Originally Posted By: eddie1261
<...snip...>There are no shortcuts. Too many people are looking for them. <...>

Learn MUSIC, not songs. If you know music, songs follow. If you learn songs, music does NOT follow. <...>

Learn MUSIC, not songs is the simplest, best advice anyone can give a beginner musician.

I picked up guitar and bass as a sax player in road bands. If there was no room for a sax in a song, the guitar or bass player would show me things and I'd play guitar or bass on the song.

Knowing music theory made it easy on the brain. I just had to learn the musical layout and physical mechanics of the instruments.

I wasn't taught 'cowboy chords' first (that's why my first guitar teacher called them - and he was a whiz at fingerpicking). I learned barre chords so any key was OK with me right from the start.

Now on the sax (and piano) changing the key requires completely different fingerings. So when I learned a song on a guitar, and it required a key change and I found my fingers made the same shapes, same fingerings, but up one fret on the neck, it was like giving a kid an piece of candy!!! Hey, do you want to modulate again????

I can see legitimate uses for a capo, but not as a crutch. My attitude is what you do should support the music. If the capo makes the particular song sound better, use it. If moveable chords make it sound better, use them.

I have a transpose pedal on my wind synth. I'll turn the synth into a Bb instrument when playing Bb Tenor sax parts and Eb when playing Eb alto parts (same for soprano or bari). And I imagine I could use it to play hard songs in easier keys, but that won't help my skills any, so I don't use it that way.

But there is more than one right way to do this. I do what works for me and what I personally think supports the music best.

Insights and incites by Notes

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
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