Is Reading Music Important For Learning For Jazz?
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- Опубликовано: 2 июн 2024
- Many Famous Jazz Guitarists couldn't read music, but do you need to learn and how will reading guitar sheet music help you?
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Content:
00:00 Intro
00:25 Be Careful With Advice From Anecdotes
00:55 Joe Pass Was Not Reading Tabs
01:25 It Is So Difficult!
06:10 NOT sight-reading!
07:41 There Are Chunks In My Music
08:48 You don't have to learn to read music
10:29 It Needs To Get Into Your Ear
10:45 The 5 Solos That Will Teach You Jazz Guitar
10:55 Like the video? Check out my Patreon page!
My name is Jens Larsen, Danish Jazz Guitarist, and Educator. The videos on this channel will help you explore and enjoy Jazz. Some of it is how to play jazz guitar, but other videos are more on Music Theory like Jazz Chords or advice on how to practice and learn Jazz, on guitar or any other instrument.
The videos are mostly jazz guitar lessons, but also music theory, analysis of songs and videos on jazz guitars.
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I wish I had learned to read music when I was starting out. Looking back on my history as a musician, I think I focused too much on the wrong things. Now, it's less about speed and technique and impressing my friends, and more about melodic improvisation and playing changes. Instead of memorizing pentatonic patterns, I think I would have focused on fretboard knowledge, arpeggios and reading. This channel has really helped me move in the direction I want to go. I am not necessarily trying to become a bebop player, but the jazz concepts you portray in your videos have helped me become a much better musician. This is one of the best guitar channels on YT.
When I taught guitarists at Seattle University, I met a lot of guitarists players who could not read, and that held them back. I had to teach them how to read quickly and at a decent level so they could get the most out of their music classes. I still hear from those students from time to time, and they thank me for teaching them to read because it opened a lot of doors for them. (Teaching guitarists to read is not an easy job!) Helping guitarists gain solid reading skills is still a cornerstone of my teaching practice, and I use "The Guitar Lesson Companion, Volume One" because it's built for students who are taking lessons and it's got plenty of good sounding exercises to actually work. Thanks for all you do here, it's much appreciated!
Great that you have helped them to learn 🙂 I really appreciate the compliment from a colleague!
I’ve met a lot of classical players whose dependency on reading has crippled their ear and improvisation skills.
@@G_Demolished Oh no, that's rough! It sounds like you and I both agree that there are many areas that are helpful for guitarists to study. Side note: I went out with a violin player once and my first question was, "Do you know how to improvise?" The reply was priceless, " Yes. Do you know how to read?" They are still my friend. :)
Reading music also allows you to discover beautiful songs you've never heard. This element of surprise is a source of great delight.
It worked for Wes Montgomery.
Therefore, it will work for me.
There’s some rock-solid logic right there.
Go for it 😁
An old Irish fiddler once told my brother, "If you're going to learn a tune, learn the whole tune, otherwise you will end up with lots of bits of tunes. " One place he was sure of getting the whole tune was in the notation. Thanks, Jens. Slán!
Thanks Austin!
I have acquired some basic reading in the last 6 months. It doesn’t improve me in a musical sense, but it does improve analysis of songs. You see melodic patterns and rhythm a lot clearer. This in combination with tabs is awesome. Tabs alone don’t cut it. Standard notation alone frustrates me as well as I’m still slow and is often very complex to translate to guitar as opposed to piano. Both is perfect.
When you’re beginning to play reading helps you learn the fretboard and some simple pieces to play. Later, it lets you tap into so much musical knowledge that it’s indispensable unless you’re a genius like some of our jazz heroes
An aspiring professional musician needs as many tools as possible. Reading music is one of those tools. As far as singing along with scales, an excellent idea! What I have done in the past is play a major scale from the tonic, while singing it from the third, which is a natural harmony. With a little practice, one can do this from a fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and even a second. Obviously some of those sound a bit weird, but it does teach your ear what the different intervals sound like. Also helps if you're ever asked to sing harmony. Anyhow, another great lesson from you Jens. I have learned a lot from watching your videos, and I thank you for the effort you put into it.
I think of music in standard notation as an instrument which you play in your mind not restricted by physical or technical limitations. it depends on how well you can hear it in your head. I have to hear it before I can play it. Also think of a conductor of an ensemble, he must hear the music in order to tell if the musicians are playing it properly but can't perform the piece on his own.
Reading groups of notes/words is called "chunking" and it's part of why standard notation works so well.
Indeed!
I played with Joe Pass one time. He recommended that I sing every note that I play. I took his advice. I also taught a student that was good friends with Wes Montgomery. Wes advised him that if he ever learned to play guitar that you should learn to read music. He told his friend that being in a recording session with everyone in the studio being able to read music at a professional level but him was a very intimidating experience.
Super cool stories, David! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Not only Joe Pass recommended singing the melody lines. Herb Ellis as well. Wes also said he "heard the lines in his mind" just before he played them. I think this is how we can sing a phrase of songs we know well unless tone deaf. Connect your "inner mind's ear" with your instrument. A very practical way to learn repertoire is to record yourself playing solo guitar accompaniment while singing the melody. Then, rehearse playing the solo melody line over your "backing track". Or record George Benson style vocal scatting, then learn your improvised lines.
Most people are not musical geniuses like Pass and Wes. For most people if they couldn't read or understand music theory they wouldn't have a chance. I played with Pass once. He was a very generous man.. at least with me. He didn't need to read music he could play everything. He played ever tune and the changes ever every pieces chart a chart.
Joe pass knew Music theory very well so did Wes and the both worked their asses of
Just to say if you have played for six months and you not killing it you might need to hit the wood shed a lot harder. The fact the some genius did need it doesn't mean just any one meaning "you" can just ski[p it.
The story is I picked him up for the gig at a local college ... he looked and my bag and saw the metronome and said you should loose the thing. He looked and the book of chars and said we did read every one just knew the music. I said don;t worry Joe I can't read a lick I just carry it around to make the band director comfortable.
I've actually seen comments from guitarists bragging they can't read music, saying it would suck the life out of their playing. I'll never understand that attitude.
Yes, that attitude is indeed pretty odd.
Recognised that first bit of music from Joe Pass's book. He calls this piece Modern Blues and it's a melody for Bird Blues or Blues for Alice with alterations/extensions. I was able to read it easily, because I already know it ;-)
Reading music by itself without a musical instrument, is generally much easier than actually sight reading something, because you're only doing one thing, instead of doing two things simultaneously. I'm not very good at sight reading, so I generally whistle or hum a written melody first then try and play it on guitar...
Joe Pass: "got tabs?"!!!!🤣😂🤣😂🤣
Joke of the day award goes to Jen's! 👏👏👏👏👏
Thank you 🙂
Actually, Joe Pass could read music. when I was first In college studying guitar performance, my guitar teacher from the USAF Band in Washington, DC was good friends with Joe, Joe would stay at his house when in town on tour. We had a master class a couple of times with Joe and got to meet him and talk/play in person. One of the things that Joe said he did every day when he was learning was the Mel Bay Books. He would start at the beginning of Book 1 every day, and progress through wherever he was at that point. eventually he was wherever he was-he did all of them-I can't remember if there are 8 or10, or maybe 12, but it would be HOURS of doing that before he even started "playing" every day. In other words, if he was in book 8, page 37, he would still start at page 1 of Book 1 every day, and play every exercise and every piece in every book sequentially, until he got to where he left off the day before, and then start learning and practicing that. AFTER he did all that, he was working on music/tunes, etc. So this is something I heard directly from Joe himself. So not only could he read music, at one point in his practicing he was doing it for hours every day. Cheers!
Some of this could boil down to how I learned guitar, but I find a tablature line beneath the staff to be an enormous help when having to sight-read complex music on guitar. Of course it is of little value when having to analyze a tune or improvise a solo. Throw in the fact that a lot of the scores out there really don't seem to have guitarists in mind and it seems like being a guitarist requires a lot of on-the-spot arranging that other instrumentalists aren't burdened with.
I have found that learning by ear with the sheet music in front of me helps with my sight reading... One supporting the other in a sense..... Great video as always....
I'm a guitar player, but I played saxophone all through elementary and high school. Although I really don't play sax much anymore, I will say that I have never felt as comfortable reading for guitar as I have for saxophone. I could more or less be on autopilot mode if I was playing something not too hard, but with guitar I find I always have to be really focused.
Same here. The annoying thing about guitar for me (as oposed to clarinet) is the more accidentals in the key signature, the harder it gets on guitar.
I just stared to learn sight-reading few months ago. It was actually easier than I thought, and I have a lot of fun doing it. I think it is a lot easier for me to connect my fretboard to the actual note I was playing while I was sight-reading. I felt like I am no longer playing patterns but actually notes
I learned to read music early on. It was like learning to read my spoken language - very useful. Did it make me a great orator or singer - no. The same is true for drawing and painting. You can read all the books you like about cooking, but will it make you a great Chef? This it true for most activities, including music. Learning by reading about things and learning by doing things are vastly different. "Doing" is essential, and "reading" is helpful. Innate talent can be nurtured or quashed by learning how other people do and think about things. Going down the same well-worn path used by others will usually lead to the same destination. If music is about discovery, it helps to be a rebel.
Most people learn their native tongue before learning to read, however, learning to read... and then reading a lot really improves their vocabulary. I guess one could have interesting conversations without ever having learned to read, but it would be a lot less rich, less articulate. I'm sure it is possible to create art with a small vocabulary, but common sense dictates that the results will be limited by the breadth and depth of the artist's resources -- and reading opens up an enormous vista of possibilities.
Not really
I think that being able to read is essential if you want to play jazz at a decent level, while being able to sight-read can be optional. However, as a pro, sight-reading opens up many more possibilities in terms of work.
Being able to read in not essential to play Jazz at a decent level. The examples given should prove that to you however.......being able to read makes it a lot easier to play at a high level. Not very many people have the ability to immediately play things strictly by ear like Joe Pass. Gary Burton has a video where he talks about the fact that Stan Gaetz did not read music or know any music theory but his ear was incredable.
@@nyobunknown6983 Well, I think we need to be realistic here. If you hope to learn jazz without knowing how to read and write music (which isn’t the same as being able to sight-read), your chances to become a good jazz musician are extremely low, so yes, it is essential.
Joe Pass, Stan Getz or Chet Baker were not ordinary people.
@@novembrinewaltz90 You don't get the point. If you say essential it means the same as it's impossible to become a good Jazz musician without the ability to read sheet music. I will add that the number of good jazz musicians that could not read goes far, far beyond those mentioned.
@@nyobunknown6983 Essential doesn’t mean that… But ok, if you say so.
In my experience I’ve never ever met a jazz musician who’s not able to read music. And I can’t even imagine the level of experience I reached if I were not able to understand the basics of music such as notes, rhythm, intervals, chords, scales, etc.
So, my opinion is based on my experience, nothing more.
@@novembrinewaltz90 You can understand the basics of notes, rhythm, intervals, chords scales, modes and everything else without being able to read. I've been a musician for over 50 years and have a high level of music theory knowledge yet I can't read. How? I know it all by ear. I think people who learned through reading music don't fully comprehend what is possible with an outstanding ability to learn by ear.
The constant images cracking me up are just wonderful. Thank you
Thank you! Glad you like it 🙂
Production level is Oscar worthy. Great lesson!
Glad you think so! 😁
Spot on … I concur (for what it’s worth) When you look at the tabs you don’t get musical information.
Reading to hear the note.This is such an amazing insight. Great video. I really like the Joe Pass bit near the beginning, "Got Tabs," haha. If my coffee was ready yet, I might have spit it up.
That saint pass image is becoming my wallpaper rn🤩
Haha... man you've become so funny. I remember so many years back that I would be the person to say all this to you in the comments. The things you said in the intro. Ah... you've really opened my eyes. You're great. Thanks for doing all the things you do. I greatly appreciate it.
Thanks! 🙂
@@JensLarsen No man. Thank you. The fact that you reply to all my comments all the way from when you were so small to now is like something else. It's like having the best jazz guitar teacher on the internet to tutor me personally. Thanks a lot.
Nicely said. I believe that everything in life is better with balance. To me, reading music is a valuable component of guitar playing and surely enhances my musical pleasure. As you nicely point out, reading also enhances communication in several ways and therefore allows a deeper connection to both the music and other musicians.
Total agreement. I’m glad I learned to play by ear but learning to read music was wonderful
Superb as always 😎
Great video, been watching your channel on and off for years. I like some of these new edits, kind of meme-esque and it was funny, but also so just very clearly communicated. I think it's great that you're trying to nip some of these bad habits + bad excuses in the butt, I have heard them countless times...
I've even been demeaned because my approach to learning new stuff was often through a book (theory), and other people learn "naturally" (so they are better and more creative, and I am a robot).
I hope more people will want to learn theory, but from taking classes with aspiring musicians, I think there's a long way to go. I remember a guy forgot his capo, so he couldn't play his simple triad chord progression... Learning 1 position for each chord and then being satisfied... Oh well he's playing concerts and touring now as a singer and guitar player. I hope he learned.
Excellent points raised here. Thanks
Glad you like it 🙂
Wow just loved your video editing style now.. so up to date! Great job larsen!🔥👍👍👍
Thank you 🙂
People don't have to read if they don't want to. That's their business. I wanted to read. That took me to five years of Classical Guitar (to Grade 5), a BA(Mus) Degree, a DipEd (Double Music Method), (some) Berklee Jazz Training, Writing, Producing and Recording all instrument parts on four CDs of my own compositions, having six ex students who themselves became teachers or professional players and more. I could write an essay on the benefits of Reading. It made a huge difference to me. I'm glad I read. I'm still a very boring sight reader but if I take it slow, I can read and write most Music. For people who don't like what I say here - that's ok. Re read my first two sentences. Good luck and best wishes kev 💚✌
Exactly! :)
I agree with you wholeheartedly re. I would not put reading at the top of the list and I also with everything else you say. Too much technique kills music when it replaces feeling. By the way, I play the piano but I taught myself to play some guitar by ear (as a teenager). I love all your videos and appreciate your tutorials with your brilliant points of views on music, musicality, what is is and what it isn´t. You are always absolutely spot on! Thank you very much.
Great video and advice! Absolutely agree! Thanks!
Thank you, Felix!
Mr. Larson, how have you been? I've seen quite a few of your "shorts" videos. Always enlightening. I just wanted to say thank you for sharing your knowledge and passion for jazz guitar. Lastly, the Neopolitan video, I watched it yesterday. Thoroughly enjoyed it 👌! Thanks again. Be well. Respectfully, Doug Piper.
Glad you like the videos, Doug 🙂
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and wisdom.
My pleasure!
Muzak is ambiguous, but i learned theory and it opened up a beautiful magical world of color
Hi Jens. Just dropping a comment in the hope you see it and get some encouragement, especially in the future because I know there are times when we need some affirmation (and I don’t mean the excellent George Benson tune). I was trained in jazz guitar before deciding to become a classroom teacher. I’ve been a high school music teacher for 19 years in South Australia but it’s been 13 years since I’ve played in a band. I’ve found that over the time away from playing in bands, focusing on the huge work load of being a teacher (as well as a father and husband) I lost a lot of passion for playing and even listening to jazz especially in the last 9-10 years. Your channel with I discovered a few months ago has not only clearly and concisely revised ideas I used to use and understand but also introduce some new ideas or give a slant on an old idea that I knew. I’ve now found myself motivated and inspired to play/practice challenging material again in the first time in years. Maybe it’s because like you I grew up playing contemporary rock music during my teens during the ‘90s and had a strong affinity for the blues. I know my love, interest and research for players like SRV let me to Grant Green and Kenny Burrell led me to Scofield, Miles, Coltrane, Frisell, etc. Thank you, Jens. Your videos are inspirational, informative, well timed, well balanced and impressively (considering English isn’t your first language) fantastically explained in very clear language that any native English speaker would be highly enviable of. I salute you sir.
Great advise. I completely agree with you.
Glad it was helpful!
Another great video. Wish I had these videos when I was a kid. Thanks Jens!
Glad you like them, Greg! 🙂
Good lesson Jens. Been practicing my reading again these last months, the struggle is real...
Thanks Dan! Hope you are well! I am sure it can't be that much of a struggle for you 🙂
Note score with guitar pro with keyboard visual.. Thats my choice
Thank you sir, i love your vids,
Chet Atkins often said "I read a little music, but not enough to hurt my playing". The is social lubricant to make ear players around him more comfortable. You could thoughtfully make the same statement about Back, Beethoven, Chopin, Segovia, or any other player that reads. They all read, but not enough to hurt their playing.
In learning, one thing leads to another. In it's simplest definition music is just a graph, and an elementary student can read a graph. The staff and ledger lines are precision indexes to identify the specific note you need to play. I believe you can learn to read music the same way we learned to read language. By writing. Jot down a simple melody and let a friend play it. then let him jot down a tune and you play it.
Having said all of that, in 60 years of playing with groups only a handful of players read music. They all played quite well. But when I was fourteen a song writer brought us some songs in the form of lead sheets. For the band to learn the songs I had to read them, play them, while they listened and learned them by ear.
Another important benefit is "ideas". If you can read you can pick up a songbook, some Bach, maybe you like the Eagles or classical music. If you can read the ideas from the composer are available to you, even if they are hundreds of years old. If you've never heard or played them before those ideas are yours. The composers left them for you to read.
I really dislike tabs especially when they are just numbers on a grid without any bars ,time, signatures or rhythmic clue but due to the nature of the guitar fretboard they do help if they are well made and discretely placed under the proper music notation.
great advice! Love the new blue background.
Thank you! Actually I just hadn't put up the guitars in the new studio yet, so it will change over the next weeks 🙂
Great video Jens, I think reading music is a must if for no other reason to have the ability to understand why it works the way it does. Key signatures are a must to know where to begin and not just play notes to try to find the key. Thx for the lesson
Thanks James!
Great topic Jens and a timely one for me. I've really improved by reading through the Rhythm Changes études in Joe Pass Guitar Style. I read through them without the guitar, naming the notes and imagining the sound as I go
That's the way to go :)
I grew up in the era of the Beatles and like them I had no music education basically because in inner city Liverpool just after the war no one had money for music lessons. The Beatles got on a tram to north Liverpool to learn Ab from some dude who knew that chord. Over the years I some how taught myself to read the music for Guitar Bass and keyboard. I dont read the dots I just read the printed chords such as Eb or Gm and thats more than enough for me to play any tune on Guitar Bass or Keyboard. I dont do Jazz noodling but I can play Jazz chord arrangements. Learn the music as it cuts down on rehearsal time it took a lot of time for me to learn every chord for guitar and keyboard but now its just no effort I am still learning the bass and its still gives me a lot of enjoyment. I remember a time that if you could read music that would automatically disbar you from joining a band as the general consensus was you would have no originality. Happy days learn music it is a big help,
I just tried to play along to "Wisdom Eye" by Alice Coltrane and now this video, after a few months break, I'm hyped up to learn to play music again!
I hope I integrate all those things into my daily routine.
Hey Jens, as in many other of your videos a nice to watch great help for finding my individual tools for making jazz guitar music! In addition I like your thoughts about that there is not ONE way to do this but that everyone has to find out his best working ressourses. Best wishes from Michael (taking a break for some weeks during my holiday far from my home in Berlin without having a guitar with me)
I had a teacher tell me that I'll eventually use everything I learn. He's right.
It's my understanding that Wes learned how to play guitar in about 10 years, so he must've known how to "read" music in a form that most will never know.
There's also a myth that being addicted to heroin and living a dysfunctional life will give you a deep understanding of improvisation. Sadly too many have bought into it. Thank you for the video Jens.
Amazing vídeo, the most honest youtuber i watched. Also i agree with the conclusion, sight reading is not the most important thing in being a jazz musician. But it is definetly a Must for any session musician
Thank you! :)
Thanks to you. (I only teach my youngers guitar students music notation on this topic. There is no need to hire a teacher to teach you tabs (ear training is necesary for any musician)
Great insights!
Thank you!, Adam! :)
as they used to say on TV: reading is fun to mental.
😂
We don't read letters we read words... Wonderful analogy, nice piece...! B-)
Thank you Donald!
Lars you are great. Thank you
Glad it is useful!
Jens, I’m glad you brought this up because I agree with you 100% but this has always been a sore spot with me people want to remain totally ignorant and think that all they have to do is rely on their ears but that’s certainly not the case and you are right there’s too much extremism And no middle ground in the thought process the other thing I’d like to note is that it aggravates the piss out of me how the Aebersold books write out jazz music which is one of the reasons why it took me so long to get off the ground with it.
Tabs have opened up so much music to be easily played by guitarists They have brought enormous joy to thousands of guitarists. I find reading guitar notation just doesn't come naturally, easily the way tabs do. With tabs I've been able to play Bach suites- pretty much to sight read them. This world of immense satisfaction would have been closed to me if they had only been available in standard notation as they largely were when I began playing in the 70s. Despite teacher after teacher seemingly trying to shame me in this regard- I bless tabs every day of my guitar-playing life.
I agree with you. If paired with notation above the tabs, I think they are great. Tabs have been in existence before our standard music notation and they give critical information about an instrument with a unique organization of notes (the guitar.)
Super Jens! Too often people are bogged down with notation vs tabs vs ear. This is much better.
Exactly! 🙂
Notation AND Ear (Training) opens many doors. People can do both. There's no law against it. I personally never liked tab.
I think it is a very interesting conversation. I think learning to comprehend music notation, tabs, rhythms, and of the like can make you versatile for sure. Never knew that people like Gunthrie and Wes didn't read music all that much, very interesting.
Thanks! I think you might have gotten something wrong in the intro? 🙂
@@JensLarsen Ah!😃
Wes Montgomery was a car factory worker went out and bought an amp and expensive guitar on HP/Hire Purchase. After work he would listen to jazz records and basically played what he heard. The brightest flame burns the shortest time. RIP a true genius.
I love that you like reading music! Growing up I HAD to read music and hated it..now I almost rely on it to a fault.I just like trying to experience everything music has to offer and pick and choose my favorites which Im guessing,will define me as a player? As old as I am I should be defined by now.
You know it's going to be a great video when Uncle Pecos is in the intro.
Great, great video
Glad you like it 🙂
Excelente 👏 👏 👏
Glad you like it!
I couldn't agree more ;-)
Love your videos
Thank you Chris!
Great lesson Jens. I struggle with jazz solos. I used to learn rock solos a little but don't much anymore. However, older Beatles melodies are fun to learn. I learned Day tripper easily and do enjoy some of well construct older rock. But I have trouble with Grant Green. I have part of Ease Back down. He uses minor pentatonic scales over 9th chords. If you have any help I would appreciate it. Thanks
Just keep at it, it will come :)
I know he wasn't a guitar player, but apparently Franz List could sight read 'touplets within touplets', the like of which would have scared Frank Zappa. I'm not the best reader, but I've always found it useful. The more you learn, the more you know. Hopefully..
A quick google shows that George Benson, Pat Metheny, Tal farlow, Grant Green and Django Reinhardt apparently also don't (or didn't) read music. However, Charlie Christian, Charlie Byrd, Jim Hall, Bucky Pizzarelli and Kenny Burrell do (or did). Kenny Burrell actually completed a music and composition degree in his 20's and subsequently became professor of jazz at UCLA. For me it shortcuts learning time. I also think TAB is a useful adjunct for learning to read music, not an alternative, because it shows you which positions to choose, thus helping you learn the fretboard faster. The trick is to read TAB and score simultaneously. I think what most amateur players underestimate is the time input require to gain mastery of an instrument. Segovia retired from touring at age 73 to have a rest - then continued to practise for six hours a day. 30 minutes a day won't cut it.
Great shirt.
Wow, very great, useful lesson! Also, I have a great sense of humor..that was cartoon Crambone in there! Everyone wants to be Wes, Jens..without putting in years of practice🤣 I believe guitarist that watch u are learning & it's easy for us to get confused, thank you for not going to deep that we don't understand it & get frustrated. U always have beneficial content. Don't stop!👏👏👏 We must drink with Jens!🍺🍺🍺🤣😅👍
Reading and hearing are complementary things,in my case reading helps me a lot for writing music but each person has a different working process
awesome!
Glad you think so!
@5:09 Charlie Parker's solo on his and Miles Davis' rendition of Dizzy Gillespie's A Night in Tunisia. If you listen to Gang Starr you already heard the bass line on "Word's that i Manifest"
Im classically trained and I ran into the same challenge, so i explored every aspect of our 6 string instrument and found that a classic guitar, an acoustic guitar and an electric guitar need to be approached differently
Main reason for me to learn the notes is understanding better what im playing, basically the modes and being able to alter chords quicker etc. Sightreading is way down that road
I'm kind of nerdier than most beginners in a sense that I'm interested in understanding all the theories and learning to be able to describe the notes I hear in my head in terms of chords and scales, but I've always been intimidated by the fact that with guitars I can play the same notes in multiple positions, and the idea that I should learn how to use the entirety of the neck.
I'm working on blindly following (as in practicing a page or two of) the modern method for guitar these days; I'm only 30 or so pages in but I'm already much better at reading than I ever was in my previous guitar playing.
Oh. I need a poster of that.
Another thing that can help musicians now is listening to a song on RUclips or wherever before playing it. Also, RUclips can let you slowing down videos which might help some people too.
Certainly! :)
35 years ago I read what Joe said about players with ears like mine but I ignored his advice to put the guitar down. Wes then Joe were my greatest inspirations
Best channel on the internet 😎
Thanks Christian!
I'm an older learner , it's my nature that I have to learn music theory . I came from 47 years in the trades , we have our language . Music has it's language , i started with group singing and could slide by with sight reading . But once I began to learn to to play that's a whole different game for me . Joe Pass and others have a gift I will never have. So I've just taken a long time to say some have a great gift others have to work through it . For me , wish I started earlier it's become a true joy .
YES
Guitar was my first instrument and I do not have perfect pitch so learning music theory and notation was the only way to make sense of it all. My ear is okay, but I definitely don’t rely on it 100%
When I improvise on a song I anticipate what the note on the next string below or above is going to be. I never memorized every note on the board or memorized any modes.
Joe Pass could read music , just not very well according to him. He was the guitarist on the Merv Griffin show for a few years so he probably read good enough to hang on to that gig. I like your videos. Good solid info. Thanks a bunch and I look forward to the next one
That could be, but he did talk about how he had to work through all the arrangements before rehearsal with the pianist because he couldn't read them and that is also the reason I always heard that he had someone else write his books (and notate his solos). There are very different stories on this out there.
@@JensLarsen This isn't really all that important. I love the info you are presenting. I own a guitar player magazine issue from 1976 where he says in the interview that his reading ability is fair to poor.
@@MrMewsique It also might be worth noting that for Joe and the musicians he regularly played with, "fair to poor" *might* mean something entirely different than it would for others. In any case Joe's perception and description of his reading appears to be directly in line with Jens point.
@@MikeO-dr7hn Thank you, I got the point. I wasn't trying to "one up" You'll notice we had a friendly exchange
hahaha " got tabs ?" your best joke ever.
Glad you like that one :)
Nice one, hahaha
I think I may be guilty of superficiality with regards to iReal pro. Lesson learned 😎
Saint Pass! 😆 so it is true;)
If you have to set up an X>4 ensembles... and you got/wrote the charts, + musicians that can read their parts (+ improvise over those when/where it would be required ) ... You will spend less time in rehearsals and 'talking about 'what to play ...
The rehearsals become just a musical situation for refining the interplay and non-written subtleties ...
Inclusive, if the readers know between themselves, you can go directly to the gig with no rehearsals involved ... just sharing doubts about the papers at the sound check ( if there are doubts ) ... take notes , check sound and try to make it happen at the show with flow ( if it comes ) and spontaneity ...
It becomes a musical adventure ...
If the musicians can not read ...
All that - previously exposed - 'way of being' becomes something non-existent...
... and the way of being for nonreaders becomes something a bit more complicated ...
... a lot of talks, lot of rehearsals, lot of opinions about what they talk about the what they believe they are listening, lot of 'deals to make' , ego issues, superstitions, visual dependence, etc etc etc ...
It becomes , a 'repetitive mechanical activity', a thing for 'square actors' doing the same stuff that they rehearsed, again and again and again ... more 'acting' involved, instead of performing 'live music' ...
Readers tend to know pretty well what it is 'to be on the same page'
... Inclusive, when/where there are no pages ...
hey Jens, you talk me through the chord jam....and that is why I love you (fake internet love). I dig those Gypsy Jams...You know...those jams when they play the hell out of that damn guitar....instead of the opposite...when the guitar plays the human... Us Folk dig them Gypsi chord jams....LET THE JAZZ FOLK PLAY THEM JAMS...Jens Larson
And intervals, ive had many students who do not know a min 2nd or aug4th/dim5th, or half dim and full dim
In trying to learn reading I'm now thoroughly down the rabbit hole of trying to learn piano! There may be only one of each note, but efficiently getting to them... For me, man it's hard work! And using both hands at once. 😮 😳 Loving every minute though!
Hand independence, bass clef, multiple simultaneous notes, large intervals. Some of the problems I wrestle with as a saxophonist learning piano. At least I already read treble clef pretty well.
@@rongibbs390 👍🏼
great video and advice! Reading and theory are tools, if you are like me I need to develop these tools and they need to be sharp because I am not nearly as talented as Joe Pass, that has been my path
Thank you! It is indeed about where you are at if you are trying to improve! :)
Very interesting. I've played guitar for decades, however I began learning jazz about 15 years ago. As I progressed, I found the need to read music, particularly to learn solos. It's tedious but essential and still I have a quite decent ear. But to get it right, I think you must read...unless you're Joe Pass, RIP.
In Jazz you shouldn't "learn" solos. You should make up your own.
@@nyobunknown6983 you don't "learn solos" as an end in itself but to assemble a library of licks in your mind which you will eventually use to "make up your own solos".
@@AlDunbar Of course you are right. Learning solos is merely a learning tool like practicing modes/scales.