Steve Bailey On Reading

[iqi616]

Do you see the a C as the E string , 8th fret with equal ease?

Only if my fingers are in that neighbourhood on the fretboard. I'm mostly working with intervals and runs based off of anchor points. I don't sight read that often because it's usually just for learning pieces. I wouldn't attempt a gig where proper sight reading is needed.

 

[Bob_Ross]

I play in a big band and we periodically have people come to audition. We have auditioned multiple guitarists, but none could read well.

Reminds me of an incident from when I was in grad school at the Conservatory: I had composed a very difficult piece -- wide-ranging melody that made liberal use of George Russell's Lydian Chromatic Concept Of Tonal Organization, but articulated via complex n-tuplets over frequently shifting meters...very Zappa-esque -- and since there weren't too many guitarists at the Conservatory I called an old friend of mine who I'd met years earlier as an undergrad, played with in some jazz and Top-40 cover bands post-college, and who I knew could cut the guitar part.

And sure enough, he walked into our first rehearsal and sight-read this bitch of a chart more-or-less perfectly. He basically did what all professional musicians are supposed to do...

...and at the end of rehearsal every single other musician in the room came up to me and asked "WHERE DID YOU FIND THAT GUITAR PLAYER?!?! AND...CAN I HAVE HIS CONTACT INFO?"

He was a freakin' unicorn in these people's worlds: A guitarist who could read music. :::smh:::

 

[fdeck]

My take on reading is that it’s a valuable skill, but it’s also a niche skill. There’s not much use for it if you’re not planning on learning from or playing written material.

I’m a fluent reader, and it has influenced what I can be called to play. Right now my main band is a big-band, which not only uses that skill, but also allows me to maintain it.

 

[ShadowGroover]

That comparison with a library is a good one. But today you have all these audio books which is the equivalent of learning music by ear.

Maybe. However, every audiobook narrator is reading. Of all audiobooks, is there one author that doesn't read?

In order to write clearly, one needs to think clearly, and that level of thought typically begins with reading. After all, reading is "fun-damental," right?

While there are always exceptions, they are rare.

Consider the fate of the Beatles without their 5th member. George Martin was their composer, arranger, and producer for their most important musical contributions. Martin's reading, writing, and aural musical gifts were significant factors in the Beatles' success.

And, regardless of notation type, one still needs to read. Tab, Nashville Numbers, chord charts, etc, all require reading skills. Standard notation is most complete and universally known.

Listening to an audiobook or music recording is passive. We can surely learn from those. In music, we learn our instruments by playing, assimilating information to perform. The assimilation methods are numerous, using a variety or mixture of senses. The more senses employed, the better.

 

[mambo4]

There’s not much use for it if you’re not planning on learning from or playing written material.

I have to disagree, at least in my own experience. Narrowing the benefits musical literacy to "recording an playback" is a disservice.
There is a necessary clarity of thought, a specificity, about music that reading forces upon the practitioner.

"ear" players don't need to know if they are playing Bb on the "and" of 2.
Notation teaches you to know precisely what your are doing

Personally I have found that kind of clarity to be a great improvement to my playing and musicality, above and beyond the benefits of learning from written material.

YMMV, of course

 

[turf3]

"...My take on reading is that it’s a valuable skill, but it’s also a niche skill. There’s not much use for it if you’re not planning on learning from or playing written material..."

I find it interesting that you call the means of transmitting musical information that's used in pretty much every single form of Western music except rock and roll, a "niche skill".

Just because there are people who live in France and never learn how to speak French doesn't make speaking French a "niche skill" for people living in France.

 

[turf3]

"..."ear" players don't need to know if they are playing Bb on the "and" of 2..."

I'd edit this to "ear-only players".

Playing by ear doesn't prevent one from reading and reading doesn't prevent one from playing by ear.

 

[Watchootognbout]

Back in 2000,after so may years of playing by ear,I decided to take lessons.
I did so up until My instructor decided to leave teaching for unknown reasons.
I continued on by myself with instruction books.

Fast forward to today.
Life and work gets in the way of practice and reading.
So that what I knew has degraded.
Along with the fact that there just isn't a lot of bass sheet music of the music that I love.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

I started bass'ing in a New Wave band. Never read or wrote a note. But I was already a reading monster from my classical education. (Accompany a choir from a 6 voice score with no piano part? Sure.) So then I was asked to play bass in a nightclub big band. Two hours of music, no rehearsal, and I'd better play exactly what's written because the stupid piano part had the bass as its left hand. Also no problem.

Right now I find that when Scott's Bass Lessons publishes their worksheet, the tab version give me no insight in the music, only where to place my fingers. Well, I can figure that out myself. The notation version on the other hand tell me what the *idea* behind the notes is.

This is precisely why TAB is so bad. The understanding you get from being able to read can really expand your mind musically