My playing is getting better from reading...

[bubinga5]

im not sure how to explain it... but for the last 4 months if been teaching myself how to read... im not thinking im going to turn pro, but its just something ive always wanted to do.... now when i play (without reading) i find my self playing better and finding notes and playing around chords alot more interesting..... its also given me some discipline... for 2 months every evening for an hour ive been doing the study bass note quiz... found it very useful.. finding note exercises are great.. you gotta know every note anywhere on that fb.. its so essential imo..

i lost studying music for a while.. strange because music is why i started playing in the first place.. but im so glad ive got my energy and passion back for me to move forward...

Edited February 11, 2012 by bubinga5

[gjones]

I know a lot of musicians who have never lost that almost obsessive enthusiasm for music and that desire to stretch themselves. I'd like to count myself as one of them. Nothing worse than reaching a plateau and getting comfortable churning out the same old stuff.

[Blademan_98]

I too have been trying to read recently. It is not something I am proficient at but it does help

[peted]

I find any change/addition to a practice routine can open up your playing and expand your horizons. I found the same when I started to learn to read music. Unfortunately I had to prioritise learning songs for the band, but intend to go back to learning to read in the coming weeks.

[JakeBrownBass]

[quote name='peted' timestamp='1329031708' post='1536165']
I find any change/addition to a practice routine can open up your playing and expand your horizons. I found the same when I started to learn to read music. Unfortunately I had to prioritise learning songs for the band, but intend to go back to learning to read in the coming weeks.
[/quote]

Learning to read isn't some thing to under prioritise. Literally just 10-15 minutes everyday and you will see wonders.

[pietruszka]

Yep! I know what you mean. Ive been able to read for sometime but was so slow at it it was useless. You know what I mean, you can find an F but takes a life time. Ive been doing tonnes more lately thanks to the pinned notation thread in GD. Recently learnt Burn This Disco Out from dots and things like Knights Of Cydonia are great for practising sight reading.




Dan

[Gust0o]

I've been continuing to practice my reading. I'm still a huge distance from being able to sight read and play at the same time - I still can't sit with a score and play through in one. But I'm pleased I'm able to read and bumble through bits of it and gradually get it, without resorting to tab or other references.

It's f***ing hard though. I'm thinking I might need to admit that I am 'music blind', in the way some people are numbers blind - it's required an effort out of all proportion to similiar activities. When I opened my first lesson book it was a feeling akin to when I casually picked up one of our actuary's manuals. A heady feeling of science and WTF?!?

[BottomE]

Its an up and down journey for me. Sometimes the benefits seem obvious - other times the effort required doesn't seem to have much pay off. I have to do theory in small chunks as i don't have the stamina to suck up hours every evening. I can do about 45 minutes tops before my brain starts to drift off somewhere else.

Funny thing though is that i have started to crave learning?!? If i spend a week without acquiring some new knowledge i get a funny pang that makes me open up the theory books???

[musophilr]

The reason most of us can pick up a newspaper and read it even though we've never seen that text before is because we've been reading our language since early school age. We'd be just as good at music if we read music each day year in year out.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='pietruszka' timestamp='1329042458' post='1536271']
... you can find an F but takes a life time ...
[/quote]
I'm not an accomplished reader myself but the answer to this problem seems to me to be don't be looking for an F (or whatever note). Just get your hand in the right place, know what key you're in and play the intervals.

So, you're in key of C (or whatever), just play the fourth (i.e. F in this case). This does depend on knowing your scales because what you see written will commonly take you up and down those scales.

[Blademan_98]

[quote name='musophilr' timestamp='1329053494' post='1536482']
The reason most of us can pick up a newspaper and read it even though we've never seen that text before is because we've been reading our language since early school age. We'd be just as good at music if we read music each day year in year out.
[/quote]

Totally agree. It is the same with anything, practice makes perfect

[pietruszka]

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1329054095' post='1536501']
I'm not an accomplished reader myself but the answer to this problem seems to me to be don't be looking for an F (or whatever note). Just get your hand in the right place, know what key you're in and play the intervals.

So, you're in key of C (or whatever), just play the fourth (i.e. F in this case). This does depend on knowing your scales because what you see written will commonly take you up and down those scales.
[/quote]

I did mean an F on the staff, but still an excellent point! After all, basic scales are the basis of music. I found it was not just knowledge of your bass that I struggled with, it was knowing what was going on on the paper. Rhythm in particular gets me, but its getting there with practice.



Dan

[Blademan_98]

Just getting the notes on the staff is only a part of it.

The rest of the notation, whilst playing, is where I really fall down

Edited February 12, 2012 by Blademan_98

[louisthebass]

Learning to read has been an ongoing project for me since the start of last year, still nowhere near the standard I'd like to be, but I'm a better reader now than I was a couple of years ago - big interval leaps and ties are still my big bugbears .

If you can spend an hour every day reading, then you're doing really well.

[bassace]

And I bet,in perfecting your reading you're getting a better feel for the theory of the music that you play.

[originalfunkbrother]

I concur with bubinga, I couldnt read before had literally no idea on what theory was but after a couple of lessons with Jake, its beginning to come together. As musophilr pointed out, if we was to read everyday for every year, all this would make sense. Its hard but we can get there...

[Bilbo]

Reading improving your playing? Careful, Sonny! They'll be calling you elitist next

[seashell]

After a year of lessons I can read, but very slowly.
I find it invaluable because my memory is so useless I'd never remember anything if it wasn't written down in some way or another.
I'm starting to prefer the dots to tabs if there's time to sit and figure it out. You get the time signature as well. Also you can work out for yourself whereabouts on the fretboard you want to play it.

I am a girly swot though.