Post by anothercup on Mar 20, 2018 8:07:10 GMT
Hello.
I would like to talk for a moment about how I use sight-transposition in alternate tunings. This may not be interesting to anyone, but it's a shot it the dark to see if anyone else is thinking like me.
I use quite a few non-standard tunings.
The first step in learning each is a hunt for:
+boom-chick or a "built in rhythmic device"
+chords built on moveable thirds
+using harp-arpeggios to recreate major and minor scales (where open strings are used almost whenever afforded for a note, but each note in happens on a separate string, do the scales may be fingered as "chords," in order to maximize sustain)
I always fool around in this stage for a while, try to recreate the songs I already know in chord melodies etc. But the next stage is reading, and this is what I want to talk about.
I'm just fine reading lead sheets and guitar music. I'm not the fastest on the block, but I'm not shabby.
Over time, I have stopped thinking about the key of each tuning or the notes and I think of all of them in sort of a "solfege." C major looks the same as Bb major as anything else.
So when I read a lead sheet, say for "Autumn Leaves," in G, I just assume the key of my instrument is G an move on. The practical result is that I can, say in Open D, pick up a lead sheet in any key and begin sight reading it D without needing to transpose. I'm thinking of my tuning as an open major chord of no particular origin. I find this considerably easier than trying to "sight transpose" the notes on the paper.
Even in standard tuning, putting a song from a difficult key into an easier key, I believe many people get caught up trying to work out the notes visually on the staff. Or re-writing. These are fine things to do, and I struggle trying this myself. But on the guitar, we are blessed with many options for changing the way we interact with our instrument. I've found it easier to pretend my instrument is already in the key of the song, and sight-reading with transposition presents no problem.
I'm coming to the conclusion that the more I distance myself from understanding music in a visual sense (by ignoring the key of my instrument) and the more I distance myself from understanding music in a tactile sense (by changing tunings often enough that I may not rely on "shapes" and muscle memory), the more I come to understand my playing on an intuitive level.
I've seen my transcribing chops really take off in the last six months. There's much work to come, and it probably doesn't sound like much at the moment. But this is the academic musician in me finally letting go and trusting myself to play by ear. It's funny how understanding intervals and theory on paper had fooled me into thinking I understood them practically for so many years.
Obviously, real transposition is still a valuable skill.
I use Open D - DADF#AD - to play in A Major and A Minor quite a lot more often than I use it to play in D.
This is because
-the proper harmonic choices are not always obvious; the 4 chord is huge, giving me a built in plagal cadence;
-the string intervals still favor strong harmonic movement in A major and minor (dorian);
-the open strings still favor A major and minor scales to be run in the harp-arpeggio style I mentioned;
-the natural harmonics offer you a great plagal cadence etc etc,
-and it keeps me away from the very obvious choices of vestapol tuning (vestapol itself, every blood on the tracks song, the same blackbird style chords everyone uses in altered tunings).
So a combination of both types of transposition are always valuable. Especially, I've found with DADGAD where it's comfortable playing in C, F, Bb, and D.
Thoughts, feedback and criticism encouraged
Best,
-a
I would like to talk for a moment about how I use sight-transposition in alternate tunings. This may not be interesting to anyone, but it's a shot it the dark to see if anyone else is thinking like me.
I use quite a few non-standard tunings.
The first step in learning each is a hunt for:
+boom-chick or a "built in rhythmic device"
+chords built on moveable thirds
+using harp-arpeggios to recreate major and minor scales (where open strings are used almost whenever afforded for a note, but each note in happens on a separate string, do the scales may be fingered as "chords," in order to maximize sustain)
I always fool around in this stage for a while, try to recreate the songs I already know in chord melodies etc. But the next stage is reading, and this is what I want to talk about.
I'm just fine reading lead sheets and guitar music. I'm not the fastest on the block, but I'm not shabby.
Over time, I have stopped thinking about the key of each tuning or the notes and I think of all of them in sort of a "solfege." C major looks the same as Bb major as anything else.
So when I read a lead sheet, say for "Autumn Leaves," in G, I just assume the key of my instrument is G an move on. The practical result is that I can, say in Open D, pick up a lead sheet in any key and begin sight reading it D without needing to transpose. I'm thinking of my tuning as an open major chord of no particular origin. I find this considerably easier than trying to "sight transpose" the notes on the paper.
Even in standard tuning, putting a song from a difficult key into an easier key, I believe many people get caught up trying to work out the notes visually on the staff. Or re-writing. These are fine things to do, and I struggle trying this myself. But on the guitar, we are blessed with many options for changing the way we interact with our instrument. I've found it easier to pretend my instrument is already in the key of the song, and sight-reading with transposition presents no problem.
I'm coming to the conclusion that the more I distance myself from understanding music in a visual sense (by ignoring the key of my instrument) and the more I distance myself from understanding music in a tactile sense (by changing tunings often enough that I may not rely on "shapes" and muscle memory), the more I come to understand my playing on an intuitive level.
I've seen my transcribing chops really take off in the last six months. There's much work to come, and it probably doesn't sound like much at the moment. But this is the academic musician in me finally letting go and trusting myself to play by ear. It's funny how understanding intervals and theory on paper had fooled me into thinking I understood them practically for so many years.
Obviously, real transposition is still a valuable skill.
I use Open D - DADF#AD - to play in A Major and A Minor quite a lot more often than I use it to play in D.
This is because
-the proper harmonic choices are not always obvious; the 4 chord is huge, giving me a built in plagal cadence;
-the string intervals still favor strong harmonic movement in A major and minor (dorian);
-the open strings still favor A major and minor scales to be run in the harp-arpeggio style I mentioned;
-the natural harmonics offer you a great plagal cadence etc etc,
-and it keeps me away from the very obvious choices of vestapol tuning (vestapol itself, every blood on the tracks song, the same blackbird style chords everyone uses in altered tunings).
So a combination of both types of transposition are always valuable. Especially, I've found with DADGAD where it's comfortable playing in C, F, Bb, and D.
Thoughts, feedback and criticism encouraged
Best,
-a