Can you read music?

[Bilbo]

Great!! There is a used version of Patitucci's Etudes on Amazon Marketplace for £110.

Back to the Cello Suites!!

[skej21]

[quote name='Bilbo' post='951537' date='Sep 10 2010, 09:49 AM']Great!! There is a used version of Patitucci's Etudes on Amazon Marketplace for £110.

Back to the Cello Suites!! [/quote]

You could just buy it from that link I posted, for £13

Edited September 10, 2010 by skej21

[BottomEndian]

Or [url="http://www.musicroom.com/se/ID_No/0293380/details.html"]http://www.musicroom.com/se/ID_No/0293380/details.html[/url] in the UK. I think I'll stick that on order, just for more sight-reading material.

[lanark]

I get frustrated because I can sight read pretty well for piano - so I know the notes and can "read" the music, but I get annoyed with myself for not knowing quickly enough where the note is on the fretboard - I usually have to manually think it through, sometimes I even forget which notes the open strings are.


I know ... practice practice practice .... and then more practice.

[Bilbo]

[quote name='skej21' post='951543' date='Sep 10 2010, 09:53 AM']You could just buy it from that link I posted, for £13 [/quote]

I will get it ordred when the cash starts flowing again..... thanks for the tip off (I had seen this book before and was interested but got sidetracked).

[skej21]

[quote name='Bilbo' post='951568' date='Sep 10 2010, 10:09 AM']I will get it ordred when the cash starts flowing again..... thanks for the tip off (I had seen this book before and was interested but got sidetracked).[/quote]

No problem. It might be easier to get it from the musicroom link above.

I think it's a really good resource, mainly because it's musical. I find my bass students really love it too, because it's really intuitive and there's a lot of variety

[Fat Rich]

I could never sight read but could get through most written basslines eventually although after 12 years of not playing I seem to have forgotten it all.

I've just started ignoring the tab in books and reading the notation and I'm immediately finding that some of the tab is wrong....

[Gareth Hughes]

The Patitucci book is excellent. Not only for reading but I'm finding it's a great way to think outside the box when playing in a certain key. All of the examples are not what you'd expect to play when told a piece is in C Major, for example. And like any great etude should, it opens up many different ways to get around the fingerboard to play the same thing. And I bought mine for about $13 from David Gage himself, so I'm well chuffed with that.

[d_g]

I started learning to read bass clef around last november when I played in Little Shop Of Horrors for my school and couldnt understand how we were expected to learn over 20 songs in a couple of weeks. The great thing about reading, is that you dont have to learn them - just have to read them. A few months of working on reading and I was getting work doing it. I'm by no means the best reader in the world but can easily get by and now get paid work in musicals in local theatres from time to time with one or two runs of the show before the opening night.

For anyone who wants to make a living playing bass I think reading is essential. I'm only 17 but really hope it helps me to in a few years time

[Fat Rich]

[quote name='iamthewalrus' post='905222' date='Jul 25 2010, 09:08 PM']Just an update on Bilbo's reply to my original post. I've been working on my reading from an old bass book my first bass teacher gave me 25 years ago called "The Complete Electric Bassist" (which I think is long out of print). Although I'm progressing slowly (playing all the exercises at 50bpm on the metronome), it's all starting to come together. The plus side with the book is that there's no TAB, so it does actually make you read & work on your fingering (which is all 1-2-4 in the lower positions).

Am looking forward to continuing the journey & be able to play this stuff fluently.[/quote]

[quote name='stevie' post='905623' date='Jul 26 2010, 11:46 AM']The Complete Electric Bassist is by far the best book published to help you learn to read for the bass guitar, IMO. Only available secondhand now, it leaves others in the dust. It's such a shame they didn't publish volume 2. For a bit of variety, dig into the Major's Boot Camp here in the Theory and Technique section. The Major covers a lot of the same material but in a more modern way.[/quote]

Bought this book based on the comments here and it's really good.

No tricks, no shortcuts but a thorough progressive approach to learning to read music. Many thanks for the recommendation!

[lojo]

[quote name='MacDaddy' post='846607' date='May 24 2010, 04:05 PM']the language we communicate with is music, if you can not read music you are musically illiterate.

Illiteracy is not good.[/quote]

I've just scanned this thread as this subject has been really on my mind recently

I cannot read, most people I know who can started reading during school, collage or private tuition when they where young, something not everyone is fortunate enough to have trust upon them at a young age even if they desire it

Whilst playing in the church recently, I commented I felt insecure, as everyone there can read except me, the girl playing keyboards said that she would have to stop playing if her sheet fell off the stand, she admitted be to just as limited, but in a different way

Reading music does not give you talent, just as being able to read and write does not give you imagination to invent fiction

Both however do open doors and worlds that are hard or impossible to access without the said skill, but it is a learned skill and anyone given either music reading or written word reading skills should appreciate both are a real gift to be given

Do I wish I was not musically illiterate, yes very much so, but sadly I have to many other priorities in life now to devote time to learning to read music and believe I will get a return worth the time sacrificed, I may of course be very wrong

Edited September 21, 2010 by lojo

[Gareth Hughes]

I don't agree that you're musically illiterate if you can't read music. Reading/writing music on paper is only one part of making music. (Insert the 'Paul McCartney can't read music' quote here) It just means you can't read music - but it doesn't mean that you cannot communicate using music. For someone to feel insecure because they can't read music - that's wrong, in my opinion.

I'll be the first to day 'Learn to read music' because of the benefits that come from it. But I'll also be the first to say - go play and make a glorious noise. Mike Kenneally couldn't read music when he auditioned for Frank Zappa, yet he got the gig because his ear was so good he could play all that was required. That's a talent I wish I had.

We all have our strengths and weaknesses. Sure let's be proud of our strengths, but lets not beat ourselves up about our weaknesses.

[lanark]

[quote name='Fat Rich' post='960580' date='Sep 18 2010, 05:26 PM']Bought this book based on the comments here and it's really good.

No tricks, no shortcuts but a thorough progressive approach to learning to read music. Many thanks for the recommendation![/quote]


Is this book by William Perry? As you say, it's only available secondhand and there are lots with similar titles.

[stevie]

Yes, that's the one. By William Perry and Leon White. It comes up on eBay occasionally.

[markstuk]

I can read music, although I also find tabs useful and work out most stuff by ear... I'm also a keyboard player and singer so that also has some bearing on it.. I suspect it's not just reading music that is useful, it's all the theory that comes with it..

What do I find useful about it? It means I can learn stuff much faster than the other folk in the two bands I'm playing in seem to be able to do.. I also can "decode" structure and progressions which I think make be a better player by ear since my guess at what comes next is usually an educated one..

However it's the way I was brought up (I'm a grade 8 pianist and classically trained singer) so it works for me, I've met lots of superb musicians without a single hour of formal training... Horses for courses..

Cheers


Mark

[oldbass]

Just started to learn to read again after many, many failed attempts and at last I'm lovin it.

Oh and quick props to Mr Major Minor of this parish. I've tried loads of different books etc but his brilliant excercises trump the lot...most grateful indeed.

[ambient]

I started on violin as a child, so I learned then, having weekly lessons at school.

I then started playing classical guitar, and continued reading.

When I started playing bass, I didn't realise that you could play without reading music. It sounds odd now, but I expected to be given stuff to read.

[william64]

As we all can agree, it is not essential. You can still be a great musician. However, those of us, who can read music well, are less limited than we other are. My ability to read music is poor but lately I've been working on this issue a little bit

[neilp]

I'm a classically trained (Royal College of Music) Double Bass player, so yes, I can sight read. It's a hugely valuable thing to be able to do. It gets you work, it helps you to understand what you're playing. Plus, if you can find the dots for the song you want, you don't have to waste all that time working it out!

[Bilbo]

Reading takes you places you would probably never otherwise go.

I bought a book of Ron Carter solos last week and can play most of several of them right off the bat just by reading them. It means I can focus my study on the passages I struggle with and not waste time learing every scrap of the solo.

[Grangur]

I enjoy sight reading and can read fairly well. I can't really say "Yes, sight reading is no problem", but I equally don't take 5 mins to read 4 bars.

The dots are fine, but it's Codas etc that take me time to work out.

[oldbass]

Update

I've just made the fatal error of trying to learn a brilliant jazz fusion piece which I found that is way too advanced for me...and now cause I cant quite get it I'm feeling kinda fed up to the point of loosing interest in the whole endeavour...again.

Bad move. Must learn to work up gradually from the easy stuff first...ha

[Bilbo]

I always practice reading Jazz solos or Bach Cello Suites which are invariably difficult to read through flawlessly. The up-side of that is that actual bass parts are quite easy!!

[zbd1960]

I don't have trouble reading music as I have to read all 4 standard clefs for the instruments I play. My sight singing is decent, and I'm pretty reasonable on cello and OK on tenor sax. I'm a novice on bass so I can read the dots, butnot necessarily play them! Being a reasonable sight reader has meant that I've been able to dep in some quite good concerts over last year or so (one was show music, the other was film music).

Need get my bass playing there

[stevie]

We visited some friends in Paris a few years ago and their daughter was learning the cello. We were aware that she played to a fairly high standard because she had just come back from attending a masterclasses in New York. Anyway, she played us a few tunes and I mentioned that I liked the Bach cello suites. Had she learned any, I said? Not really, she replied, but I have the music and I've played them before. She then proceeded to sight read an entire cello suite from start to finish, and it was impeccable (fingers all over the place). She was 13 at the time.

I enjoy playing the bass but I'm under no illusions about my capabilities. And yes, I can read, but I'd never be able to do that in a million years.