Reading Music

Bruce Hamilton · From: Vancouver BC Canada

I learned how to read music on guitar years ago and it was a relatively quick and easy process. I have been thinking about applying that knowledge to pedal steel however it's beginning to look like a very daunting exercise. I am curious as to how the few people who have done it approached it. Which tuning did you use E9, C6, or other? Did you incorporate the pedals or did you use an open tuning to simplify identifying the notes. On guitar or for that matter any instrument, you usually start out learning to read and play 3 notes, do several exercises then move on the 3 more notes and so on. On guitar it gets more complicated than on a keyboard because you have to relearn the notes at different positions on the neck and this involves different physical scale patterns.I am guessing you would have to do the same with a steel incorporating the notes you get at different positions using pedals.
I would really appreciate anyone who has gone through this process enlightening us on their experiences in learning to read music.

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

As I've mentioned previously, I've written an article about how to do this, and will E-mail the file for free to anybody who requests it.
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Please visit my web site and Soundcloud page and listen to the music posted there.
http://www.mikeperlowin.com http://soundcloud.com/mike-perlowin

David Mason · From: Cambridge, MD, USA

Well, the old adage: If you can sing it, you can play it. So further:

If you can read it, you can sing it;
If you can sing it, you can play it.

If you can read on any instrument, you know that you recognize starting points, intervals, high notes and low notes - then fill in the bits. I play C6th, and the widely variant intervals between strings makes for extra amusement - you have whole steps, minor thirds, major thirds. And skipping and stomping gives you fourths, fifths, sixths and octaves.

Learning how to play any given melody on differing combinations of strings is clearly a gateway, but I'm never going to be a fluent sight-reader on this beast, not in the lifetime I have left anyway. It's just chipping away at it, I guess - learn to play one thing in one place, then vary the location of a few notes, then eventually transfer it to a different location/set of P's & K's entirely.

I DO tend to concentrate on one piece of music or type of exercise at a time, sometimes for day and days (besides the other non-read playing, of course). You can't go wrong with Bach's S & P's for violin, or the Classical Music Fake Book V2, or a Real Book... another thing I do is work on the same thing on guitar & steel simultaneously, on guitar it's often a review and on steel it's BEATING MY HEAD AGAINST A BRICK WALL, over and over and over. And, over. Anyone who wants to sell you "the secret" has found a secret way to make you poorer and him richer, for sure.

If you've been around music for a bit you yourself should know how best you learn things, and the exercises you make for yourself can be the most exact in attacking what you need. You may have to try a scattergun approach for a while, just to derive what sticks to the wall. And, as always -

KILL YOUR TV.... Mr. Green

Robbie Daniels · From: Casper, Wyoming, USA

It doesn't matter what tuning a player is using. If you can read you will know the exact position of each note and the notes of the chord associated with the note and key that you are reading. The steel guitar will have multiple positions of the same note and that is why you need to know where these notes are found on your guitar. Not bragging, but I know where every note on my steel, whether is is E9 or C6 or any other tuning I may use, at a given time and IMHO that is really all you need other than a good course in musical theory.
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Carter D12, MSA S12, 12 String Custom Made Non-Pedal, Evans FET 500LV, Evans SE200, Peavey Nashville 400, Fender Steel King

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

Jody Sanders · From: Magnolia,Texas, R.I.P.

Mike's Theory book is the best out there. Jody.

Jody Sanders · From: Magnolia,Texas, R.I.P.

To add a little humor, Jerry Byrd once said, "Yes, I can read music, but not enough to hurt my playing. " Jody.

Bill McCloskey · Posted 25 Jun 2010 12:14 pm

There is much more to reading than knowing where the notes are. In fact, I find reading the notes to be the easy part.

The tough part is reading the rhythm which is incredibly difficult (at least for me). I eventually bought Louis Bellson's book "Modern Reading Text in 4/4) which is all about learning to read the rhythm.

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