notes vs. patterns

[bleedingskeptic]

this is mainly a question to guitarists/bassists. can any of you actually read music and play it? do you actually know where each note is on the neck? or do you only know the patterns that scales follow when given a certain key signature?

i'm learning how to read and recognize music on my guitar, and its a pain in the ass. i taught myslef alot of the patterns for scales starting at different spots and string on the neck, but putting notes in my head while i play them is almost re-learning the guitar. i always play in the right key when using the patterns, i just don't always think of all the notes. but when i play my saxophone i do think of the notes as i play them, like a conditioned response.

whatever, its just an interesting question.

 

[Obyeybyeogone]

I think of the tab number when I play it

 

[Chromatose]

bleedingskeptic, its the exact same way with me. When I play my sax, I think of the notes as I play them, but guitar.. thats just completely different. I guess theoretically I could read music and play it on my guitar as I'm reading, because I know where all the notes are on the neck.. its just there's so many options on where to go for each note, I would play soooo slowly! lol

I just learn all the patterns for various scales/modes and just go from there on whatever key i feel like playing in at the time. Of course I wish I could just play guitar in same 'think of note and play it' conditioned response as on my sax, but I don't feel like putting in anywhere near that much time or effort, but I bet I would be an incredible player if I did!

but really, I don't plan on playing my guitar in any situations where I'd have to read music, so patterns are good enough for me

I just remembered a Steve Vai interview I once read, but can't seem to find it anywhere at the moment. Anyway one of the things Vai mentioned was how he spent a long time (a semester or two at school maybe?) trying to learn to sight read on guitar, and while he probably got pretty good at it, eventually he realized it was something guitarists just weren't meant to do and gave it up

 

[Kushantaiidan]

agreed.. compare to piano and saxaphone... GUITAR MAKES NO SENSE!!!!

i can't play it for shit.. and I can't remember where any of the notes are.

 

[yourdeadgroom]

I'm the same, but in reverse. I read music easily, I know all the positions up to about the 10th (that is, asif the neck began at the 10th fret) just by looking, it's easy enough to figure out anything higher though. When I made the move to electric guitar, and improvising, I tried to learn scale patterns, but I found it all just too hard, having to adjust to thinking in numbers rather than notes. So now I do neither, I think about what note I want to play next, and I just play it (I tend to think more in terms of intervals now, I can judge the relative distance between the note I'm playing and the note I want). This approach isn't too good if you want to shred, but I'm more interested in melody, so it works fine. And the occassional wrong note is not always a bad thing, keeps things interesting.

Remember: "once is a mistake, twice is jazz"

 

[lumen]

sometimes patterns, sometimes notes, and a lot by feel (last also goes for piano - my fingers remember where they're supposed to go)