Self-taught Guitar Tablature Learn Guitar Notation, Staff Notation, Six-line Notation, Chord Diagrams

Author: Ye Lai / et al.
Editor-in-Chief: Bu Yan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-01-01
Features: Excerpt: Seeing the title of this chapter "Guitar Treble Clef," many friends may have the following question: Is there really a difference in treble clef? Yes, when classical guitar pieces are notated using the treble clef method, they differ from other instruments' notation in at least the following aspects: First, when the melody notes of a classical guitar piece are recorded on the treble clef, they are one octave lower than their actual pitch positions. Second, guitar treble clef uses only the treble clef (G clef) for notation, unlike the usual piano scores that, in addition to the treble clef, also include the bass clef (F clef). Third, in guitar treble clef, in addition to some universal musical symbols such as notes, rests, dynamic markings, and expressive terms, which are identical to other scores, there is also a set of special symbols specifically designed for guitar performance, such as left-hand fingerings, string positions, and fret symbols. Because of these differences, it is necessary to learn the guitar treble clef specifically. To facilitate the learning of guitar enthusiasts, we have used a large number of guitar score examples while also including some simple ordinary sight-singing examples (can be played on the guitar). To learn guitar treble clef, it is first necessary to understand the history of the guitar. Limited by space, we do not want to spend more words describing the history of the guitar, but simply summarize it as follows. If we must define the guitar, then it is a strung instrument with a neck, and strumming can be divided into finger strumming and plectrum plucking. Although it is generally believed that the guitar originated in the East (India and ancient Egypt), it is more accurate to say that the guitar evolved from stringed instruments in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) during the Middle Ages. From the manuscripts of the Elescoria Monastery preserved in the National Library of Madrid, Spain, it can be found that as early as the 13th and 14th centuries, there were two types of guitars: one with four strings, a gourd-shaped body with frets, known as the Latin guitar (g. r. atin); and another with an oval shape, a round back with many small holes, known as the Moorish guitar (g. morisca), most of whose necks were flat and round. In addition, Spain had another instrument called the Vi-huela, whose name is often confused with guitar (Guitar). The Vi-huela was similar to the modern guitar, also with six courses of strings but with a different tuning, as G in bass, C, F, A, D1, and G1 (now the common classical guitar tuning is E in bass, A, D, G, B, and E1, i.e., 36:2:5:73), with frets already installed on the neck and sounding with catgut strings. By the 17th century, the Vi-huela had gradually declined, and the five-string guitar style began to become popular, with a tuning of G in bass and C, F, A, D1, and its name was fixed as the Spanish guitar (Guitar Espangola). Except for the highest string, all other strings of this guitar were doubled (two strings tuned to the same pitch). It was also from the 17th century that the strings were tuned one whole step higher than their original pitch, so the pitches of these five strings matched those of today. In the early 18th century, an additional string was added to the bass part, and all strings were used as single strings, thus giving rise to today's tuning method and a completely similar Spanish guitar. Although the origins of the guitar can be traced back to 2,000 to 3,000 years ago, the first guitar scores that can be and confirmed were not until the 16th century, and until the early 18th century, the notation method for the guitar was the same as that for the lute (Lute, also translated as Lute), using a special Tablatura notation that varied from country to country, with parallel lines representing strings (because the guitar had four, five, six, or even seven courses of strings at the time, the number of parallel lines correspondingly varied, and in fact, it was similar to what we call six-line tablature today). Numbers were written on it (as in Spain and Italy); or letters (as in France) to indicate the pitch positions.