literacy

skpr41 · Post by **skpr41** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 1:37 pm

...music literacy that is.

i was wondering...is it necessary or advisable that you learn to read music before delving into music theory? or would it just come out of studying theory?

i have been going through the first part of mel bay's grade 1 guitar book with my guitar teacher (altho i just quit cause i didn't feel i was getting much from him). seems to me i was just memorizing as much as reading the music, so didn't seem like it was getting me anywhere.

so i guess what i'm asking is, should i complete the book, learing to read/play all the songs on it? or just move on to a music theory book?

any advice on how to embark on my musical journey would be very much appreciated!

EDIT: sorry, just realized i posted this on "dave's guitar" forum instead of the "general guitar" forum. forgive me!

Coldchillin · Post by **Coldchillin** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 2:02 pm

Learn everything. Read it, write it, study it.

skpr41 · Post by **skpr41** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 5:27 pm

plan to.

...just wanna know where to start.

thejoe · Post by **thejoe** » Sun Jan 11, 2004 11:24 pm

get a better teacher

skpr41 · Post by **skpr41** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 4:54 pm

anyone know a good teacher anywhere near delaware that's also somewhat into dmb?

i know...long shot.

anyway, another problem is i don't know what i should be getting from a guitar teacher. might have been partially my fault cause i was so bored with the mel bay stuff, i wasn't putting much time and effort into that.

Pickles · Post by **Pickles** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 4:57 pm

i can read sheet now... for the most part. i dont know some symbols but otherwise im good.

thejoe · Post by **thejoe** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 6:33 pm

skpr41 wrote:i know...long shot.

hah, id say quite a long shot

but it prefer to have a teacher that wasnt into dave matthews
maybe he plays his stuff a little, but it would suck to have a teacher that would teach you songs by only one artist

yeah, i can read music, but i know i couldnt sightread on guitar for the life of me

but i CAN read music

skpr41 · Post by **skpr41** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 10:55 am

crash_in_to_me wrote:but it prefer to have a teacher that wasnt into dave matthews
maybe he plays his stuff a little, but it would suck to have a teacher that would teach you songs by only one artist

yeah, that's why i said somewhat. but this goes back to what a music teach is supposed to do for you. is teaching you specific songs a big part of it?

what my guitar teacher did when i showed him #41 and said i was having trouble with the intro was re-tabb it and make it "easier". i didn't like the way it sounded, so kinda just put it aside.

i guess my question is, how does your guitar teacher teach you at different stages of your learning?

thanks!

thejoe · Post by **thejoe** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 1:33 pm

[quote="skpr41]
i guess my question is, how does your guitar teacher teach you at different stages of your learning?

thanks![/quote]

i dont have one right now, but the one i had tried to teach me notes and those little songs you learn in 5th grade band
and he also taught me some rock songs like smoke on da wata, sweet home alabama, and some others

which is why i quit
i just want to learn theory

grock · Post by **grock** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 4:06 pm

crash_in_to_me wrote: which is why i quit
i just want to learn theory

this is key. playing songs is really more a factor of how much you practice, but understanding songs is the key to seeing the fretboard and seeing all the chords and looking at music like how you read dickens or other great writers.

it's like learning to write letters. you have to practice. but reading and comprehension and english literature are what make writing fun. so you can have a teacher teach you to make letters or teach you what the greats have done and why.

thejoe · Post by **thejoe** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 7:52 pm

so youre saying i quit for a good reasion?

isaac · Post by **isaac** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 12:56 am

grock wrote:
crash_in_to_me wrote: which is why i quit
i just want to learn theory
this is key. playing songs is really more a factor of how much you practice, but understanding songs is the key to seeing the fretboard and seeing all the chords and looking at music like how you read dickens or other great writers.

it's like learning to write letters. you have to practice. but reading and comprehension and english literature are what make writing fun. so you can have a teacher teach you to make letters or teach you what the greats have done and why.

oh dear...writing is not fun how they teach it now.

simple as that.

but let's not turn this into a debate on the state of public education in america and the crappy writing constantly produced by both the teachers and the students.

*twiddles my thumb*

souna · Post by **souna** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 4:18 pm

new guy here
I was interested by the conversation
about learning to read music I can read it because of piano but I never used it for guitar so my advice would be get a theory book or visit a sit like guitaralliance.com that don't expct you to read sheet cos guitar is a visual instrument you can learn all the theory you need by knowing shapes and tabs and our good friends ABCDEFG for notes
peace out

thejoe · Post by **thejoe** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 9:23 pm

learning to read music wont hurt you, you will be much better

souna · Post by **souna** » Thu Jan 15, 2004 10:05 am

true that but what i'm saying is you don't really need it especially for guitar. I have a friend of mine who is sort of a God of guitar. yet he can't read sheet. but he knows theory very well and he works it sort of instinctivly.
peace