Jasmine To
I have guitars acoustic and electric my mom bought me a Taylor swift fearless guitar book and I love taylor swift but I don't know how to read it. Help!
Answer
Sounds like you need some basic guitar notation help!
Guitar music can be written in one of three ways. Typical music notation; which looks like the typical music for any instrument (five lines, a clef at the beginning, and notes written n locations on those lines), chords, or more commonly as tablature. Since it is a guitar book, it probably includes all three, but just in case it doesn't I will include the basics of reading each of these notations.
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Tablature, or tabs, is the most common way guitar music is written, and usually it looks something like this:
---------------------------------------
---------------------------------------
---------------5-7p5-----------------
---------------5-------7-7-5b7h0--
-------5--7---------------------------
-5--8---------------------------------
This notation is the easiest to read. There are six lines running horizontally across the page, with numbers and letters in a pattern on those lines. Each line represents a string, with the bottom being the low E, and the top being the high E. The numbers represent which fret on those strings to play. The letters represent techniques to apply to the note. For example, 7p5 means 7th fret, then a pull off into the 5th fret. P usually means pull-off, H usually means hammer-on, and B-usually indicates a bend. Notes in a perfect vertical line with each other are played at the same time, for example if there is a 7 on the fifth string and a 5 on the 6th string directly above it on the tablature, play these strings at the same time. The drawback to tablature is that it does not tell you the rhythm or speed at which to play notes, just the sequence in which they occur.
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Regular music notation is slightly harder to read, but more universal to other instruments and more detailed in describing rhythm and speed.
Music notation is rather complicated, and since I do not have infinite space on a Yahoo! answers page, I will send you to a link that describes the basics of reading regular music notation. This is a great site that I actually used as a resource when I taught guitar. Once you learn this, I will describe how it applies to guitar.
http://datadragon.com/education/reading/
As you may have noticed, because music notation is universal between instruments, it does not tell you anything that directly relates to guitar. It simply tells you what note (A, A#, Cb, etc.), and how long to play that note for. To apply this to guitar, it is simple.
The guitar only operates on the Treble Clef. No need to worry about the Bass Clef at all. It is good to know if you plan to learn other instruments, but for now you can disregard it.
Each fret on the guitar is a half step apart. That is to say, if the fifth fret on the first string is A, the one above it will be A#, and above that will be B. Remember though, there is no such note as B# or E#. Just skip directly ahead to C and F.
Playing each string open generates the root note for that string. The Open low E string (6th string), is E. The next string above that is A. Next is D, then G, then B, then E.
REMEMBER: THE LOWEST STRING ON A GUITAR IS THE 6th STRING, AND THE HIGHEST IS THE 1st.
An easy way to remember the notes of the strings is:
Eddie (E) 6
Ate (A) 5
Dynamite, (D) 4
Good (G) 3
Bye (B) 2
Eddie (E) 1
By logic, we can deduce that the first fret on the lowest string would then be F, that the fifth fret on the 5th string would be D, and that the first fret on the 4th string would be D#.
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Finally, chords are the sequence of combinations of musical notes you can play behind a song to sing along with it. Each chord has a name, which may look like any of the following:
A, Bb, Csus2, Dm, Fdim, F#maj
Chords are based on a single note, such as A, C, or D#. Other notes that harmonize with that note are played along with this note to make it sound fuller. As a hint, chords with the word major after their note are considered the basic form of that chord, and are usually indicated by simply the note's name (A, D#, etc.), although they are often referred to as the note's name followed by "maj", such as Amaj or F#maj. Extra letters after the name of the chord (D, A, etc.) indicate that it is a special kind of chord that uses a different type of pattern than the basic chord. Here is a link where you can learn some simple chords. As you progress, you will learn more chords.
http://www.guitar-players-toolbox.com/basic-guitar-chord-charts.html
In your book, chords will most likely be written above the other forms of notation. Play the chord indicated when you reach the part of the song in the musical notation directly beneath it.
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Hopefully this basic overview of musical notation for guitars will help you in your learning. Good luck learning those songs! If you have any more questions, leave a comment and I will be happy to help clear things up for you.
Happy Learning,
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