Music Scores - Wrong for centuries or am i wrong?

[username]

I'm fairly new to playing and i always had one major mental block that has held me back when learning a new song. However, overnight i hit upon a solution that means i can speedily get the correct rhythm down even if a tune has a lot of changes in it.

The problem was caused by the way music has been written for centuries .

If you can picture a simple segment such as four quarter notes with the with the bar across the top of them, followed by a whole note and repeated several times. I would find myself automatically hesitating before the whole note. I would play 1234 pause 1 pause, instead of 12345 pause.

If i laboriously rewrite a score to play 12345 pause (with the bar across all five notes then a space) etc i will play it perfect and without hesitation anywhere. One additional thing i've noted is that whilst most music is written 4/4 and other even variants the lengths of groups of quarter or eight notes don't as 'i'd' expect consist of bursts of 4, 6 8, instead it'd 3, 5, 7, 9 etc.

So, am i musically dyslexic when it comes to reading scores or just plain odd ;D

[dnic]

Music? I only use charts. If I try to count it's all over.

dane

[username]

If any moderators are about, is it possible to move this thread to the 'Play Guitar' section. I accidentally placed it here when returning from logging in.

[shattered]

To answer your question - if the notation as you describe it is correct, you are playing it incorrectly. By pausing, you are inserting a rest between the quarter notes and the whole note when none exists.

If you can write using some sort of notation that makes sense to you, then why not use it?
Brian May once described a crazy system that Freddie Mercury used to write music for Queen, that made sense to pretty much nobody else.

[username]

I wasn't posing a question at the start of my post (the one i did pose is was i odd lol).

I was pointing out that i do indeed 'incorrectly' tend to insert a pause when reading a music score in the situations mentioned.

Glad to hear your comment on the lines of if a method works for you then use it. It's just annoying that i have to rewrite scores because i can't rid myself of not being to sight read correctly.

Thanks to the mods for moving the post to it's proper section.

[Deleted]

Was taught to site read a long time ago. But now I find myself playing the music and only using the charts as a reference point. Or for that odd cord I can't figure out. So I guess you can say I play what I hear or by ear. Hummm. maybe that's why my ear hurts... HA! HA!

[irishrover]

i never could read music so im not a bit of help. lol i learn new stuff with my eyes and ears

[Mach Twang]

fastest way to get me to stop playing is to put sheet music in front of me...

[shattered]

Apr 1, 2009 20:08:27 GMT -6 Mach Twang said:

fastest way to get me to stop playing is to put sheet music in front of me...

Yeah, that works for me, too, as my college band director eventually discovered. Not too many marching band songs with guitar arrangements, so I usually got the low brass score...I'll never forget the time he plopped a harp part in front of me. I'm talking St. Peter-at-the-pearly-gates harp, not a blues harp. I never knew you could fit so many glissandos on one piece of paper.

[Deleted]

Well, for me I am glad I learn how to read music from an early age. I tried out for a band at 15 and got the job because out of 250 people I was the only one that could read the charts and play the music. But at the same time I could also play by ear.
I remember on time playing with some guys in a garage band and this guy who thought he was a lead guitar player got mad at me because I could play what he was doing on the guitar. He turned his back on me and told me now try this and he did this riff and I copied him note for note. He got so mad he through his guitar in the case a left. He was like 19 and I was 15. I could not at that time figure out why he got so mad at me.