| Musical Literacy |
| Question: "What exactly do people mean when they say "read music"? Reading music is a general term. But upon closer examination, you may see that it can mean multiple things. For example: 1. To pick up a sheet of music and be able to correctly identify all of the musical symbols (staff, bar lines, clef, key signature, meter, notes, rhythms, dynamic markings, etc.). And that's about it. 2. To be able to pick up that same sheet of music and - with a musical instrument - or your own voice, to slowly plow through each phrase note by note. Although you are now taking it a step further, the speed by which you're reading isn't quite fast enough to bring the music to life. 3. To be able to pick up the guitar (or other instrument of choice), read the notes on the page, and play the passages perfectly in real time, simultaneously adhering to all tempo, accent, and dynamic considerations. You can think of numbers 1-3 as a dynamic continuum. And each of us are somewhere in that continuum. (The only exception is with somebody who is COMPLETELY musically illiterate). But most musicians at least recognize a treble clef..or a meter - even if it was from a music class they had in school years ago. I think that reading music is a multi-step process. The first step is to learn the language of music itself. Learning the names of the notes on the staff; learning how to properly interpret rhythmic notations, etc.. The second part is to learn the guitar's fingerboard. Most guitar players know the first position very well. They can find any note of the chromatic scale with little to no difficulty. As they progress up the fingerboard, that becomes a more daunting task. Ideally, one should be able to know every note on every fret. And then you should be able to take it a step further by playing scales up and down one string. (A terrific exercise for reinforcing fretboard knowledge). This concept is used by such fantastic players as Mike Stern and Mick Goodrick. The third part is to put the two first steps together. Start off by doing simple reading exercises in the first position. Eventually, extend it to the second position. Then go to the third, to the fourth, and so on. For me, the most difficult area of the fretboard to read invovles the 8th or 9th positions. I think it's because we generally like to count up the string to navigate where we are. At that point of the fingerboard, it becomes increasingly more difficult to jump on a note and without being able to count up one or two whole or half steps, instantaneously tell where you are. OR you can count backwards from the 12th fret. (Who likes to count backwards)? <G> That's why it's easier to read in a key with a lot of sharps than with a lot of flats (in my opinion). I also want to note that for me personally, the biggest black hole on the fingerboard in terms of reading involves the D and G string (in the upper positions). Not everybody will be able to read like Tommy Tedesco. But EVERYBODY can improve (except for the blind). The guitar is a very unique instrument in that there can be up to six areas to play the exact same note. On the piano, there is only one place to play any given note. So the duplicity does indeed add to the guitar's complexity. So how does the guitarist know where to play the note, if he/she's faced with multiple choices? Well I think if you use a bit of logic, you'll find a "best fit solution". Take a look at all of the notes in the phrase. What are the extremes of the range? What's the highest note? What's the lowest note? 99% of the time, you'll find a way to be able to play the entire phrase without moving your hand outside of a four fret position. Sometimes you'll have to reach up or down one extra fret. But each position has a built-in two octave (+) range. So unless the phrase goes beyond a two octave range, you're good to go. Question: "Why should I learn how to read music, when I can just look at the TAB"? TAB's advantage is that it's a geographical map to the notes on the guitar's fingerboard. But it's limited in that you cannot interpret rhythmic values. In my opinion, that's a pretty significant disadvantage. I think that most musicians who don't read are in that position because somewhere along the line they felt that the priority to learn to read just wasn't there. OR it was there, but it was so far down the hierarchy of priorities, that there simply wasn't enough time in the day to work on it. Being musically literate can only help. It does not in any way hinder your creativity. Being able to read music has a lot of advantages. I'll open doors for you. And you'll be a more well rounded musician - who can bring that much more to the table. |