Eight

[quote name='JPAC' post='480469' date='May 5 2009, 10:36 PM']Thanks for all your replies, it's just seeming to take a long time for me to get started that's all.[/quote] Well I started back in December, and will say this: you actually don't realise how much you're learning in these initial periods. Even before you can play that first tune you're having to build coordination, strength, muscle memory for the technique, time-keeping etc. Especially if this is your first instrument.

[quote name='rslaing' post='480323' date='May 5 2009, 08:03 PM']It is much EASIER to learn aurally, which IMO is why most people (as I mentioned earlier) take the course of least resistance and don't bother to learn to read or write music.[/quote] That's harsh and a bit unrealistic. I agree with your fundamental points about reading/writing music, but you have to careful when you make calls based on what "people" find easier to do or how they learn things. Any teacher (of any subject) will most likely tell you that different people learn things in different ways, and adopting a wide range of teaching methods will often produce the best results. As it happens, I suck at learning things when shown. In music and language (traditionally things I am quite good at) I struggle to learn aurally (even when my ear was good). In fact, the way that reliably works for me in just about everything I've tried to do (from sports to music) is dealing with some kind of orthography (even if that's reading the subject from a book) or notation. It's one of the reasons I think a balanced approach to teaching music should include notation. There are (and will always be) people with similar preferences, and to exclude them is no better than excluding those that do not do so well learning that way.

Hahahaha. Very cool.

Probably around two weeks. Can't quite remember what the song was, and I was (am) still rubbish but could get through it pretty much in time.

[quote name='ahpook' post='480251' date='May 5 2009, 06:48 PM']any thoughts ?[/quote] Buy it. You know you won't be happy until you do.

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='479197' date='May 4 2009, 06:25 PM']Well... you're three years older than that.[/quote] sh*te! LOL. Didn't think of that.

Is there anyone over the age of five still participating in this thread?

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='478927' date='May 4 2009, 12:43 PM']Those would be quintuplets (5 in the time of 4) and septuplets (7 in the time of 6) just as triplets are 3 in the time of 2. I guess you could also have nonuplets (9 in time of 8), undecuplets (11 in the time of 10) etc.[/quote] Yup. My head was screaming from the idea of these "irrational" time signatures so I couldn't get the proper terms out. To be quite honest, I now have a massive headache thinking about the whole thing.

Weird one. I've seen beats divided into 5 or 7 (barred as triplets are but with a 7 instead of a 3 written above (or underneath)). Never actually seen a key signature like 12/7 but its existence almost makes sense.

[quote name='grumble' post='478681' date='May 3 2009, 11:57 PM']You are missing a word... THINK[/quote] Hahahah. That's obviously where I'm going wrong. I'm not drunk enough to think I'm playing properly.

You lot can play when you get home from the pub? Christ... after a few pints, my basses all become twelve stringers in some ancient tuning.

[quote name='BigBeefChief' post='478536' date='May 3 2009, 09:03 PM']Likewise, I maintain that the majority of music you readers churn out is crap. It's like anything. Once you start getting geeky about things, it turns crap.[/quote] Reading has no baring at all on the kind of music you make. It's [i]one[/i] well-established and comprehensive system for accessing and recording music. But that's it. How (or if) you use it is up to you. Again, other elements far beyond the scope of reading music are being brought in here to try and make a point.

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='478537' date='May 3 2009, 09:03 PM']No - I'll just sit here in smug satisfaction [/quote] God that's even worse! Good job I didn't say it then.

[quote name='dlloyd' post='478530' date='May 3 2009, 08:59 PM']I downloaded it last a few months ago... it was free then.[/quote] Ah cool. Notepad is a great tool. I haven't had a chance to play with Noteflight properly yet (just figuring out where certain stuff is etc.) - but as a plus over Notepad, I like that it's online and that I don't have to worry about cross compatibility between Linux and Windows. I know that doesn't apply to many, but it's a real selling point for me.

I see what you mean about "not really but yes a bit". You're not going to drag up all the previous comments I've made about jazz if I say I liked that, are you?

I've heard O Solitude performed classically, it is truly beautiful. Is the Branford Marsalis version a kind of jazz rendition of it then?

Just bought a bass from him and I have to say he's a really easy guy to deal with - friendly and honest. I wouldn't hesitate to buy from him again or to recommend the chap to someone else. Cheers mate.

[quote name='dlloyd' post='478021' date='May 3 2009, 12:03 AM']I currently use Finale Notepad, which is free and fairly easy to use. It certainly has some limitations, so I would appreciate it if anyone who has experience of both could compare them.[/quote] Is it still free? I used to use it and recommend it all the time - then someone came back to me and said they'd started charging a "small" fee for it.

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='478427' date='May 3 2009, 06:59 PM']OK... I'll quantify that. I'm told by sight readers and learned theorists - time and time again - that I'm some sort of 'plink-plonk' player because I don't read, have limited theory, etc. etc.[/quote] You've met some arseholes. The guides for music theory and notation don't have a chapter on insulting people, I promise.

The problem with this discussion is that every time anyone tries to have it, a truckload of irrelevant and prejudicial sh*te is thrown in from both sides. I stay interested in these threads because I think one day guitar/bass players will manage to have a discussion that is actually about reading.

Should clarify I meant practice clapping/tapping rhythms on the bog. Don't take your bass in there for note practice. The thing people find hardest with sight reading is reading the rhyhms quickly enough - but you start simple (maybe just crotchets and quavers) and work up. Your brain learns what to do when it sees a quaver next to a crotchet etc.

[quote name='BigBeefChief' post='476906' date='May 1 2009, 12:19 PM']Unfortunately (for those listening to me), I don't get 15 mins a day to regularly practice. I doubt picking up the basics is difficult, especially for a genius like me, but to actually site read, I'd assume it takes some real graft?[/quote] This is the kind of stuff the human brain is excellent at. Making associations. After a short time, those dots stop being dots on lines and you just know from the overall shape of what you're seeing which note it is. Right now you're not thinking about the letters that are in each word I've written, your brain is recognising the overall shape of the word. What about this. Get a book on sight reading, stick it in the bog (not actually in the throne itself). Then when you're up there taking care of business, you try practice the exercises in the book. It might get harder if it was a curry night previously but hey... [quote]And no, I don't know where the notes are on the fretboard either![/quote] Ah. Me neither (most of them).

[quote name='BigBeefChief' post='476762' date='May 1 2009, 10:17 AM']Learning to read is a big time investment. Maybe you're better off using that time just playing and developing your own groove?[/quote] It really isn't. I promise you - learning to read notation seems scarier than it is. Learning the notes on the F clef (bass clef) would take you ten minutes - with a few short practice sessions over a few days to be able to pick them out quickly. A MUCH harder part is knowing where the notes are on the fretboard, something which you've probably already mastered. Say, fifteen minutes a day practicing reading rhythms (a structured approach would help) would see you at a functional sight reading level before you know it. And just because you can read, doesn't mean you have to. Turns out I can still memorise bass lines even if I have them in notation - weird eh! Edit: Don't do it if you don't want to... but don't kid yourself that its too hard or time consuming for you.

Hey cool. Thanks for posting that - registering now. If it works it will be bloody handy for me - especially if it's not blocked at work.

A degree in music without even being able to read a few notes off the staff? Who says standards are slipping?