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Old 02-20-2018, 03:58 PM
BobbyMocha BobbyMocha is offline
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Default Understanding Chords in Standard Notation

One of my goals in learning the guitar is learning to read music, understand basic theory, etc. so as to be able to sight read music easily. It's coming, slowly. Where I'm having a real tough go of it is understanding how to read/play chords or more exactly how to understand how chords are written out in standard notation.

I get individual notes and basically where they fall on the fret board when I see them written on a staff but for chords, I'm not. I've been looking in lesson books and online but cannot get a good explanation.

I'd like to play a song with a good rhythm using all the proper chords. I know how to make the chord, I know how to read the tab for it below the staff but I can't make the connection to the notation.

Any help with this? Sources or links or explanation would be great.
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Old 02-20-2018, 04:37 PM
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rick-slo rick-slo is offline
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To start know the notes in the basic chord triads. For example if you see a C, E, and G being played either as a block or serially then... of course there are chord inversions and different places on the neck to play the same chord.

There may be notation about fingering, barre position, etc..

I often look at the low note and the high note to estimate hand position. The low note often is the root note.

Sight reading more complex music can be a real challenge for most everyone.
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Old 02-20-2018, 05:04 PM
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Erithon Erithon is offline
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My advice is to be patient with yourself. And, if you can, ditch the sheet music with tab because it's too easy to cheat, and cheating will slow down the learning process. Your mind needs to learn to recognize the shape of chords as depicted on a clef (not unlike learning to recognize the shapes of words - we read by scanning shapes, not taking it one letter at a time). Your hand then needs to learn to associate a particular position with the shape the mind sees on the page.
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Old 02-20-2018, 05:05 PM
godfreydaniel godfreydaniel is offline
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One thing to remember is that chords are built in thirds. If you take a basic F triad (F-A-C) played on the fretboard as XX321X, those notes would be written on the first, second and third spaces (low to high) on the treble clef. (The top space would be E.)
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Old 02-21-2018, 10:07 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BobbyMocha View Post
…Where I'm having a real tough go of it is understanding how to read/play chords or more exactly how to understand how chords are written out in standard notation.
Hi BobbyMocha

I had a leg-up on many guitarists in that I studied keyboards (accordion) for over a decade before starting with guitar, and as a part of the process, was taught note reading, scales, keys, chords, melody, harmony and accompaniment. I later transferred this all over to piano when I majored in music in college.

I'm a dedicated guitarist, and though I still play keyboards, I think in guitar except when it comes to chord building and scalework which I tend to think in terms of keyboards.

I think the best way to learn and appreciate theory is via piano. Many community colleges offer a course in basic piano theory which should include reading notes, playing scales, chords, and other essentials.


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Old 02-21-2018, 10:15 AM
RustyAxe RustyAxe is offline
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It's like learning to read text ... you started with learning letters, then words, then phrases, then sentences ... etc. As you read this you aren't parsing every word into its individual letters, right? With practice you'll recognize those "stacked notes" that represent a chord as musical "words".

Edit - just read the post by Erithon, above. Great minds think alike? (or not?)
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Old 02-21-2018, 10:19 AM
BobbyMocha BobbyMocha is offline
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So something that’s been said a couple times ... this idea of stacked notes, is that how the chord will be represented in notation?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m trying to take it slow and follow the path to learning this. It’s just without formal instruction there can be gaps in the learning. I may take your advice and look at learning this stuff (via comm college ) as a keyboardist.
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Old 02-21-2018, 12:16 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BobbyMocha View Post
So something that’s been said a couple times ... this idea of stacked notes, is that how the chord will be represented in notation?
Exactly. Same as it would be represented in tab, that's if you're strumming it (rather than fingerpicking).

Here's a C major chord, as a whole note.
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Old 02-21-2018, 12:43 PM
jeanray1113 jeanray1113 is offline
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If you want solid, accessible material on music theory applied to guitar, check out Bruce Emery's Musical Principles for the Skeptical Guitarist. They can be ordered from Amazon and are also carried in many music stores.
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Old 02-21-2018, 01:14 PM
mr. beaumont mr. beaumont is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BobbyMocha View Post
So something that’s been said a couple times ... this idea of stacked notes, is that how the chord will be represented in notation?
Not always. Sometimes, in something like a lead sheet, you'll just get a chord name, and melody on the staff below. Rhythm is up to you. Big Band charts might give you "rhythm slashes" for chordal hits that are in time with the melody. I've seen sheet music as well with rhythm slashes for strummed parts. If a song includes a lot of strumming, this is often a much cleaner, more direct look.

Classical music will stack the notes...just like anything, you get used to seeing it and eventually you can recall a stack of notes as easily as a single note on the staff.

For me personally, if I'm sight reading a part, I find chord name and rhythm slashes much easier to look at...but if someone wants a specific voicing, stack-o-notes is the way to go (aside from chord grids above the staff, which take up a ton of space)
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Old 02-21-2018, 03:30 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RustyAxe View Post
Edit - just read the post by Erithon, above. Great minds think alike? (or not?)
Sure looks like it haha
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Old 02-21-2018, 04:56 PM
BobbyMocha BobbyMocha is offline
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Ok. So I’ve got my work cut out for me. But This gives me a better idea now how to start to think about it. (This music theory approach to the guitar is some serious business, in and of itself a whole separate monster to tame.)

Jeanray, I will pick up Bruce Emery’s book. Thanks for the tip.
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Old 02-21-2018, 09:28 PM
harpspitfire harpspitfire is offline
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ok, i dont read notes for guitar, probably never will, even though its in my mind for future study, but i do like larry's post on learning the notes and chords from a keyboard, i really think it would be better to understand written music this way- youll learn reading notes over time is second nature without even thinking, being able to name the notes in even every chord without hesitation and knowing 7th's major 6th's whatever, transferring this to a guitar would be-i dont know what say here, but i think it would be A LOT of fret memory for lack of better words
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Old 02-22-2018, 05:50 PM
multimutts multimutts is offline
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Just wanted to say that there are two books I highly recommend. Sight Reading for the Classical Guitar Levels 1-111, and Sight Reading for the Classical Guitar Level 1V and V; both by Robert Benedict. Both are available on Amazon. I got these books for Christmas, and starting from almost no knowledge of reading musical notation, I'm now on the second book (level 1V) and getting pretty good at it. Don't be put off by the fact that it's written with Classical Guitar in mind, as musical notes are musical notes; and once you're skilled at reading them, you can read music in any sort of genre.

Patti
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Old 02-22-2018, 08:47 PM
BobbyMocha BobbyMocha is offline
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Default Understanding Chords in Standard Notation

Quote:
Originally Posted by multimutts View Post
Just wanted to say that there are two books I highly recommend. Sight Reading for the Classical Guitar Levels 1-111, and Sight Reading for the Classical Guitar Level 1V and V; both by Robert Benedict. Both are available on Amazon. I got these books for Christmas, and starting from almost no knowledge of reading musical notation, I'm now on the second book (level 1V) and getting pretty good at it. Don't be put off by the fact that it's written with Classical Guitar in mind, as musical notes are musical notes; and once you're skilled at reading them, you can read music in any sort of genre.



Patti


I will pick them up. Thanks Patti
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