Hello everyone!
I really enjoy learning how to play the tin whistle but to be honest i can’t read music so could anyone recommend a really basic tutorial that covers reading “ABC”. No matter what happens i won’t give up but being able to read the “ABC” would be a great help.
Have a good day everyone and thanks for any and all help
ABC code wasn’t really meant to be read by
humans. (Though it is based on a simple,
human-readable idea used by some music
teachers). It was designed to be converted
by computer to sheet music. But you can
mostly read it…
When you see an upper case letter, play that
note in the lower octave of the whistle. If you
see a lower case letter, play that note on the
upper octave of the whistle. If there is a 2
after a letter, hold it twice as long.
So, this is a D scale from the lowest note on
a D whistle in ABC:
T: D scale
K: D
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
|DEFG| ABcd| efga| bcd2|
You can generally ignore the first 3 lines, which
tell the computer how the title, the key, etc.
The weird part is the lower case “c”, which is
still actually part of the lower octave on a D
whistle. The | bars are just measure separators.
Just take it slowly and you will eventually learn how to read the music. Feel free to use whatever tricks you need to use along the way.
I started off not know how to read the clefs, and was using tab. For each of the songs I had in tab, it always had the music notation above it, so while learning the song, I was getting to know the music notation, as well. Then, I sat down and practiced transcribing out a song from sheet music, F#, B, A, etc. I would put a + above letter for upper octave as a reminder. Eventually, the note placement caught on and I was transcribing faster and faster. I am now trying to play some simple songs without writing out the note name first.
Just be patient and you will learn it.
If a drummer (me) can learn this, you can, too.
I really enjoy learning how to play the tin whistle but to be honest i can’t read music so could anyone recommend a really basic tutorial that covers reading “ABC”. No matter what happens i won’t give up but being able to read the “ABC” would be a great help.
Have a look at the tutorial on my website, http://www.lesession.co.uk/abc, which may well cover what you’re looking for …
Cheers
Steve
I learned ABC simply by googling it. I found quite a few in-depth explanations that helped me understand the basics… and for Irish music all you really need is a basic understanding as most of Irish music is very simply or “bare bones” notated.
Don’t forget to develop that ear too. Learning to pick up tunes by ear is an invaluable tool as a player of Irish music.
In my case I learned music sheet online, and now I use a mix of music sheet and by ear. To be honest I don’t really like ABC notation.
I can try to find the .pdf with the music sheet learning method I used and send it to you if you’re interested.
Surely this is hyperbole on your part? Jotting down tunes in abc has been around far longer than the personal computer. It was merely formalized into a standard thanks to the PC and social networking. And just because it can be interpreted into dots doesn’t mean it’s purpose is to create sheet music.
http://abcnotation.com/history.html
As is the case in many endeavors throughout time, Chris Walshaw stood on the shoulders of those that came before him. As he says in his first sentence, people have used similar notation practices for many years. Reading sheet music has never been a prerequisite for playing music. 
Feadoggie
Steve, your ABC tutorial is the best, clearest, most concise introduction to ABC notation I’ve seen, and I’ve referred people to it before. Many thanks for this, and welcome to the Chiffboard.
I may be completely wide of the mark here, but do you mean “abc” as in the abc notation, or as in “how can I learn how to read the dots starting from the beginning?”
Solo, is there a reason you absolutely want to learn to read ABC? Try learning by ear instead, from sound clips… you know, the only way irish music should be learnt 
When I took up the whistle a few months ago, I just couldn’t deal with the ABC notation.
I learned the fingering to match the dots, it came slowly but painlessly. Still can’t deal with ABC and now that I follow the dots, I couldn’t tell you what note I am playing without looking it up. but it’s all working well for me.
Dave
Every time I learn a new instrument, I say to myself, “Snot nosed grade school kids can figure this out.” It works.
Learn the dots and you’ll have literally thousands of tunes of many genres right at your fingertips. It’s NOT hard!
Bill Ochs’ tutor, The Clarke Tinwhistle starts you right out at zero and very slowly and gradually teaches you to read treble clef music (where Trad tunes are written). In addition, it will teach you simple tunes, progressing right up through fully ornamented jigs, reels, hornpipes etc. The CD that comes with the book lets you hear how it’s supposed to sound.
That IS a good site for ABC instruction. Bookmarking it now.
Thank you, Steve.
I’ve heard many people say you don’t need to read music, and many who say you do.
I’ve heard many people say they’re glad they learned to read music, but never a one who regrets having done it.
As Paul indicates, it probably takes about a full hour of concentration to learn it, and maybe four more to get good at it. Then you have a skill that will last a lifetime, (and won’t stop you from developing your ear as well).
I dunno, CT … I remember as a kid when I first learned to read and write English, it completely screwed up my speaking, and I forgot how to learn new words and expressions by listening to my friends.
Oh, wait … that didn’t happen at all. 
Vanilla, chocolate, vanilla and chocolate … Learning by ear, reading notation, …
(Disclaimer: Yes, there’s probably a study somewhere on written language and dyslexia and first language acquisition. That’s not what I mean at all.)
To be fair to those who shun written notation: it IS a mistake to learn to read and use that as a replacement for careful listening. You DON’T want to bring written notation to a session. And once you get a tune into your head, you don’t want to have your sheet music anywhere in sight. As Mary Poppins said, “We are not a codfish”.
Use the dots to jog your memory, when needed, or to decipher some weird twist you’re struggling with, and then forget about it. It’s a useful tool, but you shouldn’t let it become your master.
Still, my advice to new players is: Learn to read music. You’ll be glad for it.
I come from the “stare at the dots until drops of blood form on my forehead, then wander over to my real musician friends and say ‘here…play this until I get it.’”
Works so far.
I wish I would take the time to learn to read music, but so far I haven’t. Luckily I have a wife who does, and several friends who think it’s fun to help me learn a tune by ear.
I was talking specifically about the ABC standard
created by Irwin Oppenheim, with which people
post tunes on this board. I assumed that’s what
the OP was asking about. As I mentioned in my
post, that standard is based on a much older
method of just writing the letter names of the
notes without any other (standardized) markup
or tags.
If the OP was asking about how to read that,
there’s not much helping them, so I was giving
them the benefit of the doubt.
And Oppenheim’s reason for creating the standard
was for ABC code to be translated into sheet music,
else there’d be no need for the header tags like X:
and L: If you wanted to show something purely for
humans to read, you would strip it of all the tags
that really are essentially programming tools. The
standard came about during Usenet times because
it was more efficient to send a few hundred bytes
of text which could be downloaded and run through
a translator to get sheet music GIF than to encode
and post the GIF itself.
This is less obvious for, say, ITM tunes, but look at
this ABC code I wrote for a madrigal. Not particularly
human readable:
X:1
T: Cadgwith Anthem
M:3/4
L:1/4
K:Eb
%%header $T (page $P)
%%measurenb 0
%%scale .7
%%staffsep 70pt
%%staves [1 2 3 4]
%SOPRANO
V:1 name=“Soprano” clef=treble
E/2G/2 | Be e/2d/2 | eBe | B/2c/2 BB | c/2B/2 G2- |
w: Come_ fill up your_ glass-es and let_ us be mer-*ry,
w: Hush,_ hush, in the_ dis-tance there’s foot-*steps ap-proa-*ching.
%5
Gz E/2G/2 | Be e/2d/2 | eB B/2e/2 | cBA | G3- |
w: _ For to rob bags of_ plun-der it_ is our in-tent.
w: _ Stand,_ stand and de-*li-ver, it_ is our watch cry.
%10
Gz F/2G/2 | A A/2B/2 A | G/2A/2 B2- | Bz A/2B/2 | ce e/2c/2 |
w: _ As we roam through_ the val-*ley,_ Where the li-lies and the
%15
B/2c/2 e2- | ez e/2c/2 | BBc | BcE | FBA | G3- |
w: ro-*ses,_ And the Beau-ty of Cash-mere lay droo-ping its head.
%21
Gz F/2G/2 |
w: _ Then a-
M:4/4
A3 G/2A/2 | B3 A/2B/2 |
w: way, then a-way, then a-
M:3/4
c/2B/2 A/2B/2 c/2A/2 | B3- |
w: way______
%26
Bz c/2c/2 | BB e/2e/2 | BG B/2e/2 | B/2c/2 BA | G3- | HG z 
w: _ To the caves in yon-der moun-tain where the rob-*bers re-treat._
%
%ALTO
V:2 name=“Alto” clef=treble
z | z3 | z3 | F/2E/2 D D/2F/2 | E E2- |
w: let_ us be_ mer-ry,
w: foot-*steps ap-*proa-ching.
%5
Ez (B,/2B,/2) | EDC | B,E E/2G/2 | FDB, | B,3- |
w: _ For to rob bags of plun-der it_ is our in-tent.
w: _ Stand,_ stand and de-li-ver, it_ is our watch cry.
%10
B,z B,/2B,/2 | DD C/2B,/2 | B, B,2- | B,z B,/2B,/2 | CE E/2F/2 |
w: _ As we roam through the_ val-ley,_ Where the li-lies and the
%15
E/2F/2 G2- | Gz G/2A/2 | GGE | EEE | D/2E/2 FD | E3- |
w: ro-*ses,_ And the Beau-ty of Cash-mere lay droo-*ping its head.
%21
Ezz |
w: _
M:4/4
z B,/2>B,/2 B,z | z E/2>E/2 E B,/2B,/2 |
w: then a-way, then a-way, then a-
M:3/4
B, C/2D/2 E/2F/2 | G3- |
w: way_____
%26
Gz F/2E/2 | GG G/2A/2 | G/2F/2 E E/2G/2 | F/2E/2 D D/2F/2 | E3- | HE z
w: _ To the caves in yon-der moun-*tain where the rob-*bers re-*treat._
%
% TENOR
V:3 name=“Tenor” clef=bass
E,/2G,/2 | B,B,E | G,G,G, | B,/2A,/2 F,F, | A,/2G,/2 E,2- |
w: Come_ fill up your glass-es and let_ us be mer-*ry,
w: Hush,_ hush, in the dis-tance there’s foot-*steps ap-proa-*ching.
%5
E,z E,/2G,/2 | B,B,E | G,G,B, | B,/2A,/2 F,D, | E,3- |
w: _ For to rob bags of plun-der it is_ our in-tent.
w: _ Stand,_ stand and de-li-ver, it is_ our watch cry.
%10
E,z D,/2E,/2 | F,F,F, | E,/2F,/2 G,2- | G,z F,/2G,/2 | A,B, B,/2A,/2 |
w: _ As we roam through the val-*ley,_ Where the li-lies and the
%15
G,/2A,/2 B,2- | B,z G,/2A,/2 | B,B,E | G,E,G, | B,/2A,/2 F,D, | E,3- |
w: ro-*ses,_ And the Beau-ty of Cash-mere lay droo-*ping its head.
%21
E,z D,/2E,/2 |
w: _ Then a-
M:4/4
F,3 E,/2F,/2 | G,3 F,/2G,/2 |
w: way, then a-way, then a-
M:3/4
A,/2G,/2 A,/2B,/2 C/2D/2 | E3- |
w: way______
%26
Ez D/2C/2 | B,B, B,/2E/2 | G,E, G,/2B,/2 | B,/2A,/2 F,D, | E,3- | HE, z
w: _ To the caves in yon-der moun-tain where the rob-*bers re-treat._
%
% BASS
V:4 name=“Bass” clef=bass
z | z3 | z3 | B,/2C,/2 D,B, | C,/2E,/2 E,2- |
w: let_ us be mer-*ry,
w: foot-*steps ap-proa-*ching.
%5
E,z (E,/2E,/2) | E,D,C, | B,C,B, | G,B,B, | E,3- |
w: _ For to rob bags of plun-der it is our in-tent.
w: _ Stand,_ stand and de-li-ver, it is our watch cry.
%10
E,z D,/2E,/2 | B,B,B, | C,/2D,/2 E,2- | E,z D,/2E,/2 | A,A, C,/2D,/2 |
w: _ As we roam through the val-*ley,_ Where the li-lies and the
%15
B,/2C,/2 E,2- | E,z E,/2E,/2 | E,D,C, | B,C,B, | A,B,B, | E,3- |
w: ro-*ses,_ And the Beau-ty of Cash-mere lay droo-ping its head.
%21
E,zz |
w: _
M:4/4
z B,/2>B,/2 B,z | z E,/2>E,/2 E, D,/2E,/2 |
w: then a-way, then a-way, then a-
M:3/4
F,/2E,/2 F,/2G,/2 A,/2F,/2 | E,3- |
w: way______
%26
E,z B,/2B,/2 | E,D, C,/2C,/2 | B,C, B,/2B,/2 | A,B,B, | E,3- | HE, z
w: _ To the caves in yon-der moun-tain where the rob-bers re-treat._
Fair enough then. No arguments here. And yes, your example is hardly readable. And Oppenheim’s standard is what 5-6 years old? I was talking about abc notation as it has been used by folk musicians for yonks. It’s simple and easy enough to read by humans. Tunes have been passed along that way on the backs of napkins and note paper for many years. And the tunes live on.
Feadoggie