Sight Reading

[ldarbz_bassman]

I am having playing bass for 3 years and after playing in a number of musicals at my high school i can read music pretty well. Yet with so many songs leaning them all is to hard, yet i can read and play some of them others are to difficult. how can i improve my sight reading???

[brivello]

you can get tips books ect. but in the end it all comes down to practice.

so practice

[JimmyM]

This would get a better reaction in "General Instruction." But basically it just comes with experience. Read everything you can, take some of your favorite songs and transcribe the bass parts, just work with sheet music as much as possible and get used to seeing rhythms written out and where notes are on the staff. Transcribing is an excellent tool for getting your sight reading chops together.

When you get a sheet of music, scan it and look for the hardest parts first. Try to work them out quickly before the tune is called. And always try to read 3 or 4 bars ahead of what you're playing.

[Stumbo]

Originally Posted by brivello

so practice

+1

Try practicing more. 20 hours a week for year should do it.

[Mark Wilson]

Moved to General Instruction.

[timmbass]

http://www.bassbooks.com/shopping/sh...=Sight+Reading

[deckard]

Best of the various sight-reading books IMNSHO is Ron Velosky's "Sight Reading for the Bass".

[ldarbz_bassman]

thanks heaps guys!!

[Mike Saville]

Include sight reading in your daily routine. I find that most people who feel they are poor at sight reading do not practice it like they would pieces or technique.

There are loads of possibilities for material - endless amounts of TAB online, and anything in bass clef will do, cello, bassoon, trombone or left hand piano music will do.

Also try to treat it like a live performance - don't stop for any reason and keep a strict tempo.

That should do it

[Jim Carr]

Originally Posted by Mike Saville

Include sight reading in your daily routine...

...anything in bass clef will do, cello, bassoon, trombone or left hand piano music will do.

Also try to treat it like a live performance - don't stop for any reason and keep a strict tempo...)

All good advice. I would add a few suggestions.

0) LOOK AHEAD!!!

1) conduct and SAY the rhythm on "Ta."

2) find music that is too easy, and then read it FAST.

3) use a metronome.

4) practice reading note names and rhythm separately. discover your weakness. IME, most of us are weaker on rhythm.

5) never take your eyes off the music. if there is a conductor/leader, watch in your peripheral vision.

6) to keep your eyes on the chart, do not sit facing the music. Rather, sit so that the headstock is pointed at the music stand, and you are sighting down the neck toward the chart AND leader. Guess why?

7) read everyday.

[Stumbo]

Originally Posted by ldarbz_bassman

... i can read and play some of them, others are to difficult.

Take the difficult ones and apply the excellent advice from the previous posts.

[Mike Saville]

Originally Posted by Jim Carr

5) never take your eyes off the music. if there is a conductor/leader, watch in your peripheral vision.

That's a personal weakness of mine

My sight readings fine - but I really need to stop looking at the fingerboard when I play

[Jim Carr]

Originally Posted by Mike Saville

...My sight readings fine - but I really need to stop looking at the fingerboard when I play

This Bud's for you:

Originally Posted by Jim Carr

...to keep your eyes on the chart, do not sit facing the music. Rather, sit so that the headstock is pointed at the music stand, and you are sighting down the neck toward the chart AND leader. Guess why?

Why? You can see the FB, music, and conductor all at once.

[Mike Saville]

Yeah, but when I reach bass nirvana I shall be able to just feel my way around with out any need to look.

I guess its true of so many things in music. I can do it sometimes but not all the time. One of my aims in everything is consistency, in time, in sound, in style and in where I look.

This also applies to sight-reading - being able to play first time, every time.

I can see it - just got to try and grab it

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by Jim Carr

6) to keep your eyes on the chart, do not sit facing the music. Rather, sit so that the headstock is pointed at the music stand, and you are sighting down the neck toward the chart AND leader. Guess why?

Uh...because you aren't good enough to play without looking at your neck? Tsk-tsk...

I remember (puts on Old Guy Remeniscing Hat) way back in 1979 or '80 I played a gig in The Space, a notorious punk rock club in Boston MA, and the bassist in the other band sharing the bill asked if he could use my rig. I said "Sure". Then he asked if he could move the rig from the drummer's left side (stage left) to the drummer's right side...and he said "You should be on the drummer's right side too, so you can see him and your fingerboard at the same time."

I said "You should learn to play bass without looking at your fingerboard."


Yeah, I know, I'm a dick...

[Andrew Jones]

And always try to read 3 or 4 bars ahead of what you're playing.

You can read that far ahead?

I can read pretty well (alot better than most) I'm doing really good if I'm 3 "groups" ahead I'm usually 2 and sometimes one.


What's a group? for me it's groups of 4 so 16th is one beat eighth will be 2 and ECT......


So I'm doing well if my eyes are at the end of the measure I just started playing.


Aj

[Jim Carr]

Originally Posted by Hoover

Uh...because you aren't good enough to play without looking at your neck? Tsk-tsk...

I remember (puts on Old Guy Remeniscing Hat) way back in 1979 or '80 I played a gig in The Space, a notorious punk rock club in Boston MA, and the bassist in the other band sharing the bill asked if he could use my rig. I said "Sure". Then he asked if he could move the rig from the drummer's left side (stage left) to the drummer's right side...and he said "You should be on the drummer's right side too, so you can see him and your fingerboard at the same time."

I said "You should learn to play bass without looking at your fingerboard."


Yeah, I know, I'm a dick...

+1
Everyone looks at some time unless they have no eyesight. Of course one must play without looking (HOW ELSE CAN YOU SIGHT READ???), but you can improve your % of correct notes if you can check where you are when it most matters. Why be absolutist about this? No one can shift with 100% accuracy all the time.

BTW, Victor Wooten played on a show I played on last year. Yes, he looked. Sorry.

Perhaps if you were to read my sight reading advice again, you will understand I am talking about peripheral vision. Clearly if you are reading, you are looking at the music. At least I have to look at the music in order to read it. Perhaps you don't need to?

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by Hoover

Uh...because you aren't good enough to play without looking at your neck? Tsk-tsk...

I remember (puts on Old Guy Remeniscing Hat) way back in 1979 or '80 I played a gig in The Space, a notorious punk rock club in Boston MA, and the bassist in the other band sharing the bill asked if he could use my rig. I said "Sure". Then he asked if he could move the rig from the drummer's left side (stage left) to the drummer's right side...and he said "You should be on the drummer's right side too, so you can see him and your fingerboard at the same time."

I said "You should learn to play bass without looking at your fingerboard."


Yeah, I know, I'm a dick...

I don't know...I don't react too well to other musicians trying to tell me how to do my job, either. I did a gig on Tuesday where we had this little local band open up for us. The bassist was a nice guy, but the band was horrible. They couldn't even play "Takin' Care Of Business" without screwing up the rhythms.

So we do our first set, and they came up onstage to discuss the mix with us. The bassist said it was pretty good. The guitarist said our first song was completely out to lunch because the bass had "this horrible distortion on it." I said I should have warned the soundman that I use distortion occasionally. The guitarist says, and mind you that this guy is completely untalented, he says, "Well don't use it. It sounds horrible." I just walked off. There's no point in even talking to idiots like that.

[AlphaMale]

Nothing but practice.

[ldarbz_bassman]

Thats wat everyone says but then again i guess i need to!!!!!!!!!