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 Reading music / piano scores 
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Post Reading music / piano scores
So I really want to be able to read music and interpret it with the Stick. It would be awesome if I could see e.g. a piano score and play it pretty much instantly.

I'm aware of course that piano scores most times can't translate 1:1 to the Stick, so it would be even more awesome if, while reading the music, I would be able to automatically identify the notes that could be left out to make it playable on the Stick.

Has someone done that and can give me some tips how to start? The thing is, I also can't really read music in general, only tabs. I know the note names and basic theory, but it takes me super long to identify the notes. Also I cannot play the correct rhythm instantly but need to practice it slowly.
The good thing is, I have time to learn all that; if after a year I can play a simple piano score of a song for children, I would be more than pleased.

The issue is I don't really know how to get started.

- How do identify the "anchor note", e.g. the note c on the Stick? Should I try to remember the absolute position on the fret board given my Stick tuning? Or should I try to build an intuition where the note is so I can hit it without looking?

- What about the other notes of the scale? Should I try to remember it relative to the "anchor note" (I guess that increases my working memory load) or should I rather learn all the absolute positions of every note?

- How do I get better? Should I start playing real simple scores (children's songs) and suffer through that, even if it takes months to get one correct? Or should I rather start with simple exercises in reading music? If yes, what kind of exercises?

- Should I start reading music in a theoretical way before applying it to the Stick? For example, being able to read the note names in the correct rhythm?

- How does any instrumentalist get better at reading music anyway?

- Is it even possible to translate scores to the Stick in real time? Or is it too complex, since there are so many degrees of freedom, like finger/hand positions, which string to be played, hands getting in each others way, ...?

- Can someone of you play like that?

Thank you all in advance!

Nico


Fri Apr 14, 2017 1:46 am
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Post Re: Reading music / piano scores
Hi Nico,

I deal with a lot of these kinds of questions at my online Stick school Tap Theory (http://www.patreon.com/jgoldbergmusic). A lot of what you're asking about can be answered through learning your octave shapes, scale shapes and chord shapes. Fretted instruments are really great for learning shapes because the strings function as a series of chunks of the piano overlaid on top of one another. Therefor, it makes a lot of sense to parse the notes up in patterns that move across the strings that also sit within the space of one or two hands. The shapes then all become moveable, since what makes a scale sound the way it does is essentially the relationship of distances from one note to the next. All you would need to do is identify the root note and then apply the scale shape to that root. This is, in my opinion, one of the key steps to getting to where you want to go in terms of reading.

I've only got tabs up on Tap Theory but I'm happy to do sheet music on request. The one difficulty that I've found with sheet music vs tabs for the Stick is that the bass clef is not always appropriate for the bass side of the Stick given the wide interval leaps provided by the 5ths tunings. I've been messing around a bit with this problem though and I find that an 8vb alto clef with C denoted on the 2nd line (where low B would be in the bass clef) works pretty well.

I'm sure Scott Kerr has plenty to offer on this subject matter as well.

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Fri Apr 14, 2017 8:53 am
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Post Re: Reading music / piano scores
Hey man! Reading is cool, I do it on Stick and I do have some thoughts; they are just that, though, my thoughts and opinions. I hope it helps somewhat, I'm sure you already have a kind of plan formulated as to how you want to approach the instrument, I hope my post is somewhat helpful.

Reading bass and treble clef together is in my mind, THE best way to get your hand independence together, especially if you already spend a good amount of time messing with learning tunes by ear, transcribing, jamming with the record/CD, composing and improvising.

My thoughts on reading...

1)Mir 4ths type tuning is most suitable; it can be done with a 5ths tuning in the bass, but it requires a bit more work. I was doing it in MR tuning for a couple of months before I switched back to mirrored 4ths. Works for me. Reading is an insanely efficient way to get familiar with the notes on the neck.

2)I am a big fan of Will Leavitt's Berklee books for guitar 1,2,3. I create my own "studies" loosely based on the progression of those books, and all of the Berklee material. I use Finale 2014 to create my scores/etudes/transcriptions, and it works great. For Stick, Greg Howard's Songbook has all of his tunes arranged as he plays 'em as well as in "Lead Sheet" format. If you want to play dedicated "Stick" tunes, that's a good resource. A very inexpensive notation software that is EXTENSIVELY used on the internet is Guitar Pro by Arobas... Handy to have, as there are a lot of fellas out there transcribing licks and stuff... Plus I think it's only 50 bucks...

3) Pick a position on the bass side and melody side, and do moist of your reading from there to begin with. In a 4ths type tuning, all of the notes are there and in position, also many of your guitar grip voicings are mostly available also. If in 5ths tuning on the bass, expect to be moving your hand a lot more, as the notes in a scale will work out to 4 note per string type moves, whereas 4ths is a much easier 3-note per string set of patterns. I am really, really familiarizing myself with 10th pos on Melody side, and 5th pos Bass side.

4) Keep stuff easy, and short/digestable for when you are getting started. I started with 1-measure phrases and worked my way up to 16 measure phrases over the course of a couple of months. Just because something is simple doesn't mean it isn't any good, or useful. Bach's music is a collection of very simple melodic statements that get inverted, retrograded etc etc.

5) Key-wise, start with easy stuff and progress gradually. I always read from the bottom note to the highest, left to right, because getting your eyes/ears/instincts trained to grab stuff in that way is important. Also, as you get a bit more comfortable with it, you will find that you will read ahead somewhat.

6) I make my own arrangements of tunes I want to do, and score pretty much everything. I try to do a sort of daily "routine" as well as something different each day.

7)The attempt is more important than how "good" it sounds. Sticking to it is most important, you can refine and perfect it later... You are learning a language, so expect to stumble occasionally. I will go through stuff with and without a metronome. I guess what I am trying to say is that when you are practicing your reading, make sure you are doing that - getting ready for a performance is another thing entirely in my opinion...

8) Any music is ok to use, it's just that you need to be able to recognize that you might have to tear it apart and render it to digestible, attainable chunks (Paganini, Bach, Charlie Parker)

Anyways, you can get pretty darned close to playing how tunes are scored, the Stick is really an amazingly flexible instrument. And let's put it this way, no matter what anyone says; Being literate will not hurt your playing.

Good luck, friend!

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Fri Apr 14, 2017 9:16 am
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Post Re: Reading music / piano scores
The_Afro_Circus wrote:
Hi Nico,

I deal with a lot of these kinds of questions at my online Stick school Tap Theory (http://www.patreon.com/jgoldbergmusic). A lot of what you're asking about can be answered through learning your octave shapes, scale shapes and chord shapes. Fretted instruments are really great for learning shapes because the strings function as a series of chunks of the piano overlaid on top of one another. Therefor, it makes a lot of sense to parse the notes up in patterns that move across the strings that also sit within the space of one or two hands. The shapes then all become moveable, since what makes a scale sound the way it does is essentially the relationship of distances from one note to the next. All you would need to do is identify the root note and then apply the scale shape to that root. This is, in my opinion, one of the key steps to getting to where you want to go in terms of reading.

I've only got tabs up on Tap Theory but I'm happy to do sheet music on request. The one difficulty that I've found with sheet music vs tabs for the Stick is that the bass clef is not always appropriate for the bass side of the Stick given the wide interval leaps provided by the 5ths tunings. I've been messing around a bit with this problem though and I find that an 8vb alto clef with C denoted on the 2nd line (where low B would be in the bass clef) works pretty well.

I'm sure Scott Kerr has plenty to offer on this subject matter as well.


And I was just gonna tell you to go check out Josh! hahaha

Also, Greg Howard scores everything he does, I'm sure he'd be happy to help, especially in regards to 5ths tuning stuff.

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Fri Apr 14, 2017 9:19 am
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Post Re: Reading music / piano scores
Hahaha thanks for the shoutout Scott!

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Fri Apr 14, 2017 9:27 am
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Post Re: Reading music / piano scores
Thanks to you two for taking the time to write and share your thoughts on that! Josh, your approach to CS playing is absolutely inspiring and I will definitely check out Tap Theory. I watched your youtube vids before but since I'm starting again I will now try to follow your advice. ;) Learning shapes makes sense and I kinda forgot about that. So I guess that's a good starting point.

Jayesskerr wrote:
You are learning a language, so expect to stumble occasionally. I will go through stuff with and without a metronome. I guess what I am trying to say is that when you are practicing your reading, make sure you are doing that


Yes, that's exactly how I want to approach it. I am also working through Greg's songbook, but I find myself reading the Stafftab notation. That is pretty easy, but I'm also far from reading it and playing it instantly. I don't really want to get too accustomed to tabs since that's what I did with guitar and I never really found the motivation to read standard music notation.


Fri Apr 14, 2017 10:09 am
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Post Re: Reading music / piano scores
I love this subject, for lots of reasons. First, StaffTab is not meant to be a "sight-reading" notation system, it's designed to help you navigate the board, to learn techniques. Sometimes, when I'm readin a StaffTab chart, I'll just concentrate on the finger symbols, or sometimes just the string markers.

As for reading a chart written for another instrument, I have some strategies I follow.

1. identify the highest and lowest notes required in each hand. This will help you find a "general" position", but be open to the fact that you may find a position later on that sounds and feels better.

2. Play the key between those notes. Look at it. It has a pattern of strings and frets that you can easily see (as with the keymaps in the Greg Howard Songbook) Note, I didn't say "play the scale". The tonic may not be your lowest or highest note (in fact, it likely isn't). This means you play the scale tones that occur in between those notes. The highest note might sound better on a thicker string, but higher up, in which case you'll be thinking about using a 1st or 2nd finger scale, or it may sound better on a thinner string closer to the nut, in which case you would want to use a 3rd finger scale (or 4th if you are a 4-finger player). For more about 1st, 2nd and 3rd finger melody scales, see the Greg Howard Songbook.

3. Find any accidentals within the piece and see how those deviate from the key you just learned.

4. look at the piece as a series of intervals, and remember what shapes in the tuning correspond to those intervals. It's all relative, so if you are playing a note with the 1st finger and the interval is a 3rd, you play it on the same string. If you are playing the 1st note with any of the other fingers and the interval is a 3rd, you will probably want to use the 1st finger to play it on the next string, but not necessarily, it depends on what comes next.

ie, i my melody line is C up to Eb then up to Ab, and I'm starting on my 2nd finger, then I would probably finger that 2, 3 (same string), 2 (next string), and therefore I'd be in a new position. If it's a slow piece, I might finger it 2-3-3. This might happen if I'm starting on the 2nd string, for example, and so I can only play the line using two strings.

What I usually find is that there are very few melodies that play best in only one position. Most play best if you can move back and forth between two or more adjacent positions. Repeated notes, 4ths and 7ths complicate things in the 4ths tuning, and 5ths and 9thd in the 5ths tuning. For this reason, I favor a 3 finger technique because all three fingers are engaged in every position for every key everywhere on the board.

5 SEEING THE INTERVALS

In 4ths, if there are no accidentals, then:

each line or space is a 2nd,

each successive line or space (if you are starting on a space and the next note is a space, for example) is a 3rd,

a space and a line, or a line and a space, is a 4th,

two spaces or two lines is a 5th

two spaces plus a line or two lines plus a space is a 6th

three spaces or three lines is a 7th

etc.

Once you know what the intervals look like on the page, play the music without looking at your hand, but thinking about the key as you play them. Say the notes out loud to yourself C Eflat Aflat), so that you can know the interval before you play it.

If you shift up to a higher position, look for places where you can shift back down to your original position (usually a repeated note, 4th interval or 7th interval).

Please let me know if any of this is unclear.

PS: I'll be teaching a class on reading strategies at Interlochen, for those who will be attending.

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Fri Apr 14, 2017 2:06 pm
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Post Re: Reading music / piano scores
Everything's crystal clear, except the part why you favor three fingers. But since I also only use 3 fingers in my right hand, I think you don't have to convince me ;)

Thank you Greg, there are a lot of insights in your post that apply to my project. Also, your songbook is really fun and educational.


Fri Apr 14, 2017 3:00 pm
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Post Re: Reading music / piano scores
Nico A. wrote:
Everything's crystal clear, except the part why you favor three fingers. But since I also only use 3 fingers in my right hand, I think you don't have to convince me ;)

Thank you Greg, there are a lot of insights in your post that apply to my project. Also, your songbook is really fun and educational.


Yep. Handy book to have, very useful as it's music that was created on the Stick for the Stick...

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Fri Apr 14, 2017 5:10 pm
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