Reading Music

[Bilbo]

I think the comment about sight reading is a defensible one. I think there is a difference between being able to read music and being able to make sense of it as, for instance, an aid to study or for transcribing, composing etc and being able to read fly sh*t on toilet paper in the studio or in a pit orchestra. My own reading ebbs and flows depending on the frequency with which I use it. On shows, I find I can read 80% of the material without any difficulty, 15% after a couple of run throughs and about 5% eludes me every time. Experience tells me, however, that that 5% is usually the least noticeable and easily discarded without any real detriment to the integrity of the performance.

Being unable to read James Joyce' Ulysses out loud to an audience doesn't mean you can't read enough to use a cooking recipe, a train timetable or the instructions for a dvd player. Reading has more than one use and reading a chart cold in a live/recorded performance is only one of them.

[BottomEndian]

[quote name='lanark' post='986590' date='Oct 13 2010, 08:34 AM']That's exactly why I find it frustrating - I know the note, I know where it is on a keyboard, but it takes a second or two to figure out where it is on the fretboard.

It'll come, but it takes a while.[/quote]
Don't worry; it will indeed come. I was in that same boat a year or two back (having grown up playing piano), and I'm now pretty comfortable with sight-reading moderate stuff. I can read my way through most of the [i]Standing in the Shadows of Motown[/i] transcriptions without having any WTF moments.

Just a quick question to the guys who get reading gigs: do you have any things that really get the pulse racing when you spot them on the stand? For me (on bass at least), it's any more than four flats or five sharps in the key signature, and any 8va sections. I have to concentrate extra-hard for those, but I'm getting there.

(Outside the realms of bass, it's alto and tenor clefs that really do me in. Thankfully I don't meet them very often.)

[Bilbo]

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='986928' date='Oct 13 2010, 01:33 PM']Just a quick question to the guys who get reading gigs: do you have any things that really get the pulse racing when you spot them on the stand? For me (on bass at least), it's any more than four flats or five sharps in the key signature, and any 8va sections. I have to concentrate extra-hard for those, but I'm getting there.[/quote]

I have rarely, if ever, seen an 8va section in a chart on a gig. The things that throw me are the occasional chart in piano bass clef (written an octave lower than the bass guitar so out of range). Key signatures and key changes are also be a drag but that depends mostly on the nature of the written passages. I had one recently where we had syncopated sixteenths in F sharp - a nightmare. But, with good ears and a run through, you can pretty much get your head around it. The most important thing is to read regualry so you don't lose the ability to concentrate on the chart and start seeing what you [i]expect[/i] to be there rather than what [i]is.[/i]

[charic]

[quote name='Doddy' post='986871' date='Oct 13 2010, 12:55 PM']And I have the tools I need to work out how to cook,but it doesn't make me a good chef



I don't get what you mean by that. Why would you not want to fully understand the fingerboard? To me,that is basic stuff.
Oh,and for what it's worth,I've sight read in rock/pop bands,so it could be an issue.[/quote]

Tbh, I'm having trouble explaining where I am coming from here and I am quite aware of my strong / weak points when comes to bass and keyboard.

This could go on for pages and pages with me trying to make you understand exactly what I mean. I'd rather it didn't though so I'm going to leave this one here as what I do know works well for me.

[urb]

[quote name='farmer61' post='985715' date='Oct 12 2010, 01:48 PM']I've just booked some 30 min lessons to try and finally crack music theory, the aim being to be able to sight read in due course. I've even found somewhere that I can nip out to of a lunchtime, so I get a lunch break aswell, bliss.

So I'm following the Bilbo path, although I suspect Jazz appreciation will not be happening!!![/quote]

Dude there are plenty of thrash/rock influenced jazz bands around at the moment - may I suggest Troyka, trioVD, Led Bib, Get The Blessing, Neil Cowley Trio, Elephant9, Bushman's Revenge, Chrome Hill, Acoustic Ladyland, Polar Bear... all use 'theory' in one form or another but rock pretty hard as well - don't pre-judge jazz - go and see a great jazz-influenced band live and I think you'll really enjoy it. I'm just listening to a new CD by a UK band called Killer Shrimp and it's pretty wicked - bit jazzy for sure but with touches of drum and bass and thrash too...

Good luck with the lessons - remember - knowledge is power!

M

[charic]

[quote name='urb' post='987684' date='Oct 14 2010, 08:48 AM']Dude there are plenty of thrash/rock influenced jazz bands around at the moment - may I suggest Troyka, trioVD, Led Bib, Get The Blessing, Neil Cowley Trio, Elephant9, Bushman's Revenge, Chrome Hill, Acoustic Ladyland, Polar Bear... all use 'theory' in one form or another but rock pretty hard as well - don't pre-judge jazz - go and see a great jazz-influenced band live and I think you'll really enjoy it. I'm just listening to a new CD by a UK band called Killer Shrimp and it's pretty wicked - bit jazzy for sure but with touches of drum and bass and thrash too...

Good luck with the lessons - remember - knowledge is power!

M[/quote]

Ah but also remember 'ignorance is bliss'

[lojo]

[quote name='silddx' post='985727' date='Oct 12 2010, 01:58 PM']Good man.

Although in one of my bands, I am the only member who can't read music, which means I get left to create all the bass lines because she can't tell me what to do LOL![/quote]


Ha, Ive been playing bass at some contemporary christian services (aimed at people half my age ) and im the only one who cant read the notes, only the chords

So yes, I get to make my own fills and licks, strangely though I am starting to see pattens and anticipate things from the music

I do still feel like a lemon though, wish id learn to read

[xgsjx]

[quote name='lojo' post='987713' date='Oct 14 2010, 09:13 AM']Ha, Ive been playing bass at some contemporary christian services (aimed at people half my age ) and im the only one who cant read the notes, only the chords

So yes, I get to make my own fills and licks, strangely though I am starting to see pattens and anticipate things from the music

I do still feel like a lemon though, wish id learn to read[/quote]
Going by the age of you in your pic, that's a mighty young congregation!

You're never too young/old to learn to read music & the basics aren't as hard as you might think (they're quite easy actually).