Any tips for learning to read music?

[usc96]

Anyone have any tips for learning to read music? I'm not sure how helpful knowing how to read music is now that we have tabs, but it seems like a good thing to know.

I figure the first step is to memorize the notes on the scale so they are instantly identified and seeing them as a letter and not a dot becomes second nature (memorization has never been difficult for me, so this will probably work for me).

Second would be to know where each of the notes appear on the neck of the guitar.

Third would be to put the two together.

What am I missing?

Side question, should I focus solely or primarily on the treble clef (maybe middle c and up to F and above), or should I include the bass clef notes in my initial learning?

Thanks.

[Don]

Lessons and practice.

[usc96]

Lessons and practice.

Coincidentally, that's what got me interested. I bought Mel Bay's "Children's Guitar Method 1" for my 6 year old, and it made reading music look doable.

[Mesotech]

Focus on both staffs. Middle C is at the 5th string 1st fret, everything below that is Bass Clef.

Tricks:

Apply some analogies to the notes to help remember where they are on the staff. Beginning on the lowest line of the Bass Clef and working up, each line is;
Bass Clef
(G)ood
(B)oys
(D)o
(F)ine
(A)lways

The line between Clefs is "B"
(C)ause

Treble Clef
(E)very
(G)ood
(B)oy
(D)oes
(F)ine

Use the same for the spaces between the lines on both Clef's. Working from the bottom up again.
Bass Clef spaces:
(A)ll
(C)ows
(E)at
(G)rass

Treble Clef spaces spell the word 'face'
F
A
C
E

Now that you know the lines and spaces for both Clef's, and know where Middle C is on the fretboard, you can work the frets on each string like a number line to figure out where all of the notes live.

Hope this helps

[usc96]

Someone sent me to this link which sure looks helpful.

http://www.visualguitar.com/

[Kap'n]

Focus on both staffs. Middle C is at the 5th string 1st fret, everything below that is Bass Clef.

That'd be second string, first fret. Guitar strings are traditionally numbered high to low.

1. E
2. B
3. G
4. D
5. A
6. E

[Mesotech]

That'd be second string, first fret. Guitar strings are traditionally numbered high to low.

1. E
2. B
3. G
4. D
5. A
6. E

Yeah, what he ^ said.

[ric480]

Or 3rd string 5th fret, or 4th string 10th fret or ...

[Don]

Focus on both staffs. Middle C is at the 5th string 1st fret, everything below that is Bass Clef.

This is not entirely true.

Not everything below middle C is bass clef. The full bass range of a 6 string guitar is covered within the treble clef with a few ledger lines.

Don't worry about the bass cleff when learning to play guitar. You might need it later for bass or piano but you won't need it for guitar.

Find a good teacher and take at least a few lessons to get you started.

[Kap'n]

IIRC, a lot of guitar music is written treble clef only, with a notation "play an octave above what's written."

Not that I spend much time with sheet music.

[Mesotech]

Kap'n, that's because most people are taught Treble Clef in grade school and can still remember it. While it may not be puritanically correct to write that way, it accomplishes the job. Technically there's nothing wrong with it, but it can make things a bit confusing.

The 22 fret guitar is just shy of a 4 octave instrument (not counting string bends). The range extends from the E below G on the Bass Clef to the third D above Middle C on the Treble Clef. So it fully spans both Clef's and extends beyond each.

E__________
C__________
A__________
F__________T
D__________R C
B__________E L
G__________B E
E__________L F
C__________
A__________B
F__________A C
D__________S L
B__________S E
G__________  F
E__________

____________________________________________

E__________
D   1 string 22 fret
C__________
B
A__________
G
F__________
E  1 string 12 fret
D__________
C
B__________
A
G__________
F
E__________ 1 string open
D
C__________ (middle C)
B   2 string open
A__________
G    3 string open
F__________
E
D__________4 string open
C
B__________
A    5 string open
G__________  
F
E__________6 string open

[Gravity Jim]

Try this:

You CAN Read Music

Very helpful, as it comes with an audio CD for ear training.

[YaReMi]

IIRC, a lot of guitar music is written treble clef only, with a notation "play an octave above what's written."

Not that I spend much time with sheet music.

I would say "play an octave below" (the notes should sound an octave lower than they are written) and that all guitar music is written using only the treble clef. Some publishers used to put number 8 under the treble clef when music was written for guitar but that's not being followed anymore.