Comments on: Music Notation for Guitar

By: Cameron Mizell

Cameron Mizell — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:47:08 +0000

The C in front of the Roman numeral usually means to bar that fret, and yes, c in “pimac” indicates the little (chico) finger.

By: Andrew Fryer

Andrew Fryer — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:21:03 +0000

I’ve got some Satie sheet music for guitar, and it has the Roman numerals above it CIV and CII. What do they mean?

Also, I thought I saw some music which was notated “pimac”. Is ‘c’ not the little finger? What might it indicate in Spanish? (meñique is the little finger, but ‘m’ is already used for the middle finger.)

Thanks.
Andrew

By: Cameron Mizell

Cameron Mizell — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 13:52:12 +0000

Absolutely, I see that less frequently and you might still want to tell the guitarist what it means, but it’ll do the trick and is equally easy to read.

By: Michael Lee

Michael Lee — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 06:15:25 +0000

Very helpful, thank you. Above, you say: “If you want a particular note in the top of the voicing, simply notate it with the chord symbols directly above, like a lead sheet.”

Can that be made more explicit by flipping the stem up and then extending the stem length down below the notehead? I occasionally see that in pop keyboard notation when a particular voice-leading or melodic top line is desired, but indicating that full voicing should be placed beneath it.

By: Cameron Mizell

Cameron Mizell — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 13:13:03 +0000

Hard to say when it’s out of context like that, but it could be a fingering. Bar the 1st fret, then something with your middle and pointer fingers. I’d have to see what’s happening on the staff to know for sure.

By: mark schneider

mark schneider — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 02:54:56 +0000

What is the meaning of the following notation seen above standard music notation:

BI 2———1

numbers are in subscript position.

By: Cameron Mizell

Cameron Mizell — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 13:19:19 +0000

I notated the range exactly as it would be written for guitar. Remember, those pitches actually sound an octave lower than written.

Wikipedia notates the actual pitches, as if you were playing it on the piano. They also notate that high D I mention in the paragraph, but I stopped at the G below that to show the “safe” range for most guitarists.

By: Nathaneal Cannon

Nathaneal Cannon — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 08:26:02 +0000

Hey Cameron, great article! I have a question about the playing range of the guitar: Why does Wikipedia list the range for the guitar differently than you do?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar

- Nathaneal Cannon

By: Cameron Mizell

Cameron Mizell — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 01:34:57 +0000

I’ve never seen a standard notation for wah, but I’ll occasionally run across something like “w/ Wah-Wah” or “Rhythmic Wah-Wah” written above the section that requires the effect, which leaves the exact pattern up to the guitarist’s discretion.

If you want a specific open/closed pattern, I suggest:

+ = open (high sweep)
o = closed (low sweep)

Hairpins are used for long sweeps or slow changes to the effect, for example:

o < +

With the hairpin stretching across however many beats necessary.

By: Jessy D'Mellp

Jessy D'Mellp — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 00:19:19 +0000

Hi Cam,

Thanks for clearing up a couple of questions I had by writing this piece. I have an 11 piece band and it’s all about making the charts readable in the amount of time that we have to rehearse, which isn’t much being on a cruise ship with limited space.

Do you have any advice for indicating Wah pedals?