Why study solfege? To improve your connection with
the music around and within you.
No, I'm not going to tell you to light up some incense
and start chanting. This is about being the person who can hear a
line and know what was played. He/She can then go home and play
it, write it down or change it into some other mode and manipulate it
around the scale. This is about the person who can hear a line in
his/her head and just play it on their instrument without much thought
and without searching around. This is about a musician who is in
touch with his/her music.
Have you ever wondered if there's a good way to develop
your ability to "sing" on the guitar? I mean to just
play what you hear. Solfege is just one of the legitimate forms of
training your ear in this fashion. There are other ways and even
other types of solfege but I like this way so it's the one I'm using to
write this lesson. And, I promise, it will help you to
become a better musician.
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I give all of my advanced students assignments in
solfege but Roger Roberts was the one who looked it up and gave me a
chart of the proper words to use. So, I am dedicating this lesson
to one of my more advanced students (the guy can play!) - Roger Roberts.
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|
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Roger Roberts |
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Solfege Table
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Notes In C:
|
Scale tone:
|
Flats:
|
Diatonic notes:
|
Sharps:
|
Pronounced
|
| C |
1 |
|
Do |
|
"Dough" |
| B |
7 |
|
Ti |
|
"Tea" |
| Bb/A# |
b7/#6 |
tay |
|
lee |
"Tay/Lea" |
| A |
6 |
|
La |
|
"La" |
| Ab/G# |
b6/+5 |
lay |
|
see |
"Lay/Sea" |
| G |
5 |
|
So |
|
"So" |
| Gb/F# |
b5/#4 |
say |
|
fee |
"Say/Fee" |
| F |
4 |
|
Fa |
|
"Fa" |
| E |
3 |
|
Mi |
|
"Me" |
| Eb/D# |
b3/#2 |
may |
|
ree |
"May/Ree" |
| D |
2 |
|
Re |
|
"Ray" |
| Db/C# |
b2/#1 |
raw |
|
dee |
"Raw/Dee" |
| C |
1 |
|
Do |
|
"Dough" |
Now, I'm assuming that this list is correct. If you
know otherwise please contact me with the proper names. For
example: at Berklee we always referred to the fifth as "sol"
not "so". In any event, I don't think that these details
should stop us from learning how to use this wonderful tool.
Here's how you do it.
First you should learn the diatonic note names.
Assign each name to that note in the scale. If you are in the key
of "C" then then chart explains itself. If not, assign
each name to it's corresponding scale degree in the new key. For
example in the key of: F: F is 1 so it's "Do", G is 2 so it's
"Re", A is 3 so it's "Mi" and so on.
Start with the scale itself. Sing up and down the scale "Do,
Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do" and back. Get really good at
singing the scale (diatonically) up and down. Try singing songs
you know by finding the first note and going from there. It's a
little tricky at first but pretty soon you can tell which note the song
starts on.
If you are a student who knows how to read
music, start sight reading songs after get the scale down.
Familiar songs are best to start with. Don't worry, you're not
cheating, you're learning a new skill.
Make sure to SING
OUT LOUD. This isn't a singing contest. It's a skill
that you have to practice, just like playing guitar. Don't hide!
Finally
(for players who don't read) start singing licks that you hear and then
find and play them on the guitar. Now sing the solfege as you play
the lick on the guitar.
Finally (for players who do read)
write down what you hear others play. Write out a few songs, write
down that lick that you heard some guy play at that gig you wish you
were playing. Write down a solo that you love.
Get
it? You can play anything that you hear using solfege!
