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Post by omaha on Mar 28, 2010 14:52:38 GMT -5
Anyone else have brains that work like this:
If I'm learning something new, that I've never heard, and all I have to start with is a lead sheet (ie, melody in standard notation with chord listings), I can play it just fine, but I can never "internalize" the melody. No matter how many times I play it, I will struggle to hear it in my mind. But if I record the melody and play it back, I can remember it no problem.
Weird.
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Post by Russell Letson on Mar 28, 2010 15:25:05 GMT -5
We know you're weird. I mean, look at that pipe.
Me, if I want to get wired, I have a second cup of coffee. Twitch city.
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Post by theevan on Mar 28, 2010 15:29:59 GMT -5
I love untangling and deciphering the music hiding in a sheet of notation. Eventually it comes clear. It's an acquired and taught skill
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 19,876 
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Post by Dub on Mar 28, 2010 16:45:35 GMT -5
If I don't know what a piece sounds like, I have no desire to play it. But if I need to play something I haven't heard, I'll read the lead sheet melody like I was in Church a capella choir and just hum the notes. Then I'll get an idea of how the piece is supposed to sound. I could just read it onto the guitar and be surprised but I rarely do that. Usually, I'm learning to play a tune because it's been running through my head and I finally realize I should be playing it. I don't write original tunes... or at least haven't. - Dub |
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Post by Fingerplucked on Mar 28, 2010 16:54:14 GMT -5
I don't have that many lead sheets, but whenever I come across one, I tack it up along with the rest to line my fortress of solitude to keep the Kryptonite out.
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Post by Doug on Mar 28, 2010 16:57:28 GMT -5
I don't have that many lead sheets, but whenever I come across one, I tack it up along with the rest to line my fortress of solitude to keep the Kryptonite out. Does that work? I've been using old Playboys. |
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Post by Fingerplucked on Mar 28, 2010 17:00:56 GMT -5
Come again?
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Post by Doug on Mar 28, 2010 17:06:07 GMT -5
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Post by Greg B on Mar 29, 2010 8:22:28 GMT -5
I internalize the melody much faster than I memorize the fingering of the song. If there's a song I want to learn and I have a CD or MP3 of it I'll listen to the song dozens of times at work and in the car until I know the harmonies, the counterpoint, the chord movement etc.
(This is assuming that the piece is a fingerstyle piece from something like a Mel Bay book or a FingerStyle Guitar Magazine)
Then I'll go to the music and I'll play through the piece incredibly slowly. Now I'm finding awkward fingerings, difficult transitions, basic chord movement, etc.
Next I'll play through the chords of the song to get the feel for the harmonic movement. Finally, I'll go back to the sheet music and break it into sections. For example, right now I'm working on only the first section of a Henry Lodge tune called "Temptation Rag". It's a long, complex piece that's broken up into 3 themes. I'm working on only the first theme right now.
By this time the internalized melody is locking into finger positions. Now I can work on deciding when I should speed up, slow down, crescendo, add vibrato etc. (I fully admit that I'm usually influenced by how the original artist played it on the CD)
Then it's just memorization and working on the transitions.
(He says "just" like this part isn't 90% of the practice)
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