Learning a piece of music

[Classic Banjo]

Hello everybody

Another newbie question. 

I find it hard remembering how to play a piece of music from beginning to end. Frankly, even just remembering the chord accompaniments is a challenge for me.

Can you suggest ways/systems that might achieve this?

Thank you

Eric 

[Trapdoor2]

So Ian, are you planning on setting up the Barriball recordings as a separate part of the "Learn To Play" section? I would hate for this excellent stuff to eventually rotate down into the mire and be lost.

[thereallyniceman]

I have been sitting on these for a while until I could find the best way to use them on site. 

I will make sure that they don't get lost! I only have a couple of full lessons so may add them to "Learn to Play"...  I will have a think :-)

[Trapdoor2]

When I think back on how long I looked at these sheets without understanding the code...it makes me weep. If I had just this first bit of Tom's instruction back in the 1990's...I'd be somebody today! ;-)

[Shawn McSweeny]

Thanks Ian, for posting the Sports Parade lesson Pt 1. Some time ago I surmised that fully notated banjo scores are really just a tablature with dots instead of fret numbers. Tom's effective teaching approach, focusing on the hints and tips, confirms this.

As for the accent, well, not difficult at all, compared  with the elderly Cornish sheep farmer I hitched a ride from many years ago.

Getting back to Eric's original question about remembering a piece, there are already many excellent suggestions here to which I can add only this : we learn and remember through several pathways. Besides reading, listening and playing, try speaking the note and chord names out loud as you play through a piece. With repetition, you may find an improvement in retaining and playing them back . Try writing out the chord changes (one strain at a time) until you can do so from memory.

[Trapdoor2]

LOL, that's because there are only a dozen Classic Banjo players left. All male, unfortunately...we're doomed!
 
Eric Womersley said:

Finally, and as a newbie, I would say that it is a shame there are so few CB tutorial videos available (other than Ian's here on CBN). In comparison, there's loads of stuff out there for Clawhammer & Bluegrass players. It would be great to see that problem addressed.

 

[Steve Harrison]

Hi Eric, after this lengthy exchange of views I bet you're having difficulty knowing if you're punched, bored or countersunk to quote an old engineering expression. One tip that you may find useful is to make full use of your music software to help you with the reading of the notes and the timing.(I have always used Finale but I imagine that most of the others are pretty similar). Enter the  bars you have difficulty with then use a slow playback speed, the software should highlight the notes as they are being played enabling you to see and hear the music....Steve.

[Jody Stecher]

 I have replied between the lines to a few points. My replies are in boldface italics and look like this.

Eric Womersley said:

 I would also add that an inability to sight read at an adequate speed does not mean a lack of theory knowledge.

Exactly so, and not only in your case. I knew theory thoroughly by age 12 but couldn't read a note until my mid 30s.  

The Barribal clip demonstrates the CB chord shape system but I note that, generally, he names the chord.

Yes, this makes the commentary meaningful. 

This is most helpful but is missing from the score except as indicated by the notes

I can't read the notes quick enough and compute the information therein to realise that the G, C & E I am looking at is a C Major (2nd inversion?). Whereas if you ask me to play a C major in the first position or at the 5th fret, I can do that. 

  When getting aquatinted with a piece of music via the score, reading through the whole thing in rhythm right away and up to speed, and trying to "keep up" may not be the best approach. Unless someone is an ace reader and a champion player it is usually more productive to also study one measure at a time. In advance of playing music musically, some study might be helpful.  In advance of actually trying to play a piece of music it is helpful to calmly assess what each measure contains. One thing a measure may contain is a chord indication. Look at the chord shape, play it,  and, taking as much time as necessary , analyze what the chord is. You may not even have to analyze. One reads, plays, hears, and recognizes. Surely you would recognize the C major chord once you play it. It sounds like a C chord, it looks like a C chord, it smells like a C chord, it tastes like a C chord. that's what it is. And every time  you read, or play, or hear that chord from then on, you will recognize it as a C chord, just as you recognize a tea cup or an elephant. 

So I like the shape approach but I also like to understand why the shape is at it is.

as you should. Meaning is….um…. meaningful. 

Which I think puts me in Steve's camp as regards understanding the notes and Ian's camp using shapes (although I prefer the 4 string chord shapes favoured by the Plectrum Banjo players).

Apples and Oranges. Two different things for two different purposes. The 4 string shapes are for playing rhythm to support horns, and for playing what is called "chord melody" as a soloist. One of the 4 strings is playing the melody note and the other 3 strings are playing harmonic support. The 3 string shapes are used in finger style banjo because they contain (most of ) the needed melody notes. Often they are used for arpeggiated passages followed by the fifth string , often as a triplet followed by the fifth string. Fretting an unplayed string is maybe not the most efficient approach, but if you prefer to add the bass string to the conventional 3 string chord shapes of classical banjo, go right ahead. 

[Donna Stewart]

Jody Stecher said:

When getting aquatinted with a piece of music via the score...

Is this one of those curious new "lifestyle" trends unique to California banjoists?  How might I become aquatinted by my scores?  Does it involve accessories? Major sevenths?   Pharmaceuticals?

[Jody Stecher]

The score is the printed page, not a sexual conquest or the acquisition of drugs.  Why the sarcasm?

Donna Stewart said:

Jody Stecher said:

When getting aquatinted with a piece of music via the score...

Is this one of those curious new "lifestyle" trends unique to California banjoists?  How might I become aquatinted by my scores?  Does it involve accessories? Major sevenths?   Pharmaceuticals?

[Donna Stewart]

Not sarcasm, merely a bit of chordial irony.  I fear you were victimized by auto-correct (aquatinted - acquainted), which was spotted by my still-sharp editor's eye.

But now that I have your attention, I must admit to a bit of confusion over the description of four-fingered chord shapes versus three-fingered chord shapes.  I find that playing chord melody on guitar or banjo often calls for three-note chord shapes, requiring a deft hand with the plectrum to avoid unwanted notes. 

The problem vanishes with fingerstyle playing, which returns us to the discussion at hand.

Jody Stecher said:

The score is the printed page, not a sexual conquest or the acquisition of drugs.  Why the sarcasm?

Donna Stewart said:

Jody Stecher said:

When getting aquatinted with a piece of music via the score...

Is this one of those curious new "lifestyle" trends unique to California banjoists?  How might I become aquatinted by my scores?  Does it involve accessories? Major sevenths?   Pharmaceuticals?

[carrie horgan]

Hello Eric - like Ian I try and memorise the tune, just referring to the tab/score when I am learning.  My main approach is a) to have the tune in my head. I listen to audio recordings of the tune so I know how it should sound.  I use slow-downer software to play along (I use something ancient called 'Best Practice' which was a freebie download.  It slows the music down without changing the pitch)  b) take one or two bars at a time.  I learn a couple of bars and then sleep on it.  I repeat this the next day and just keep repeating until I have it memorised and can play without looking at the page.  I 'link' the different sections, starting at an earlier bar so I am repeating all the time.  I make inching progress until I can remember the whole thing!  

Then, when I have learned it, I promptly move onto the next piece, thereby forgetting everything and having to go back to the tab/score again to refresh my memory!   

I have thought about sticking to a 'repertoire' of tunes - learning them really well (including the second parts) - but then, I keep being lured in by another tune that catches my fancy.  The darn things.

[Trapdoor2]

I think Jody has misplaced his rose-tinted glasses. Aqua appears to be a bad color for him today. ;-)

4-note chords: frankly, I don't think there should be more fingers required than notes. ;-)

I have trouble recognizing chords that aren't stacked neatly. Eventually it dawns on me that a particular position is in effect but I don't seem to be able to 'see' that in the heat of battle, um, whilst aquatinting myself with the score (snork!). I'm not talking about TAB, I'm talking about in prep for producing TAB. I gotta be able to read the dots to do that...

I get better at it as I get acquainted...but then a few days go by and I start another piece. Lost again! 

 

 
Donna Stewart said:

Not sarcasm, merely a bit of chordial irony.  I fear you were victimized by auto-correct (aquatinted - acquainted), which was spotted by my still-sharp editor's eye.

But now that I have your attention, I must admit to a bit of confusion over the description of four-fingered chord shapes versus three-fingered chord shapes.  I find that playing chord melody on guitar or banjo often calls for three-note chord shapes, requiring a deft hand with the plectrum to avoid unwanted notes. 

The problem vanishes with fingerstyle playing, which returns us to the discussion at hand.

Jody Stecher said:

The score is the printed page, not a sexual conquest or the acquisition of drugs.  Why the sarcasm?

Donna Stewart said:

Jody Stecher said:

When getting aquatinted with a piece of music via the score...

Is this one of those curious new "lifestyle" trends unique to California banjoists?  How might I become aquatinted by my scores?  Does it involve accessories? Major sevenths?   Pharmaceuticals?