How do you read this notation?

I can read basic musical notation, and tabs, but I stumbled on what I believe is string-instrument specific notation that I have trouble understanding (and it's probably very easy once explained). Here's an excerpt:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fsd1bcgxi85ngsv/notationissue.png

This particular example is for the guitar, but the same way of notation would work for the ukulele too, I imagine. What I understand is that index finger (i) is supposed to play the 4th string and the thumb (p) the 5th string throughout the exercise. What I don't understand are the numbers ranging from 3 to -3. My guess is that these are related to the fret positions and fretting fingers, but what is the system used here?

(Don't know why the IMG tags don't work with a Dropbox hosted file. Well, clicking the link works! )

The circled numbers are string numbers, and the extended brackets mean to stay on those strings throughout (rather than moving to the 3rd and 4th strings at some point, then to the 2nd and 3rd, staying more or less in the same area of the neck, a more usual style of play). The uncircled numbers are right hand finger numbers. A right hand fingering number 0 means to play the open string corresponding to the written pitch. What look like minus signs are "guide finger" indications. They mean to silently slide up the finger already on the string right before plucking the string. The guide finger hyphen is often slanted a little to reflect whether you're sliding up or down (pitch-wise). If you were meant to slide in a way that was audible, a longer bar would have been used between the successive note heads. In other words, the guide finger notation is considered a fingering matter, not a matter of expression.

With standard notation, you're expected to know how individual pitches map to frets; fret numbers aren't specified explicitly. The same pitches may be found on multiple strings, but it's usually pretty obvious which string to use and thus what fret to fret, and when it's not, the annotator will usually specify the string number circled, the new playing position, or the base fret for a full or partial barre chord (as in "B. VI").

The same system works adequately with linear uke tunings, but doesn't work so well for reentrant tunings because the 4th string pitches duplicate pitches also available on the 1st or 2nd strings, creating much ambiguity about which string to use. I resolve this by marking all the 4th string notes explicitly with a small arc by the note heads—a non-standard practice; I may also use circled string numbers for single notes, if it doesn't make the notation too cluttered. This is my only recourse when using GuitarPro, Finale and similar programs, though some programs do allow user-defined symbology. I also mark almost all position shifts explicitly, though in a case like the above I'd think it would hurt more than help. Other arrangers may rarely state positions, relying on pitch ranges, chords or parallel tablature (blech) to make that clear.

ubulele said:

The circled numbers are string numbers, and the extended brackets mean to stay on those strings throughout (rather than moving to the 3rd and 4th strings at some point, then to the 2nd and 3rd, staying more or less in the same area of the neck, a more usual style of play). The uncircled numbers are right hand finger numbers. A right hand fingering number 0 means to play the open string corresponding to the written pitch. What look like minus signs are "guide finger" indications. They mean to silently slide up the finger already on the string right before plucking the string. The guide finger hyphen is often slanted a little to reflect whether you're sliding up or down (pitch-wise). If you were meant to slide in a way that was audible, a longer bar would have been used between the successive note heads. In other words, the guide finger notation is considered a fingering matter, not a matter of expression.

Click to expand...

Thank you, awesome response and much appreciated. I looked at the notation for a good long while and just couldn't figure it out. This is actually good, it forces me to think a bit differently and do better with a mental fingerboard map.

I see Ubulele gave a clear and concise explanation. Meanwhile ,I found this whilst looking....




:wtf:

CeeJay said:

I see Ubulele gave a clear and concise explanation. Meanwhile ,I found this whilst looking....

View attachment 93673


:wtf:

Click to expand...

Can you put this into tabs for me? Thanks. =P