Re: sightreading for guitar

andy--uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Hi, trying to make a real go of reading at the minute.

however, I keep hitting tunes that are written (as an example i will
use the key of c)



c c c eflat d dsharp cc

That looks suspicious. If the last two notes were E nat though, I'd say it's fine.
Where does this example come from?

..... and the e-flat then d-sharps mess me up totally as they destroy
the continuity when they are one bar after the other ,

Get used to it. It happens all the time.
Some 12 tone composers will use only flats (or only sharps) for an entire composition. But with Tonal music (i.e. key-based music) there are many reasons why the correct spelling might be D# at one point and then Eb at another.

also the
dreaded f-flat or c-flat will knock me out.

Get used to it.

these are NOT isolated incidents, it seems that a lot of realbooks are
like this.

You can generally trust the Chuck Sher books for correct notation.

Is it me or have the transcribers got it badly wrong ,,,,I mean its
tough enough without these enharmonic spellings..

Lots of books, fake books, and lots of writers make errors of this nature. But you need more experience to know when that's happening.
It'd be good for you to go through William Leavitt's reading books:
Melodic Rhythms For Guitar
Reading Studies For Guitar
Advanced Reading Studies For Guitar.

example 1,,,,,, chuck sher real book 1 page 37 "bouncing with bud" a-
section bar2 g-flat bar 4 f-sharp.....

then in b-section a D-SHARP in bar 6 ... ITS IN THE KEY OF B-
FLAT ...SURELY ITS E-FLAT DAMN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's all correct.
Look at the chord symbols.
On Ebm7 he calls it Gb. On D7 he calls it F#.
The D# is part is the 13th of F#13, the chord-of-the-moment, so at that point, although the primary key is still Bb major/G minor, the secondary key which is active at that particular moment is B major.

Also page319 (same book) " simple samba" page 319 f-sharps in b-
section g-flat in d-section

Look at the chords.
The B section starts out in D major. the notation reflects this, but without a change of key signature. Happens all the time. And the F#s happen on F#7, E7 and Bm7 chords.

The D section the Gb is on Bb7. He's notated it as b13 even though the chord symbol say Bb7#5(b9). That type of thing happens all the time too, depending on circumstances. If he had written that entire bar with #s instead (B A# G# F# F) it would have been even more confusing (as well as being wrong because the music's in the key of Eb major there with borrowings going on from Eb minor).

etcetcetc,

these has to be errors,

Nope.

who can read songs at this speed with
enharmonics like this?

Not many.
Try slowing it down.
And maybe look for easier material to use for sight-reading practice. You should use these types of tunes for reading and technique and to cop a feeling for jazz lines. But working on reading and working on sight-reading are two different disciplines.

Please dont tell me that it somehow matches the chord progression
spelling, we are talking about reading here.

Well that's the way that music is written, especially in the jazz community.
But even classical writers make their notation conform to local keys and chords-of-the-moment. Perhaps a bit less so than in jazz though.

Personally, I hate seeing, for example, Ebs and Dbs under an F#7 chord symbol, even if it's technically correct in a given instance.


--
Joey Goldstein
<http://www.joeygoldstein.com>
<http://homepage.mac.com/josephgoldstein/AudioClips/audio.htm>
joegold AT sympatico DOT ca
.

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