Root-Note Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 Hi, I wanted to learn sight-reading, and at the moment I'm using Youtube videos, but I'd like to get some books as well. I know my theory, but I just need something to play to, preferably the kind that cover both easy and hard exercises/ pieces in one book; If there are any that specialise in jazz that would also be handy. Thanks for reading this, Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 Forget about sight reading books; the ones I tried were a waste of time. Try this: http://basschat.co.uk/topic/74284-the-majors-bass-boot-camp-session-index-1-36/f - an amazing resource! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 Probably the best 'learn to read in easy steps' books are the Simandl book and Rufus Reid's Evolving Bassist. Other than that you could do far worse than trawling throught this thread: http://basschat.co.uk/topic/215336-learning-to-read-the-dots-sheet-music-to-learn-with/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Clayton Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 Without wanting to self-promote too much, I wrote a series of books on reading music which have been very popular. You can check them out here: https://www.basslinepublishing.com/bass-essentials.html Stuart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 Bebop books are good for training yourself on the fingerboard (albeit basic rhythm). Harold Miller's Bebop Bass is great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKenrick Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 I found that the best approach when I learned to read was to tackle rhythm and pitch separately before putting the pieces together with 'real' music. There are a couple of well known rhythm reading books available, my preference is for [url="https://tomkenrick.wordpress.com/2014/11/17/unorthodox-instructionals-part-3-getting-even-with-drummers/"]Louis Bellson's Modern Reading in 4/4 time[/url] As far as pitch goes, I'd add a +1 to Bilbo's suggestion of [url="https://tomkenrick.wordpress.com/2014/09/18/unorthodox-instructionals-part-2-franz-simandls-new-method-for-the-double-bass/"]Simandl[/url] as it provides a progressive approach to reading within a key that starts in the lower areas of the fretboard and builds to include the entire length of the neck. Gary Willis has a [url="http://www.garywillis.com/pages/lessons/read.html"]great pitch reading exercise on his site[/url] which I found really useful in teaching myself to always look ahead when reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmo Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 I have no idea about sight reading books, but i bought beginners reading music, and scales and arpeggis from Bassline Publishing. Very easy to follow, and well written. If there is a sight reading book, and it is as good, then maybe worth a try Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Hughes Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 Chuck Rainey's "Complete Electric Bass Method: Book One" served me very well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 The Motown book is pretty good. Jazz walking bass line transcriptions are good too, most pop or rock lines are often quite diatonic, walking bass lines often throw in non diatonic/chromatic passing notes that can trip you up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kulabula Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I'm learning to read at the moment. I've got a decent book "simplified sight reading for bass" from the Amazon. It is laid out really well. But also, just get anything and try it out. I'm not a fan of tab/numbers therefore I'm learning to read. So I've got full scores from various musicals, Bach's two part inventions are killer. Like many things the only way to get good is to persevere and keep going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root-Note Posted March 22, 2015 Author Share Posted March 22, 2015 Thanks for all the suggestions, guys. It's pretty great to get a nice variety of input. I'm using the Major's Boot Camp till I get the books. Cheers ya'll. Xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luulox Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I have ' walking jazz lines for bass' by Jay Hungerford. It as 20 jazz standards, a cd of backing music/ sample bass lines and quite a few exercises in it. It's helping my reading a lot. Also have 'simplified sight reading for bass' which I also find good. Cheers Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamPlay Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 get your hands on a bass clef Real Book, or any fake book that has melodies written in bass clef. You mention that your theory knowledge is there. Fantastic! Take a melody, and analyze it vertically speaking. Take a tune like Duke Ellingtons Take The A Train. View the melody as a chord, as polyphony. You can do this with any melody from any song, any genre. It will help you to codify where all the individual notes are coming from. From there, you learn to take each letter name, and spell chord changes. So you are studying harmony. A phrase turns into a chord. Now you have a sense of where the composer was coming from theoretically speaking. Back to Duke; the first line is a I maj chord using the 5th to the 10th then to the root, ostensibly a 2nd inversion major triad. was Duke thinking this? Not sure..However, you now can place your fingers on the fretboard and realize where the melody is structured, aka coming from. It will serve your ears well too! And while you're studying all this theory, don't forget to groove! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretmeister Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 [quote name='Stuart Clayton' timestamp='1426524822' post='2718837'] Without wanting to self-promote too much, I wrote a series of books on reading music which have been very popular. You can check them out here: [url="https://www.basslinepublishing.com/bass-essentials.html"]https://www.bassline...essentials.html[/url] Stuart [/quote] I've got these and I'm finding them very useful. I've also got "Simplified Sight Reading for Bass" and the excellent Sight Reading Machine app on my iPad - it generates new things with each page turn and then plays them back to you. You can set the instrument, time and key signatures, tempo - you can even set limits on the range of notes. So if you want to start just within the stave and not worry about ledger lines you can. And I'm also using a couple of early Double Bass books (ignoring the bow of course!) such as http://www.amazon.co.uk/Abracadabra-Double-Bass-Andrew-Marshall/dp/0713670975/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1428575226&sr=8-1&keywords=Abracadabra+bass That is really BEFORE Grade 1 level so it's a great start. But the biggest hint I can give is - do a little bit every day. It's far better than 30 mins or an hour only once per week. Structure it almost like a lesson and homework. So pick one or 2 short and simple tunes and then practice them for 10 mins per day for a week. (Most beginner tunes are only 2 or 3 staves). In a week you should be able to master them. Then a week later decide on 2 new ones and then practice them for a week. This approach copies my kids' music lessons and I'm following it too and it's doing wonders for my sight reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natjag Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 [quote name='Stuart Clayton' timestamp='1426524822' post='2718837'] Without wanting to self-promote too much, I wrote a series of books on reading music which have been very popular. You can check them out here: [url="https://www.basslinepublishing.com/bass-essentials.html"]https://www.bassline...essentials.html[/url] Stuart [/quote] I don't know your level of reading, If you're just getting into reading I would also suggest Stuart Clayton's books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hector Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 http://www.jazzcapacitor.com/transcriptions.html Lots of transcriptions of jazz bass lines from a variety of the greats of the genre. Nice little scrolling youtube videos to play along too as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enricogaletta Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Well sight reading needs two important things: a real progressive learning book and perseverance. I use with my students, two books, both great and for different goals. The first is Modern Reading Text in 4/4 by Louis Bellson for rhythm reading. The second is Sight Reading For the Bass by Ron Velosky for sight reading. If you use both of them together, week after week without skip pages, then I can guarantee you that in 2 months you will be able to go on music charts. If you need any help just let me know. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louisthebass Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 [quote name='natjag' timestamp='1428582033' post='2742646'] I don't know your level of reading, If you're just getting into reading I would also suggest Stuart Clayton's books. [/quote] +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philparker Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 [quote name='Stuart Clayton' timestamp='1426524822' post='2718837'] Without wanting to self-promote too much, I wrote a series of books on reading music which have been very popular. You can check them out here: https://www.basslinepublishing.com/bass-essentials.html Stuart [/quote] + 3 I sight read anyway in both bass & treble clef, but it's something you have to maintain and you need a variety of music covering lots of rhythms and keys. It's also worth having a collection of music that you don't play very often to practice to, but if I was to recommend a good progressive series covering everything you need it is Stuart Claytons series, which I have on my iPad and refer to regularly. I would add that reading music is one thing, but sight reading at tempo with other musicians is a skill that need to be worked at and maintained. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 Absolutely. I am a staunch ad ocate for reading music but there is definitely a difference in reading slowly as a learning thing and learning to sight read cold. The former is a must, in my view, the latter an ideal that is achieved over years and need to be maintained like any form of skill. I read once of a literate woman who went blind and recovered her sight twenty years later. UPon being able to see again, she had to learn to read from scratch because she had 'forgotten' how to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
interpol52 Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 [quote name='Stuart Clayton' timestamp='1426524822' post='2718837'] Without wanting to self-promote too much, I wrote a series of books on reading music which have been very popular. You can check them out here: https://www.basslinepublishing.com/bass-essentials.html Stuart [/quote] These are great. I have the Beginner and Intermediate ones and I try to do a few exercises from each every day. I am getting better all the time. I am a LONG way off the Advanced book, years maybe! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinyd Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 If you want some 'raw material' to practice on, rather than an instructional book, this is great value for money:- [color=#111111][font=Arial, sans-serif][size=3]http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1495346781[/size][/font][/color] [color=#111111][font=Arial, sans-serif][size=3]I also like working through the Charlie Parker Omnibook for bass clef, which is also pretty cheap.[/size][/font][/color] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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