Sight reading tips

[AlphaMale]

I'm sure this has been posted bored but I really need help with learning to read sheet music on sight. I'm going to audition for a music class in a year and I want to be ready before then. Then you guys!
Just small tips that helped you I'm not very good with sheet music.

[Milk eWay]

I had to do auditions where i had to sight read.

The best way I've found to learn to sight read (much like learning a new language) is to just jump right in. Play every single piece of sheet music you can get your hands on. The wider the range styles the better.

Also, make sure you take about 5 seconds to glance through the music before you start playing it. That way, you can see things such as key/tempo changes before you get to them and relize at the last second "holy crap."

[Jim Carr]

Originally Posted by AlphaMale

I'm sure this has been posted bored but I really need help with learning to read sheet music on sight. I'm going to audition for a music class in a year and I want to be ready before then. Then you guys!
Just small tips that helped you I'm not very good with sheet music.

I'm a little confused by your message, but here it is in brief:

1) If you don't know how to practice sight-reading, you need a teacher.

2) If you do know how, then practice.

I am not intending to be flippant, it is just that a long description of what to do will not really help (or even "small tips"). Get a private teacher who knows how to teach rhythmic reading and solfege.

If you need to sightread bass music for an audition, then be sure you find out what level they expect. Ask them politely for a couple of samples of the kind of thing they will plunk in front of you.

Now you have a goal! Take the samples to your teacher and the rest is going to be obvious to him/her.

If you find a teacher that is not helping, find a second teacher. Do them both for a week or two, then dump the one that is not helping as much. BTW, teachers don't practice for you, LOL!!!

Good luck!

[ryco]

Learning to read and learning to sight read are two different things.

Both just take time and practice. Read everything you can find - esp in bass clef if you're talking about sight reading bass parts. The more ya do do it the easier and faster it becomes.

You have to learn to read first. Once you're comfortable reading and feel familiar with the clef then you can begin to sightread.

In sight reading scan the whole page first and look for the hard or tricky parts. Also note things like first ending, second ending, repeats. Helps to have a pencil so's you can mark or circle things.

When you're actually playing the lines try looking a couple of bars ahead. This takes a little practice, but like I said - the more you do it the easier it gets.

Good luck!

[JimmyM]

Dang, Ryco said exactly what I was going to say. Those are the two best tips for sight reading that I ever got. Scan for tricky parts and work them out as quick as you can, and keep your eyes a couple bars ahead of what you're playing.

[Chad.mundt]

Another important thing is be able to play without looking at your bass. This means in position and in small and large shifts. it's amazing how much not having to watch two things helps.

try playing three octave arpeggios of all kinds with your eyes closed. that one will bust your chops, i promise. If you play a fretless especially, you should already be practicing this daily.

[Jim Carr]

Originally Posted by Chad.mundt

Another important thing is be able to play without looking at your bass. This means in position and in small and large shifts. it's amazing how much not having to watch two things helps.

try playing three octave arpeggios of all kinds with your eyes closed. that one will bust your chops, i promise. If you play a fretless especially, you should already be practicing this daily.

+1 good ideas.

and OK, here is a related "small tip" for sightreading on electric bass....

Set up your music stand and your chair so that when you look at the music, you can still see the neck of your instrument in your peripheral vison. In effect, sort of sight down the neck a bit with the headstock slightly pointed at the music. You want to be able to see the music AND your hand position without moving your eyes off the music. Experiment until you find the right arrangement.

[DocBop]

Learning to sightread is a skill that doing it is the real teacher. You have to read everyday no if's, and's, or but's. Get lots of reading material so you can avoid memorizing versus reading. Start slow like working on technique speed builds from doing thing correctly at slow tempo.

A lot of learning to sightread is learning to look at the sheet music. Learning to read rhythms is what takes time and relates to learning to look at written music. You first need to "see" a measure and spot the beats 1, 2, 3..... Then "see" the rhythms and know them, the way you know the words you are reading in the post. Last to "see" pitches as familiar patterns like intervals, scale fragments, a chord. Written music is a language that you learn to read the same way you learn to speak and read books. You do see the work "DOG" and think D and O and a G, err thats dog. No you look and see the whole word and think dog. Music is the same. Reading a book you see a word you've never seen before you know how to quickly break it down and at least pronounce it. Music the same you see some written music like nothing you've read before you quickly break it down to familiar pieces and play it. So its all about practicing reading daily so you build a vocabulary of rhythms, melodic fragments, and so on.

So read everyday and get some books that focus on reading rhythms besides music. Learning rhythms is the harder and more important part. As I was taught in school. When sightreading you screw up reading a pitch, you probably just add to the harmony. You screw up a rhythm you stand out like a sore thumb.

Buy a metronome don't use a drum machine for working on reading. Put your bass down and use the bass in your head to figure out the music first. Then clap the rhythms and get those down. Now pickup your bass and try to play it. Sounds like a long process, but do it and you will make progress faster over long run.

[Stumpy]

Originally Posted by AlphaMale

I'm sure this has been posted bored but I really need help with learning to read sheet music on sight. I'm going to audition for a music class in a year and I want to be ready before then. Then you guys!
Just small tips that helped you I'm not very good with sheet music.

Read.

Read.

Read.

Seriously...

Read.


Everything you can get your hands on. Read the changes, read the notes, read tab, read music from other clefs, read. The more you do it the better you get at it.

Read.

Read.

Read.

Seriously...

Read.

[AlphaMale]

Originally Posted by DocBop

Learning to sightread is a skill that doing it is the real teacher. You have to read everyday no if's, and's, or but's. Get lots of reading material so you can avoid memorizing versus reading. Start slow like working on technique speed builds from doing thing correctly at slow tempo.

A lot of learning to sightread is learning to look at the sheet music. Learning to read rhythms is what takes time and relates to learning to look at written music. You first need to "see" a measure and spot the beats 1, 2, 3..... Then "see" the rhythms and know them, the way you know the words you are reading in the post. Last to "see" pitches as familiar patterns like intervals, scale fragments, a chord. Written music is a language that you learn to read the same way you learn to speak and read books. You do see the work "DOG" and think D and O and a G, err thats dog. No you look and see the whole word and think dog. Music is the same. Reading a book you see a word you've never seen before you know how to quickly break it down and at least pronounce it. Music the same you see some written music like nothing you've read before you quickly break it down to familiar pieces and play it. So its all about practicing reading daily so you build a vocabulary of rhythms, melodic fragments, and so on.

So read everyday and get some books that focus on reading rhythms besides music. Learning rhythms is the harder and more important part. As I was taught in school. When sightreading you screw up reading a pitch, you probably just add to the harmony. You screw up a rhythm you stand out like a sore thumb.

Buy a metronome don't use a drum machine for working on reading. Put your bass down and use the bass in your head to figure out the music first. Then clap the rhythms and get those down. Now pickup your bass and try to play it. Sounds like a long process, but do it and you will make progress faster over long run.

A lot of oyur tips have helped a lot but this is a very interesting concept. To think of the bars as a whole. Hm..

[boyet]

Originally Posted by DocBop

Learning to sightread is a skill that doing it is the real teacher. You have to read everyday no if's, and's, or but's. Get lots of reading material so you can avoid memorizing versus reading. Start slow like working on technique speed builds from doing thing correctly at slow tempo.

A lot of learning to sightread is learning to look at the sheet music. Learning to read rhythms is what takes time and relates to learning to look at written music. You first need to "see" a measure and spot the beats 1, 2, 3..... Then "see" the rhythms and know them, the way you know the words you are reading in the post. Last to "see" pitches as familiar patterns like intervals, scale fragments, a chord. Written music is a language that you learn to read the same way you learn to speak and read books. You do see the work "DOG" and think D and O and a G, err thats dog. No you look and see the whole word and think dog. Music is the same. Reading a book you see a word you've never seen before you know how to quickly break it down and at least pronounce it. Music the same you see some written music like nothing you've read before you quickly break it down to familiar pieces and play it. So its all about practicing reading daily so you build a vocabulary of rhythms, melodic fragments, and so on.

So read everyday and get some books that focus on reading rhythms besides music. Learning rhythms is the harder and more important part. As I was taught in school. When sightreading you screw up reading a pitch, you probably just add to the harmony. You screw up a rhythm you stand out like a sore thumb.

Buy a metronome don't use a drum machine for working on reading. Put your bass down and use the bass in your head to figure out the music first. Then clap the rhythms and get those down. Now pickup your bass and try to play it. Sounds like a long process, but do it and you will make progress faster over long run.

+10000000000000000000000000000

[Deacon_Blues]

Originally Posted by DocBop

A lot of learning to sightread is learning to look at the sheet music. Learning to read rhythms is what takes time and relates to learning to look at written music. You first need to "see" a measure and spot the beats 1, 2, 3..... Then "see" the rhythms and know them, the way you know the words you are reading in the post. Last to "see" pitches as familiar patterns like intervals, scale fragments, a chord. Written music is a language that you learn to read the same way you learn to speak and read books. You do see the work "DOG" and think D and O and a G, err thats dog. No you look and see the whole word and think dog. Music is the same. Reading a book you see a word you've never seen before you know how to quickly break it down and at least pronounce it. Music the same you see some written music like nothing you've read before you quickly break it down to familiar pieces and play it. So its all about practicing reading daily so you build a vocabulary of rhythms, melodic fragments, and so on.

I am terrible at reading in general, but I suck the most on reading walking bass lines with quarter notes all the time. I'm better on reading melody phrases (think words) than endless phrases that walking bass lines often are. Readingwalkingbasslinesislikereadingtextthatiswrit tenwithoutspacesbetweenthewords. Lines with some rhythmic content is much easier for me to read...

(EDIT: A space seem to be added in too long words automatically, couldn't edit it away...)

[jbl71004]

While I agee with the advice that you should read whatever you can get your hands on, I feel like I initially wasted a lot of time trying to read stuff that was a little too advanced. Reading that was better than reading nothing, but when I got Rufus Reid's "The Evolving Bassist" my reading improved dramatically in a very short period of time. If you go through the exercises as they are presented, very slowly at first, you build your sight reading skills every day you practice. You start out with open string exercises (which are good to do reading or not, I've discovered), get familiar with where those notes correspond on the bass clef, and doing so with simple rhythms. From there, the range of notes and rhythms grow as you progress. You'll be surprised at how quickly you can improve and work through the material if you do it every day and make sure to work on you weaknesses.