SeSSion diary All Fine, In Theory
Session ace Adam Goldsmith discusses how much theory you actually need under your belt to be a pro guitarist...
The question I probably get asked more than any other about making your living playing guitar is: ‘How much theory and sight reading is necessary?’
For this month’s column I’d like to talk to you about this thorny (and let’s face it, sometimes boring) subject. Before we move on to the actual subject itself, though, I’d like (with your permission) to address a common misconception surrounding musicians and theory.There is sometimes an unpleasant attitude I’ve occasionally encountered, which asserts that if you are sight-reading and employing your knowledge of theory then this compromises your‘feel’.
This, of course, is utter nonsense usually spouted by lazy people who are more concerned with what trainers they are wearing to a pop audition than actually being good at their instrument. Miles Davis was a great sight-reader and so, by all accounts, was Jimi Hendrix. Steve Vai is a theory buff and John Coltrane and Charlie Parker read music. So does Steve Gadd. I could go on, but let’s move on, shall we?
To attempt to respond to the original question, the short answer I’d suggest is‘none at all’.You don’t need to read a note of music to be a fabulous musician and guitar player. Some examples of this would be (as far as I’m aware) The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Again, the list is endless. However, if you don’t particularly want to have a proper job in music, or be able to make a living from playing guitar, for the sake of a few hours’practice here and there, it’s a silly reason not to get a gig. I hope you’ll agree…
Reading music has very little to do with talent and lots to do with hard work, and I’d say that 80 per cent of the best work I’ve done over the years has been a direct result of putting in a few hours when I was younger. Certainly the majority of film-score sessions and TV house bands are going to require an element of reading skills, ranging from simple lead sheets (generic chord and melody parts) where you find your own part, through to tough orchestral mandolin parts (as happened to me on a new film Three Billboards atAbbey Road Studios last week).
During my three-year tenure as guitar player for The Voice, we were required to learn up to 50 songs a day, which, for me, would have been impossible without being able to read music.
So how to go about acquiring this mystical skill? Here’s the boring part, I’m afraid. In the Middle Ages when I was learning music – in between brewing mead, attending witchburnings and participating in jousting contests – I passed the time by reading, very slowly at first, Bach flute and violin transcriptions, and also classical guitar compendiums, such as the works of Fernando Sor et al.
Flute and violin music is often good to practise reading on guitar for two main reasons. First, they are both mostly single-line non-transposing instruments (unlike many
Bb Eb, woodwind instruments, which are in or and can create enharmonic problems when reading on a concert-pitch instrument), and are also often written above or near the top of the stave (ie, in a fairly high register) where guitar is also often written. It’s also very important to learn the various positions on the fretboard, not just the 1st position (the lower few frets), so that you can easily reach both the higher and lowest notes on the guitar, for obvious reasons. Classical guitar music is good for learning to read groups of notes at once, which can be (and still is, for me) tricky.
Start slowly, be prepared to swear a lot and get annoyed and, eventually, you’ll get there. In an increasingly competitive music industry, it can’t hurt to have another skill.