writing help: Can guitar be written as sheet music? - Help.com

TheLivingZilch
offline Verified (2 years, 3 months) Visit TheLivingZilch's shoutbox
Allentown, PA, US

Can guitar be written as sheet music?

So far I’ve only seen ‘tabs’ and was wondering if that’s the only way to make guitar notation. In case you don’t know, TAB is the numbers on 6 lines and sheet music is the actual music notation (with quarter notes and stuff).

This open post was written 1 year ago | V/U/S: 440, 14, 3 | Edit Post | Leave a reply | Report Post


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Penguin B☺y Brian offline Verified User (1 year) Long Term User Shouts: 3 #
An Unknown Location | 1 year ago (6 minutes after post)

yea my friend does sheet music

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TheLivingZilch offline Verified User (2 years, 3 months) Long Term User Shouts: 8 #
Allentown, PA, US | 1 year ago (15 minutes after post)

for guitar? How is it written then, with regular clefs and notation as say, a piano? (Like the low E string on guitar would be the note E on the Bass Clef)

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Gepetto offline Verified User (1 year) Long Term User Shouts: 3 #
An Unknown Location | 1 year ago (1 hour, 51 minutes after post)

Guitar music is written on the G Clef. For the low E, you read two ledger lines below middle C. You also read 3 ledger lines up for the E 12th fret lst string. When you go to the music store don’t look in the piano and vocal section until you look at the guitar music. If you don’t see it, ask the clerk if you can look at their catalogs. Happy Trails to you!!

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TheLivingZilch offline Verified User (2 years, 3 months) Long Term User Shouts: 8 #
Allentown, PA, US | 1 year ago (2 hours, 47 minutes after post)

Two ledger lines below middle C? **** that’s low…wouldn’t it be easier to use the F clef for those notes? Thanks for the info though. I might go to the music store this week anyways ’cause my guitar makes a wierd noise when played…but should I choose TAB or sheet music when writing music for guitar? Either way, people can read it right? The only difference I can see really is TAB can’t really tell you how long to hold a note (because there are no half notes, whole, etc). Also, TAB is tuned and legends/explainations are often needed whereas sheet music can just about be played by any instrument. A middle C is the same as the right sounding C on a guitar, sax, piano, etc…

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Barbyman offline Verified User (2 years, 5 months) Long Term User Shouts: 3 #
An Unknown Location | 1 year ago (3 hours, 10 minutes after post)

you said your Guitar makes a wierd noise ?Thats what im looking for .What noise ?

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TheLivingZilch offline Verified User (2 years, 3 months) Long Term User Shouts: 8 #
Allentown, PA, US | 1 year ago (3 hours, 17 minutes after post)

Not in a good way I guess? Like without the amp (actually I haven’t listened to the noise with the amp yet) when I play the E, A, and D string it distorts and sounds…bad. What exactly are you looking for though?

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Barbyman offline Verified User (2 years, 5 months) Long Term User Shouts: 3 #
An Unknown Location | 1 year ago (4 hours, 10 minutes after post)

new sound for a new song.My next album is some songs as before, acoustic and the rest with band and electric guitars . I’m halve way in to a really good Song and it needs some sort of a distortion after each verse.I don’t know really what I’m looking for unless i can hear it..explain it in more details what sound.Sometimes a bend string makes all the difference..

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TheLivingZilch offline Verified User (2 years, 3 months) Long Term User Shouts: 8 #
Allentown, PA, US | 1 year ago (4 hours, 15 minutes after post)

Oo neat. I have no idea what it is but it seems to be coming from the back of the guitar (electric) like where you’d insert a new string. I guess you could call it ‘acoustic distortion and reverb’. And what’s a bend string?

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Barbyman offline Verified User (2 years, 5 months) Long Term User Shouts: 3 #
An Unknown Location | 1 year ago (4 hours, 21 minutes after post)

A bend string is when you hold a finger on a string and push the string towards another string.You bend the string .barbyman.com is my site

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TheLivingZilch offline Verified User (2 years, 3 months) Long Term User Shouts: 8 #
Allentown, PA, US | 1 year ago (4 hours, 27 minutes after post)

Oh yeah I know how to do that lol. Nice site by the way ;)

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Gepetto offline Verified User (1 year) Long Term User Shouts: 3 #
An Unknown Location | 1 year ago (23 hours, 11 minutes after post)

Hey Zilch, You seem to be really interested in theory. How did you learn what you already know about music? This is important to know though…Middle C on the guitar is not Middle C on the piano. It is one octave lower. And, I agree that it is easier too read individual notes using both clefs G and F. Reading chords however would be nearly impossible and that’s why you use ledger lines. I really like to read from the “C” or alto clef but that is used mostly for viola and brass.

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TheLivingZilch offline Verified User (2 years, 3 months) Long Term User Shouts: 8 #
Allentown, PA, US | 1 year ago (1 day, 4 hours after post)

I’m taking Music Theory this year and write a little music…

Wow really? So which fret and string would middle C on guitar be? The chord thing makes sense though.

Oh and I didn’t learn the alto yet :P

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Gepetto offline Verified User (1 year) Long Term User Shouts: 3 #
An Unknown Location | 1 year ago (2 days after post)

Hi there again, I’m happy to hear that you are taking a class. It takes years to learn it all. You will probably never encounter a need for the c clef unless you pair up with someone who reads music there as a result of the instrument they play. The first fret second string really plays the concert c pitch, however, middle c for guitar reading purposes is played on the fifth string 3rd fret. Sometimes if you are backing up a soloist who has memorized pitch, they will have difficulty finding their starting note because it is buried in the chord and it is one octave different than what they have in their brain. Also, when you are playing six strings, you are actually playing two triads. Use your 5th and 6th strings for bass and rhythm, and play your actual triad or V7 on your first four strings. That’s it for today, I have classes to teach. Later!

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TheLivingZilch offline Verified User (2 years, 3 months) Long Term User Shouts: 8 #
Allentown, PA, US | 1 year ago (2 days, 3 hours after post)

Wow thanks :D

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