Sight Reading

[James Collins]

Well hopefully the player uses the same fingering system as the person who wrote the chart. I use one finger per fret on Bass Guitar and Simandl (1,2,4) on string bass, so my fingering and shift patterns would be totally different depending upon which instrument I was playing.

Some people play bass guitar with 1,2,3 or 1,2,4.

There is also a bass guitar fingering system that uses four fingers that is not one finger per fret. Microshifts are uses to avoid hyperextending the hand, so you might see 1,2,3 or 2,3,4 but not 1,2,3,4. This sets up a totally different finger pattern and series of shifts than one finger per fret.

Even string bass players who use Simandl tend to choose different finger patterns and shifts.

I am really not trying to be disrespectful, rather I am trying to illuminate why I think it's not as universal of an idea as you might think.

IMHO Fingering is really a matter of pedogogy rather than something that should be looped into sight reading training. Sight reading should focus more on note recognition in the context of standard notation, and on the ability to improvise a line when presented with chord notation.

I don't find you disrespectful, anymore than I hope you find me. Even when they don't use my preferred fingering pattern, I find them useful.

 

[IamGroot]

How about the newer charts?

Newer stuff would be a mix. Regular walking lines not written out. Let me see if i still have some chArts boxed up somewhere.

 

[IamGroot]

Reading old charts in a big band forced me to develop a system to put my fingering hand immediately in a workable position without benefit of chords symbols. It also made me fully ofpf, although the other player was firmly in the simandl camp.

 

[Maki_Randy]

You got a lot of different meanings for sight reading. They are all very important but do different. Sight reading notes is like reading a text. Sight reading a chords chart is like reading simple math problems and solving them at the go... But can be very useful but as with reading text and reading maths the circumstances differ. Learn both and you're set...
For learning to reed notes u need a simple line and a slow tempo. Once you make a mistake, do not repeat the line but take the tempo and or the difficulty down...
When you go to difficult or to fast you will get stuck or start dicifering lines which is not the goal. It needs to be like reading, simple, second nature...

 

[Groove Master]

Is reading chord charts like found on iReal Pro considered in the same category as sight reading.

I would say yes partly. You still have to read chords, rhythms sometimes, forms etc...

A knew a lot of students that could read notes well but were having a hard time making up their own parts with lead sheets. So reading chords and making up bass parts from it, IS a good skill that is part of sight-reading imo.

 

[Phil Smith]

Is reading chord charts like found on iReal Pro considered in the same category as sight reading.

Different skill all together. Interpreting charts isn't sight reading which refers to picking a piece of music with notes and playing it without having practiced it before hand.