Sight Reading non-Standard Notation
Lumpy
well versed in chord terminology? He plays
an E chord on the 8th fret and calls it an E8.
An Am chord on the 4th fret is an Am4. etc.
So a few nights ago I was playing bass for him
and he was reading from his chart. Sure enough,
he had lyrics with "chord symbols" above the
words. The chords were things like E4, A76 etc.
Plus he had a capo on the 2nd fret.
It was his own original song and it didn't exactly
follow anything recognizable like ii V I. So I read
from his "chart" and transposed everything up two
frets. I saw E4 and played Bb, A76 became F7 etc.
Kind of fun. If I didn't let the confusion aspect of
things get in the way, it actually happened pretty well.
I was able to puck-it-uh-pah and A-Train and walk my
doghouse on the appropriate chord arps based on reading
this funky notation system of his for the first time.
Lumpy
In Your Ears for 40 Something Years
www.LumpyMusic.com
oasysco
Yeah but that only worked because you could "hear" it, right? I can
hear it, but I can't "hear" it if you know what I mean, so if someone
has a funky notation and I have nothing else to go by, I may be
screwed, which is why I like to know ahead of time what we'll be
playing. Not the best attitude for true musical interaction, but for
us mechanical types, it's the only thing that works.
Greg
Lumpy
> Yeah but that only worked because you could "hear" it, right? I can
> hear it, but I can't "hear" it if you know what I mean, so if someone
> has a funky notation and I have nothing else to go by, I may be
> screwed, which is why I like to know ahead of time what we'll be
> playing. Not the best attitude for true musical interaction, but for
> us mechanical types, it's the only thing that works.
Well, I could hear it once I played it and said
"yup, that sounds good against what he's playing".
I couldn't "hear" it as in "anticipate what chord
might be next" because it wasn't following any
typical chord change pattern.
Reading (or guessing at) something cold, that you've
never heard before is probably the toughest kind of
playing. So perhaps look at it like -
Do what you do. Try and "know ahead of time" what
you'll be asked to play. But shorten that "time" factor.
Instead of getting the chart or recording days in advance,
work on being able to pick it up by saying to the other
guy "play a bit of the chorus". While he does that, see
if you can absorb how it's supposed to sound. If you have
some success at that then the weak points will simply be
those parts of the song where they change from one bunch
of changes to another, like verse to bridge.
I get very frustrated when others ask me to play along and
then they either don't play in time (rubato) or they play
most of the song in 4/4 time but throw in an occasional
3/4 or 5/4 measure, not because they're being artistic,
but because they have trouble counting. One guy I play with
a lot likes to sing standards. But he does the vocal parts
totally rubato, without rhythm. No way in the world I can
follow along and there's no real need to. So I simply stand
there and look pretty till the solo part comes along and I
say, quietly "Ok, in time one two three four...". We get
done with my solo and he sometimes stays in tempo and
sometimes reverts to rubato.
Super secret professional guitar player inside secret!:
The LESS notes you play, the less chance of playing
a "wrong" note. Sit out the entire first verse while
you listen and try and absorb the changes. Then on the
2nd verse, hopefully same as the first, plug in some stuff
that fits. If you're ever unsure, insert a rest (don't play).
Crowd will think you're magical.
oasysco
The Bible echoes that with something like, when a fool is silent, they
think him wise :)
Sean
> Super secret professional guitar player inside secret!:
> The LESS notes you play, the less chance of playing
> a "wrong" note. Sit out the entire first verse while
> you listen and try and absorb the changes. Then on the
> 2nd verse, hopefully same as the first, plug in some stuff
> that fits. If you're ever unsure, insert a rest (don't play).
> Crowd will think you're magical.
Super secret professional grammarian inside secret!:
The FEWER notes you play... ("less" is for mass nouns like water, salt,
blood, and fun).
Lumpy
> > Super secret professional guitar player inside secret!:
> > The LESS notes you play, the less chance of playing
> > a "wrong" note. Sit out the entire first verse while
> > you listen and try and absorb the changes. Then on the
> > 2nd verse, hopefully same as the first, plug in some stuff
> > that fits. If you're ever unsure, insert a rest (don't play).
> > Crowd will think you're magical.
Sean:
> Super secret professional grammarian inside secret!:
>
> The FEWER notes you play... ("less" is for mass nouns like water,
> salt, blood, and fun).
Ok. Thanks for the fewersson.
Is the 2nd use appropriate? "...the less chance of..."
"Play less." is correct?
"Play less notes." is incorrect?
tafg
fooling around with all this theory nonsense.
Sean
"Less chance" sounds ok to me. I think "chance" can be perceived as
either count or noncount. I think it would sound a bit off to say
"...the fewer chances of..."
Play less, play fewer notes... That's the ticket.
If I ever encounter a grocery store that has the express check out
marked "9 items or fewer" they will have me as a customer for life.
And thanks for not telling me to fuck off. Must be the Christmas spirit, eh?
David Raleigh Arnold
> Remember that guy I said I knew that isn't well versed in chord
> terminology? He plays an E chord on the 8th fret and calls it an E8. An
> Am chord on the 4th fret is an Am4. etc.
I hope you gave him a big blast of **** anyway, on general principles.
For his own good. Regards, daveA
--
For beginners: very easy guitar music, solos, duets, exercises. Early
intermediate guitar solos. One best scale set for all guitarists.
http://www.openguitar.com/scalescomparison.html ::: plus new and
better chord and arpeggio exercises. http://www.openguitar.com
Music theory should be clues you can use,
not blues you can't lose.
tafg
>
> I hope you gave him a big blast of **** anyway, on general principles.
>
> For his own good. Regards, daveA
>
I dunno, Dave. Seems like fun, in fact Lumpy said it was kinda fun.
You ever take one of those language aptitude tests with a made up
language and the rules of grammar keep getting more difficult as you
progress? Those are fun and this seems similar.
It appears to be working for this guy and he seems to be doing well
enough to hire Lumpy as a sideman. Would you really give him a
blast? I'd ask him if he needed me again anytime soon..
Lumpy
It's essentially TAB but using chords instead of
individual notes. It's certainly easier to read
than regular tab. But as I was playing bass, it
took a lot of interpretation from "otherguy notation"
to what I knew as chord tones so that I could arp the lines.
I was essentially playing Left hand "shapes".
Like I knew it was Maj chord and the root was
on the 4th fret so I played an AbM7 arp.
The confusion, if any, was more from his non-standard
changes. It wasn't I IV V or ii V I or anything else
very intuitive. So figuring out approach tones to move
to the next chord was a little weird.
I've seen much weirder notation systems in much
more professional settings.
oasysco
>
> - Show quoted text -
I think the ultimate muso-strategy should be - play no notes; just
tell 'em that you don't hear a guitar part in that song like Howard
Roberts did in the original recording of Fever. An older issue of
Guitar Player had an interview with a recording engineer who said that
he respected guitarists who didn't try to fill up a song with notes.
He said the best guitar players knew when not to play and the very
best would say they didn't hear a guitar part in whatever song they
were recording.
I could make a living at not playing!
Greg
Lumpy
> I think the ultimate muso-strategy should be - play no notes; just
> tell 'em that you don't hear a guitar part in that song like Howard
> Roberts did in the original recording of Fever. An older issue of
> Guitar Player had an interview with a recording engineer who said that
> he respected guitarists who didn't try to fill up a song with notes.
> He said the best guitar players knew when not to play and the very
> best would say they didn't hear a guitar part in whatever song they
> were recording.
>
> I could make a living at not playing!
The last professional recording gig I did,
I played a diminished 7th chord ascending
on the 2nd, 5th, 8th, 11th fret.
One take. Took maybe two seconds of actual playing time.
My total paid time in the studio was 51 hours.
Derek
> The last professional recording gig I did,
> I played a diminished 7th chord ascending
> on the 2nd, 5th, 8th, 11th fret.
>
> One take. Took maybe two seconds of actual playing time.
> My total paid time in the studio was 51 hours.
Nice work if you can get it. :-)
Bryan
"Lumpy" <lu...@digitalcartography.com> wrote in message
news:7pph53...@mid.individual.net...
watchin the grass grow Lump...
jimmy
Hey, Christmas is over buddy so, f*#k right the F@#k off!!!
Sean
Ah, but you're still using those cute little *#@ things, so everything
is still all warm and fuzzy.
Lumpy
> Ah, but you're still using those cute little *#@ things, so everything
> is still all warm and fuzzy.
It's like tab for cuss words.
jimmy
Yeah, non-standard cuss tab.