Seven Ideas For One Sound – by Mike Overly

Let’s state the case simply, symbolic music is complex. By symbolic music, I mean the written symbols and signs of music and guitar that are needed to produce one sound. This lesson will present seven ideas needed to play a melody. Harmony uses additional symbols and signs and will be presented later in a different lesson. So, stay tuned.

Symbolic music on guitar is complicated because it takes seven ideas to make one sound: 1. key letter, 2. time signature, 3. tempo, 4. dynamic, 5. tone number, 6. note or rest, and 7. strum. Before we go any further, let’s ask a simple question: What is the difference between a thought and an idea? For many, this question may seem a bit esoteric, but really it isn’t. Think of it this way. A thought is an energy that moves in time through the space of the mind to find an idea to bring back to the thinker. Here’s an example. Consider this question as a thought: How much is 1 + 1? Now, consider the answer as an idea: more than 1. Easy enough, the thought question found the answer idea and brought it back to the thinker. Let’s continue. I’m sure you noticed that I didn’t answer the question the way you were probably expecting me too. This is because all that is needed to answer the question, how much is 1 + 1, is the concept of “oneness.” In other words, 1 + 1 is more than 1. Or, said a different way, how much more than one is 1 + 1? The answer is again 1. The point is, we don’t need to learn or know anything new to answer the question… 1 is all we need!This “1 + 1 is more than 1” example is analogous to Russian Nesting Dolls. By that I mean, after we know that 1 + 1 is 1 more than 1, we can “nest” the concept of “one more than one” into a new word… two. In other words, after all that thinking about 1 + 1, we can now simply say the number 2!I can hear you asking, “What does all this have to do with playing music on the guitar?” Well, here’s what. Consider this thought question: How do I make one sound on the guitar? And it’s idea answer: “nest” seven ideas. Let’s say it again, symbolic music is complex because it takes seven ideas just to play one sound! To help organize these seven ideas, we’ll divide them into two groups.

In the first group, before you play, there are three ideas needed: key letter, time signature and tempo. In the second group, as you play, there are four ideas needed: dynamic, tone number, note or rest, and strum. Let’s look at each of these seven ideas one at a time.

The first idea is key. Key is simply the letter of tone 1, and is symbolized by a letter in a circle. Let’s compare this with the “key-signature” of traditional staff-notation.

Traditional staff-notation uses a 5 line staff, a clef and a key signature which limits you to playing a song in only one key! In contrast, the revolutionary Tone Note® Music Method does not utilize a staff, a clef or a key signature. By eliminating these elements, you can play any song in any key! This is impossible with traditional staff-notation. Here’s why. The key signature represents the unseen letters of the staff, and when you change the key signature, all the unseen staff-note letters change. This is not the case with the Tone Note® Music Method, because when you change the key, all the tone numbers remain the same, and only the letter of tone 1 changes. Let’s proceed.

After the key letter is known, the second idea is the time signature. The Tone Note® Music Method uses the same stacked meter and value time-signature as traditional staff-notation.

The third idea is tempo, the rate of speed of the steady beat. The Tone Note® Music Method uses the same beats-per-minute sign as traditional staff-notation.

Now, let’s review the three ideas needed before you play “nested” into one thought: key, time signature and tempo.

Next, let’s present the four ideas that are needed as you play. The first idea is the dynamic sign, which tells you how quiet or loud to play a sound. The Tone Note® Music Method uses the same dynamic signs as traditional staff-notation, for example: piano (quiet), forte (loud), mezzo-piano (medium quiet), and mezzo-forte (medium loud). It’s interesting to note that traditional staff-notation does not use mezzo (medium) by itself, but only as a qualifier to piano and forte. I find that curious.

And here’s something strange. Traditional staff-notation defines the dynamic sign piano as soft, and forte as loud. This doesn’t make any sense. Here’s why. Ask your child this question: What is the opposite of loud? I’m sure they said quiet and not soft. So, how did traditional staff-notation get the dynamics of acoustics wrong? In other words, why does traditional staff-notation teach loud and soft, but never quiet and hard? The simple answer is, they confused force with dynamic. It helps to think of it this way. While it’s true that on an acoustic instrument a hard force is necessary to produce a loud sound, and a soft force is needed to produce a quiet sound, force and dynamics are not the same and should not be used interchangeably.

Okay, now that we know that dynamics is quiet and loud, the second idea is pitch as tone number. In traditional staff-notation a tone number is called a scale-degree. Simply stated, tone 1 is the key letter and is the first sound of any scale.

The third idea is rhythm, and it has two components: the note of sound, and the rest of silence. The Tone Note® Music Method uses the same notes and rests as traditional staff-notation, for example: quarter, half, dotted-half, and whole. The fourth idea is not a music idea, but rather a guitar idea: strum. Four strums are needed to play guitar efficiently: two strokes: down and up, and two ghosts: down and up. A stroke is a strum which produces a sound and a ghost is a strum that produces no sound. Now, let’s review the four ideas needed as you play into one thought: dynamic, tone number, note or rest and strum.Okay, let’s end this lesson by “nesting” the seven ideas needed to play one sound into one recapitulated thought: 1. key, 2. time signature, 3. tempo,4. dynamic, 5. tone number, 6. note or rest, and 7. strum.

’til next time, have some thought and idea fun… I’ll be listening!

www.12tonemusic.com/guitar/tonenote

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Tone Note® Music Method for Guitar Video – by Mike Overly

The Tone Note® Music Method for Guitar makes it simple and easy to play fun and exciting music on your guitar correctly from the beginning.

On the cover of the Tone Note® Music Method for Guitar is a connect the dots picture of a bass which presents four very important ideas that a connect the dots picture teaches us: 1. start at the beginning, 2. continue in order, 3. the end connects to the beginning, and 4. when the last dot is connected ~ you can see the picture! These four ideas form the basis of this book.

The Tone Note® Music Method for Guitar 1 contains a method book, rhythm book and song book. Each book is designed to present the benefits of the Tone Note® system with clear and simple step-by-step instruction. And each lesson within each book connects and continues with the last in a progressive order so that a person new to music and guitar will learn the symbols and signs of music quickly and develop the skill to play guitar easily. You will play and enjoy music and guitar from the very beginning just like you hoped you would and as you practice, progress and improve, the better you will get, and the better you get ~ the more fun you have!

The purpose of the Tone Note® Music Method for Guitar is to introduce a beginner of any age to the simple pitch Letters, tone (scale degree) Numbers and harmony Numerals of music. The following flowchart illustrates this.

The Tone Note® Music Method for Guitar answers this simple question: why is it so hard to learn to play guitar? Is it the fault of the student, or is it the fault of the instructor? The answer is neither, it’s the fault of false methods. So, let’s clean the slate and begin anew with a truly unique 21st century revolutionary music method for guitar.

Over the centuries, guitarists have believed many false ideas and have kept adding more false ideas over time. This has created much confusion and has made learning music and the guitar a problem. The Tone Note® Music Method for Guitar solves this problem by keeping only the truth of the past and leaving the false behind.

And the truth is, music is a simple language that may be learned easily by anyone of any age. All that is needed is a clear and simple step-by-step method which will introduces what you need to know, when you need to know it. In other words, a method that presents one idea and then connects it to the next idea. Learning in this manner guarantees that you do not have any gaps between your thoughts and ideas about music and the guitar. The benefit is, you will never feel overwhelmed or confused, and more importantly, you will never stop or quit! Understanding music on the guitar will always be easy for you.

By the end of the Tone Note® Music Method for Guitar 1 your technique will have greatly improved and you will have gained a solid theoretical foundation that will last you a lifetime and prepare you to connect and continue with the Tone Note® Music Method for Guitar 2. Meet you there!

Here is a short video that will introduce you to the Tone Note® Music Method for Guitar 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7yK9IrNZLM

’til next time, have some Tone Note® guitar fun… I’ll be listening!

http://www.12tonemusic.com/guitar/tonenote/

What a Coincidence: Unison Tuning – by Mike Overly

Music, whether it is seen or heard, has three fundamental parts: rhythm, pitch and dynamics. Each of these parts may be studied in great detail, but for this lesson, let’s simply define them as follows: rhythm is time, pitch is a sound that has a letter name, and dynamics is the degree of sound volume from quiet to loud. That all sounds simple enough, but what is sound?

Non-musical sound has but one name, noise. However, musical sound has many names. Here are a few: letter, tone number, harmony numeral, scale degree, timbre, pitch, octave, harmonics, vibration and frequency.

Let’s look at frequency more closely. The music we hear, in contrast to the silent music symbols we read, is the sound of air moving. This then begs the question, what is moving the air? On the guitar, it’s the strings that move the air. When you pick or pluck a guitar string it oscillates back and forth. It is these back and forth string motions, or vibrations, that are moving the air. These vibrations may be counted and then assigned a frequency number. We’ll skip over all the deep physics and acoustics data, like resonating bodies, air-pressure and amplitude, and instead, we’ll focus on frequency so that you may tune your guitar.

The speed of a string vibrating back and forth is steady, regular and predictable in time. The number of times a string oscillates in one second is called frequency. Frequency is measured as cycles per second (cps) which is also known as Hertz (Hz), named after the 19th century German physicist Heinrich Hertz. The frequency range of the human ear is approximately 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. This may be written as 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Kilo (k) is the Greek prefix for thousand, 1 kHz = 1000 Hz. The question then becomes, how many times does a string move back and forth in one second? The answer to that question depends upon which string and fret is being played.

Any string played at any fret vibrates faster than the human eye can see and count. So, science has to count for us ~ think electronic tuner. Not only are the vibrations counted and given a frequency number, but they may also be assigned a letter, scale degree tone number, and a note location on the staff. For example, string 5 at fret zero vibrates 110 times a second (110 Hz) and is called A (A). On the guitar, Fret Zero is also known as the nut or open.

An octave is created by doubling the frequency. Therefore, string 3 fret two, which vibrates at 220 times a second (220 Hz), is one octave higher than string 5 fret zero, and is called prime A (1A). String 1 fret five vibrates 440 times a second (440 Hz), is two octaves higher than string 5 fret zero, and is called squared A (2A). Remember, faster frequencies sound higher in pitch, while slower frequencies sound lower in pitch ~ think treble and bass.

It helps if we consider pitch as being Absolute, Perfect or Relative.

Absolute Pitch is an external reference to a definite pitch of a specific frequency upon which everyone agrees. Absolute Pitch may be assigned a letter, scale degree tone number, harmony numeral, or staff note. Here are a few good sources of Absolute Pitch: a tuning fork, an electronic tuner, and a “tune-up pitch” from a play-along CD. Remember, audio tapes are not a good source of Absolute Pitch due to the varying playback speeds of different tape players. Here’s something interesting. The International Agreement, which made A = 440 Hz the Absolute Reference Pitch for the entire world, wasn’t agreed upon until 1939!

Perfect Pitch is the ability of a person to identify a given musical pitch without the benefit of an external Absolute Pitch reference. Those who have Perfect Pitch exhibit some or all of the following capabilities: identify individual pitches by name when played on various instruments; name the key letter of a given piece of tonal music just by listening without reference to an external Absolute Pitch; identify and name all the tones of a given chord or tone cluster; accurately sing any given pitch without an external Absolute Pitch reference; and name the pitches of common everyday sounds such as the honk of a car horn, the ring of a telephone, the chime of a doorbell, or the hum of a refrigerator. Many believe that you must be born with Perfect Pitch because it seems as though it can’t be learned. In contrast to Perfect Pitch, Relative Pitch can be learned.

Relative Pitch, as the name implies, relates to Absolute Pitch and is what is meant when someone says they “play by ear.” In other words, Relative Pitch is the ability to hear an Absolute Pitch, store it in auditory memory, and then match that pitch or relate it to another pitch. In music school they call this ear training. And while it’s true that Relative Pitch can be learned, it sure takes a lot of practice! However, the benefit of Relative Pitch is that it makes tuning your guitar so much easier and faster. The Relative Pitch method of tuning your guitar by matching or duplicating pitches is known as Unison Tuning.

Uni means one and sonus means sound, so, unison means one sound. Said a different way, in Latin uni means one and in Greek iso also means one, therefore, uni + iso(n) = unison. In other words, unison means more than one as one. No matter how we define it, unison is really a coincidence, that is, multiple events occurring at the same time. The prefix “co” means together (two or more as one), and an “incident” is an event. With this said, unison may be further defined to mean: two tones of the same pitch sounding at the same time. One of the greatest things about the guitar is that by playing the same pitch, on two or more different strings of the same guitar at the same time, unison is possible. On the piano, woodwinds, brass and voice, unison is impossible!

Okay, now that we have an elementary understanding of the science of sound, let’s apply it to the tuning of the guitar. We’ll begin by giving each of the six strings of the guitar a letter name and frequency number: string 6 E = 82.41 Hz, string 5 A = 110 Hz, string 4 D = 146.83 Hz, string 3 G = 196 Hz, string 2 B = 246.94 Hz and string 1 E = 329.62 Hz. What follows is the method of Unison Tuning that will enable you to tune your guitar by ear!

From an Absolute Pitch source, determine the reference pitch. For example, if you want to tune string 6, you’ll need to hear the Absolute Pitch of E = 82.41 Hz. Here’s something important. Be sure to use a tuning fork, or some other source of Absolute Pitch and not a piano, as the piano may not be in tune! Think of it this way, why would you tune a tunable instrument to another instrument that needs to be tuned?

Next, assuming that string 6 is in tune, play A = 110 Hz on string 6 fret five. This reference pitch should match string 5 fret zero. If string 5 fret zero, sounds the same as string 6 fret five, they’re in unison and your guitar is in tune. If they don’t match and sound the same, you’ll need to adjust string 5 higher or lower in pitch until they do. Be patient, this is Unison Tuning ~ and the more you practice it, the better you’ll get!

After string 5 is in tune, play D = 146.83 Hz on string 5 fret five. This should sound the same as string 4 fret zero. Again, if it doesn’t, you’ll need to adjust string 4 higher or lower to match the string 5 reference pitch.

After string 4 is in tune, play G = 196 Hz on string 4 fret five. This should sound the same as string 3 fret zero.

Now, once string 3 is in tune, in order to play B = 246.94 Hz on string 3 you must play fret four. This should sound the same as string 2 fret zero. Remember, the B = 246.94 Hz reference pitch on string 3 is located on fret four. This is a different fret than any of the other strings.

Finally, after string 2 is in tune, play E = 329.62 Hz on string 2 fret five. This should match and be in unison with string 1 fret zero.

Congratulations! Your guitar sounds so much better now that it’s in tune.

’til next time, keep playing and have fun… I’ll be listening!

http://www.12tonemusic.com