A bit of bed time reading

[Bassfinger]

A nice easy one this.

[Paul S]

I could do with an extra option

 

O  eventually. 

 

😊

[tauzero]

I know what the durations of notes are, and sharps, flats, and naturals, and assorted other things. What I don't know is where notes are on a stave, which is a rather fundamental requirement but puts me into @Paul S's additional category.

[Lozz196]

For bass, yes. Not good with length of notes or speeds etc but where the notes are on the stave I’m fine with.

Edited August 23, 2022 by Lozz196

[Newfoundfreedom]

Nope. Never had any interest whatsoever in doing so, and highly doubt I ever will. 

[Ed_S]

I could, but I ran out of uses for it when I stopped playing violin, and I haven't looked back in the last 22 years.

[Doctor J]

Yes, but, I mean, not literally.

[Bassfinger]

Early sitrep - not as I expected!  I clearly move in neanderthal circles, as virtually no bandmate I've ever had reads.

 

For my own part I did (or was made to do) piano lessons at school and after a few years was able to parlay that into guitar lessons in my teens.  My mastery was okish, nothing special, was far from fluent. However, with retirement and more time reacquanting myself with the stuff im not bad at all now.

 

Cant do tab - just makes me go criss eyed!

[BreadBin]

Nope - play by ear. Always have and probably always will.

[Nail Soup]

Can't read music, never been tempted to invest any time in it.

I'm not great by ear either, but get by with TAB, tutorial vids, bandmates tips, chord charts and so on for the half of my musical life playing already-written music.

The other half of my music life I compose myself.

 

If I was going to learn something technical I'd prioritise a bit of music theory over reading.

[zbd1960]

Yes, and because of the instruments I play, I can read all four standard clefs (bass, tenor, alto, and treble). Last week I did a lot of sight-reading at summer school for both cello and baritone sax. I taught myself and passed grade 6 music theory - when I get a chance I'll do 7 and 8. 

[Pauld]

Can read but only treble clef. Just can't get my head round bass clef. Was taught treble clef as a kid, and have tried to teach myself bass clef, but just get confused, so use tab and YouTube for bass.

[MichaelDean]

I could probably work it out again if I had a written note to start from, but it must be 15 years since I last tried! 

[Bassassin]

Nah. After I'd been playing a little while I thought it might be a good idea to learn the dots & some theory, so I bought a 'How To Read Music' book. Started working through it, but as my playing involved either copying what people had already played, or creating bass lines for my band's songs (both of which I found easy), there seemed little point in persisting.

 

Never went back to it, although I do wonder if better formal musical knowledge would have been a benefit to my songwriting. Or rather, 'songmakingup'.

[Franticsmurf]

I can read music very slowly, not nearly fast enough to play along to, so I answered no. I could use notation to figure out a part, but I'd have to translate it into my own form of chart to stand any chance of playing along to it in real time. 

 

Most of the musicians in my circle can't read music. The two exceptions being a violinist and a sax player. 

Edited August 23, 2022 by Franticsmurf

[barkin]

8 minutes ago, Franticsmurf said:

I can read music very slowly, not nearly fast enough to play along to, so I answered no. I could use notation to figure out a part, but I'd have to translate it into my own form of chart to stand any chance of playing along to it in real time. 

 

Most of the musicians in my circle can't read music. 

 

That's pretty much it for me too. 

[dclaassen]

Read pretty well in both bass and treble clef.

[Dad3353]

Pretty fluent on drums, a bit more laborious for bass, tricky for guitar and very, very slow for keys. Luckily, I'm a drummer. 

[meterman]

I learned when I was at school and played tuned percussion in the orchestra. Have only used it a couple of times in the last 35-40 years though, so I doubt I’d still be able to now. Always found ‘playing by ear’ faster for me. 

Sometimes I think I should have carried on with the reading, just so I could try orchestral work again, but all that seems light years away now 😂

[Velarian]

I played Cornet in the school band (45 years ago) and could read simple to moderate treble clef music. I always struggled with sight reading but could eventually work a piece out. However, the passage of time has dulled what little knowledge I had. I regret not keeping up with it now. 

Edited August 25, 2022 by Velarian
Typos

[ambient]

2 hours ago, BreadBin said:

Nope - play by ear. Always have and probably always will.

I tend to use my fingers.

[Barking Spiders]

Only what i remember from playing clarinet and alto sax at school but never learnt bass clef. As I get older I may end up remembering it all while forgetting where I live

[Downunderwonder]

12 hours ago, Ed_S said:

I could, but I ran out of uses for it when I stopped playing violin, and I haven't looked back in the last 22 years.

Exactly where I was when the opportunity came up to play in a big band. All of a sudden I was 'reading' bass clef until I was reading bass. 

[SumOne]

I can work it out, mostly due to childhood piano lessons. Not fast enough to play along to though. 

 

I can read Tabs faster, they work okay other than when you want to play in different positions and the fact they don't show length of notes/timing and rests, and they don't encourage you to actually know if the note is an A or C or whatever so I don't think they are a particularaly good way of reading in the long-term.

 

Learning basslines from ear and memorising them is good (especially as it isn't the done thing for most bands to play from sheet music) but is a bit like learning singing songs by ear and memorising them without reading/writing words - it is possible but being able to read/write to then memorise makes things easier.

 

I'd recommend learning the basics as it isn't as complicated as it initially looks. Just learning these two charts is enough to be able to do the basics: 

 

 

 

 

.....spend a few minutes to apply that to this and play it:

 

And you can say you can read music! Admittedly at the most basic level and there is more to it for complex music, and sight reading is a whole other level. But even at this level compared to Tabs it gives more useful information and lets you play the notes where you want (open strings etc) rather than sticking to the prescribed Tab fret. Also, a good thing I've been taught is to sing out loud the notes as you read and play them 'D D A A B B A' etc. as it is a good way to train your pitch/ear/hand/eye coordination.

 

Edited August 24, 2022 by SumOne

[ambient]

I can yes. That side of playing has always interested me. I started off as a kid playing violin, then classical guitar. When I switched to playing bass about 13 or 14, I just assumed that you had to read.

 

My MMus was a mixed composition/performance course. I started using extended performance notation that even the greatest sight reader would struggle to read and play at the same time. 
 

I’m currently using TAB to notate some of my solo bass stuff. Standard notation doesn’t easily work with it, I’m using different tunings and harmonics. I bought a 6 line TAB book.