You Should Probably Learn To Read Music Guitar Man

Some good sight reading materials...

A Modern Method for Guitar Vol. 1 - http://amzn.to/2rCneTL
A Modern Method for Guitar Vol. 2 - http://amzn.to/2sKqfkF
A Modern Method for Guitar Vol. 3 - http://amzn.to/2sKAeWT
A Modern Method for Guitar Vol. 1, 2, & 3 - http://amzn.to/2rrChLI
Melodic Rhythms for Guitar - http://amzn.to/2teQmgH
Reading Studies for Guitar - http://amzn.to/2teBi2O
Advanced Reading Studies for Guitar - http://amzn.to/2scWLuA
Advanced Jazz Conception for Saxophone: 20 Jazz Etudes - http://amzn.to/2sBPt41
Tommy Tedesco - For Guitar Players Only - http://amzn.to/2sBSlh9

ALSO be on the hunt for 25 cent Flute, Trumpet, Sax etc. studies at thrift stores.

Chart Reading Tips

Check out this video I did for those of you who struggle with reading charts.

Reading in the Studio

Here's page one of a chart for a film. Now while it says "Gtr Part" it was really intended to be played down an octave and on baritone electric. I used my Danelectro for the job.

A couple issues.

One, I don't read for baritone very often. So I was kind of double transposing twice to play this chart. Down an octave and then up a fourth. Not really up a fourth, but for example that first note, D, is really the D an octave below that and on the baritone it is played on the 3rd fret of the sixth string. So kind of like a G note on a normal guitar.

There was a lot of baritone on this score so I was quickly able to get my head into the bari-game. Generally I think of that first note not as G but as D right where it is. Just as it is. And then I just read the intervals instead of the notes. So D, then two more D's, up a minor 3rd, up a whole step. Hit that again. This trick will get me through many tricky transposition situations.

The second issue was with the length of the neck. My left arm was getting tired. I don't know how bass players do it. I have no tip for this except play more baritone.

Here's a video on the subject...

Cool Site - Flatpick Apprentice

This guy is "sharing my efforts to attain flatpick guitar competency" on this cool site with pdf's and rhythm mp3's at different tempos.

Flatpickapprentice

Print the pdf's if for no other reason than for sight-reading practice (and pick up some bluegrass licks along the way.)

Reading in the Studio

Often on sessions being the best sight reader isn't really critical. There are times when the cue (piece of music) is so short you have plenty of time to learn it and master it all before they've finished getting drum sounds. However, you should never count on all a show's cues to be as short as the ones below. These are what's called bumpers. The music you hear coming in and out of commercials. I've seen bumpers of just one note before. 

The two bumpers below were from a recording session for a show called "American Detective" and were two of a dozen or so. Probably the shortest two. So while I might have had time to look over and rehearse these charts five or six times silently before tape was rolling there were others where sight reading chops played a far greater roll.

Now on this show every episode took place in a different city, so the composer themed each episode a little different. And yet it was themed. Meaning that similar melodic and rhythimic devices were utilized throughout the episodes. The best part was that I was on every week as second guitarist and the first guitarist was a revolving chair. A different guy every week. Michael Thompson, Dean Parks, Grant Geissmann, John Goux. I was getting paid to go to school!

I was reminded of this this past month when I did two gig where I was in the less-pressured, second guitar chair admiring the playing and gear of the players to my right.

Reading for the Studio

Through the years I've learned a lot of skills out shear necessity. One of these skills was learning to read a piano roll of midi. There is more information on the piano roll than there would be in just a chart of music notation. 

For example when you print a chart from a midi file the timing nuances quantize to the nearest eighth, sixteenth of thirty-second note, removing the anticipation or lag that the composer played into the midi file you are replacing. 

Also notated thoroughly in a piano roll as opposed to standard notation are the dynamics. In the case of the Logic piano roll the colors are your clue here. The spectrum from purple to blue to green to yellow to orange to red is similar to ppp, p, mp, mf, f, fff. You can pretty clearly see the dynamics just a glance. It's actually easier for me to read these dynamic markings than some random p's and f's below the notes I'm trying to read.

Since the advent of samples a composer has a growing number of options for articulations. Notice the chart below. In bar 10 through 13 there are octave D's. But that's not what the composer wanted. This is the chart created from the midi file. Each note is a different sample of an acoustic guitar. In the case of bars 10-13 the low D is a down strummed open D chord and the high D is an up strummed open D chord. Knowing that now look at those four bars. See, a very simple basic folk strumming groove. 

Ah, but I know what you are thinking, "why are the B notes up an octave in bar 14?". Good question. The octave, in this guitar sample, determines the tonality. If the B's were in the same octaves as the D's then they would be major chords, but what is needed here is a B minor chord strummed. Therefor the octave change. The higher octaves are minor chords. Cool huh? The chords in this cue are D, Bm, G, Em and A. All common chords in the key of D

Reading in the Studio

Below is a fairly simple melody. The tempo was 85 bpm. I was asked to play it on acoustic guitar and lap steel, but with not too much sliding. There was no other music just click. The other elements would be dropped in and around it later. So the challenge is to make it musical or "play it with feeling", while playing alone.

When writing for guitar one should transpose up an octave to get the desired pitch. In other words if you want the guitarist to play middle C write the C on the second space from the top as in the first note of the second line in the chart below. But often composers forget to do that so I ask. In this case the writer indeed did want it up an octave.

Also the first note in fourth bar, second line, is a D. I kept thinking Db because normally one would write C# for the note before it.

It was simple but concentration was a must as it was easy to drop into some presupposed timing. Don't predict, just read. Again it was helpful to memorize the melody for the slide part so I could look at my slide for pitches. Enjoy!

Reading in the Studio

By themselves some charts can look very simple. Until one gets to the job of making it music.

The chart below was for a cartoon, a genre whose cues sometimes make no sense until you see it with picture. Within this cue we "quote" the Beach Boys, Shaft, Eddie Cochran, Motown, Let's Go To The Hop and then into a cool beatnik jazz thing. Easy right? Pulling off a "simple" 45 second overview of the music of the fifties and sixties isn't so elementary.

Sonically the individual sections are quite simple - first, pull out the strat, clean bright electric tone for the first three (not four) bars, kick on the wah for two and a half bars of late 60's funk, back to a clean sound for two and a half bars of syncopated bar chords, to the neck pickup for "Stop in the Name of Love", then back to the bridge pickup for a pick up into the fifties "Hop" classic and lastly change to the neck again and roll off a little tone for some cool coffee shop jazz.

All this to click and with feeling.

Note the key and tempo change at bar 16. As well as the clef change in the middle of bar 11.

The other musicians on the session were more than qualified and the drummer in particular was the one who really made the transitions work.

I think I would've made Tommy Tedesco proud on this one.

Tommy Tedesco - Confessions of a Guitar Player

Tommy Tedesco - For Guitar Players Only

Bass Book

We homeschool and this year I'm teaching my son Jack how read bass. My friend and great bass player Ron Suffredini recommended this book....

The Evolving Bassist by Rufus Reid

I'll let you know how it goes as we get through the year.

Reading in the Studio

Just last week I got called for a quick session for a short film (10 minutes). Quick is my specialty. Between lower budgets and greater numbers of wannabe directors makes for many opportunities for the musician who can get things done in a timely manner.

Below is the lone chart for the session. A very simple melody in 3/4. But here's the rub: there was no click, it was suppose to be played free but in a call and response to a sparse vocal. So 120bpm was just a rough guide tempo. The composer wanted this melody on slide. And wanted options to pepper throughout the movie. First on acoustic with a slide, then on dobro with a slide and lastly on mandolin with a slide (that was my idea).

The first thing I did was memorize the melody. It's kind of difficult to play slide while staring at a chart. I like to lock in my pitches visually, as well as with the aid of a clip on tuner  - Intellitouch Tuner

The acoustic was in standard tuning, EADGBE. The dobro however was in open G, DGDGBD. And the Mandolin was in standard tuning, standard for a mandolin, GDAE. So the melody laid differently on each instrument. The composer wanted everything with lots of feeling and slide noise. Then we did passes on each instrument of just making random noises. All done in less than an hour so we had time to go to In-N-Out for lunch!

So get out your slide and read though this one!

Excellent Sight Reading Book

Robert Ottman's Music for Sight Singing is the standard college text for music theory courses where sight singing is emphasized. A very good progressive study for those wanting to learn how to sight sing. It starts simple but progresses quickly. It's also a great resource for those who want to practice their sight reading. It's designed to mess you up. The melodies sound familiar at times but stray of in unexpected directions which helps to keep you from cheating and guessing where the melody is headed. It also works your bass clef reading, which I highly recommend. As well as all the meters, from 3/2 to 3/16 and then some.

I haven't been able to find it new at a reasonable price. Used is fine. Link through Amazon links below to find one at a price you like. I've had a couple of them. The last one I found at a thrift store for a quarter.

Music for Sight Singing First Edition
Music for Sight Singing [MUSIC FOR SIGHT SINGING 7/E]
Music For Sight Singing Fifth Edition CD
Music For Sight Singing Fifth Edition CD
Music for sight singing sixth edition

Books to Help Sight Reading

Here are some books that can help you work on your sight-reading chops...


A Modern Method for Guitar - Volumes 1, 2, 3 Complete - This is good one for beginners at reading.  But it progresses pretty quick - stacked triads on page five!


Advanced Reading Studies for Guitar: Guitar Technique (Advanced Reading: Guitar) - more of the same


Melodic Rhythms for Guitar - This is a great book as it teaches you new rhythmic figures on one pitch and then uses them in realistic melodies.


Contemporary Jazz/Rock Rhythms for Treble Clef Instruments - Heres another good one.


For Guitar Players Only - By Tommy Tedesco the most recorded guitarist in history.  I had this book.  The exercises are a little random, which can make for good sight reading in it's unpredictability.  Worth it for the stories.  All true.  And for the real session charts from the 70's and 80's in the back.


Also check out trumpet and clarinet study books.  Flute is good for reading ledger lines. You might be able to find them at used book stores or thrift stores. I've never payed more than a dollar for one.


Practice your reading with another guitarist.  Maybe someone better than you. Like playing tennis with a better player it forces you to rise to the occasion.


Here's the thing, if you are not likely to use it you are not likely to retain it. See if you can fine some reading bands, often swing bands or big bands that don't perform so much as practice. The Wire Choir here in LA is an example of one such opportunity. Also start writing music out. Write practice pieces for yourself that emphasize your weaknesses.

I worked it when I was in HS and college because I wanted to move to LA to be a session guitarist. Which I now am. Still surprised how rarely I need it. Read more cocktail napkins than bona-fide charts.