sight reading is my albatross!

[bassinplace]

I've finished three books so far, back to front. Teach Yourself To Play Bass, Ed Friedland/Hal Leonard Complete Bass Method and Ed Friedland Blues Bass. I'm just starting on What Duck Done and I'm still stumbling through trying to read these songs! As Charlie Brown would say, "Aarrgh!"!

Ok that's my vent. My question is, anyone else have this same struggle? If you're a good sight reader, how long did it take you to get that way? I feel like I'm really s-l-o-w.

[magickbass]

Practice, practice, practice! There is a book entitled Note Reading Studies for Bass that might help. Don't get frustrated and keep at it, good luck!

[chicago_mike]

best reading lesson for me at least.

Mel Bay bass book. And Joel Rothman's Teaching Rythm. And..index cards and a third hand.

use the rothman book to learn to sight read rythms...forget the notes for now...just do rythms. and have a friend put the card over the bar you're reading...teaching you forcefully to read ahead.

[bassinplace]

Originally Posted by magickbass

Practice, practice, practice! There is a book entitled Note Reading Studies for Bass that might help. Don't get frustrated and keep at it, good luck!

Thanks, that book looks pretty good. Do you know if it comes w/CD? Looks like it doesn't. There's another one that looks good written by Ron Velosky, but comes with no disc either.

My deal is I can't afford an instructor right now and I'm thinking going through these books without one-or at least a CD to check my work-may not be the best route.

Idk, I'm gonna finish the book I'm in and if my skills haven't sharpened any by then I may pick up your suggestion next. Thanks for the tip.

[Billnc]

Carol Kaye basslines series are excellent. Take your time, allow yourself mistakes. Read a lot, spend most of your time only slightly ahead of what you can read now. You didn't jump from the Dick and Jane Books (sorry I learned to read from them) to War and Peace. So don't run off and buy the Cello Suites etc to LEARN to read. Stay away from any 'reading' with tabs. If graded studies start getting too difficult find another book to read. Don't feel obliged to finish a book if it gets to slow going, buy another and come back later.

[Jim Campbell]

Originally Posted by Billnc

Carol Kaye basslines series are excellent. Take your time, allow yourself mistakes. Read a lot, spend most of your time only slightly ahead of what you can read now. You didn't jump from the Dick and Jane Books (sorry I learned to read from them) to War and Peace. So don't run off and buy the Cello Suites etc to LEARN to read. Stay away from any 'reading' with tabs. If graded studies start getting too difficult find another book to read. Don't feel obliged to finish a book if it gets to slow going, buy another and come back later.

i'm in the same boat.....a lot of the figures i have problems with are things that are not easily dissected for counting out slowly...

..a lot of the songs in geetar rags show up on youtube so you can listen to the phrase,but i think is better to learn how to do it from the dots instead of memorizing phrases...i have used geetar rags as practice pieces a lot,but i'm not sure that knowing the tune is a good thing or a bad thing,if being a good reader is the goal

..maybe a series dedicated reading lessons from someone who really reads well would be best,like a symphonic player

[Staccato]

Practice extremely slow (tempo) exercises, whether easy tunes like, 'Papa Was a Rolling Stone', open string arpeggios, or advanced tunes. As the memory and fingers work in unison (and things improve), slowly increase the speed, and complexity. Use warm up exercises before moving to other practice!

There's lots of ways to memorize, and practice learning sheets and position on fretboard...
Point at the sheet music with a pencil as you call off the string, example G (first line on staff) while thinking and visualizing in your mind, 'E String - 3rd Fret.' Then, move through the rest of the notes, while calling them out, and visualizing their position. This gets faster with practice, really! I prefer looking at the notes on the staff while holding the bass and striking each note with the right hand and saying the note out loud.

If you're a singer, you know how helpful it is for beginners in voice training to practice songs (or notes) long sounds like whole notes-SLOWLY, and very S-O-F-T-L-Y,
-not necesarily at the same time.

[edfriedland]

Besides the obvious suggestion to read more music, even if it's hard at first... try writing music. Start with major and minor scales in all keys, major and minor arpeggios in all keys, min7, dom7, maj7, m7b5 chords in all keys. Just write it out. The act of writing music will help your reading.

[bassinplace]

Originally Posted by Billnc

Carol Kaye basslines series are excellent. Take your time, allow yourself mistakes. Read a lot, spend most of your time only slightly ahead of what you can read now. You didn't jump from the Dick and Jane Books (sorry I learned to read from them) to War and Peace. So don't run off and buy the Cello Suites etc to LEARN to read. Stay away from any 'reading' with tabs. If graded studies start getting too difficult find another book to read. Don't feel obliged to finish a book if it gets to slow going, buy another and come back later.

Yeah, I've got a Carol Kaye book, haven't really looked at it yet. I agree with you about tab. I've tried going to it when I get lost, but it seems to slow me down more. I think I need to focus on the notation instead of diverting my attention away from it.

[bassinplace]

Originally Posted by edfriedland

Besides the obvious suggestion to read more music, even if it's hard at first... try writing music. Start with major and minor scales in all keys, major and minor arpeggios in all keys, min7, dom7, maj7, m7b5 chords in all keys. Just write it out. The act of writing music will help your reading.

Oh yeah, makes sense, just like learning any language. Thanks, I'll do that!

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by edfriedland

Besides the obvious suggestion to read more music, even if it's hard at first... try writing music. Start with major and minor scales in all keys, major and minor arpeggios in all keys, min7, dom7, maj7, m7b5 chords in all keys. Just write it out. The act of writing music will help your reading.

+1. listen to ed. he's a genius!

and quit putting so much pressure on yourself to get good at it within a time frame. sight reading can take a good while to get good at it. just do the best you can, and if you haven't mastered it in a couple months, just keep going with it.

[Chris K]

I agree with Mr. Friedland on the initial merit of writing music learning to read, but IMHO the real thing to do is to try to play in a (larger) band where sheet music is the way to go, however simple the music may be. Then you'll need to keep up with the rest of the band. Bedroom practice will only take you through the first stages.

And it does take time. I already was an experienced sax player in the city orchestra, believing I my sightreading was up shape. Until I entered a jazz bigband. It took me a year before I could 'play' fast Count Basie stuff and the like at first sight.

And the other way around: In my bands, I play from notes less and less (most is chord sheets or by ear) and my ability to READ and play from notes is melting down, even though I WRITE music almost every day...

[Phil Smith]

The more you read, the better you get at reading, it's a practice makes perfect thing. Reading music is a recognition excercise, the more you can look at group of notes and "know" what it sounds like, the more effective you will be at reading. Writing music isn't nearly as beneficial as reading music in real time i.e. in a band situation.

[champbassist]

"Well, believe or not, sounds corny, just hard practice. You've got to put lots of hours... It's hard. I used to spend hours a day with any book I could get a hold of: treble clef, any clef, bass clef, of course."

- Jaco Pastorius on reading.

Obviously that was the early 1980's and you have a lot more by way of resources today. Lots of free sheet music out there for you to practice with.Also, there are lots of drills all over the internet for you to utilise: here's an example.

[magickbass]

Originally Posted by edfriedland

Besides the obvious suggestion to read more music, even if it's hard at first... try writing music. Start with major and minor scales in all keys, major and minor arpeggios in all keys, min7, dom7, maj7, m7b5 chords in all keys. Just write it out. The act of writing music will help your reading.

Good one, why didn't I think of this????!!!!

[magickbass]

And no, Note Reading Studies for Bass does not come with a companion CD. Sadly. There are a LOT of great tips in this thread from these guys and it will get you past your current level of sight reading.

[Stumbo]

You might want to clap the rhythm of each tune or part of a tune first until you get that down. Slowly at first, then up to speed. Possibly use a metronome to perfect the rhythm. Then do the same with the notes.

[bassinplace]

Originally Posted by champbassist

"Well, believe or not, sounds corny, just hard practice. You've got to put lots of hours... It's hard. I used to spend hours a day with any book I could get a hold of: treble clef, any clef, bass clef, of course."

- Jaco Pastorius on reading.

Obviously that was the early 1980's and you have a lot more by way of resources today. Lots of free sheet music out there for you to practice with.Also, there are lots of drills all over the internet for you to utilise: here's an example.

Thanks for the inspiration! Great links! Thanks!

[guitardefector]

Originally Posted by magickbass

Practice, practice, practice! There is a book entitled Note Reading Studies for Bass that might help. Don't get frustrated and keep at it, good luck!

Great book!!I have vol. 1 and I usually set the metronome clicks a little lower and work my way up. The key, as the book indicates, is to "keep going" even if you miss a few notes. Don't stop and analyse what you did wrong. It'll be second nature before you know it.