Seasonal Sight Reading Challenge

Jim Yates said:

What measure should I look to find these harmonic and melodic runs.

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Hi,

No specific measures; but the harmonic and melodic minor scales have notes that are sharpened. For example, in this thread's C-minor vs Eb-major example, if the B note is not a Bb, there's a chance of minor scale. In general, as @riprock already mentioned, the music can readily identify major vs minor (which can be reflected by the chords and tonic usages), but there are other methods as well.

ripock said:

It is useful. I don't have a problem with sight reading per se. I can immediately see what notes the staff says I need to play. The problem is in deciding how to implement it. It is a bit frustrating because with other instruments, there is no thought involved. The key is most definitely to do it frequently because I fancy that all these options are illusive. Probably in practice there are go-to frets that any experienced player goes to. In short, I need to stop talking about it and start doing it more.

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Repetition definitely was the key for me. And yes, you will eventually discover the go-to frets that work best for you. When playing a song, I find it helpful to not overthink the situation. If you know of an alternate location for a particular pitch, and it happens to be physically close to where your fingers are located on the fingerboard when you need that pitch, then just go for it. Discovering that it was an inefficient choice for that particular measure in the music is just as important as finding out that it worked well. The more hands-on knowledge we acquire, the wiser (and quicker) our decision-making process becomes.