I know this was a joke and I had the seasonal chuckle, but I have a serious question appertaining to this issue. The ukulele is my first stringed instrument and I have some difficulty in sight reading with it because stringed instruments have several options when it comes to a note. For example, on the flute a C is a C. There is one way to play it. On the ukulele you can use the open C string or the fifth fret of the G (if you have low G strings). Does anyone have any insight or input on how to sight read with a stringed instrument?
This was also my first fretted instrument (came from piano) and had the same question. I found different folks handle it differently. Sam Muir will put a position number (in Roman numeral) when it's not 1st position, but most (like James Hill) say there are times when looking at the tab is the easiest way to solve this. I tried hiding the tab on sites that allowed that and just using the treble clef. I gave up on that and added the tabs back in. These days I try using the standard notation but find I always fall back in reading the tabs in any complicated passage. I'm guessing some of what you're doing may not have tabs, so perhaps Sam Muir's approach would be the best.
This was also my first fretted instrument (came from piano) and had the same question. I found different folks handle it differently. Sam Muir will put a position number (in Roman numeral) when it's not 1st position, but most (like James Hill) say there are times when looking at the tab is the easiest way to solve this. I tried hiding the tab on sites that allowed that and just using the treble clef. I gave up on that and added the tabs back in. These days I try using the standard notation but find I always fall back in reading the tabs in any complicated passage. I'm guessing some of what you're doing may not have tabs, so perhaps Sam Muir's approach would be the best.
I know this was a joke and I had the seasonal chuckle, but I have a serious question appertaining to this issue. The ukulele is my first stringed instrument and I have some difficulty in sight reading with it because stringed instruments have several options when it comes to a note. For example, on the flute a C is a C. There is one way to play it. On the ukulele you can use the open C string or the fifth fret of the G (if you have low G strings). Does anyone have any insight or input on how to sight read with a stringed instrument?
Hmmm. What I get from that (and this is me and not Ed1) is there is no sight reading with fretted instruments. Since every note has two or three options, it is all about arrangement. And one cannot arrange without thought; it is pre-meditated. The choice you make in reference to which fret you use for a certain note is predicated on what comes afterward and what came beforehand.
I am obviously overstating the case a bit. For example I purchased the sheet music for "Gloomy Sunday." It had three flats and was obviously in C minor. I "arranged" it to start on the C which is on the 5th fret of the G string. After that assumption, everything flowed from there as the song progressed in an Aiolian mode outward and onward from the C. However I had to choose which C4 to use as the basis of the song. All the ensuing fret choices were a result of that first arranged choice. So it isn't a lost cause; you can "sight read" with 80% efficacy after you've made some executive decisions as to root notes and other considerations. But sight reading isn't as straight forward as it is on piano or other orchestral instruments.
I find it works better in the key of Eb.
I'll think about it. Obviously Eb is the relative major of C minor and they have the same notes. I naturally assumed it was the minor key because of the lugubrious theme of the song and because I tend to favor the minor sound. But I'll try to look at it as Eb major and see how that affects my understanding.
BTW, I've played the guitar for 2 years using just the staff notation (this was because I took guitar classes at a university). The recommendation I can give you (if you want to sight read with only the staff notation) is to practice the scales, practice the scale, and practice the scales. With the scales down, you can easily translate staff notes into notes on the strings.
Thanks for sharing your experience. That sounds like something right up my alley. Because of my history with music, tablature is very unappealing. Now I at least have a confirmed path to pursue.
Another way of figuring minor/major is the minor scale changes with harmonic and melodic runs. Just find those, and you can see what the intentions are. Intentions is useful if the key changes in the music.
I mentioned what helped me to translate staff to strings. I had to use only staff because the professor only taught in staff and all the books only had staff notations. Note that I didn't say staff is the best notation for uke.
At first, I didn't like tabs because I've been playing piano for years before learning guitar. Plus off the negatives of music without staff as I mentioned; also tabs assumes you've tuned a certain way, so it felt restrictive. In fact, I never learned tabs until just a few years ago; but now, I realized that tabs isn't bad at all when it comes to the uke; if it is printed along with staff, then I get the best of both worlds.
By John Cage, of course!
John Colter
I know this was a joke and I had the seasonal chuckle, but I have a serious question appertaining to this issue. The ukulele is my first stringed instrument and I have some difficulty in sight reading with it because stringed instruments have several options when it comes to a note. For example, on the flute a C is a C. There is one way to play it. On the ukulele you can use the open C string or the fifth fret of the G (if you have low G strings). Does anyone have any insight or input on how to sight read with a stringed instrument?
Don’t know if any of this helps you, Ripock, as you already seem to be quite familiar with your uke’s fingerboard. But thought I’d put it out there anyway, in case another reader finds it useful.