Can you read music?

[Fassa Albrecht]

Show-off! Off to the stereotype thread with you!

I can read bass clef BTW.

 

[Evil Undead]

As pathetic as it sounds... I've been playing bass for 20 years and I am just now learning to read music. I should have done it a long time ago.

+1
I played guitar for years and took piano lessons to help me sight read but still can't... well not fluently anyway... takes me about an hour to figure out 4 bars lol

 

[Jon Moody]

I read and sight read well..I have made the majority of my $$ as a bassist due to my reading skills. I highly recommend that anyone pursuing a career as a bassist make learning to sight read a priority.

My rep around town is the guy that can sight-read a score better than the guy that's played it for a couple of weeks. The amount of doors that it will open is worth learning it well in and of itself.

 

[ryco]

I can read bass clef only. My sight reading isn't all that good anymore. Use it or lose it.
Keep threatening to by a C fake book & learn to sight read treble. Got pretty good at it in college, but back to n00b status now.

 

[Johnny StingRay]

Yes, I can read music......................m-u-s-i-c.....music.....simple two syllable word. First syllable is open with a long vowel u, and the second is a closed syllable with the s pronounced like a z and the c like a k.......easy. What's so hard about that?

 

[boodakon]

I used to read for guitar and started to learn for bass, but never stayed committed to it. Every now and again I'll try to re-learn but I've never been consistent so its never seriously progressed. I have to rely on tabs to learn scales and chords. I try to rely on my ears to be my guide.

 

[Michael Case]

I can walk into a gig and read about 90% cold.

 

[stoolpigeon]

I can still read, though very out of practice.

 

[thesilence]

I can because i've played trombone for ten years so its pretty easy for me

 

[Michael Case]

Yes, I can read music......................m-u-s-i-c.....music.....simple two syllable word. First syllable is open with a long vowel u, and the second is a closed syllable with the s pronounced like a z and the c like a k.......easy. What's so hard about that?

You're so f***in' cool, I wanna have your babies.

 

[LouisV]

I'm good with treble & bass clef, slow with tenor clef, need to practice that one. I find tabs frustrating, they tell half the story, IMHO.

 

[Michael Case]

I'm good with treble & bass clef, slow with tenor clef, need to practice that one. I find tabs frustrating, they tell half the story, IMHO.

Tenor clef is a STOP sign for me. I think that's my next reading task. Tabs don't work for me at all, I can't make any sense of them.

 

[electracoyote]

As a private music teacher with 20 students (bass, guitar, ukulele, mandolin), I think anyone serious about music and curious about the potential benefits of reading standard notation owes themselves one good shot at learning how to read AT LEAST in first position. You may hate it and decide it's a waste of time, but there's a good chance you will start to see the benefits and want to keep on learning.

Ideally, you should do it at your own pace. Don't get in a stressful situation where you're being pressured to learn so fast, and you're not getting it, so you quit. It's not a race, but your own steady pace gets results.

 

[jmattbassplaya]

I use to be very proficient at sight reading pretty advanced pieces of music. That said, I haven`t read anything in at least two years so I wouldn`t be surprised if I needed a refresher course.

 

[basseux]

When you talk about knowing how to read, do you talk about reading and hearing the music without the help of an instrument like you can hear the words when you read a book, or just play what's wrote with the instrument ?

 

[Buslady7803]

I read music but since I've been out of it for 20 yrs I'm doing a lot of review and remembering, it's all comin back pretty good. Funny I can remember treble easy (*hides*) and even tho i played trombone and tuba, the bass cleff stuff...i forgot...im baaad!

but it's all good, I'm remembering stuff easy. its just which notes are which on the staff i forgot. i can read the notation and count and all that

i suck and always have sucked at sight reading. i remember at band fests, we'd go in and I'd about die at the sight reading stuff. I winged it....tried to make it sound like i knew what i was doing

 

[Reaper Man]

not super fast reading but I'm getting there

 

[Orangeclawhammr]

I'm actually learning to read music. I have to take my time to figure it out, though. I use tabs if they're available. I even have tried to figure some things out by ear. I think I even got one song right! Why not learn everything you can? You never know what might help you in a given situation.

 

[All_¥our_Bass]

I can read sheet but I am far from good at it.

 

[BananaKing]

Yes.

I can read. It's is mandatory or I would fail my classes...... especially Classical and Jazz Theory.