Reading music

[ryco]

Like anything start slow and work your way to be getting faster and faster.
At the same time also concentrate on where all the notes are all over your fingerboard.
Sight reading comes from practice 'til one acheives fluency between what is written on the page and, with time, knowing where on the fingerboard is the most comfortable/economical to play the line.
As your sight reading gets better you will be actually be reading a little ahead of what you are playing, so you can decide what fingerings are going to be most economical getting to the next passage.
Knowing the fingerboard is key.

My fave bass book vv: Have fun!

https://www.shermusic.com/0961470100.php

 

[skycruiser]

no

yes

It doesn't take too many hours of practice to get there, but it does take many hours of practice. maybe stop thinking so much about notes and more about intervals

The tricky thing on a stringed instrument is you also have to make a position/string choice.

I find it to be a fun process and a challenge to learn not only to play the piece but the optimal way (for myself) to move my hand position to play through the piece, linking all the parts together. Many times I've had to relearn a section of a piece because I either find that the sections don't link up well (big jumps in position) or that a better timbre can be achieved at a different position for a particular passage.

 

[longfinger]

I can very painstakingly read standard notation, but would like to improve a bit.

My question: when sightreading, do you look at a note, say to yourself internally the note name and then find it on the fretboard?
Or can you go straight from the note on the staff to a note on the fretboard?

I can imagine seeing the low E on the staff and going straight to the open E string, but beyond that it seems like a challenge.

Any suggestions for working on this?

Thanks!

Michael

Like others have written, think of this in two parts to start off. (more parts come later on...)
1. a: learning music notation : whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, 8ths, 16th, rhythmic patterns cells groupings, Time Signature, Key Signature
b: learning bass clef notation : Spaces are ACEG (All Cows Eat Grass), Lines are GBDFA (Good Boys Do Fine Always)

2. Learning reading on the bass guitar. Where to play the notes on the bass guitar. Fretboard patters, fingering patterns, options, choices.//


The more you do, the better you'll get.

You can do #1a, 1b away from the bass guitar, and I recommend doing that. Once has to be able to recognize the notes and rhythms easily, before trying to play them.

Practice the simple fundamentals to a point where doing them is easy, efficient, effortless. Then increase complexity slowly.

 

[OlyWhite]

You need to be able to read the rhythms too. There are quite a few resources on YouTube but here are two I use:

 

[blackat]

It's like reading the written word. The more you do it, the more it becomes an intuitive process where you don't need to "translate" it into action.

Skilled classical players are actually reading a few bars ahead of the notes they are playing.

 

[JonathanPDX]

How well do you know your fretboard? If the answer is anything less than "perfectly" it's going to be a hinderance to reading anything.

 

[pholli00]

I can very painstakingly read standard notation, but would like to improve a bit.

My question: when sightreading, do you look at a note, say to yourself internally the note name and then find it on the fretboard?
Or can you go straight from the note on the staff to a note on the fretboard?

I can imagine seeing the low E on the staff and going straight to the open E string, but beyond that it seems like a challenge.

Any suggestions for working on this?

Thanks!

Michael

It is a challenge. It doesn't come naturally or easily (at least not to me), BUT the more you practice sight reading, the more automatic it becomes. I'm still in the very early stages of reading the bass clef in open, first positions. It's freaking hard and frustrating. But so much more information is conveyed by staff notation vs tab that the practice is worth it -- IF you want it to be. Lots of players love tab, and I do too, but there's something indescribably rewarding about playing a short piece of bass music by sight.

My advice is to get beginner sheet music and practice slowly until you get the simple changes down pat. I'm using some walking basslines books that include tab, but it's almost annoying to have the tab with the staff, because I'm tempted to read the tab instead of the staff notes.

 

[rodak]

I've never spent very much time trying to learn to read (or sight-read) for bass. I understand how it works, and I *can* find the notes and consult the key signature to determine if it's flat or sharp, but it's a very slow process.

HOWEVER....
I have spent time singing bass in the church choir (many years ago), and discovered that when singing, you don't really need to know or care what key the song is in or what the actual notes are that you're reading - just use the simple diatonic ("do-re-mi") scale that everyone knows, and make the occasional adjustment for accidentals (sharp or flats in the notation that aren't part of the key signature). Accidentals are pretty easy to hear as you sing them. Doing this requires a good ear and excellent familiarity with your "instrument". A good ear means you can hear the bass notes in your head as you look at the notation and listen to the song. You can just sort of "know" where most of the notes will fall. This works, better, of course, with music that you're either very familiar with or is in a style not much different from what you're used to - in the case of church hymns, that's usually the case.

As far as familiarity with your instrument, in the case of voice, you presumably already have that - you can hear the proper notes in your head, and you can instantly sing those notes (if someone asked you to sing "Mary had a little lamb", you wouldn't have to experiment singing notes to get the correct ones, you'd just "sing it"). I do have this familiarity with my bass for most styles of music that aren't overly complex or unusual - I can play most anything that's in my head, not caring or even knowing what key it's in, so I presume (though I haven't really tried) that I could play bass parts from notation with roughly the same ease that I can sing them.

I don't know if that helps any, but it's something I think about regularly, as I enjoy singing bass in the congregation (not as part of the choir), and I would really like someday be in a situation where I was required to develop good reading skills on the bass.

 

[coyote1]

I'm not even halfway to fluent, but my guess is a fluent reader experiences the same as reading text:
they comprehend entire phrases at a glance, the sound is in their brain ,and they know how to "speak" it.
Only slowing down to parse individual notes when they hit new or unfamiliar "words"

Pitch, at this point, slows me down more than rhythm in most cases.
It's worth separating rhythm into its own practice routine

I always recommend Cuban /"Salsa " music like Oscar Stangoro's Latin Bass Book,
for intermediate reading practice. The note choices and rhythms are simple yet challenging due to syncopation, and it's fun.

When we read a book, we do not read a word at a time. We read sentences. As we develop further, we can read paragraphs at a time.

As it relates to music: One way forward on this is to really grasp music theory. A knowledge of where chord patterns are heading will help you grasp where melodies are likely to be going. And when you start learning to see the arpeggios is when you’ll start reading a ‘sentence’ at a time instead of one word at a time. One of my two guitarists, to whom I am teaching this stuff, just made the transition a couple months ago. Suddenly he’s able to open the RealBook to a song he’s never played before, and quickly learn and play it. He’s seeing the chord patterns, he’s seeing the arpeggios, and consequently he’s seeing the melodies.

 

[eeyorebass]

What they said, time and practice, and it becomes like reading any other language.

I will put in a vote for Rich Appleman's book, Reading Contemporary Electric Bass. It starts very simple and progresses well. I like that it gets into more complicated rhythms on one note before it starts adding more note changes. Recognizing the rhythms is just as important.

 

[mambo4]

when you start learning to see the arpeggios is when you’ll start reading a ‘sentence’ at a time instead of one word at a time.

Quoting because this seems important.

 

[Paul New]

I disagree that reading and sight-reading are separate skills. Good sight readers are just very proficient readers.

There’s a lot of info to process on a typical sheet of music. Not just the notes, but the rhythm, the “feel” of the piece, dynamics…. And dynamics are important!

Fortunately, it seems that this is a process that humans can learn to master, and become fluent in. A teacher would be nice…

 

[mambo4]

I disagree that reading and sight-reading are separate skills.

I would separate them, because simply being able to decode notation is a useful skill unto itself, with incredible value.
I can't sight read, but my efforts at literacy have already reaped tremendous unexpected benefits to my musical ability and understanding.

a beginner my think the "can't read" because they are not yet fluent sight readers
and lose heart before realizing such benefits, and miss out, if we conceptually lump the two together.

 

[dreamadream99]

I disagree that reading and sight-reading are separate skills. Good sight readers are just very proficient readers.

Well you’re not wrong. They are at least related– based upon the same general skill. But at the very least, they are two separate processes. Reading music has no tempo constraints; site reading does. Music has no limits to how many times you can practice it; site reading does. Music has no limits to how many times you can read it; site reading does. You get the idea.

Site reading has a very specific set of rules that you must follow in order to be able to do it correctly. Music reading just means can you read the notation on the page, yes or no. But site reading means can you pick up a new piece of music you have never seen, and play it perfectly in an ensemble from top to bottom the first time with no mistakes. And more importantly, the way you learn site reading is completely different than the way you learn music reading.

• Start with a new piece of music you have never seen before, that is not too hard for you. This means one level or three pages behind where you are at with your music reading
• You get a couple minutes to look at it, but you can’t play any of it except in your head and with your fingers. You have to quickly scan for trouble spots, directional markings, Key changes, dynamics and tempo markings (reading above and below the music line). You can finger the trouble spots, but you can’t play them out loud.
• You must play it one time, and one time only at performance tempo. You cannot slow down during hard parts. You cannot go back or start over, even if you make a mistake. You have to pretend you are playing with a band, and they are not gonna stop or slow down if you get into trouble. You have to keep up with them and you only get one chance to do it. So if you make a mistake, wait a note and then come right back in, in tempo without missing a beat. If you make a bigger mistake than that, lay out for a whole measure, and come in on the next one.
• Once you have played it from top to bottom – hopefully without any mistakes – you don’t go back and try it again. You are not trying to learn or memorize it. You were trying to play it perfectly the first time
• And you have to do this regularly. At least once a week or so. Some people do it every day.
• Now this one is really important: you have to read ahead. You should know what’s coming up a few beats or a bar ahead. Put it this way, if you don’t know what to play on the next beat until you get there, you are already behind.

The only way to get better at site reading is to practice site reading.

 

[MuseChaser]

Reading music isn't any harder than reidbebe welwrittenwe endiwldihbiebfnqnay anyrb wkfhe angiebc ww mm. It's just a matter of ejcowodncjwkwmsmmmm...

In all seriousness, as others have said, it's just a matter of time and constant practice, and it really IS very analogous to reading whatever other languages you currently read fluently. First, you learn to recognize each individual letter and the sounds associated with that letter, then combine them together into recognizable sounds/words, then start to recognize common combinations so you read the entire word instead of the individual letters. Soon, you don't really even see the word...you sort of visualize internally what the word ACTUALLY represents.

For instance....take "LAUGH." No English-speaking person will see an L, an A, an U, a G, etc.. they'll see the entire word as it is. Fluent readers won't even see THAT... they'll almost immediately "see" the act of laughing.
Fluent music readers, meaning excellent sight readers, don't see individual notes, they see sounds, and then play them "by ear." All great players always play "by ear," but great readers can have their inner ears informed by the printed page.

I'm in the camp, already stated by several others, that there is no difference between being a good reader, and a good sight reader, other than perhaps a great sight reader must have consumate technical command of their instrument so that they can execute what is written without a ton of physical practice of that specific passage.

 

[bass12]

How well do you know your fretboard? If the answer is anything less than "perfectly" it's going to be a hinderance to reading anything.

He'll get that sorted as he goes along. Reading is a great way to learn your fretboard. Any instrument I've learned formally incorporated reading right from the start.

 

[srosenthal13]

Something that helped me early on was this: The bass clef is a stylized letter "F", and the dots of the clef surround F on the staff. It's an anchor point.

You'll never forget where that F is now that you've read this.

And now you know that E is the space below it, and G is the space above it, and you can keep going from there.

Lots of great advice and explanations in this thread.

 

[BrotherMister]

Reading music is the same as any other language. We never practised sight reading English, but as we were learning to read we began simple and kept at it. Fairly quickly we all became proficient readers and not long after that we became strong readers.

Trust the process when it comes to music. Go slow. Start simple. So many of the recommendations I would also recommend but for me the best starting point I’ve found for students is the Jeff Berlin reading materials. He starts super simple playing three different whole notes on the E string. Then the A, then the D and finally the G. Then it combines those notes across all 4 strings. After that you are effectively off the races as more rhythms get introduced. You’ll start with etudes only of whole notes. Then etudes using half notes. Then etudes that combine whole and half notes. Then you’ll add etudes comprising solely of quarter notes. Then combining whole, half and quarter notes etc.

He’s super methodical in the approach but it works. The second package deals with reading in every key.

Like language once we have a few fundamentals nailed down we no longer focus on individual words but the full sentence. It’s really only when we encounter a word we’ve never seen before do we have to pause to think but even then we are quickly able to suss out the words meaning by the context we see it in.

The staff is pretty simple. It’s effectively a graph. Pitch moves vertically and rhythm moves horizontally. A C on the bass clef hasn’t changed in hundreds of years, and it’s not going to. Rhythm becomes the bigger variable because we can write the same rhythms in different ways. Fortunately we have a few common practices in place to narrow those possibilities down.

I will also recommend a great way to improve your reading is to start writing. You can’t write without being able to read. Copy music yourself. Pencil to paper because you engage far more of your brain and your senses developing stronger recognition doing that way.

Relax. Go slow and do a little bit every day. I promise you that you’ll see the results. You got this!

 

[Paul New]

Well you’re not wrong. They are at least related– based upon the same general skill. But at the very least, they are two separate processes. Reading music has no tempo constraints; site reading does. Music has no limits to how many times you can practice it; site reading does. Music has no limits to how many times you can read it; site reading does. You get the idea.

Site reading has a very specific set of rules that you must follow in order to be able to do it correctly. Music reading just means can you read the notation on the page, yes or no. But site reading means can you pick up a new piece of music you have never seen, and play it perfectly in an ensemble from top to bottom the first time with no mistakes. And more importantly, the way you learn site reading is completely different than the way you learn music reading.

• Start with a new piece of music you have never seen before, that is not too hard for you. This means one level or three pages behind where you are at with your music reading
• You get a couple minutes to look at it, but you can’t play any of it except in your head and with your fingers. You have to quickly scan for trouble spots, directional markings, Key changes, dynamics and tempo markings (reading above and below the music line). You can finger the trouble spots, but you can’t play them out loud.
• You must play it one time, and one time only at performance tempo. You cannot slow down during hard parts. You cannot go back or start over, even if you make a mistake. You have to pretend you are playing with a band, and they are not gonna stop or slow down if you get into trouble. You have to keep up with them and you only get one chance to do it. So if you make a mistake, wait a note and then come right back in, in tempo without missing a beat. If you make a bigger mistake than that, lay out for a whole measure, and come in on the next one.
• Once you have played it from top to bottom – hopefully without any mistakes – you don’t go back and try it again. You are not trying to learn or memorize it. You were trying to play it perfectly the first time
• And you have to do this regularly. At least once a week or so. Some people do it every day.
• Now this one is really important: you have to read ahead. You should know what’s coming up a few beats or a bar ahead. Put it this way, if you don’t know what to play on the next beat until you get there, you are already behind.

The only way to get better at site reading is to practice site reading.

Excuse me, reading music certainly DOES have tempo constraints. Tempo and rhythmic feel are components of written music.
Reading music is practice for sight reading music. That merely means that the more a musician practices reading music, the better the musician will get at reading and playing it correctly the first time. Sight Reading is just playing a written piece the first time.

 

[bass12]

I will also recommend a great way to improve your reading is to start writing. You can’t write without being able to read. Copy music yourself. Pencil to paper because you engage far more of your brain and your senses developing stronger recognition doing that way.

This is a really good point. We tend to retain information better if we write it down rather than simply read it.