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What professional situations do people read in?

M

miltslackford

Oct 14, 2009
258
5
#1
Hi

I'm writing this out of genuine interest because I can read but I want to get my sight reading really really good. So I've been looking around for a situation in which reading on bass guitar is called for so I can join some kind of group that meets up and I can practice.

Anyway I can't find anything at all. I mean I haven't come across a single situation where bass players use dots. I've heard of it on cruise boats, but I don't want to go on a cruise boat just for that.

I had to dep for a band and learn 30 songs for a cover set recently and I thought, well I could try reading. But it was ridiculous. I got hold of the music for the songs and it was several pages per tune so I realised I'd have about 100 pages of notes. Which isn't practical.

In the end for that thing I made a cheat sheet with shorthand notes which fit onto two sheets and that was fine I played through most of the tunes flawlessly on a first run.

So I'm wondering all these bass players who say reading is essential, where do you read? Is it on jobs or does it mostly tend to be home practice.

I can see the advantages of reading, it's just that short of joining a cruise boat band or a military band I haven't come across anybody using it on bass guitar. If people are reading a lot in group situations I'd like to know details because I'd like to use and improve my reading skills.
 
#2
I play with a jazz band and have the bass parts given to me in standard notation. At times I will move away from that and play something else based on the chord changes but sometimes a tune does call for the specific line that is written. I suppose for me the need for reading in that situation is that we are working with an arrangement that perhaps hasn't been recorded before so we can't just learn from a CD. It also means that we can sit down together with a new tune for the first time and have a bash at it to get our heads into it. This is particularly helpful mid-way through a rehearsal session where we can pull out a new tune and give it a go without people having to have listened to or learned it ahead of time. It is also a great way of recording changes to the arrangement during a rehearsal. If the group agrees that we are going to change a section I can just change it in pencil on my sheet music and next time we get together we are all working off the same changes. In this way reading is perhaps best thought of as a learning/arranging tool than a performance tool. A few bass players I have read interviews with talk of the importance of moving away from the sheet music as quickly as possible once an arrangement has been worked out and you have been able to learn it.

Don't know if that helps with your question but that's what I do. It's maybe also worth saying that "needing" to be able to read a bit to do this has improved my sight reading more than anything else I have ever tried!

If I was playing in a five piece covers band (which I do regularly) I would never dream of reading any of the parts.
 
#3
I play mainly with four different bands - a four or five piece covers outfit with variable line up (no reading, just prompt sheets), a four/five piece originals outfit (no reading), a ten piece party covers band and a 22 piece big band playing funk/soul/disco stuff (both of these last two are reading gigs where we play from charts, at least until we get more familiar with each tune).

I also have to read on theatre or show gigs.

So, yeah - reading on a gig is something I do very often. For a typical gig like that, the band might play say 40 tunes in a night, most of them having two or three pages of music, so 100 sheets isn't as unusual as you might think.
 
#4
I perhaps should have been clearer in my post to say that we also use charts very often rather than fully written out sheet music. As Bill suggests part of this is the sheer number of musicians who might be playing on a piece and keeping everybody together is a much bigger job than it is with a few guys stood around with a drummer where you can pretty much just talk it through.
 
#5
I have done several theatre shows which were all notation. I have played in swing bands where the charts were chord charts with notated phrases or sections. I had a friend (RIP) who was an exceptional reader, and he was first call for touring stage shows, such as Chess, Les Miserables etc.
Reading is definitely an advantage if you want to expand your horizons beyond playing in rock bands.
 
#8
The last time I needed to be able to read to do my job in an ensemble was in school. Every gig from then on was either charts (Fake/Real Book) and covers (prompt sheets/charts).

I am contemplating auditioning for a local big band - and there I am pretty sure I'll see a fair share of sight-reading in the real sense of the concept - not just comping.

I have even considered trying to get my classical skills back (but after 25+ years, that may be asking a lot!) - but that would be 100% straight up reading, no if's and's or but's.


Beyond gigs that may call for reading, being able to read allows me to also continue my studies - so even if I never played another gig that required reading, I'd still be reading music.
 
#9
that cruise ship as reading would depend on the size of the ensemble
playing for the big show in the pit at night (more likely reading every note)
or in a smaller jazz ensemble (more likely chart with chord symbols)

The bass player on the last and only cruise I was on -- when he was in the small ensemble he was just reading charts. The piano player had whole sections noted up, but she was very new to the group.
 
#10
With the exception of some avant-jazz performances where the entire raison d'etre was free improvisation, I'm not sure I've ever done a paying gig where I didn't have to read. General Business gigs, lounge acts, studio sessions, theater pit orchestras, cruise ships, jazz ensembles, Top 40 cover bands...
 
#11
Roscoe East said:
With the exception of some avant-jazz performances where the entire raison d'etre was free improvisation, I'm not sure I've ever done a paying gig where I didn't have to read. General Business gigs, lounge acts, studio sessions, theater pit orchestras, cruise ships, jazz ensembles, Top 40 cover bands...
Click to expand...

I have read in those same situations (except the cruise ship), but not necessarily always by necessity. Many times I have written out parts rather than memorize them. Then, sometimes I have been given parts to play, often to be sight read right then. I wrote the bass book for one band, note-for-note (about 76 pages). For many years I needed to read because there were just too many tunes to remember. Funny, but it seems that as long as I kept reading a tune it seemed that I never learned it. Well, some I did, but there have been some tunes that I ought to know by heart, but I still don't since I can always just read it. Weird.

Add to all that playing with the symphony. Now, there's a gig where reading is what it's ALL about. It was also interesting to work on interpreting the music, giving it the very vibe that the composer intended years ago, even centuries. One of the most awesome musical moments of my life came when we did Carmina Burana with a full ballet and full chorus who were dressed in cowls and stood around in a line all the way around the stage and its edges. The orchestra was, of course, in the pit. It was a night to fill not only the sense of hearing, but also sight.
 
#12
Got a call to emergency sub the bass chair for a 9 piece lil' big band a couple of weeks ago. Three days before a show of "The Great American Songbook" backing about 20 singers = one singer for each tune.

Asked the guy on the phone if music was provided. He said "Yes, but it's mostly chord sheets - if I knew how to read symbols..." Actually I LOVE reading chord sheets, but get to the gig and, nope, it's note for note lines. Haven't had to sightread since college <cough>30<hack>years<hrrrmmph>ago<ahem>, but actually did pretty well. Butchered a couple pretty well losing the "DC al Capo" a couple of times.

I read through a lot of material at home during practice just flipping through old bass books and The Real Book, so the reading chops are fair. Went away feeling pretty good about it. Nothing like playing in a big ensemble setting! Talk about power, communication, listening, and being part of a really big whole!! hope I get asked back, except they really prefer standup players.

Kinda sad, but over the phone he said the gig paid $50, which I assumed meant per night (two night show). Nope $50 total. Fortunately he gave me an extra $20 for gas (50 miles each way). Had so much fun I woulda done it for free!
The attendance was pretty small for a city of 25,000. Nice old theater. The place packs out for bluegrass or country variety shows :/
 
#14
Jazz bands, pit bands for plays, backing up famous artists that don't carry their own band, commercial studio work (although not always)...

But if you can't find any outlets for reading that pay, maybe you can round up a handful of like minded friends and some charts and do some reading with them. Can't blame you for not wanting to do the cruise ships, BTW. You get a lot of practice reading and you get to save some money, but the cruise ship lifestyle for musicians isn't exactly high livin'.
 

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