How's your reading?

[fdeck]

I answered "B". I learned to sight read at an early age playing cello. when I started learning bass, I just brought the skill with me.

Same here. I gave myself a "B" because there are passages such as written-out syncopated Latin rhythms that I stumble on.

Cello FTW.

 

[All_¥our_Bass]

E, I can read, but not up to speed, and I can't read and play at the same time.
It's good enough for typing stuff into Sibelius though.

 

[JimmyM]

Solid B. Can't sightread the Bach cello suites, but I'm pretty good at it. I still get tripped up by difficult passages but I can usually work them out quickly enough to where it seems like good sightreading.

 

[DonnyDanger]

Have never sight read in my life and would love to learn.
The only thing i can read for now is tabs

 

[René_Julien]

D


I used to be B or C back in the days when I played clarinet.

Ever since I play bass I haven't practiced my music reading.

I'm now getting back into it since I'm starting to learn piano.
I have difficulty with chords, 2 or 3 notes at the same time.
I'm still slow to process that in my head.


I am very good though at determing the scale that is noted at the start.

 

[Pacman]

I'd call myself an A-. I used to be proud of the fact that I could read music better than I could read english, but I'm a little rusty. Still, my reading is one of my strongest skills.

 

[Lichtaffen]

I'm actively trying to learn, but some nights I just can't seem to wrap my head around sixteenth notes and rests. I can work through it and get a lot of basic things down, but complex stuff intimidates me to the point of just sitting around and fiddling on the bass instead of practicing reading. How do you spell ADD again?

The Standing in the Shadows of Motown book has helped a lot. My teacher wants me to start working on the Charlie Parker Omnibook, but like I said, it's intimidating.

I gave myself an E.

 

[Nashrakh]

I'd give myself an E.

Can read note lengths and all that rhythm related jazz without problems, but can't read what pitch that note is even if my life depended on it... weird I know.

 

[mkandolf]

Gave myself an A. I learned to play trombone and learned to read with that. Same bass clef, jsut different octave. I also wind up doing 2 or 3 musicals a year which keeps up my reading skills.

I feel more comfortable reading to learn a part than I do on the fly. My theory is not good, I'd give myself an E on theory. I should dedicate myself more to it.

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

There's an interview I read with Jaco - where he says how it annoys him how students came to him and when he asked whether they could read - they would say - a bit?

So his view was you could either read or you couldn't and if there was any doubt - then he would put them in the category of non-readers!

 

[KJung]

I gave myself a B, which represents the average of an 'A+' reading lead sheets/charts, and a C sight reading written bass lines.

I came from many, many years of piano lessons and a few years of gigging on keyboards, so sight reading anything was a pretty standard skill for keyboard player. However, the big band thing was almost over by the time I started playing bass professionally (in the mid 70's), and I never developed the amazing reading and playing skill on the bass that would be required to, for example, nail a Broadway type show by sight. The gigs I have done over the last 25 years or so primarily involved reading charts, and a few bars of written out bass lines in some cases when a specific part was required.

I can actually read treble clef much more quickly and accurately than bass clef at this point, since on a lead sheet, most of the rhythm cues and I guess actually the entire charts, are written in the treble clef.

 

[KJung]

There's an interview I read with Jaco - where he says how it annoys him how students came to him and when he asked whether they could read - they would say - a bit?

So his view was you could either read or you couldn't and if there was any doubt - then he would put them in the category of non-readers!

That's a great part of that Jaco interview, and there is a lot of truth to that... you either nail the line or it is wrong... period!

It's interesting to me that there are some guys who can just NAIL charts, and can't really read lines, and vice versa. Two quite different skills. Of course, I agree, you should be able to do both as a professional player. It's amazing how few times I see a bass part written out. It's hard to keep that skill up to snuff when it is rarely used.

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

Same for me in Jazz, I'm reading lead sheets all time, but am only rarely given a written bass line - I often feel guilty how the horn players read really complex stuff at the drop of a hat - but that's because they are doing it all the time in big bands etc.

I try reading heads of Jazz tunes all the time and my other thought for reading practice, was singing bass in choir...

 

[Mr. Mig]

I go with a D. I realized a few days ago I had a really bad habbit when reading. I was reading then just memorizing each bar. What I think I should be doing is read each note and play as i go along and get comfortable with sight reading..

 

[Kamuilija]

B. I think my reading is A, because I do it all the time with other instrumens and with my vocal group, but my EB technique's got rusty so even though I know what's in there, in for example SITSOM my fingers don't work that fast. I could sing them, though

 

[Johnny StingRay]

My reading is a D, just because I am lazy and 99% of the time I'm improvising off charts anyway.

When I do get really serious about my reading I use Carol Kaye's techniques, especially how she counts out rhythms and marks them on the music. Getting the rhythm right is easy with her techniques, but my biggest problem is looking at the note and not being able to identify and play it instantly.

If I wasn't lazy about it, my reading would definately be an A.

 

[Ed Goode]

For all practical purposes, there isn't anything I have seen/read on a gig over the past many years that I haven't been able to sight read, but that's a lot easier than being given a heavy bebop lead chart or some intensive classical score. I guess I'm a solid B when all things are considered

 

[NoTalentHack]

I can sight read for playing a trumpet A+ -unfortunately 3 valves is a lot different than a fretboard . . .

 

[WalterBush]

I'd say a good A- on my part...I'm a bit rusty since I moved from the Bay Area, but sight reading in oddball time or switching clefs doesn't bother me. I used to play piano charts on classical guitar to keep my skills up.

That, and I don't believe anyone actually expected me to sight-read, say, a Bach cello suite or an FZ chart. I never saw one stuck in front of me at a session, anyway; complex stuff always arrived on my doorstep days before I needed to know it, and even the most hardcore broadway charts were pretty careful about writing in Alto clef or B# for bass players.

Still, I'm a pretty solid reader. I didn't even know you could play bass without reading music at first; I was astounded the first time I met people who played by ear.

 

[Jefenator]

For this small-town scene? I would be A-. Give me a bit of time to shed something and a rehearsal or two and I'll nail it, just fine. I've actually been praised by arrangers and bandleaders for my reading "ability".

By Classical / LA film scoring session standards? Where you've got a 20-piece big band, all getting scale, and everyone is expected to crank out whatever's in front of them cold and have a "keeper" on the first or second take? And any amateur gaffe would cost the producer thousands of dollars? In that setting, I'd be a solid F.

But I took it easy on myself and gave me a D.

I definitely go up a letter or two if I get immersed in it, say for a theater show or something. Then months go by without much reading, and back down I slide.