Suggestions for Improving Reading Skills?

[Phoenix1]

I have been playing for about 45 years, mostly by ear. I can read some, but I want to improve my skills. I have recently re-discovered playing for community theater groups, and the general drill is you get the score a few weeks in advance, come in and play. I'm not that good. How can I get better?

I am taking lessons for the first time, so that helps. I practice a bit each day. That helps too.

Can anyone suggest a book or method that I might use in conjunction with my lessons to sharpen my reading abilities?

[carl h.]

Grab everything you can and read it. Church Hymnal is a good place to start. Then hit thrift stores and other junk shops to buy music on the cheap and just read it.

FWIW about my reading skills, I am a long time violin player and regularly got called AFTER final rehearsals to come in and play concerts - to strengthen sections. It's not so much what you read, but that you are doing it, and moving on to things that challenge you.

[MalcolmAmos]

Keep some sheet music by your easy chair, on the back porch, where ever you spend time. Have 5 minutes, spend it reading. To get better at reading you have to read - a lot.

[jallenbass]

Originally Posted by Phoenix1

I have been playing for about 45 years, mostly by ear. I can read some, but I want to improve my skills. I have recently re-discovered playing for community theater groups, and the general drill is you get the score a few weeks in advance, come in and play. I'm not that good. How can I get better?

I am taking lessons for the first time, so that helps. I practice a bit each day. That helps too.

Can anyone suggest a book or method that I might use in conjunction with my lessons to sharpen my reading abilities?

I became better at reading by playing gigs that required me to read so I think you're on the right track. For me practicing reading for reading's sake did very little. Practicing music and studies for lessons and gigs made a difference. It's a very gradual process for most of us for sure. Slow and steady wins the race.

[fmoore200]

Buy a fake book.. play the melodies. After that you can play beneath the melody... More bang for your buck..

[Ingratil]

Well, I dont really know how to read music other than the possition of the notes on the lines (and not even that very well), and what im doing to try and learn is I downloaded guitar pro and then dissabled the thing that shows you tabs so i can only read the chart thing, i think this will help me alot =) and probably anyone else that tries it, because if you read it and you are not sure you are correct you can just play the song a little bit to see if you are doing it well =). Also if you dont want to pay for it you can download it at some places free but you will need a keygen or something, im not sure =)

[dmrogers]

I would suggest spending some time with the following books:

Hal Leonard Bass Method - Complete Edition

The Hal Leonard Method Book is a great learning tool. The way the book is written combines reading with learning some pretty cool theory.

I also would recommend this book as well:
Simplified Sight Reading Bass Instruction

While the Simplified Sight Reading Bass Book is not as much fun as the Hal Leonard book is, it's strong point is concentrating on rhythms, which is very important.


To get a good, solid foundation in theory, I would recommend you go through this:
studybass.com
Studybass.com goes through theory in such a way that you can understand, plus you can go at your own pace.

You can also check out musictheory.net. This exercise helped me tremendously in learning the notes on the bass clef.

Good luck.

[dmrogers]

Originally Posted by Ingratil

Well, I dont really know how to read music other than the possition of the notes on the lines (and not even that very well), and what im doing to try and learn is I downloaded guitar pro and then dissabled the thing that shows you tabs so i can only read the chart thing, i think this will help me alot =) and probably anyone else that tries it, because if you read it and you are not sure you are correct you can just play the song a little bit to see if you are doing it well =). Also if you dont want to pay for it you can download it at some places free but you will need a keygen or something, im not sure =)

Your technique in using Guitar Pro is a good one, however, I don't recommend illegally downloading software and hacking it to work.

If you want something free, download TuxGuitar
TuxGuitar if a free, opensource software, AND it will read GP files. This is a great way to practice reading. You can play the files in TuxGuitar after practicing reading to hear how the bass parts are supposed to sound.

[Phoenix1]

Thanks, everybody. Those are very helpful suggestions. I've also started playing a bit with MuseScore. As a notation program, it is merely an adjunct to reading skills, but along with just reading this helps me better understand (log forgotten but sometimes never learned) music basics. With enough tinkering it spits out a nice bass score to boot.

[mambo4]

two useful tips not yet mentioned:
1.) Rhythm is the hard part (imho). Spend time reading just the rhythm in sheet music -useful because you can just tap or clap along anywhere, no instrument needed.
2.) Write down rhythms you hear /invent. you can learn a lot by understanding how to translate what you feel naturally into concise rhythmic elements.

[bassdog]

I urge you to check out carolkaye.com

[Phil Smith]

Being able to read well takes time and practice, the only short cut is having numerous situations that require you to read meaning 4 days out of a week you rehearse with a reading group on a wide range of material. That's not really a short cut, but it does require you to spend more time reading.

[sammyp]

Originally Posted by Phoenix1

I have been playing for about 45 years, mostly by ear. I can read some, but I want to improve my skills. I have recently re-discovered playing for community theater groups, and the general drill is you get the score a few weeks in advance, come in and play. I'm not that good. How can I get better?

I am taking lessons for the first time, so that helps. I practice a bit each day. That helps too.

Can anyone suggest a book or method that I might use in conjunction with my lessons to sharpen my reading abilities?

besides doing it everyday a huge part of getting good at reading is internalizing rhythm patterns. .....we need to have our eyes see a pattern and our heads to know how it goes....when site reading there isn't time for the mind to count out every rhythm so you need a bit of automatic pilot help......for example an 8th note followed by 2 16th notes ....you need to see that with your eyes and your head knows that it's ba bada .....

[Phoenix1]

Originally Posted by sammyp

besides doing it everyday a huge part of getting good at reading is internalizing rhythm patterns. .....we need to have our eyes see a pattern and our heads to know how it goes....when site reading there isn't time for the mind to count out every rhythm so you need a bit of automatic pilot help......for example an 8th note followed by 2 16th notes ....you need to see that with your eyes and your head knows that it's ba bada .....

That's one reason I find MuseScore really helpful. Patterns I know in my head take a little working out, but once I put them on paper and play them back, it reinforces those ideas.

[JimK]

Originally Posted by mambo4

two useful tips not yet mentioned:
1.) Rhythm is the hard part (imho). Spend time reading just the rhythm in sheet music -useful because you can just tap or clap along anywhere, no instrument needed.
2.) Write down rhythms you hear /invent. you can learn a lot by understanding how to translate what you feel naturally into concise rhythmic elements.

I agree 100%.

[dieselbass]

Picked up "Daily Goove" that is all notation with a play along DVD and tab on the dvd as well if I get stuck. I'm having a lot of fun with this book.

[vin*tone]

Got an iPhone?

This improved my reading speed a LOT....

App Store - Sheet Music Trainer Bass Pro

[Phoenix1]

Interesting; App store customer ratings seem fairly low; one star predominates. I guess everyone leans differently.

[Mharris]

That app looks interesting but it seems to be lacking a good feature set for 5 dollars. Any other suggestions on iPhone apps for reading?

As a side note to any developers out there: it would be awesome to see an app similar to simplified sight reading for bass in that there would be rhythms written out and your job would be to tap them out along to a click while getting accuracy feedback. If this app existed I'd buy it and use it all the time.

[Gaius46]

Originally Posted by mambo4

two useful tips not yet mentioned:
1.) Rhythm is the hard part (imho). Spend time reading just the rhythm in sheet music -useful because you can just tap or clap along anywhere, no instrument needed.
2.) Write down rhythms you hear /invent. you can learn a lot by understanding how to translate what you feel naturally into concise rhythmic elements.

Another vote for rhythm being key. You have to be able to hear the rhythm you see on the page.

As other said you have to read alot, everyday. If you use notation software it even pays to write out things like scale and arpeggio practices.


As far as books go the book that finally did it for me was Sight Reading for Bass by Ron Velosky.