reading music

Am I the only one being driven batty by not having the music written out. I am learning Sloop John B. from the book Ukulele Fretboard Roadmaps. It is an easy song but I am listening over and over to the little 20 second tape of it and trying to figure out where the measures begin and end and it appears that the chord changes are in the middle of the measures and how in the heck is someone suppose know that and play music without that information? Particularly since he has you strumming a variation and not just a simple 1 2 3 4 . Am I lacking in creativity? I just don't feel expereinced enough or know the songs well enough to play without showing me the melody notes/measures/note values. So what's up with so much of the music for the uke only showing the words to a song and the chords. If you don't know the tune of the song you are SOL or if like me you can't sing well with out the notes I just start singing the chords. I need those notes. AHHHHHHHHH

Rox

Well that was easy, I just downloaded the music with words for piano with guitar chords.

Rox

You are definitely NOT the only one. My brain just doesn't put things together that fast. I have to "work it out" slowly, and that usually requires seeing some type of printout.

My guess is that it's probably because the uke is sort of a "folk" instrument, and comes from a folk music tradition where the primary means of communicating songs is aural, not written. The expectation, therefore, is that you learn songs the old-fashioned way... by hearing them.

The other factor is that it's just plain easier to give just the lyrics and the chords. You don't need special notation software or anything. You can type it up in Word, or post it right on a forum post.

Of course, not everybody learns best that way. But I think it's always a good idea to cultivate the "other" way of learning a bit. If you've always read music, it really will benefit you to try to learn some songs without reading. Conversely, the folks who have always learned aurally would benefit from working on their reading chops.

JJ

If you're just learning chords for a song, I do believe that's beneficial to figure out the chord changes by ear, not just read a pattern written down in a book. After all, who cares if a chord changes in the middle of a measure (what is a measure, anyway? ), when you just feel the exact moment for a change, without even thinking about it? It might be a pain at the beginning, but it pays off. Just read the chords that are used in a song, put the book away and try to figure out the changes yourself; soon your musical intuition will improve.

I find just the opposite to be true.

When faced with traditional sheet music containing standard musical notation I'm lost. I don't understand the structure or the symbols or the nomenclature. Seeing the notes on a staff does not translate into music (or anything else) for me. I can never tell when I'm expected to go back to the beginning (or elsewhere) in the music to proceed. Very, very confusing for me.

Granted, I need to know the melody to use chord and lyric sheets. But, I can't imagine why I would want to play a song I didn't know....

I like sheet music too.

I learned how to read music in the last 2 years and its only been with uke that it seems I can follow the sheet music. It seems in sheet music, I will find little secrets to the music and its the best "goto" source for the final call on the song.

I do find errrors in sheet music tho. And that is when knowing a song or seeing it on youtube helps.

Lots of people think reading tabs or chord progressions give you the song and all you need to know is tab. I think knowing how to read music is a tremendous help.

Now I'm learning how to transpose guitar riffs to uke. out of necessity.

I have printed out tons of songs with chords and words... I have some issues, I can not can not sing! I like to sing, but I don't like to hear myself sing so I don't! I have tried and tried and none of the songs I have tried to play that way are anything but sounding like the songs.
The other issue is just frustration of seeing you tube videos is I can't stand hearing, I just got my uke two hours ago, or yesterday and here's my first song.. ARGH! I do know enough about written music, how long to hold the note, rests etc... that if I have written music I do much better.
I love Lil Rev's easy songs for ukulele because it's all playing notes (tabs and music) with the chords above, I still haven't figured out how to strum the chords best, but I will get there. It feels good to flip to just about any song in that book and play it somewhat recognizable...
I haven't gotten to sloop John B. yet in the fretmaps book... still strumming with Walk this way.
Good luck and keep it up. I guess I shouldn't be hard on myself, I have only been playing for 4 weeks. In the matter of fact, my kids are off to bed, husband at a meeting, it seems like a great time to pull out the uke!

SuzukHammer said:

Lots of people think reading tabs or chord progressions give you the song and all you need to know is tab. I think knowing how to read music is a tremendous help.

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I agree. My background is as a classical guitarist, and I do know how to read music. But since the tuning is different and re-entrant was foreign to me, I learned to play uke with tab. But I really dislike plain text tabs because they don't give you anything but fingering. If you don't already know the tune, you really have no clue how to play it.

I much prefer a tab line under standard notation. I can read the notes and hear it in my head, then play it from the tab.

Hey thanks everyone, I really enjoyed reading everyone's replys. I too am just 5 weeks into this and want to be so much further ahead then I am. Patience has never been one of my virtues

Rox

Ahh... that patience thing, I must have been standing in the wrong line when that was handed out. For I have none either! I want to rock that uke, however, I am barely keeping my head above water in bootcamp. I am loving it though... it is so happy!

I think Fitncrafty mentioned she couldn't sing.

Here's a couple of notes from my experience. I too have been arrested several times for being tone deaf. I have been incarcerated for singing the wrong words for decades too.

WHile learning harmonica, a teacher once said you need to be able to sing the song and that will make you play the tune on your harmonica. Well, if anybody has tried to sing a song in the harmonica, you know it can't be done. You have to know it in your head; so, you need to know the notes and mimic the notes by singing or "in your head". Once you do that, the music is easier to make.

I went to a James Hill concert and workshop and he said the uke can be used as a training for singing. He feels anybody can sing but it takes effort and its not a gft. TUne the uke, play the notes and mimic the notes with your mouth. I tried it. Its working. And it feels great.

By doing these things, I find that I can correct my fingering on the fly. When I miss a note, I correct it "by ear"

So, I'm not just learning uke, I use uke to learn to sing songs, once i learn the song better, I play the song on the uke better.

Strumming. That is still a mystery to me; but I make it fun. I make up my own personal strums. It may not be right but its my rhythm and its natural.

I have a funny aside...'course, to keep it on topic, I ended up with an accordion some 15 years ago and my dad taught me to read music over the phone. I hate doing it, but I can. Probably a great way to learn just enough theory to be dangerous, but that is all so dry when all you want to do is play.
Now on to the funny. My wife and I took up the Uke about 4 weeks ago. She has always known the words to every song I could throw at her (and my collection is over 80,000) but was tone deaf like nobodies business. It was actually comical to hear her sing (and she knows I feel that way).
Well, after playing the Uke a bit (a little bit) I played a tune we are working on and she started singing...
Guess what, she found the notes! Crazy, she can sing on key (if it is a key I have taught her to play) now.
Not sure what I am going to laugh about anymore (sigh)- probably choose the fact that our house is quickly being over-run by tiny little guitars

overrun by tiny guitars is right. haha.

I got a room that is like a doughnut shop and the tiny guitars are policemen.

My training over many years has been to read music notation, and tabs are very difficult for me. So I have made the effort to learn the fretboard notes and find it much easier to play from note notation than tabs. It also opens the door to many more songs available in notation than tabs. It is definitely a bit more difficult to learn the music note scores in the beginning, but as to timing, flats, sharps, etc. it becomes much easier to interpet a song and get the chord changes right. Just my experience. Lozark

Reading music makes you a better musician. That doesn't mean you can't be a great musician and not read music, I'm just saying the mastery of reading can make you a better player at any level.

That being said, when I first picked up guitar years ago I played a lot of songs that I had never heard. After a while, I finally got to listen to the song and found out I had it completely wrong. If I had the actual music rather than just a chord symbol and some lyrics, I would have been able to play the song right from the start.

There has been a similar discussion at www.jazzguitar.be/forum. There are some passionate view points on the relevance of reading music to playing and making music. I stand by what I typed above. Learn it an you will never regret it.

~DB

Feeling a glimmer of hope after your posts SuzukHammer and TCK! Maybe just maybe I will be able to play and sing!... and I do need to be patient, I have only been at it for 4 weeks!

I am having some of the same struggles - I can not sing. I know what some songs are supposed to sound like but I have a very difficult time trying to make my strumming not sound so bland/boring and actually have a little rythym to it. I am having fun but like others - I want to rock the uke right now. I feel I do not have any natural talent so every small step is a tremendous amount of work. Like some others have said it is frustrating watching some videos of people pick up the uke for the first time and play it like they have been playing for years.

I rarely can make a song sound like it is supposed to on the first try and sometimes it takes a week or so to find the right strum or speed.
This includes songs with full music sheets.

That's why I won't spend much time on it. I'll find a passage that works and practice that then I'll TRy a new passage but once I stall, I move onto another song or technique.

I don't know how it works, but it works. Because everytime I come back, I seem to progress and I have about 15 songs as irons in the fire - learning them.

If I tried to learn one song at a time, I'd be frustrated and perhaps would get fed up with a lack of progress. I don't know why juggling so many songs helps but it does.

One thing that helped me was I went to a James Hill workshop and he showed us how to play his song called Capital Blues. He basically explained it and had a class of 40 playing that song in about 10 minutes, then he showed us how the music sheet looked. If he had shown that music sheet first, most persons would have thought it was too difficult. I looked at the sheet and asked myself, "I played that?". That helped to relieve some of that fear of reading music. It goes back to if you have the music sheet and you know how it sounds, then it is easier. Don't fear the music sheet.

oh, and if you think the music sheet is wrong. Mark it. You may be right. There is lots of errata in life.

It keeps everything fresh.

SuzukHammer said:

oh, and if you think the music sheet is wrong. Mark it. You may be right. There is lots of errata in life.

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I had a music teacher that said we weren't preparing to play music correctly if we could still read the original score through our markings. He was so adament about it that he would not let you play if you didn't have a pencil with you (sharpened, of course).

~DB