Is this a bad sign?

[Oddly]

The thing that caught my attention is that every time one of the guitar players showed me or the other guitar player a riff, it was usually phrased as "I'm on the 3rd fret, 5th string, slide to the 5th, then <whatever>". It was not described "I play C, slide to D, then <whatever>".

Just make sure they've not down-tuned or something, and you should be fine. I certainly wouldn't think about quitting over this issue.

 

[bass.slinger]

I wouldn’t run...yet.
Pino Palladino doesn’t read music.

Nor Billy Sheehan.

 

[bobyoung53]

When I was a kid I was told that a minor key is sad sounding and a major key is happy sounding, power chords are usually implied minor chords and you put in the flat 3rd (if you want), if it doesn't sound right it's major. You should be able to learn to tell the difference between major and minor by ear. Playing with completely unschooled musicians is a PITA for you. People should at least know the basics of music.

 

[46and2]

Just make sure they've not down-tuned or something, and you should be fine. I certainly wouldn't think about quitting over this issue.

It's drop-D, so I am learning there too. I'd almost rather tune DGCF since I know some arpeggio patterns in E standard and it would make it easier for me lol.

 

[TheReceder]

A year from now you may be helping them out with the things they don't know.... in a cunning bassist kind of way of course.

 

[grimjim]

Ah, drop D. That may be the reason too. I was in a band with a guy, tuned to drop D and he would give fret numbers or standard tuning notes when explaining riffs. I guess he didn't want to take the time to figure out it was a G instead of an A on the fifth fret.
As long as the other incidentals are good, attitude, musical tastes....I would not be concerned with this at all.

 

[kalanb]

It always amazes me when guitarists don’t know the names of the notes. I wouldn’t even call that theory just having taken the time to learn the basics.

Rant: I played with a guy last year and didn’t have much time to prep all the songs (long story). We ran through a song I hadn’t learned off a chart he had written. It sounded like crap. A week or two later he called out my ear, saying how bad the song sounded. It wasn’t until I learned the song, by ear, that I realized his chart was completely FUBAR...in the wrong key and the changes were all wrong. I wished I had learned the song when he made that comment cause I would have loved to thrown that one back in his face.

 

[Seashore]

I wouldn't assume these guys don't know much about music because they communicate with fret numbers. I've played with lots of educated guitarists and we pretty much always talk in terms of fret numbers or interval names. It makes sense when you're dealing with guitars, different tunings and chords with open strings could make for unnecessary confusion otherwise. One guy I know -- Berklee grad, awesome player -- was in the habit of calling everything he played by what the notes would have been in standard tuning even though we were tuned in C#, which drove me nuts, but whatever... If their songs suffer from a lack of musical understanding, or if they're no fun to jam with, that's different, but don't overthink stuff at this point.

 

[IamGroot]

You are playing music with people that dont know much about the rudiments.

Whats the 2nd bad sign?

 

[devnulljp]

Sorry, I mean I can tell the difference when I HEAR a minor vs major chord. What I cannot do is if you say "Key of Dmaj", I cannot tell you from memory which chords are major, minor, diminished, etc.

That'll take you 10 min to learn though seeing as you already know enough to know some chords are major, minor, diminished, etc. for each key.

Ex. I major ii minor iii minor IV major V major vi minor vii diminished

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[QweziRider]

Or should I just roll with it and see where it goes?

If the experience was enjoyable, I'd go with this until it's not.

 

[Coolhandjjl]

Jimmy Page didn't call the measures 'bars', he called them 'cycles'. Drove JPJ nuts.

 

[GBBSbassist]

You didn't flat out say that you're inexperienced, but from your post, it's easy to deduce that you are.

You shouldn't worry about the other members being inexperienced.

 

[kevindahl]

Sorry, I mean I can tell the difference when I HEAR a minor vs major chord. What I cannot do is if you say "Key of Dmaj", I cannot tell you from memory which chords are major, minor, diminished, etc.

That is why you must learn the Nashville number system. It's not that difficult and it's the easiest, IMHO, way to communicate on the fly or at jams with others. Ever tried to yell at another musician at practice volume " that's a Dminor"? It will sound like B,C,D,E. iii minor or vi minor rectifies all that confusion. Another example, a BL shouts the verses are I and V choruses go to the IV watch out for the brudge there is a vi minor and iii minor. With that info the band should be able to almost nail the song using their ears.

 

[nickpc]

Ah, drop D. That may be the reason too. I was in a band with a guy, tuned to drop D and he would give fret numbers or standard tuning notes when explaining riffs. I guess he didn't want to take the time to figure out it was a G instead of an A on the fifth fret.
As long as the other incidentals are good, attitude, musical tastes....I would not be concerned with this at all.

Yep - it's the same issue/problem/challenge you get with with guitarists who use a capo all the time, just in the other direction.

My niche in the praise band I'm in is translating between the classically trained musicians and the guy who can only read chord charts. It is not a bad skill to have.

 

[TheReceder]

That is why you must learn the Nashville number system. It's not that difficult and it's the easiest, IMHO, way to communicate on the fly or at jams with others. Ever tried to yell at another musician at practice volume " that's a Dminor"? It will sound like B,C,D,E. iii minor or vi minor rectifies all that confusion. Another example, a BL shouts the verses are I and V choruses go to the IV watch out for the brudge there is a vi minor and iii minor. With that info the band should be able to almost nail the song using their ears.

I passed up a chance to play with a national act when they sent the playlist in the Nashville number system....

1/2 of it was because of that (It looked like musician algebra to me)... the other half because I didn't think I was good enough.... In hindsight I know I was right.

With this group, I'd go for it, and hope that in time they either prove themselves, or find a decent way to communicate that fits everyone's needs.

 

[Thum5b]

One guy I know -- Berklee grad, awesome player -- was in the habit of calling everything he played by what the notes would have been in standard tuning even though we were tuned in C#, which drove me nuts,

That would drive me crazy as well, calling the fret numbers is just as bad imo, intervals I can live with.

 

[pedroims]

I would worry more about the record contracts and 5,000-seat gigs booked. But if that is true then I could care less how they call the notes, if it bother you then just tell them to show you the riffs that they don't have to tell you where in the fretboard their fingers are.

 

[Mugre]

Sorry, I mean I can tell the difference when I HEAR a minor vs major chord. What I cannot do is if you say "Key of Dmaj", I cannot tell you from memory which chords are major, minor, diminished, etc.

Google "harmonized major scale" or Diatonic harmony. It's not rocket science and there's only one sequence to memorize. It's same same for every Major key/scale.

MAJOR, minor, minor, MAJOR, MAJOR, minor, diminshed. That's it. That's diatonic harmony and in this case diatonic means within the diatonic (also called the Ionian mode) scale sequence of whole and half steps. Whole, Whole, half, Whole, Whole, Whole, half. This is all easier to see sync up on a piano keyboard.


Using roman numerals where uppercase means major and lowercase minor, I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, viiº

In the key of D as per your example, Dmaj, Emin, Fmin, Gmaj, Amaj, Bmin, Cdim.
In G with --------------------------->, Gmaj, Amin, Bmin, Cmaj, Dmaj, Emin, Fdim.

See how they line up? Once you can remember the the fifth of D major is an A, because it's a chord built on the 5th, you instantly default to knowing that in the KEY of D, an A CHORD, is major.

Now when you get to song harmony, this all can go out the window. For example, in minor keys it's common to substitute a major chord for the V or IV chord. Chords can be "borrowed" from other keys etc. This is a case or memorizing the SONG's chord sequence but as to how you posited your issue. If you know you're playing in key of G and they say, "Go down to D." It's almost certainly a major chord. If they say go up to B, it's almost certainly minor.

HTH,

Mugre

 

[3Liter]

What everyone say on the internet matters less than the relationship you craft with the 3-4 other people you're playing with. If you get along, these opinions matter not. Whilw some things will be a pain to communicate, you just have to figure out what works for you all.

Have fun, you will learn what works and doesn't for you.

I have heard some amazingly weird terms but as long as we all get by, it's fun. When people can't play/don't listen to the songs that's a bigger deal breaker than me explaining to the harp player to play a D harp over A blues. Again. (Its the same fret, one string down! )