[Advanced Student - Copying/Sight Reading the On-Screen Guitar]

1. Enter a song. Generate a guitar part for a RealTracks, using a style that you want to learn (e.g. fingerpicking, or country waltz soloing).
2. Open the Guitar Window.
3. Play the song, and watch the guitar window. Try to imitate what you are hearing and seeing the guitar playing. I call this "sight-seeing" the guitar, because you are learning what's being played just by watching the guitar fretboard. You can optionally have the notation window open, to add a visual notation of the guitar.
4. [sight "reading" the on-screen guitar] Try removing the guitar audio (mute the guitar track), while you can still see the on-screen guitar playing. Then you are playing by only watching the guitar. This is a type of sight reading, though it is looking at the on-screen guitar instead of notation/tab.
5. [ear training] Try with just listening to the guitar, and not watching anything on screen other than the chords window. Now you are just hearing the guitar, and trying to copy it. This improves your "ear", specifically on listening for guitar.

If you do this a lot, you will find that you are improcing your ability to:

- hear a guitar part and know what it is playing,
- see a guitar part being played n the fretboard, and know what is being played. That's useful when watching other guitar players (on youtube etc.)
- playing along in rhythm, as you are copying another guitar part, played by a studio pro!


Please let me know if you are using this type of method, and if so, on what styles etc. Or other tips about it.

Have Fun!
Peter Gannon
PG Music Inc.