Learning PSG -- Reading Music

Gerald Menke · From: Stormville NY, USA

When I was nine years old, I joined a choir, and without even realizing it really, learned to read music, harmonize, understand the relationship between what I was singing to what was on the page, etc. It would have been unthinkable for us to learn Benjamin Britten, etc. just by listening to the choir director play our parts, have us repeat them, for example. I went on to study music theory in high school, but when I started playing guitar in bands, my reading went out the window. When I started playing steel, I didn't focus on reading at all, and lately have come to deeply regret this. To remedy it, I have begun, for probably the 10th time, to try learn to read and play sheet music on the steel.

My question, observation is, did most of you learn to play without really learning what note was what, etc., or did you use, for example, the Mel Bay book, (as I have been doing for the last two weeks)? I am making some headway at last, but man is it frustrating.

But there are a number of really postive things gained by reading:

Perhaps the most effective way to learn all of the notes on the neck. (There's a C# there too?)

You have to keep your eye on the page, so looking down is out of the question.

You have to stay focused to read music, prevents me, anyway from relying on the the licks I have come to rely on.

I (hopefully) soon won't be one of those musicians that doesn't get a gig or session because he couldn't read.

I look forward to hearing from others, regarding your experiences, reading music and learning the steel. I have never heard of someone learning to play the piano without learning to read, why is it that so many guitar players six string and steel both, aren't encouraged more, to make reading a part of their study of the instrument?

Thanks for reading my post.

Gerald

Ray Minich · From: Bradford, Pa. Frozen Tundra

Reading sheet music is difficult to say the least, it takes much much practice to become proficient, and it goes away way too soon if you don't use it.

I learned it 40 years ago, won't say how much I remember of it. Both my wife & my 13 yr old daughter are pretty good at the piano and I can't imagine playing their pieces without knowing how to read the pages.

I have noticed however, that my daughter tends to get stuck on reading & translating phrases that I would think would come easier if she heard the tune first and then tried to imitate it without reading the page.

Gerald Menke · From: Stormville NY, USA

You make an interesting point, Ray. At the end of the day, I will take having good ear skills and imagination over monster sight reading any day of the week. But I do think the benefits of learning to read, for the most part outweigh the negatives. When I was playing with a band last night, I was much more focused on thinking about the notes I was playing, and thinking more melodically, and thematically instead of just playing licks I've learned from others.

Gere Mullican · From: LaVergne, Tennessee, USA (deceased)

I can read music as long it stays within the 5 lines and 4 spaces. After that I am pretty much lost. I have been playing steel for almost 60 years and I have only learned one song from sheet music. That was "Somewhere My Love". People kept asking me to play it and I had never even heard it so I went and bought the music learned it a note at a time then threw the music away and started playing from memory. I wish I had a 2 track mind so I could read and play at the same time. I don't see how the guys that play from charts can keep up with where they are. I also can read the number system but just until I learn it then again I have to play from memory or totally by ear. I guess it's because the good steel players have talent. I missed out on that part of it. Just my take on the subject.
Gere

Nicholas Dedring · From: Beacon, New York, USA

Hey Gerald...

I played classical music on piano, studied for about ten years; I read charts and or horn fills written on staff while playing saxophone afterwards, and I guess I just don't see how it's possible to deal with steel and sheet music without putting the staff paper through a whole bunch of translating and filtering before you can play the stuff...

On piano music, published pieces will give fingering indications, so even with that they are giving you feedback on "how to make this playable"... I was a decent sightreader when I stopped, I would stumble in places, but I could hack my way through things.

The entire methodology of playing steel is very sheet music unfriendly... I can look at it, but then I guess I'm almost converting it into tab in my head. There is a panoply of different ways to play the same thing, which makes sheet music hard for me to think about.

Roy Ayres · From: Riverview, Florida, USA, R.I.P.

I learned to read music some 60 years ago, and I played full-time professionally for 17 years. During that 17 years there was only one time that I was handed a sheet of music from which I was expected to sight-read and play it exactly as written. By then I had lost my proficiency in reading -- but I could still "wood-shed" a sheet of music fairly quickly and learn the part. The real problem in the instance I am referring to is that the sheet I was handed was the trumpet part. (The trumpet is a Bb instrument, while guitar and steel guitar parts are written for a C instrument.) When we ran through the song at rehearsal I missed a few notes. The female vocalist looked at me and in a somewhat exasperated voice said, "Can't you read music?" I handed her the sheet and said, "Yes, ma'm but I don't read trumpet parts. Give me a sheet with the steel guitar part and I'll play it perfectly." She blushed, shut up, and we went on with the rehearsal, me playing whatever I felt was appropriate.

While learning to read is a good way to understand how chords are constructed and strung together into a progression, my experience has convinced me that a steel guitarist is better off to study chord construction and analysis -- i.e., music theory -- unless, of course, you expect to always play with a group that uses written music on a regular basis, such as is the case with some steelers like Dr. Hugh Jeffreys. Sight reading is hard to learn and easy to lose if you don't use it regularly.

[This message was edited by Roy Ayres on 07 May 2004 at 09:56 AM.]

Larry Bell · From: Englewood, Florida

It's always great to be friends with the keyboard player. They're usually the best readers. Other than a few theatre gigs where the written part was treated more as a guideline than a requirement, I've rarely needed to read on gigs or sessions. One time a producer scribbled something on some staff paper and asked me to play what he'd written. By the time he got back to the control room the I had given it to the kb player, he sight read it, played it once, and I had it (more or less). At least, to the satisfaction of the producer.

I think most steel players would like to read better, but pedal steel is a difficult instrument to sight read on and I can't recall a single steel player telling me they got canned because they couldn't read. Some got fired because they couldn't PLAY, but that's another topic.

I totally agree with Roy that most steel players' time is best spent learning where the notes are on the staff, but more with the objective of understanding scale and chord construction, than spending a lot of time on learning to sight read.

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

I can read sheet music and play a non-pedal steel in about 3 different tunings. However, with the pedal steel, there are soooooooo many different places available to play the chords, I haven't been able to do it. I still need my tab until I get it memorized. I remember reading that Buddy Emmons lost a recording session at one time because he couldn't sight read sheet music.
Erv

[This message was edited by Erv Niehaus on 07 May 2004 at 10:53 AM.]

Mark van Allen · From: Watkinsville, Ga. USA

Although it would sure be good to be a proficient sight reader, it does seem to come up fairly rarely as a necessary tool (for steel!). It's always been fascinating to me how "reading" becomes a dividing line in other areas of musical endeavor. I've had a number of classically trained violinists and cellists come through my studio, and usually they can't improvise to save their lives... years ago I wanted to learn fingerpicking and went to a music store where the instructor ripped off some fine blues and ragtime, exactly what I wanted to learn. I showed up for my first lesson, plunked down my $5 (it was a long time ago), and was handed a sheet with "Little Brown Jug" written in standard notation to be played on the first string. The instructor said, "everyone has to learn this way, this is the only way to learn". I replied that I didn't think that was how the progenitors of fingerpicking mastery had learned, and left. I found another teacher who used tab and imitation to teach me what I wanted to learn, and in a few months I was playing Robert Johnson and Blind Blake stuff, kept my interest in the guitar, which eventually led to my discovering steel. Somewhere in there I ran into Larry who got me into Richard Ruskin, but that's another story! (Thanks, Larry!) It seems to me that reading, like basic theory and other forms of study, are tools that make their own mastery attractive or necessary depending on each individual's place in the musical world. If you want to be a first-call Jingle session player, perhaps you'd better be a fluent reader. It appears most of the "Masters" of steel have put most of their efforts in other areas of study.

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Stop by the Steel Store at: www.markvanallen.com

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

First, Conventional notation really does not convey enough information to tell the E9 steel player what to do in order to translate the written symbol into sound. But there is a way to figure it out. It's not simple or easy, but it can be done. I an article for SGW on how to read music on the E9 neck. I will E-mail the file to anybody who is interested.

For reasons I fail to understand, many people assume that being able to read and play by ear are contradictory and mutually exclusive skills. Today we have great players (on many different instruments) who can't read a note, and great classical players who can sight read anything but can't hear a 1-4-5 chord progression or play a pentatonic blues scale.

The truth is, that it's best to be able to do both, and each skill compliments the other. Being able to play by ear makes me a better reader, and being able to read helps me hear chord changes better.

I urge everybody to learn to read music (perhaps on a 6 string guitar or piano or some other instrument more condusive to sight reading) and study elementary theory at their local community college.

[This message was edited by Mike Perlowin on 07 May 2004 at 02:08 PM.]

Ray Minich · From: Bradford, Pa. Frozen Tundra

Mike P. said:

Ron Sodos · From: San Antonio, Texas USA

I learned how to read music as a kid. But not enough to hurt my pickin..........

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

Ray Minich · From: Bradford, Pa. Frozen Tundra

Mike, don't edit that entry!!!

Recognoise.... Is that a Freudian slip or what

C Dixon · From: Duluth, GA USA

Mega Dittos Mike,

The fact that a given note can be played at more than one place does not bother a good sight reader. Because many instruments have this to deal with. A regular guitar player for example has a number of middle C's or A's, etc.

So the choice of where a given note or notes with harmony will be played will be determined primarily by where a player is (at any given moment) and where the music is going.

This is no different than a star quarterback making lightning quick decisions before he reacts in the heat of a game. There are other fields fraught with similar "problems".

The answer to all of this is plain and simply "hours and hours and years and years of hard work" accompanied by the most important thing of all; and that is God given talent oriented to THAT field of endeavor!

"hard work" always begins with learning the building blocks (thru formal training) if they are to learn it best. However none of this takes away from being blessed with musical talent. For talent cannot be learned, it can only be embelished and nurtured. A person has it or they don't.

If greats like Jerry Byrd or Buddy Emmons (for example), had gone to 10 yrs of formal musical training before they ever picked up a steel guitar; they would be even better steel players; when and if they ever did pick it up. For they both (as well as many others) were born with incredible musical talent.

In their cases, that talent was nourished primarily by their ears. They have "perfect" ears (musically speaking) so all they had to work out was the physical parameters of the instrument as they "grew and waxed strong" learning to play the steel guitar.

However, if they had taken musical theory from elemntary 101 all the way thru a master's degree in music, you could put any piece of sheet music in front of them and the least of their concern is where they would play a given note or given notes with harmony notes on the steel guitar. Their ears would have been a perfect companion to their musical training, and vice versa.

In addition, they would be able to "read" OR, "ad-lib" equally well, because of their talents being fortified by formal training.

There is something to be said about being able to play it AS it was written. I respect and admire our awesomely great "ear" players. I also admire more than I can tell you, the first "violinist" in say the Boston Pops orchestra. For the latter can do something that very few (if ANY) steel player on earth can do.

IE, they can sit down with their instrument and a piece of music they have NEVER seen OR heard can be placed in front of them and they can play it perfectly without a mistake time and time again.

Further, IF they are playing under a conductor, they can play it while looking AT the music but still (while watching out of the corner of their eye) give the conductor precisely what he wants. A feat that requires literally scores of training years AND, in-born talent to develop.

I say that a Paul Franklin or Lloyd Green, etc, could do the SAME thing on their respective steel guitars IF, when they were 4 years old, they had begun and had followed the same training that first violinist followed on the BPO (above) had done, albeit on the steel instead of the violin.

Such stories as "I do not read enough to hurt my playin" are great for a Joe "Sixpack" on a Friday night gig, but for the really serious musician, there is NO substitute for thorough musical training IF, that steel player was given the gift of musical talent.

Sadly, the reverse is true. If a person was to study music for years even under an ole momma lion Juliard graduate; and they could reach the stage where they could sight read anything put in front of them; BUT they were not given that musical talent from our precious Lord, they would not be able to play worth a flip, no matter what the scenario was.

I can prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt. Because I have an intimate relationship with a person who fits that discription to the letter. And that person is the author of this post.

May our precious Savior bless your talents always,

carl

Nicholas Dedring · From: Beacon, New York, USA

Carl, who are your referring to as not being able to play???

In any event, just to add to the mounting storm: learning to read music, and play classical arrangments that were put in front of me did indeed leave me unable to play in an improvisational, reactive and attentive way with others... learning to play saxophone forced to make that adjustment, and (I hope) learn that skill. It also made playing a hell of a lot more fun.

Learning to play steel has left me learning an entirely new kind of improvisation, reaction, and ear training; that involving contrapuntal movement, and harmony in moving intervals. I don't think learning the basics, and learning practicing discipline can ever be a bad thing, but pure classical training teaches you interpretation and technique; it does not teach you improvisation and composition unless you search for it.

One can certainly play regular staff written music on steel, it just takes a bit of sitting there, thinking and "doing the math." I don't know that would change even if you worked at it a while... I've tried to knock around some simple Well Tempered Clavier stuff and it is a stop and go process to say the least... plus, no one is asking me to play Bach at an audition, so i'm not devoting myself to it too much.

It IS however important (I think) to be able to read well enough to find the pattern, to recognize the chords, and to put together a chart for yourself should you need one, without any doubt.

Jeff Lampert · From: queens, new york city

Carl, I agree with you completely that these are two true musical disciplines - the ability to sight read and perform writen music, and the other of course is to be able to improvise. However, whereas there are many excellent steel guitar improvisers (as there are in piano, guitar, horns, etc.), there is, to my knowledge, no one who comes anywhere even close to the ability shown by many, many average classically-trained musicians. This is similar to the "who plays jazz on steel guitar" discussions. The very lack of such players compared to other disciplines indicate something more endemic than simply not working hard enough or long enough. There is no way for a steel player to become a sight reader other than to tackle it himself. No classes, no books, no one to teach him. And whereas guitarists and some other instruments may share a similar difficulty to having multiple locations to find a note, it is only on steel guitar where, in order to play a harmony where you move one note a 1/2 tone lower, you might have to go UP a bunch of frets. An open A note on the guitar can be found in maybe one other place on the guitar fretboard, the 6th string 5th fret. On the C6 tuning with a four knee lever copedent, that note can be found on the 8th string open, 9th string 4th fret, or 10th strings 9th fret. Then when you add in potential pedals, also on the 8th string 1st fret, 9th string 3rd fret, 9th string 5th fret, 10th string 7th fret, and 10th string 12th fret. If you go to a C note, then you can add the 7th string, add any pedal pulls affecting that string. Go to an E note, then add in the 6th string and pedal pulls, while all the other options are still possible since the E note can also be found on string 10 at the 16th fret. Now you have TWELVE or so positions where you can play an E note, while on guitar, you have only THREE. So we are talking about the task of learning to sight read where a particular note could potentially be played in a dozen places (depending on the surrounding harmony) and where the illogic would cause you to very often go in opposite directions on the fretboard to the movement of the note. This seems a task no player could ever really get beyond. If someone can truly sightread like a classically trained player, maybe they could get on this thread and explain to everyone what their method is. .. Jeff

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[url=http://www.mightyfinemusic.com/jeff's_jazz.htm]Jeff's Jazz[/url]

Tim Harr · From: Dunlap, Illinois

What is the quickect way to get a guitar player to "turn down"...?

Put sheet music in front of him...

I was a Guitarist for the US Army Band for 14 yrs.... I always hated that joke....mostly because I am a fluent reader! Ha Ha =)

Buddy Emmons · From: Hermitage, TN USA * R.I.P.

I read music when I was ten years old. I also remember everyone learning to read in our music class at school without the help of an instrument. By the time I chose to play the violin in our school orchestra, I never gave reading a second thought. It wasn’t until I started playing the Hawaiian guitar and taking lessons at the Hawaiian Conservatory of Music in South Bend, Indiana that I threw it all away.

At the end of each lesson at the conservatory, I would be given the notation for a song I was to learn for the next week’s lesson. My teacher, Millie Waldron, would play the song for me one time and then I would take the notation home and learn it. I was used to relating what I read on sheet music to the intervals of the violin, so the intervals of the E tuning on the Hawaiian guitar made reading more difficult to deal with. Soon I found that watching and listening to what Millie was playing was an easier way to learn the song than keeping my eye on both the guitar and the music. So I concentrated on the positions and sounds and when I got home, what I didn’t remember, I filled in with my reading savvy.

During a lesson, I was playing and looking at the neck of my guitar too long and Millie slapped the bar out of my hand. Well I never cared a lot for her to begin with because, bless her heart, she looked too much like her named sounded, so I went home in a rage and it was the last time I ever saw Millie Waldron.

My mother called the conservatory wanting to know what had happened and Millie told her I was very talented but had no respect for authority and would never get anywhere playing music. That gave her two out of three so I decided to keep my talent and my disdain for her brand of authority and leave "getting somewhere" to fate. I guess if there’s anything I can credit ole’ Millie for it would be allowing me the opportunity to discover and sharpen my ear training skills.

[This message was edited by Buddy Emmons on 09 May 2004 at 07:12 AM.]

Roy Ayres · From: Riverview, Florida, USA, R.I.P.

Buddy,

Seems to me (and I'm sure to many others) that Millie set you on a path that allowed you to hone those skills to a razor's edge.

Bob Strum · From: Anniston Alabama

Buddy, it sounds like my old high school advisor. He said don't try to go to college, your not college material.

Mark van Allen · From: Watkinsville, Ga. USA

Great story Buddy! I had piano lessons as a kid and as I remember relied more on memorizing the sounds than reading, which I did not enjoy. I had a strict German teacher, and she would switch the arrangemnts at our lessons and hit my hand with a ruler if I played what I had memorized. That was the end of Piano for me. I find it interesting that none of my early teachers ever said anything like: "Ok, here is a C major scale... now here is a bit of "Fur Elise"... can you see where the notes are coming from?" I was taught that scales were merely finger excercises (read drudgery) and that the classical composers were some kind of evolved geniuses who made all that stuff up out of their exalted knowledge. I don't recall being shown joy in creation, just imitation. There's something else inherent in this "Reading" question- we all learn and retain information in different ways. Most of the classical musicians I know have embraced the system they came through, and pursue beauty of tone and execution, while interpreting the "intent" of an existing composition according to their own, (or their conductor's) tastes. When they become teachers they pass along this viewpoint, and reading is truly essential. Working on a bandstand or session while trying to create a part that supports and compliments the other musicians, vocalist, and the song stimulates completely different parts of the brain and neural pathways. To some degree, I don't think it's talent so much as exposure and repetition of a process. The parts we use grow stronger. I love to "steel" transcribed sax and trombone solos for C6 ideas, for instance, but with my average reading skills it's slow going. Without a doubt, the more skills we can combine in our pursuit, the better. I had a classically trained violinist in the studio here a while back, who also improvises regularly in several local bands. He laid down a first-pass solo on a Gypsy Jazz tune he'd never heard on the first run down, with passion, fire, and absolutely perfect intonation. Very impressive, and a demonstration to me of the application of all the skills he'd learned in those different disciplines. So in theory, I agree with the question of what Buddy n Byrd would have done had they had an entire classical education before pursuing Steel- but then of course they would have been different people with different influences and experiences to draw on! I'd have to guess that what they observed and participated in, made them what they are as players. As for me, I'm certainly not the greatest player- I think one of my strong suits is being able to sit in with any band on almost any kind of tune, and produce something stylistically suitable. I would not attribute my "good ear" to any real talent, but more to the years and hundreds of different bands and sessions I've been exposed to. Just wish I had a parallel life for study and practice!

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Stop by the Steel Store at: www.markvanallen.com

Rick Schmidt · From: Prescott AZ, USA

Buddy...do you use fake books when you work out any of your jazz stuff?

Buddy Emmons · From: Hermitage, TN USA * R.I.P.

Thanks Roy. Now that I’ve since cooled off and reflected upon the error of my ways, Millie would probably look a lot better to me today.

While I have you on the horn, the first music show I ever attended was at the Palais Royal Ballroom in South Bend where Pee Wee king was the headliner. I’m thinking you played a Fender Custom and used a Bigsby volume pedal. When I saw the right/left tone feature, I immediately went home and ordered one. Well not exactly. I stayed for the entire show and my dad ordered it after a lengthy pouting party. It was something I never forgot. Thanks for the inspiration.

Rick… I will use a fake book to check questionable melodies or chords, but sight reading is out of the question. When trying to read jazz charts, I find the notes themselves are not as much of a problem as the intricate time values or syncopation of the notes.

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Well, I don't "read", and I have great admiration for those who can. Still, somehow, I've always likened that discipline to "painting by numbers". What I can do is back up a Ray Price, Buck Owens, or George Jones song with the best of 'em! Of course, real musicians might scowl, but I still take some solace in that ability.

Oh sure, I'd love to be able to pick up a lead sheet w/chords, and be able to play it "cold", but now time (and the incomprehensibility of those "fly specks") is against me. IMHO, Probably the best path for a steeler would be to learn to sing off a lead sheet. That way, he would know the notes and timing, and could pick where the stuff would best be found on his steel. With a reasonable comprehension of chord theory, he could pretty much be at home in most situations.

What say you?

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