Help me get good at sight reading!

azfryguy · #1 07-19-2011, 05:24 PM

I want to get super good at sight reading. I already go to Rici Adams Music theory.net a few times a day and do the exercises and am pretty good just slow

. So how do I get better? I assume I just read sheet music till my eyes bleed. However, I do not own any sheet music!

jacojbass · #2 07-19-2011, 05:30 PM

get off TB and read some music...

JimmyM · #3 07-19-2011, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by azfryguy

I want to get super good at sight reading. I already go to Rici Adams Music theory.net a few times a day and do the exercises and am pretty good just slow

. So how do I get better? I assume I just read sheet music till my eyes bleed. However, I do not own any sheet music!

Go buy some. That's exactly how you get good at sight reading...read music till your eyes bleed. But you don't just preactice sight reading...you practice reading. Don't just read it once and put it away. Read it until you can play it and learn it and watch for patterns that you see often, then you can recognize them in other music when you see it.

But yeah, it's just something that gradually improves the more you do it.

anonymous122511 · #4 07-19-2011, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyM

Go buy some.

Or get it from the library. Trombone and cello music work well on the bass.

And you don't need to limit your reading to bass clef either. Treble clef is a good real world skill to have to cop melodies and to see at a glance what the guitar and piano parts are doing.

Kobaia · #5 07-19-2011, 09:37 PM

learning to read is a lonely well lit room.

azfryguy · #6 07-19-2011, 10:09 PM

is it expensive? Cause right now I got about $4.84 to my name.

JimmyM · #7 07-19-2011, 10:15 PM

It can be expensive but it doesn't have to be. It will, however, be more than $4.84. But like Jeff said, there's the library.

ugly_bassplayer · #8 07-19-2011, 10:18 PM

Get anything in bass clef read it.

The more you read the better you'll get, it really sucks to practice but it's really worth the effort.

azfryguy · #9 07-19-2011, 10:43 PM

I actually like sight reading not sure why but it is almost a foreign language. Once you are fluent you feel so proud and acomplished!

**bassybill** · #10 07-20-2011, 12:12 AM

OP - people keep using the term "sight reading" when really they just mean "reading" in many cases, as I think you really do here. Glad to see Jimmy is making the distinction between "reading" and "sight reading". To get good at the latter, keep working until you can do the former accurately and fast.

There's quite a lot of free stuff for reading practice online. Start by looking at this thread:

Transcriptions - the big thread (NO COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE STUFF! THANKS.)

Then try googling "bass transcriptions" by Stefan Redtenbacher, Arcellus Sykes, Stevie Glasgow, Mike Nichols and Lucas Pickford for a lot more. That should give you plenty to be going on with, and there's loads more out there if you work on your Google Fu. Seek, and thou shalt find.

One tip I found massively helpful with reading is to work hard on reading/glancing ahead. As you're following the tune, you should try to be reading the dots a couple of bars in front of the place where your fingers are playing the notes, rather than having your eyes fixed on the bar where you currently are without seeing what's coming up on you fast.

clodhopper · #11 07-20-2011, 04:26 AM

http://www.visual-jazz.com/srjb-demo.pdf
This is just 8th notes - practice in different positions. I'm a pretty good reader but this stuff is great

http://www.instituteofbass.com/subscribe/sample.pdf
16th note rhythms - should keep you busy for a bit

**bassybill** · #12 07-20-2011, 05:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by clodhopper

http://www.visual-jazz.com/srjb-demo.pdf
This is just 8th notes - practice in different positions. I'm a pretty good reader but this stuff is great

http://www.instituteofbass.com/subscribe/sample.pdf
16th note rhythms - should keep you busy for a bit

First rate practice material - saved both of these! Thanks for the links.

Billnc · #13 07-20-2011, 06:19 AM

Carol Kaye's stuff is cheap.

azfryguy · #14 07-20-2011, 11:55 AM

thanks guys! TalkBass saves the day again

**colcifer** · #15 07-20-2011, 12:20 PM

No, it hasn't. There's more to learning reading than just jumping in and practicing ad nauseum.

First, learn to read notes and rhythms seperately. Print out some public domain sheet music and write in the letter names under every note. This isn't about playing, it's just to burn the staff into your mind. Once you can recognize any note on the staff instantly, start working on rhythm. Find some method (any will do but snare drum is best) and tap out everything. No notes, just tapping on your knee WITH A METRONOME (**** Jeff Berlin). Once you can tap any rhythm you come across, get more method (I recommend Dozauer cello method), grab your bass, and put the notes and rhythm together. Now TB has saved the day

.

anonymous122511 · #16 07-20-2011, 12:27 PM

And don't forget the way you get good at reading words is not only by reading regularly and a lot but also by speaking with people conversationally to learn the context and rhythms of the language.

mambo4 · #17 07-20-2011, 01:38 PM

and writing helps too.

bigboy_78 · #18 07-20-2011, 06:44 PM

The only way to get good at reading is to read, alot.

And reading isn't just about dots on a page. It is also fingers on the fretboard. So you need to really know every note on the neck. Playing scales and saying the notes helps with this.

MattP · #19 07-20-2011, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colcifer

Print out some public domain sheet music and write in the letter names under every note.

I disagree with this advice, or at least don't think it's the best approach.

When you're site reading music, you don't want to have to think "A, B, C, A, E," etc. Instead of associating the symbols on the staff with letter names, you want to burn fret locations and sounds into your brain.

I suggest buying or printing a bunch of blank staff paper. Spend hours and hours writing stuff that you know how to play in your sleep on to those blank pages. Visualize the frets in your mind as you do it. Burn the sound in your head as you do it.

Burn the musical symbols into your head as fret locations and sounds. Then you are truly learning to read the language of music.

Doing this approach will help with the rhythm as well, but colcifer's advice is an excellent way to practice rhythm.

Snarf · #20 07-20-2011, 09:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by azfryguy

I assume I just read sheet music till my eyes bleed. However, I do not own any sheet music!

Then buy sheet music. Only way to do it. ANYTHING in bass clef will do, does not have to be bass music.

Also, you assume correctly. Just like finger technique, sight reading is pretty much muscle memory, you have to do it and practice it consistently to get good and maintain a certain level of functionality. Buy up whatever music you can afford and read through it. Do each piece once, maybe twice, try to never stop to correct anything. Just keep going.