If you are starting to get the hang of sight reading and want to sharpen your skills, try playing some duets with music that’s a bit more complex.
The first lesson in this three-part series showed how to interpret written notation using its associated clues. A circled number refers to the string (high E is the first string), an uncircled number above a note is the fingering number (1-4 for first finger through fourth), and a Roman numeral above the staff indicates the position for your fretting hand, named by the location of your first finger.
Get ready for some exciting duets in this lesson! We’ll be playing duets that feature counterpoint examples, as well as some triple-stops (three notes played at the same time). Remember to trade roles so that you and your duo partner get a chance to play both parts.
Speak For Yourself
Example 1 gets us started by training our ears and fingers to get used to two distinctly different parts played together with a duet partner. In counterpoint, two or more melodies are related harmonically, but the notes and rhythms are different from each other. We’re in the key of G major, so we’ll continue to use the second position, shown by the Roman numeral II.
The first (higher) guitar part is the same melody used in the previous lesson, while the second is simply an ascending G major scale in measure 1, followed by a harmony line in the next bar. The rhythm of the scale played by the second guitar is all eighth notes, while the first guitar is sticking to the rhythm of the original melody. It’s important for both players to trust their own reading while listening to each other for cues and tempo consistency. In measure 2, the second guitarist has to wait to come in with the eighth note on the “and” of beat 2, while the first player has a note right on beat 2.
The Supporting Role
Example 2 introduces the triple-stops. They may look complicated at first glance, but you’ll find that they are familiar power chords, containing only roots and fifths. Since the third of a chord is the note that makes it sound major or minor, power chords sound ambiguous. They are common in rock music and are aptly named since they can be cranked up and offer solid rhythmic support behind a singer. These three-note chords in guitar two provide a bass presence to the melody in guitar one, implying the chord progression C–Bm–G–D.
Notice that the Roman numerals reflect the changes in hand position needed to reach these chords. This example feels more like a guitar duet in which one person plays the melody and the other plays the chords. Passages like this may show up in standard notation this way, as opposed to using a chord symbol by name at the top of a staff.
