Learning sheet music

[The1bassist06]

I was just wondering if anyone had any good tips on how to learn to read sheet music?

I have no access to a instructor or other musicians that know how to read it.

[Zerofox Kitsune]

Take a look here: Bass Lessons : Reading Music

[MalcolmAmos]

Yes that is a good site. I found this helpful: http://www.cyberfretbass.com/reading...dard/index.php

My piano instructor had me learn the note names first, i.e. see the fly specks on the paper and be able to verbalize the note name - in the same amount of time it would take me to say my name - then and only then did she turn me loose on the keyboard. You can practice that anywhere, just get some bass clef sheet music and practice naming the notes.

After you can identify the fly speck then start finding them on your fretboard.

This two step method helped me.

Just worry with first position - nut to the 4th fret - after you get that comfortable then you can use position locations up the neck.

Read a lot of sheet music. Keep some sheet music in your lunch box, briefcase, by your easy chair, etc. read every chance you get.

Here is a little something you might enjoy. http://courses.wcupa.edu/frichmon/us...s/bcnotes.html

[A tempo]

Ditto to the above.

The free website that has helped me the most is Ricci Adams' Musictheory.net. Go to Exercises and practice practically anything in bass clef.

[mambo4]

One bot of advice is to separate practicing pitch recognition from practicing rhythm recognition. they are quite different, and rhythm is the harder of the two (for me anyhow)

one nice thing about isolating rhythm is that you can grab any sheet music and just clap or tap your fingers -no instrument needed.

I personally made a big leap in my reading skills by learning Latin music -rhythmically sophisticated, yet not too elaborate. So usually I recommended getting into Some Salsa/Cuban stuff.

[Shovelbone]

Originally Posted by The1bassist06

I was just wondering if anyone had any good tips on how to learn to read sheet music?

I have no access to a instructor or other musicians that know how to read it.

Online Bass Lessons at StudyBass.com

[germ_77]

I am just learning to read myself and I am finding the Hal Leonard Bass Method by ed friedland is so easy to follow and learn from. Book 1 is like 5 bucks if you get it without the CD's and in the last week I have learned so much from it that I can play most easy songs by sight already.

[Stumbo]

A metronome will help after you get the rhythm and notes down. Learn to play everything very slowly at first. Better to play with few mistakes at a very slow pace. "Go slow" practice method

Here are some links you may want to check out:
~Newbie Theory
What's "Theory"?
Intro to Theory website-easy to follow
Easy understanding of chords
Music Theory for Practical People book
Online Visual Beginning Theory, ear trainer

~Newbie Sight Reading
Beginner's Bass Clef tips
"Name that note" online SN game
Downloadable read "bass clef" software
Fretboard note trainer online
Online bass clef audio/visual trainer
print bass clef flashcards/staff paper

Intro to transcribing
Free bass clef sheet music

~Sight Reading
{url=www.studybass.com/lessons/reading-music/bass-clef-fretboard-notes/bass-clef-notes-fretboard.pdf}Note: paste web address to your search bar to Download this cool doc: clef to fretboard translation. Memorize this!
1 Learning
2
Improving
Practicing
Sight reading source material
Transcribe/read transcriptions free online

Check out the link in my sig. below for more great TB info.

Good luck.

Patience is your friend.
~Newbie Rhythm
1 Learn rhythm
2

Virginia Tech Music Theory Dictionary
Online Visual Beginning Theory, ear trainer

[germ_77]

One other thing that I found helped me learn really fast was writing as well, whatever books I went through I would actually write out the music in a scrap book while thinking what each note is as I wrote it and then work out of the scrap book instead of the actual book it was from.

I found writing out each one really helped me remember which note is which.

[bertbassplayer]

There's a pretty good book out there called Music Reading for Bass by Wendi Hrehovcsik. I've used portions of it in lessons to teach music reading.

[JimmyM]

It's better to learn one note at a time really well than to learn a whole bunch of notes at one time half-assed.

[mambo4]

And a +1 to writing as well.
Make up or listen to a line you like , and take a stab at writing it out. Then hand it to a fluent reader to show you where you go astray.

[Phil Smith]

Originally Posted by mambo4

And a +1 to writing as well.
Make up or listen to a line you like , and take a stab at writing it out. Then hand it to a fluent reader to show you where you go astray.

Then ask that fluent reader, how they became a fluent reader.

[MalcolmAmos]

Originally Posted by mambo4

One bot of advice is to separate practicing pitch recognition from practicing rhythm recognition. they are quite different, and rhythm is the harder of the two (for me anyhow)

one nice thing about isolating rhythm is that you can grab any sheet music and just clap or tap your fingers -no instrument needed.

Yes. Carol Kaye in her lessons have you look over the sheet music first - clap out the rhythm, get a feel for the tempo - then look at the individual notes.

Have not mastered that - - yet.

[JoeMongo]

I just started Google searching this very topic. Good thing I found this thread. Thanks to everyone who posted links.

Signed,
A Bass n00b

[funnyfingers]

After having knowledge of standard notation only being able to read it without playing, I tried playing and reading from the lesson book that I am using to teach guitar to my daughter. She plays chords and the teacher (or I) would play the meoldy from the standard notation... Anyway, I was able to play it from knowing the scale and the starting note and then just reading the music not as notes but as intervals. Nothing complicated, but I thought it was cool that I was able to do so when I thought about it that way.

I brought this up at work to someone who plays piano and he said that sounds right to him but also he memorized everything as patterns as well...