How many guitarists know dots, Who's frustrated with those that don't?

  • Thread starter Thread starter VTgreen81
  • Start date Start date
VTgreen81

VTgreen81

Active member
Does it seem to make a diff to anyone if the musicians you play/wirte/record with can read? Or maybe it's the lack of theory that should have been learned when learning the dots.
 
Those sticky candies from the movies. The ones that get jammed between your teeth.

I LOVE Dots!!!
 
a score, reading and writing music, little dots and stripes on 5 parallel horizontal lines.

I for one can't (except when you call being able deciphering a simple melody in a couple of minutes musical literacy :) )
 
dots? on the side and the fretboard of the guitar? or dots reading music? i think you're talking about whole notes and half notes and all that? the only difference that makes is that you can read music right off a sheet and not have someone play the song for you and repeat it so you can learn it. if you dont want to learn to read music that way then try Guitar Tabs this is done in numbers and is alot easier except you'll still need to hear the song atleast once before you can play it.
 
c7sus said:
Those sticky candies from the movies. The ones that get jammed between your teeth.

I LOVE Dots!!!
Click to expand...
JEEZUS, I haven't had those in years! After the dots desolve in your mouth you'd be left with a paper spit ball.
 
I knew an old gal from AA named Dot. She was pretty wore out when I met her, but I'll bet she was a wildcat in her day.

I think she took her dentures out for the old timers.............
 
VTgreen81 said:
Does it seem to make a diff to anyone if the musicians you play/wirte/record with can read? Or maybe it's the lack of theory that should have been learned when learning the dots.
Click to expand...
Yes, and in many cases reading music is a must. I do gig's where I meet the other musicians for the first time at the job... get the sheet music, play, get paid, and go home.
 
DJL said:
Yes, and in many cases reading music is a must. I do gig's where I meet the other musicians for the first time at the job... get the sheet music, play, get paid, and go home.
Click to expand...

I'm jealous. About all I can handle is the real book.

I can read Tab like a sonofa bitch, though.
 
Being able to read music isn't a must if you're doing original stuff. I know how to read music (band geek for 8 years), but in my 5 years of being in local bands I've never used it.
 
It boils down to what you want to do with music. For most part time local groups and players it may have little impact. However for anyone considering music as a real career, it's another story.

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to speak with Ed Shaughnessy, who was the drummer on the tonight show for many years. He commented that 3 things led to his success in the music business.

1. He played all styles well
2. He was easy to get along with
3. He read music

That's what got him started.

Ed
 
I am fine as long as they can either:

read music
read tab
or know their chord structures and scales by name

There is nothing I hate more than asking "what chords are you playing there?" and being told,"well first I put my finger here, then it goes there, then this funny thing here"......

OR if they ask me "what are you playing?" and I respond with "it's in D, I am playing Em7, F#m7, Caug" and they say "wha?"
 
When I was younger, meaner, and drinking I gave this to a bass player in a wedding band after a painful gig. The bride had requested a song for her first dance, you know, alone with her new hubbie, all eyes on them (no pressure or anything). The tune was in A and at the last minute we picked up a horn player just for this song. So I called everyone and said "Hey, we're going to play it in B flat." Apparently the bass player(who had great chops) didn't realize the implications. You can guess what happened next.

Bass player's instructional device
 
cstockdale said:
I am fine as long as they can either:

read music
read tab
or know their chord structures and scales by name

There is nothing I hate more than asking "what chords are you playing there?" and being told,"well first I put my finger here, then it goes there, then this funny thing here"......

OR if they ask me "what are you playing?" and I respond with "it's in D, I am playing Em7, F#m7, Caug" and they say "wha?"
Click to expand...

I agree with this. Guitar is different than most other instruments in that you can find the exact same note in many different places. This makes traditional notation a somewhat innefective or "incomplete" way to notate for guitar. Tab is a much "wholistic". If you can read music enough to know the time signature and note values then you can play a piece using tab without having heard it first.
More importantly IMO, a guitaist has to be able to read chord charts and have a working knowledge of theory. When someone says "it's in D, I am playing Em7, F#m7, Caug", you have to be hip to it. When someone says "this is a ii, V, I in A" you should be able to play that. In my experience ( and I've worked as a session guitarist off and on for many years) I've never been handed a fully notated piece of sheet music and asked to play it. Usually I show up, someone scribbles out a chord chart, and off we go. Unless the producer has a specific guitar melody that they are using as a theme, I'm expected to be able to come up with fills/ leads on my own based on the chords. If they do have a theme they can usually just sing or play it for me on the piano because it is simple and not more than a few bars. It's pretty easy to do since a producer isn't generally going for something Satrianian, if you know what I mean.

A
www.aaroncheney.com
 
While "play anything by ear" folks do exist, they are rare. I think stockdale said it well. Most players need some reasonable knowledge of chords and song structure.

Ed
 
Ed Dixon said:
While "play anything by ear" folks do exist, they are rare. I think stockdale said it well. Most players need some reasonable knowledge of chords and song structure.

Ed
Click to expand...

I've come across a great many good, self-taught players. Occasionally there's the guy who thinks his lack of music education somehow makes him better than "schooled" players. That's nonsense, of course. I just loved music theory - everything made perfect sense.

What really galls me are the guys who have no clue what they are missing. Ever had to play with someone who doesn't know that count offs are to be done in the song's tempo?
 
EddieRay said:
I've come across a great many good, self-taught players. Occasionally there's the guy who thinks his lack of music education somehow makes him better than "schooled" players. That's nonsense, of course. I just loved music theory - everything made perfect sense.

What really galls me are the guys who have no clue what they are missing. Ever had to play with someone who doesn't know that count offs are to be done in the song's tempo?
Click to expand...

Now that's funny! :D :D

And yes... I am so sick of these tired cliches:

"Rules just detract from my creativity."
"I will learn the rules so I can break them."

A
www.aaroncheney.com
 
I once asked a player if the figure he wanted was a triplet or two 16th and an 8th to which the "bassist" chips in...wow!, you mean you can tell a difference.................. He never was asked back.
 
I'm a piano performance major.....who happens to play guitar, so yes, I guess you can say that I can read "dots".


lol I love that word, I'm going to use dots from now on to explain the staves.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top