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Has anyone learned to read after learning to play?

A-Step-Towards

A-Step-Towards

Nov 16, 2009
12,484
4,568
Los Angeles California
#1
I have played for almost 9 years, but I started by reading tab and now play by ear usually and look at tabs/videos when learning covers. As for playing I don’t think a teacher would really improve any technique I have. I have pretty good technique and learned it when I first started playing by reading books , watching videos etc. I can play pretty advanced stuff and also write pretty nice bass lines. I have been really congratulated on my skills by numerous musicians, fans etc. However I feel as if I have gotten to a point to where I can progress without learning to read music, the fact I also play guitar makes me learning even more beneficial.

Thus I ask the question have any of you went back and learned to read? i think I am going to need to find a teacher, are there teachers that would just help you with that aspect of music? No offense but I don’t need someone telling me how to fret , etc.
 
#2
A-Step-Towards said:
I have played for almost 9 years, but I started by reading tab and now play by ear usually and look at tabs/videos when learning covers. As for playing I don’t think a teacher would really improve any technique I have. I have pretty good technique and learned it when I first started playing by reading books , watching videos etc. I can play pretty advanced stuff and also write pretty nice bass lines. I have been really congratulated on my skills by numerous musicians, fans etc. However I feel as if I have gotten to a point to where I can progress without learning to read music, the fact I also play guitar makes me learning even more beneficial.

Thus I ask the question have any of you went back and learned to read? i think I am going to need to find a teacher, are there teachers that would just help you with that aspect of music? No offense but I don’t need someone telling me how to fret , etc.
Click to expand...

It's up to you but me personally since some of the best musicians don't read but sound damn good. Which is what counts at the end of the day. I feel though there are some benefits and you being pretty fluent with the fretboad it would make learning to read easier.
 
#3
I think the vast majority of reading bassists learned to read after the fact. Bass is not an instrument that requires reading skills to be a good player, unlike piano, or violin. I had been playing for 10 years, some of it full-time pro, before I went to school and learnt to read.
 
#4
"Playing by ear" but learning covers "looking at tabs/videos" is a contradiction to me.

You can always learn how to read, even with books alone. If you were taking classes for reading, why are you afraid the teacher would show you how to fret?
 
#6
AndreBas said:
"Playing by ear" but learning covers "looking at tabs/videos" is a contradiction to me.

You can always learn how to read, even with books alone. If you were taking classes for reading, why are you afraid the teacher would show you how to fret?
Click to expand...

I know nothing about talking lessons, I didnt know you could specifically take lessons that just teach you to read. I have tried learning to read through some stuff on here but I cant do it online, maybe with a good book I could learn by myself but I think a teacher would be very helpful.

I just feel learning to read could open up more possibilities on bass for me, right now I have grown bored with it.
 
#8
I learned to read after learning to play (and I'm still working on both!). I'm not a strong reader, mind you, but I can read. One thing that helped me a lot was transcribing - especially where rhythms were concerned.
 
#10
I learned to read as a youngster, playing piano. I then moved to guitar with no reading, just rocking for 10 years, and finally to bass.

I’m getting back into reading now.

If you’ve been playing for 9 years I assume you know what & where the notes are. That’s the hardest part of learning to read. Not the notation, the fretboard. After that it just a matter of going from C-E-G to dots on lines.

+1 to Ed Friedland’s books. They’ll help a lot with the rhythm notation.
 
#11
I doubt that it really requires a teacher. Just grab as much reading literature as you can get a hold of, and work your way through stuff that you've never heard. The method books would certainly work.

Be prepared for the fact that as we get older, our brains learn differently than when we were kids. It's similar to learning a language. Nowadays small kids learning violin start out playing by ear. Reading is introduced later, but the kids are still so young that they pick up reading quickly.
 
#12
I've been playing for almost 15 years but I only recently started learning to read music. So far it hasn't been that difficult. While I'm sure you could find a teacher who would just teach you how to read music, I think there are enough resources online nowadays that getting a teacher for that purpose alone would be unnecessary.
 
#13
There's really two things going on with learning to read music.
1.) you have to understand what the symbols mean. That information is very available on internet and in books.
2.) you have to put yourself in a musical situation that requires music reading, that way you'll become faster at reading the symbols and have a more practical application for the skill.

Lessons will help #1. But having a friend you could check in with periodically to ask queestion would be just as good. Until you get involved with #2, its going to be a long painful process.

In short you are learning to read AND CONVERSE in a language. It takes time.
 
#14
A-Step-Towards said:
I know nothing about talking lessons, I didnt know you could specifically take lessons that just teach you to read. I have tried learning to read through some stuff on here but I cant do it online, maybe with a good book I could learn by myself but I think a teacher would be very helpful.

I just feel learning to read could open up more possibilities on bass for me, right now I have grown bored with it.
Click to expand...

Why can't you learn to read online?

Reading works through repetition but the hard part is learning the duration of notes, especially when they're dotted/lots of rests, the music has odd time signatures, lots of chords and a combination of these.

What aspect of reading gives you the most trouble- finding the notes, or timing?
 
#15
I learned to read treble clef when I was 8 years old, didn't pick up the bass until I was 14, and then didn't encounter a reading gig on the bass until I was 19 or 20. So, um... what was the question?
 
#16
I started learning to read after about 8 years of steady practice.
Before I started really practicing reading, I completely underestimated its positive impact on my sense of rhythm.
I am constantly surprised that no one mentions this benefit in these threads.
Reading and writing rhythms forces you to be precisely aware of all the subdvisdions
(and esp 'phrases' of subdivisions.)

Translating the staff dots to frets is a very simple and easy.
But the rhythm, that's the magic sauce of notation, for bass anyhow.

Also, don't learn to read:Invalid Link Removed
 
#17
mambo4 said:
Before I started really practicing reading, I completely underestimated its positive impact on my sense of rhythm. I am constantly surprised that no one mentions this benefit in these threads. Reading and writing rhythms forces you to be precisely aware of all the subdvisdions and esp 'phrases' of subdivisions.
Click to expand...


Oh yeah, we have a winner! I don't think all the syncopated stuff would have really come together for me if I hadn't learned to read. And learning to read rests is a big part of that. Not saying that you can't get it aurally or that others aren't more rhythmically intuitive than I was, but for most of us, reading helps you absorb unfamiliar music faster.

Plus, when you can read and write music w/ fellow musicians, it makes them much more likely to be compliant in learning/playing through-composed ideas that you have. It sucks to derail rehearsal in order to teach something by rote. It makes people feel dumb to have a line they can't immediately memorize spoonfed to them. If you put some music in front of them, they can play your ideas after reviewing the music for a second. This is how I am, anyway!
 
#18
Reading is fundamental if you want to make a career out of music:bassist: not so much if all you want to do is weekend warrior stuff. That being said. There are absolutely NO downsides learning to read. It WILL make you a better musician (if thats your goal). I took lessons after years of playing. I wish i had started reading when I was younger, because it would have been way easier to grasp.
This guy sums it up rather nicely around the 5:22 mark.
Invalid Link Removed
 
#19
Learn to read, it is a very useful skill. You don't need it but it certainly won't hurt, especially if you intend to pick up some more advanced educational books, the more advanced the book the less tab (if any) you find.

I played for almost as long as you before I learned to read, even Jaco could play before he could read. I was in the same boat as him (and probably you) in the fact that learning to read after you can already play is such a chore because you want to just start playing instead of taking the time to read through and play a piece properly.
 
#20
mambo4 said:
I started learning to read after about 8 years of steady practice.
Before I started really practicing reading, I completely underestimated its positive impact on my sense of rhythm.
I am constantly surprised that no one mentions this benefit in these threads.
Reading and writing rhythms forces you to be precisely aware of all the subdvisdions
(and esp 'phrases' of subdivisions.)

Translating the staff dots to frets is a very simple and easy.
But the rhythm, that's the magic sauce of notation, for bass anyhow.

Also, don't learn to read:Invalid Link Removed
Click to expand...

+1 hit it on the head, best advice to a "feel player" when they cannot feel it, is try counting it.
One of the best timing exercises is to play though chord changes on a chord sheet with a two feel. That establishment of time does wonders for any player or any genres internal understanding of time and tempo. The slower the better is the way forward ( as usual ) just having the time to anticipate the next change, causes some players to jump the gun and play changes not yet due. This then causes them to hesitate and not play changes due.
This process eventually settles to them not trying to force the changes, but count them and change on the count, but also trust in the tempo and develop that feel for the count......then at some point you will stop counting in the sense of 1 2 3 4 and feel the amount of time 1 2 3 4 takes to pass.

Counting is a representation of time, you can go A B C D, or cat, dog, rat, bull, or Black, Blue, Green, Red, etc.
What ever one you use, you learn to say and assign tempo and changes to the chord changes, and again you will develop the timing and feel and stop using the rresentation as you would f you used 1 2 3 4....... Counting is a mental process and feel is an intuition developed from knowing what is right and what is wrong.
 

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