Can you read music?

[slemm]

Number 2 striving for 1. It's like learning a new language though you have to keep at it for it to sink in. Unless your extremely gifted. But it's worth it when some smart arse gives you notation for a song and you can play it.

[velvetkevorkian]

Practice does indeed make perfect. I think I'm going to go through all my DB method books on BG- that should help my reading and my shredding

[john_the_bass]

eh?!
I can read tabs and chord boxes and that gubbins, and I did learn to read a very small amount when I was at school but ten years have passed since I did a GCSE in music. If I want to learn somebody else's songs, I do it by ear (or sometimes look at a tab), but I get more satisfaction composing my own with my band - and surprisingly I still know more theory than the others in our band (who confused me so much by trying to describe a new song as having 4 different time signatures which in actual fact was in 3/4 all the way through) - which is not a lot! I can see that sight reading would be a benefit but I don't think it would improve my playing in the situations I find myself in, nor would it enhance the satisfaction I get from playing bass and guitar.

[chrkelly]

Reading is definitely the best thing you can learn. If you can sight read very well, and are a decent player, you can make money doing so.

[skywalker]

My reading is getting better, but still by no means good. I practising hard and it is coming along. The problem I have with sight reading is that my brain knows what it wants my fingers to do, but my fingers misbehave like small children and the result is often rubbish.

I find it easier to sight read and listen to the song at the same time, at least then when I do get it right it sounds okay

[MythSte]

I can work out music, but with difficulty!

I think more importantly i know what to play if Mr. Guitarist says "play this in such and such a key"

[Viajero]

I think, like a few people, I'm somewhere between a one and a two. I've done nothing but sight-read for a long while now, and the truth is that first reading I read a bar a time, picking out the chord so I can essentially improvise within the harmony (if I'm walking, that is). I ususally aim to have it totally nailed by third or fourth reading, though I shan't dey it can take longer than that on a not irregular basis.

Is it useful? Damn straight: what's more, there's little more satisfying than knowing you've hit everything on the page, especially while the guitars plough gamely one without a clue of what's happeneing.

[bassjamm]

Haven't read through the whole thread, so apologies if i repeat anything!

From my experience on the dep scene and pro circuit, though it be limited thus far, reading is essential...there's no two ways about it, if you want to be a muso, you need to read! I'm having to work solidly on my reading, i can by no means sight read, so reading is something i'm slogging away at!

Also, having listened and learnt quite a bit from the guys we all look up to, it would seem that the tint they put on it is this, if music is a part of your life that you can't let go of, something that you need, and something that you have to do...the reading music, knowing theory etc, is an absolute must...how can you communicate within a language if you can't speak it? Music notation/theory is the language, the charts and notations are our reading material, the theory is our verbs adverbs etc, and improvisation/solo/writting is our voice with which we talk.

When i look at it like that, i feel almost ashamed that i can't read all that well, and in my opinion, so i should, i want to succeed as a musician, but i've got a lead weight holding me down if i can't read!

Just my thoughts though.

Jam

[Guest baretas]

I can read both treble and bass clefs, but the coordination between reading and playing what I'm reading isn't good enough... yet
I had some classical guitar classes where everything was written in treble clef notation, so I really had to learn it. Then I switched to the electric bass (best decision of my life) and had to learn the "new" clef.
At the beginning it was a bit hard, but with some practice (as usual) and some crutches (imagining the bass clef as the treble clef without the last line) I got the hang of it.

I think it is a useful skill because, and this is my opinion, it's the same as learning how to read and write. And you'll communicate in a better way with your musician colleagues.

Now a small story... One day I was invited to work in a piano and violin concert as the guy that changes the scores of the piano player (i received €30 for 1 hour of work). The scores had the violin and the piano parts but since the violin was less complicated to read I stick to that one. Of course the piano player was giving me some hints, in case I got lost, but I was pretty much on target. And I had a lot of fun!

[tempo]

I can read treble clef, but not really done much reading for bass since taking the instrument up, I will get round to it; (got "heaven knows..." by The Smiths down the other week, via notation. Have got some Bach stuff I could transpose to bass clef as an exercise, find that helps speed up the learning process.

[BlueMarkerFumes]

I can read, transpose, and all that other nice stuff. I've been in various groups as a flute player over the last few years. I practice with a metronome because if I don't I get backhanded by my music director, all in all I'm musically qualified.

Now, as to how much that helps with playing bass. Not all that much really. Seeing as I can only comfortably read music in treble cleff. I've been struggling to pick up bass for the last month (after I saw a really amazing jazz performance). And it seems like a lot of playing, at least in the beginning is having a feel for the music, and a good deal of natural rythm. I almost think having a really traditional music background is crippling for certain styles of music, like say, jazz. Where the syncopation is "swung" and counting does't really do you a whole lot of good in the traditional sense. Don' mean a thing if it aint got that swing... Jazz improv also seems to become infinitely more confusing when you bring theory into it. "Use a F-7 then chord change to a E-9 in the 5th measure blah blah blues scale blah blah" is a lot harder to get your head around (at least to me) than "Make it sound good".

[jakenewmanbass]

The funny thing about reading bass (which I will do for money) is that you often bust your balls to exactly reproduce something that has either been poorly conceived (compositionally) or badly transcribed by some inexact keyboard player or MD. Very few composers (or for that matter musicians in general) have a keen awareness of exactly what makes a good bass part. J.S Bach and his fellow composers of similar calibre knew their stuff, but with the advent of MIDI composition where guys play in something approximate with their left hand filled with rhythmic innacuracy and notational inexactitude it can be a frustrating process to make a big effort to get it right and find you would play something better from your head on the spot. From a real bassplayers perspective you should be able to read, interpret and improve basslines at sight! When you do encounter really good parts that are well written by a good composer, arranger or transcriber it's a real joy.
Jake

[jakenewmanbass]

And another thing!!!!
so many bass players are ear players because it is a highly evolved aural language and many of the nuances are not really conveyed on the page, but still as a pro its an essential skill and it makes communication many times quicker so that rehearsal is well organised.
Jake

[paul, the]

Good stuff Jake.


I wish I had Stevie Wonder's left hand.

[rsh_bassist]

i love sight reading! ive played in sinfonia groups on double bass, where sight readings a must, and also jazz groups, where it certainly helps!

[Tait]

although i voted "I kind of know my way around a stave but it takes five minutes to read four bars" i lied.

it actually takes me five minutes to read a single bar.

but i love to sight read from tab.

Edited September 23, 2007 by lwtait

[Maark]

I know rhythmic measures of notes, but I'm poor on actual note-reading. I know that the fat little bum who sits down a way and has a line through him is C, though. XD

I can't read 'chord charts', I should add. They confuse the hell out of me.

[skywalker]

I am not competent enough to sight read dots, unless the piece is slow, but I can pretty much knock anything off from a chord chart. I find it easy. If you get stuck you can usually get away with R,5 or R,5,7 or R,3,5 or some combination of that and still make it sound okay.

[velvetkevorkian]

[quote name='dlloyd' post='64654' date='Sep 24 2007, 10:48 AM']. I'd have difficulty with some of the more complicated music that they throw at you around grade 8, particularly with some of the 20th century composers who [b]had issues with diatonic harmony[/b] etc.[/quote]
That's a great way to put it!

[fusionbassist1]

I tihnk around where i live there isn't much work to be had, especially as a young player. Being able to read to a good level just gives you that slight edge over bedroom bassplayers.

[Delberthot]

When I was 14, I was learning to play the double bass and reading at the same time. I was really terrible at reading.

3 years later I was given the chance to join a big band playing big band tunes of the 20s, 30s, 40s etc. When asked "can you read music?" I of course said "yes".

When I went to my first audition, there were another 2 people going for the position and the person leaving was my old double bass tutor!

I must have bluffed it enough because I got the part.

I used to get old DB players coming up to me saying how much they enjoyed my playing but being absolutely honest I was making 75% of it up (I was playing the first note and making the rest up)

Even today when I get asked to fill in with jazz bands and stuff I still bluff it completely. I can read the notes but have no idea how to read the individual notes properly with semi quavers and rests etc. I still regularly get lost half way through tunes.

I've played in a weding/function/dinner dance band for the past 11 years so have developed a knack for making stuff up as we regularly have to play songs that we don't normally do.

there is a big secret and I may divulge it someday but there are only a few patterns that you can actually play when covering other peoples tunes (except Frank Sinatra & Nat King Cole) which means that i can very rarely make a mistake when playing an unfamiliar tune.

I'm not being a show off, I just discovered the pattern.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Edited October 17, 2007 by Delberthot

[thepurpleblob]

I can read reasonably well but translating that into sight reading on the bass is another thing entirely. When I used to be a percussionist it was second nature, which is a bit annoying (I don't remember it being difficult).

[Bilbo]

Have to chime in because this is one of my main hobby horses!

I love reading. I wish I could do it more often because it means that I can play better music more quickly. I have a gig this Saturday with a blues band - no dots, just chord charts. It is an important gig for the band leader and I want ot get it right for him because he has invested a lot of time in the band he is promoting. Trouble is, I have had to book a day off work to rehearse because we can't find the time otherwise. I know, from experience, that, even with the rehearsal, there will be shaky moments but, because I know the players, we will make it work. If we had had proper charts the end results would be better and the time rehearsing would probably not have been necessary.

Because I read to a credible level, I could do a big band gig tonight, with 22 other people, playing great, sophisticated arrangements and nail it wihout any real difficulty (as others have said, odd passages can prove problematic but you get by with your ears and knowledge of the genre). I have just taken up the double bass and practice with Bach cello suites - it helps me to learn to play the fretboard without looking at it. The Bach also helps develop my ears - I don't need to learn it because I can read it. So, instead of spending hours on one piece, I can get through more music more quickly. It excites me to experience music this way instead of spending hours rehearsing so that other people can learn their parts (for teh record, I tend to learn pieces by ear quicker than most buskers because, in my experience, their attitude to reading is like their attitude to everything about the music they play - the settle too readily for 'good enough'.

Reading is, for me, THE most useful tool I have. I wish there were more players that could do it as it would invariably mean that the music would be better quicker.

[Doddy]

I agree with Bilbo. Reading is probably the most valuable tool you can have as
a musician. It opens up so many doors that are simply not available to non
readers-from educational material to gigs.
It seems that lately,the vast majority of guitarists,bassists and drummers lately
have chosen to disregard the skill completely for some reason. That's why an electric
bassist who can read is like gold to an MD.There are a million players,but only a small
percentage can sit down and play the pad straight off.

[Wil]

I can read music now. Badly. Well, sort of. To an extent.

Ok, I'm terrible at it.

But it's pretty handy for learning all the strange piano chord inversions Mr Waits uses. Hardest thing for me is desciphering the rhythms.