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Learning how to read music is like map reading. When you look at a map, the first thing you want to see is a sign saying “You Are Here.” This is the job of the clef in music.

The two most common clefs in music are the treble clef and the bass clef. The treble clef is used to notate high-pitched notes. Instruments with a high sound read from the treble clef e.g. the flute, clarinet, violin, the female voice and the right hand piano part.

When the treble clef is used, it gives an exact indication of the pitch (or height) of the notes that follow. It looks like an ornate letter G. In fact, another name for it is the G clef.



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Being able to read guitar sheet music can be an invaluable asset in today’s world.  As we know, becoming a pro guitarist means entering a very competitive field.  You will need every advantage you can muster, and then some.  So before we go any further let’s first answer a basic question: isn’t being able to read guitar tabs good enough?  If you’re looking to make a name for yourself or a living as a guitarist then the answer would be “no”.  By no means does this negate the importance of tab, but in a world that is often oversaturated with guitar players, knowing how to read sheet music can make the difference between success and failure.  Let us break things down so we can understand them.

1. Guitar Tabs

While tab or tablature seems to be a rather new invention that came along with the electric guitar, in truth it has been around for quite awhile.  Even before the invention of the instrument we know today as “guitar”, we see examples of tablature being used especially with fretted instruments such as the lute. Examples of tab in the Western world today date as far back as the 1300′s. In Asia tablature was used even before that.

In today’s world guitar tab is made up of six lines that represent the six strings of the guitar (four in the case of a bass guitar) on which numbers are placed which correspond to the frets on the guitar. Most of the tab formats do not show you the rhythm.  The information which is presented gives you a good picture of what strings and frets should be played. The tab format does not give you information in regards to the notes (pitches) being played.

2. Guitar Sheet Music

The sheet music for guitar on the other hand provides you with rhythmic as well as pitch (note) information. It is important because it’s like getting a detailed blueprint of a hotrod car. It allows you to see inside and understand exactly how the parts work together.  This is fantastic because you can use this information to fix your own hotrod if it breaks down, or build a new one. In pretty much the same way, knowing how to read sheet music allows you to understand and break things down, analyze the Masters and use those techniques when building your own compositions.

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When it comes to reading piano sheet music, the first place to start is with the individual elements of the composition itself. Before you can tackle an entire piece, you must be familiar with that particular composition’s language.

The following are steps to consider in reading piano sheet music. These will help you grasp the intent and nuances of the piece quickly.

* Look over the entire composition to get a feel for its length and structure. This first run through is just to have a quick overview of the composer’s work.

* Go through the piece a second time. This second run through is more deliberate. You want to locate any unfamiliar things: notes, chords, articulations and tempo indications. Highlight any of these that you know will require research. Use a music dictionary or other resource to understand these elements.

* Next, consider the time signature of the piece. Are you familiar with it? If not, read up on the specific time signature, as it is a primary characteristic of the song.

* Consider the key signature of the composition. Are you familiar with this key or is it new? If it’s new to you, learn the key’s scale with its attendant sharps or flats to better understand the piece.

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If you are interested in learning to play new music and you are somewhat familiar with reading sheet music then there are techniques that will help you pick up new songs more quickly. The definition of sight reading is as simple as it sounds. You are able to play new music by reading the sheet music that corresponds to that piece. While you do need a bit of prior knowledge to understand the notation and structure you will find that it can be much easier than you might think.

Playing music can be somewhat physical, but the majority of the work is actually mental. Also, just because you might be a very good musician on your chosen instrument there is no guarantee that you can sight read. There have been many very famous musicians who could not read the first note. On some of the more difficult pieces an artist may take months of work to get the hardest parts right. One very important part of sight reading can be the ability to either sight harmonize or improvise.

When you reach a very difficult part and are unsure how to proceed it is at times acceptable to adapt the score to your current ability level. This is known as improvisation. It may also be that you feel that you would have a greater impact on your audience with a few changes here and there in the score. Both of these are decent arguments as to why improvisation can be a very important tool for the budding musician. Another very powerful tool is the ability to play by ear.

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In order to play the guitar, you need to learn how to read guitar music. Learning and understanding it may sound complicated but once you get used to it, it is actually quite simple and can be done in a breeze.

To play guitar music, first you must understand the basic chord patterns and what they are. A guitar chord is a sound composed of different notes being played on the guitar. Once you know the chord formation then you can start building the chord progression patterns to play a whole decent song.

In order to read the guitar music you must first understand the common terms, and the first on this example are the major chords. Major chords are the major notes. It’s the most basic chords used in guitar playing. The major chords are composed of series of notes from the chromatic scale (the major scale C, D, E, F…) without alteration.

Then there are the Minor chords. Minor chords are also chords based on the major scale but instead of the normal notes used on a chord, the 2nd note should be a half step lower, so if the C chord is made up of C,E, and G notes, the Cm chord will have a C D# and G note. Major and Minor chords are the common chords used in a chord progression.



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To play a piece of music you have never seen before takes a great deal of skill. So how is it, some musicians can do this easily such as session musicians and others such as non professional players of all standards find sight reading so difficult.

Don’t confuse learning to play a piece with sight-reading a piece

Many players confuse learning and playing a piece of music with sight-reading. You also have to learn how to sight read and this is completely different from learning to play a piece of music. To sight read successfully does not necessarily mean playing the piece note for note but to get through the piece from start to finish, in time, that means no slow downs or speed ups, perfect time.

Stopping and starting

As a professional musician you do not have the luxury of stopping and starting as many non professional players do, and there are a great deal of very good amateur players that keep stopping and starting because they don’t have the discipline of a good sight reader.

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How To Read Guitar Tablature

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If you are someone aspiring to be a musician, it is beneficial to learn to read music. While reading music is standardized with many other instruments, guitarists have developed their own method to ease the reading of music in tablature. Unique to guitarists all over, tablature though not perfect, is a simple method of effortlessly reading and sharing music with others, especially with other guitarists.  Below you will find a quick primer on how tablature works.

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http://www.prestomusicstore.com/”>Basics of Tab

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Guitar tablatures are available online. In the above diagram, six horizontal lines comprise the tab staff for the guitar. Each line symbolizes each string of the guitar. While the second line from the bottom denotes the A string, the bottom most line denotes the E. guitarists find this simplified tablature very easy to use and follow.



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A “semiquaver” can be found as a written musical note in sheet music. This musical note is used in all types of sheet music for all musical instruments.

The semiquaver looks like a black-coloured oval shape with a stem on the right or left side depending on where on the musical staff it is written. At the end of the stem, there are two tails. These tails can be written in various ways. They can be curly, and they can be straight and shorter, almost like a couple of ticks. If more than one semiquaver is written so they appear next to each other then instead of having tails they are joined together by a lines called beams.

When the semiquaver is written above the middle line on the staff, the stem is written on the left side and the tails are written on the right side of the stem always curving back to the black coloured oval. When written below the middle line, the stem is written on the right side and the tails will again be written on the right side.

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Did you know that different types of instruments require different sorts of sheet music? Take the clarinet for example. A clarinet falls in the woodwind family meaning that traditionally it was made of wood and used a reed to be able to produce music. It is made up of four parts. These include (from bottom to top) the bell, the body, the barrel and the mouthpiece. The mouthpiece itself holds the reed in place with another piece known as the reed guard. This instrument can produce beautiful music but with a major distinction from others. It can only produce various flat tones.

Sheet music produced for the clarinet reflects this difference. A flat is a note that is used to reduce the semitone which produces a lower pitch. It is this flat which is integral to its performance. There are many different clarinets that are available in different keys. These include D Flat, C Major, A Flat, A Major, Bass and Alto B Flat and E Flat clarinets. The most commonly preferred type is the B Flat clarinet however.

The type of music an orchestra plays is what determines how they will make use of clarinets. The sheet music for the clarinets will reflect the notes that are particular to their instrument. They cannot play all the notes that might be found on a normal sheet of music. For example, the B Flat sheet music is written in such a way that it will contain notes that can be played in that particular key. Interestingly enough, clarinet sheet music may be very exacting but there are players that can easily play high notes that often times may not be found on the particular sheet of music they are using. A wide number of musical styles today make use of the clarinet. From big band music to even some rock and roll great clarinet players could conceivably find themselves playing nearly any venue available.

One thing to keep in mind is that a clarinet player must remember that each type of music will have its own particular forma, notes and improvisational styles. While sheet music for certain instruments were once hard to come by today there are many different sources that are available. From downloadable sheet music to website stores that specialize in it musicians can now get most any musical score they would like. It does not matter if you are looking for a vintage piece from the big band swing era to a clarinet part from a big Broadway musical you will most likely be able to easily find what you are looking for.

The first thing you will want to do in searching for the piece you would like is to check with local music supply shops around your area. If they do not carry what you are looking for then they may be able to either order it for you or tell you where you might go to find it. If you are not able to find a piece locally then you can find any number of online sources by using your choice of Internet search engine and typing in the keywords you are looking for. Soon you will be playing away on that piece and enjoying every minute of it.



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Every man must have had the craving to learn how to play the guitar during his teenage years. This is only normal when growing up, especially in an age where rock music and pop culture are both prevalent and plays a significant part in shaping someone’s personality.

Many individuals learned how to play the guitar through friends. It is a good thing now that there is the Internet where one can browse through thousands or millions of web pages and websites that offer nothing but guitar lessons.

Perhaps the very first thing that a guitar player should know, aside from the parts of the guitar, is how to read guitar music the right way. As we all know, this can only be made possible if the player knows how to read guitar chords from a chart. This is the only way that one person can read through the tabs, play them, and see if the guitar music is right or wrong.

Learning how to read guitar chords is the only way to learn how to play guitar. Being able to do so saves someone the hassle of looking for another person just to ask for information. In time, after learning how to read guitar music, one can easily say that what he has on the magazine guitar chart for a certain song is wrong. He can then move on to changing it and in turn, tech his friends the right chords for playing a song.



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