This piece is kicking my butt

[curtisstetka]

I'm playing in this pit orchestra for a show that opens tomorrow. I haven't had any time to practice lately due to work being insane. The last two group practices I just muddled through.

But I really want to nail some of this stuff. Problem is, the composer was a jerk.

He changes key and meter every 3 measures. And he seems to be in love with Gb. For one piece if Gb I found it was impossible to play. I tuned my guitar down a half step and it was easy as pie. Of course, tuning your guitar down in about 40 seconds and then back up after the song is over is a thrill.

Anyway, the piece that's whupping me is in F# Major. However, the part is written as if it's in E major and I'm instructed to put a capo on the 2nd fret. This isn't troublesome when I'm down low and near the capo and can keep my bearings even though the dots are all wrong.

What is difficult is when I have to play up at the 14th and higher frets. I see the stuff that's written but it's really a whole step higher. The tempo is frantic too. This thing is subverting all my training!!!

I think I'm just going to have to write this whole ridiculous thing out in F#. Not happy about that at all but I see no other way. I don't have time to memorize this thing. The rhythm is highly syncopated too. Perhaps the composer just hated his guitarist.

In case anyone cares, the musical is Children of Eden and the piece in question is The Hardest Part of Love

Yeah, I'll give you some hard love, baby...

[Plugger]

What you need is one of these:

It will get you even more noticed in the orchestra pit than your pink kitty-cat strat. Well, not maybe more, but at least in a _better_ way.

We want pics, though.

-Mark

[curtisstetka]

Yeah, I considered bringing another guitar tuned up a step so I could play the piece as written in E.

Well, I practiced it pretty far into the night and made a good amount of progress. Maybe by Saturday's show I'll actually have it. The best way to go is to not look at my fingers at all. I get disoriented when the notation disconnects from where my fingers are. The "feel" of the fingerboard is still throwing me a little but it's not impossible.

[juniorspecial]

See, that's the kind of trouble you get into when you learn to read music!


:rofl

[Plugger]

Yeah, I considered bringing another guitar tuned up a step so I could play the piece as written in E.

Well, I practiced it pretty far into the night and made a good amount of progress. Maybe by Saturday's show I'll actually have it. The best way to go is to not look at my fingers at all. I get disoriented when the notation disconnects from where my fingers are. The "feel" of the fingerboard is still throwing me a little but it's not impossible.

If you are getting the hang of not looking at the fingerboard, maybe you could get by with just one guitar tuned to Eb, and a capo?

Of course, would defeat the earvana upgrade. But, nothings perfect!

BTW, my son's got his grade 8 trumpet exam coming up. He has to be able transpose while sight reading previously unseen pieces. Woodwind and brass players have absolutely no sympathy for guitarists. "Transpose? You mean, like play a fret higher or a fret lower? You call that transposition?"

I _tried_ to explain to him how the dots on the fingerboard are in the wrong position, and can be kinda confusing, but he was unmoved.

I will say there is one instrument I've discovered that is even easier than a guitar for transposition, however. It's my Kawai digital piano. It's got this cool "transpose" button. Play in C, it comes out in Eb, or whatever you want! Finally, after all these years, I can play "Let It Be" in a key I can actually sing!

Who needs the black notes? (Although I still hit them -- accidentally -- from time to time.)

-Mark

[NTBluesGuitar]

Woodwind and brass players have absolutely no sympathy for guitarists. "Transpose? You mean, like play a fret higher or a fret lower? You call that transposition?"

You're right...horn players don't have any sympathy, that's rough stuff. I was a trumpet player for about a dozen years, so I, too, didn't have the sympathy.

A lot of horns are in different keys to begin with. Trumpets and Tenor Saxes are in Bb, Trombones read off Bass Clef, etc. It's one thing to have to be able to read music, but when the conductor calls out, "Okay, Concert Bb major scale" during warmups, we have to know that he means "Trumpet C major scale".

That's one thing, but sight reading AND transposing?! Ouch.

[Alexf]

Kind of a silly solution, but how about adding fret dots with a fine point sharpie. Maybe red ones ?

I've done this and it wipes off of poly without leaving marks.

Like i said, silly solution, but it could help in a pinch.

Good luck at the performance.

Alex

[Wilko]

Horn players play one note at a time. f*ck 'em.

[mmcquain]

Have you asked the conductor if the printed charts you're reading from are in his computer in a program like Finale' - if so, he should be able to have the computer transpose your chart from E to F# and then reprint (just ignore the note that then tells you to capo, etc.)

FWIW - This is a great example of why I prefer the Nashville Numbering System for guitarist chord charts. If you tell me to play the 1, 4, 5, min6, etc. then I can transpose that into any key. You just need to learn the basic scale positions and then move them up and down the neck as needed. I think this also helps develop your ear for hearing what fits and what doesn't.

I just wish I could get our worship leader to use this method for chord charts in praise band since he often will want to change a key in practice to accommodate the singers vocal range. What ends up happening is we pull out the ol' Sharpie marker and do a quick "transpose" writting over the printed chords. Hopefully by Sunday he's reprinted the charts with the correct chords/key. Otherwise we're reading the "Sharpie" chords (the rest of the band even jokes when they see something written on with a black magic marker and calls it "one of Mike's charts" - but they use 'em handwritten like that). Oh well, if we can just get their music theory level up to where they know what is meant by the "minor II 7th" chord (i.e., for those of you who don't know, that would be an F#m7 if you're in the key of E major).