# So you think you can sightread?



## Merlin (Feb 23, 2009)

I’m working on this passage in a big band chart right now. Quite possibly one of the toughest lines I’ve seen for guitar in a jazz arrangement.


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

I did in high school - 4 years, alto sax. Couldn't do it now to save my life.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Yeah, I can read it, but I prefer fewer accidentals. It would be slow the first few times but between repetition, familiarization, and my mind's eye mental tab, I'd get it. At a glance, most of it can be played within one position. It's easier to teach this stuff than to play it sometimes...LOL!


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## Guest (Sep 18, 2018)

Robert1950 said:


> I did in high school - 4 years, alto sax. Couldn't do it now to save my life.


Same here, on Tenor.
Never could transpose to guitar though.
Played guitar in the high school stage band and thankfully the band leader wrote the chords at the top of each bar.
I just felt my way through it all and managed to pass the course with a B+.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

I cant sightread much now and couldnt in high school either.

Good thing I can learn by ear!


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

Yup. Not a fan of "flat keys", and too many accidentals! The triplet in bar 135 would give me a bit of grief too. It would definitely take me some time!


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## Guitar101 (Jan 19, 2011)

I'd just copy it into Sonar (which would take awhile) and get it to play it.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

This was a good thread to start Merlin. Part of me envies your talent and opportunity and part of me feels safer at home. 

Here are a few pointers I remind students with regularly. What to look for when you see a piece of music that looks more like a dog's breakfast than something you can whistle while walking down the street. I haven't played this yet so this is pretty general.

1) Before all else, time signature, tempo, rhythm. 

2) Lowest and highest notes. Are they reachable in one position? Will you need to look for the occasional alternate fingering?

3) Are notes more than a second apart? Intervals of a third or more will often dictate arpeggios, sweeps, successive notes on different strings, rather than single string runs.

4) Successive accidentals may mean to simply play the series of notes a fret lower or higher than written as if there's been a position shift, eg measure 131, second beat.

5) Confused with timing? Write it in, ie 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &. Sometimes counting forwards from the barline is fine, but if you're running out of beats or have too many, count backwards from the next barline and you should meet in the middle with the correct count.

6) Start slowly, no matter what the sheet music instructs. Slow and smooth is ALWAYS better than fast and sloppy. Besides, you can't play something cleanly to tempo without first playing it slowly. Look for places where you can take a breath and glance ahead.

7) It doesn't hurt to tab it. Tabbing standard notation is akin to practicing without your instrument, aids in familiarization and memorization, and allows you to visualize your technique and fingering. Include the timing in your tab and make the tab spaced the same as the original...modern software generally spaces notes as if to reflect their length. Look for things that repeat and take care to tab them alike, don't make it harder than necessary.

8) Double stops (dyads) are easier on neighbouring strings, so some note location stuff may need considering, especially with a flatpick, but be prepared to fingerpick or hybrid pick them if there is a string or strings between. A strummed dyad needs to by struck fast enough to fool the ear into believing they're struck at the same time and arriving at the eardrum at the same time, otherwise they're a note with a preceding grace note.

9) Those pesky rests inside of triplets are easier to physically play with a pickstroke that doesn't contact the string. It's okay to count rests as well as notes with your pickstroke. But consider this: sometimes a rest doesn't always mean silence and sometimes a sustained previous note is forgiven in the interests of legato. Sometimes a rest just means it was easier to notate a rest than a tie...and easier to count. Don't be overly concerned with stopping a note unless instructed otherwise.


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## Distortion (Sep 16, 2015)

All I can say is glad there is tab out there. Picking through a Van Halen solo ( Panama ) in Key of E. You should see how the tapping is put on the staff. I would never figure it out with out the tab.


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