth Richards and Eric Clapton began by studying Robert Johnson???

There's a good reason why "How High The Moon" or "Moonlight In Vermont" are still around. I'm not sure that can be said for much of today's popular music. Not that it's not of some value. I just don't think it will enjoy the longevity of music we regard today as "the standards."

And on your point about variety: The more points of view to experiment with, the better !

Chris

[manu68]

I am also in the same situation as a lot of people here.
I play guitar for a long time, had lessons as child, and I can read music, but not as fluent as necessary because of lack of practise.
Because of that, I was always able to play some complicated pieces of music after some work on them, but more with memory as real reading skills.
I just can read and play all together. This is a bad thing.
Results ? For some reasons I was not able to play guitar continuously. Every time I wanted to come back to play, I had forgotten every thing and could not play songs anymore !!!! Very frustrating.

I won't do this mistake anymore. I am decided to play and learn in a more systematical way, following a method. I have made this choice instead of taking lessons because I think that I already have enough musical knowledges and technics to take benefits for such great books. There are so many great Guitar method available. This forum is precious to detect the best of them.

To have some fun, and also to see the things with different approach, I have decided to buy some books , and to work with them in a systematical way.

Mickey baker : complete course in jazz guitar
Roger edison : Rythm guitar, a systematic approach to chord progressions
Charlton johnson : Swing and big band guitar
(The mel bay method seems also to be very interesting, so as this david oaks "reading for the guitar" Method).

Parallel to that, I will apply what I am learning by playing some easy standard and practising reading music.
I will start with improvisation when I will be able to understand, read and play chords progressions in fake books without any problem.
It is the basic thing in Jazz guitar from my opinion.

[Champy]

.....which I haven't seen mentioned anywhere, is to......write your own tunes, like Beethoven! Perhaps not on such a grand scale - just buy or make your own blank staves, draw the clef and write the time signature at the beginning, and get going. Just say the name of the note out loud as you put it in. And keep count of the totals - remember to use rests - so you can put the bar lines in the right place.

(I started doing this on Guitar Pro 4, when the demo was fully-functional but with a limit of a 24-bar 'save' function. By learning about repeat signs and alternate-ending markings, I quickly got that up to forty something).

Then you can play what you've written, but this time sing the note letter as you play it.

Simple, but that's how a career in rocket science begins - at kindergarten!

cool advice! makes me think I should do this more.

[cosmic gumbo]

Find a method that puts emphasis on the rhythmic aspect of reading. Everyone learns to read the pitches easily enough, but the rhythmic aspect of reading is the long term challenge, especially if you are teaching youself.

[Bebop Fusion]

Reading has been one of the weaker points of my playing, so after looking around a bit, I bought David Oakes book. Found here:

Amazon.com: Music Reading for Guitar (The Complete Method): David Oakes: Books

A couple of reasons why I went this way. First, unlike most methods, he starts you off reading at the 5th fret rather than at the 1st fret, which I don't find very useful. 2nd, he really emphasizes reading the rhythm, which is treated more lightly in most books other than Leavitt's.

I am trying to put in 15 minutes every day on this most boring of pursuits, but I have begun to see improvement. Good luck

Derek, thanks for that info I just ordered the book above from Amazon.

[Ron Stern]

Find a method that puts emphasis on the rhythmic aspect of reading. Everyone learns to read the pitches easily enough, but the rhythmic aspect of reading is the long term challenge, especially if you are teaching youself.

I agree but would emphasize: reading rhythm is difficult and quickly becomes a problem when trying to learn from written music, which is the point of learning to read music, right? And -- and this is important -- tablature indicates little or nothing in the way of rhythm. You don't "learn a song" from tab, you already know the song, tab just shows the notes.

[Scrybe]

+1 on getting lessons, especially for Reading weird rhythms. I'm fortunate enough to know a few very good percussionosts and drummers who can help me out with specific problems here, but having a teacher will help speed up the learning process and avoid bad habits. The only other thing to do is to practice daily, even if it's just for 5-10 minutes. The ability to read well is definitely a skill that takes daily practice to do well (at least until you reach a good standard).

Funny some people have problems with rhythms though - it's the chords that throw me. Anything more than two notes at once and I clam up! Unless it's a vanilla F major...

[noelma1117]

In regards to Sight Reading ...

My jazz band instructor provides charts for all instruments and no tabs for guitar. He insists that if the melody shows up on my chart, I've got to play it and not try to get away with just playing chords.

To help on my reading, I've been using a shorthand I picked up from one of Arnie Berle's books. At the bottom of the staff, for a given note, I notate the string. At the top, for the same note, I notate the fret. If successive notes remain on a string, I do not notate that. Only when the string changes do I notate another string position.

I struggle(maybe less now than before) when the charts are first handed out. And, I envy the wind players who can pretty much sight read fairly well right off the bat. I work on my shorthand away from class so that next time in session I can nail the melody like the other guys. It's not as difficult to do this now as when I first started, but I do have to make time to do it.

I will also try this for transposing up an octave, Since most standard melody stuff is written an octave lower than it is actually played on guitar.

Eventually, I want to be abe to do this on the spot without resorting to the shorthand. I also envy the Bb & Eb wind players who can transpose across keys at a moments notice!

[nic]

Find a method that puts emphasis on the rhythmic aspect of reading. Everyone learns to read the pitches easily enough, but the rhythmic aspect of reading is the long term challenge, especially if you are teaching youself.

My guitar teacher taught me a neat trick for playing the rhythm correctly. Always pick down on the beat and pick up for everything else. It helps you keep the time organized.

[noelma1117]

The best explanation I got regarding rhythmic feel and timing was from the Emily Remler Hot Licks videos covering Swing/Bebop and Latin/Bossa styles.
Her demostration with the metronome on accenting beats 2 & 4 for Swing & Bebop while accenting beats 1 & 3 for Latin & Bossa were very clear and informative.

Sight reading the rhythm components in melody leadsheets can be tricky however.

Best thing I know to do here is, after obtaining a Lead Sheet(Real Book or wherever), to find the recorded tune you're looking for on ITunes or eMusic by an artist whose interpretation you really like. Download it and using a metronome and your ear, learn that artist's interpretation of the melody note for note, phrase by phrase. Pay attention to the feel. Slow the metronome down at first. Gradually speed it up as you learn the tune and maintain the relative time values for the notes.

I don't think it's so much a matter of counting out and playing exact 8ths, quarter notes, & triplets as it is working them into the pulse of the rhythm with the swing or latin feel. In Jazz, often its a matter of laying back off the beat and other times its pushing the beat.