Basic Music Theory: How to Read, Write, and Understand Written Music

Basic Music Theory

some more until you find an easy tempo. Play 5-10 times correctly

before going on.

2 Click up to the next fastest tempo. One click only. The clicks may not

sound any faster, but when you play the passage you’ll notice the

difference. Play at this tempo until it’s easy. Play 5-10 times perfectly.

3 Click up to the next fastest tempo. One click only. Play the section

several times at the new tempo. It may take more repetitions to get the

passage perfect. Keep at it. If it’s too hard at the new tempo, go back

one click until it’s perfect again. Play 5-10 times perfectly.

4 Continue with this process until the correct tempo of the song is

reached. This may take several days, weeks or months.

Remember, you’re in this for the long haul. Don’t bash your head against
something for too long. If you become very frustrated or discouraged, go
back to a slower tempo and play it a few times correctly before you quit.

The first song I learned on guitar was much too difficult for my abilities
and I probably shouldn’t have chosen it, but I did. At first, the song was
so incredibly slow it was unrecognizable. It took about three or four days
(of two hours a day) to get each 4-measure passage up to a decent speed.
Using the metronome as mentioned above, I learned the song, but it took
me six months.

You may not be so foolish as to choose such a hard piece at first, but if
you do, using the metronome works very, very well. Try it. Play with it.
Come up with your own variations. There are no rules.

The Tape Recorder Tells No Lies

I got my first stereo when I was eleven. It had a tape deck with a

microphone attachment. During my enforced practice sessions, I came

up with a plan to get away with not practicing. I’d record something on

the tape deck, then turn up the volume and play it back, sometimes twice.

That way everyone in the house would think I was still playing. Ha!

That’ll show them, I must have thought. I’m not actually practicing.

But I was. Listening to yourself play an instrument on a recording is a lot

like listening to your voice on a recording. It doesn’t sound anything like

what you thought it sounded like. Every little wobble and flub and