Learning to read music- any short cuts?

[tonyguitargoat]

I'm doing a few deps in a pit-band. Most of the parts are chord charts, but there are some intros and lines written out. I can only read very slowly, so I've decided to learn. I know the best way is practise, practise, practise, but do you have any tips? Any bits of software that can tutor me? Thanks.

[garymaddox]

I never found any. Just read every day. If you ever stop, you lose it quickly. Another difficulty with playing written music on the guitar is that the same note is repeated multiple times on the neck. Classical guitar music has little a circled number that designate the fret position but you NEVER see that in a score. Sight reading usually requires you to be able to read ahead of what you're playing and is it's own skill to be developed. Keep at it and be confident you can do it. It's just a graph.

[garymaddox]

I just though of something else. Get a copy of Segovia's Scales and make sure you read every single note, just don't play it. You'll learn to read and pick up some very economical fingering movements. It doesn't help with reading rhythms. Some F. Sor etudes are good for that.

[dconeill]

Always have a PENCIL with you so you can mark up your part (and erase your marks later).

Study the part and notate, in a similar way to classical guitar music (e.g., fret position), any areas that you find a particular way to play. For example, say a section is in the key of Bb Major and you find it lays conveniently starting with the index finger at the 5th fret, mark that on the score.

Practice.

Practice tip: for a particular section, divide it into phrases. Learn the last phrase first. When you've got that down, learn the penultimate phrase, and so on until you get to the beginning. That way, you're always moving from material that is less familiar into material that is more familiar, and your playing will sound stronger. (If you start practicing at the beginning, you'll always be going into less familiar material and the end of the section often will sound tentative.)

Recognise that the guitar can be viewed as a series of boxes that contain repeatable fingering patterns for various keys. This can be helpful for sections of notation that are in single keys. There are about five fingering patterns that cover all the major keys in all modes.

Most of us learn best when we have an immediate application for what we learn. Use the charts as your opportunity to learn to read better - i.e., concentrate your reading studies on them. If you have time and you're having trouble, maybe engage a teacher to work on it with you until the time of the show.

You said, "I'm doing a few deps in a pit-band". What's a "dep"?

[jazzbender]

Believe it or not, once you start to WRITE music it becomes easier to read. Start with simple melodies with a variety of rhythms. Of course we guitarists are notoriously bad sight readers, but this will go a long way towards improving your reading skill. But the practice, practice, practice element must also be present.

[klasaine]

As mentioned above ...
Just do it everyday - WITH A METRONOME. no short cuts, no software, etc.

But ... you need to know "now" since your doing a pit gig.

*Here are some tips that helped me ...

1) Focus your reading between the 5th and 9th frets. That will get 'most' of what you need that's generally written in 'guitar register'. (Also, don't feel weird about reading in the open or 1st position - you need to get through the gig.)

2) Do not be afraid to mark your part with a pencil. Divide the bars, make chord diagrams or even TAB on particularly hard parts.

3) Don't stop to fix a mistake - even when you're practicing at home - the music's already gone by. Forget about it - move forward.

4) Practice from flute and clarinet books, the Voxman books, they're much better than guitar methods generally. *This is for later if you decide that you kinda like this music reading thing.

What show are you doing?

I'll think of more later. I'm actually off to do a 'reading gig'.

[Mojohand40]

There are some great tips here! Thanks fellows.
I used to read decently enough, learned to read from playing recorder many years ago, then when I was learning Violin, really got into it. Why? No violin tab!
It's a skill I let lapse, only occasionally using it to play from easy fake books on the piano. (Mainly around Christmas..I usually brush up on the piano around then for a few carols for family and such).
Anyway, recently I've been diligently working at learning to sight read lap steel. Why?..because there's not a lot of lap steel tab!....readily available tab is a huge blessing for guitarist...but also a curse...

I'm facing the same challenges. The tip of getting clarinet music or flute or any non-polyphonic instrument as a practice aid is good. I've been using fake books with melody lines, but actually found a few old ukulele books to be a huge help for what I'm doing.

It's slow going for me, but after about three weeks now of daily reading practice, I'm seeing results....(but I'm still playing at a snails pace with awful timing....arhhhg!)

Anyway; learning to sight read is a certainly a lot of work (and I'm still in the camp of "it's not completely the end all, be all necessary skill for pop guitarist"), but it is a rewarding skill that can open a world of printed music up to you....so, I'm keeping at it.

My goal is to be able to sight read at a decent level on the 6 string lap steel, E7 tuning in a years time..

..

[Budda]

I like to practice by always saying the names of the notes out loud, as I play. Then, I hear my "voice in my head" saying the notes when I'm reading them, and already feel better about where to locate them on the fretboard, in a more natural way.

[JayFreddy]

For most beginners, the hardest part is learning to read ledger lines, especially since most books that teach reading don't seem to spend much time on the subject.

I use this memonic:

"E's are 3's, B's are Balanced, A & C's are cool (peace man), G & D's mirror each other (actually they're inverse, but "mirror" is easier to say), as do the E's and F's..."

Originally Posted by klasaine

Just do it everyday...

Don't stop to fix a mistake - even when you're practicing at home - the music's already gone by. Forget about it - move forward.

Practice from flute and clarinet books, the Voxman books, they're much better than guitar methods generally. *This is for later if you decide that you kinda like this music reading thing.

Great advice, especially about reading books intended for other instruments. Fiddle books are good too.

[Larry F]

Good advice here. Clarinet books, fiddle tunes, saying the notes aloud, focus on frets 5-9. In addition to these tips, I'd add work on reading rhythm. Learn how to divide a beat, divide 2 beats, and divide a 4/4 measure. Then work on triplets, 3/8, 3/4, 6/8 and the patterns that occur in them. While there are very many possible rhythms, most music uses only a limited amount of these. I recommend becoming familiar with these.

Another tip, once you are ready for it, is to read ahead of what you are playing and try to hear the music coming up rather than calculate where it is beat-wise and note-wise.

Another idea. Learn solfege. That will help you hear where you are in the key.

Taken together, with the other tips here, and you have a pretty good recipe for learning to read. I read every day, since I compose and teach composition, and I can finally hear music on the page with more realism than when I was in the 20s or 30s. It takes a very long time to get to that point, but it is a very nice tool to have. For example, when I hear a guitar solo, I can also see the notes that are being played, and before they are played. Of course, my guess about where the music is going is not always right, but it is a reasonable guess most of the time. Does that make sense? I guess I am advocating making reading something internal as well as with the hands.

[Larry F]

More thoughts. Picking up on what Ken is saying about not looking back and trying to do a redo on a note, you can work with this in practice. You can do it slow, with a metronome, honoring the vow that you will never play a wrong note, but you will not necessarily play every note. A wrong note will ring out as a klinker that turns on a flashing red light over your head. In a recording session, a wrong note is very bad news, I would imagine. On the other hand, if you don't play every single note, who will know? Another method is to pick very difficult music and set a very fast tempo. Try to grab notes when you can, but keep moving in sync with the metro. It's a little like picking off the notes as they go by. It's not music at all, if you do this. But you are using this to work on a specific skill that you will need as a professional. I used to do this with Beethoven violin sonatas (they go down to a low G an octave higher than the guitar's low G). You find that notes on the first bar are easier than other beats. Notes on the beat are easier than upbeats. When you encounter a section of triplets or 16ths or 32nds, get that pulse running in your head before you get to that music. Classical players do that all the time.

Lastly (maybe), try reading away from the guitar.

[klasaine]

To continue on with what Larry said about "vowing not to play a wrong note - but not necessarily playing every note".

I had a session a couple of years ago with a very large mixed ensemble - horns, strings, perc, rhythm section, conductor, etc. One of the cues was alternating sections of 5/8 to 6/8 and a bar of 3/4 at the end of every five bar phrase. It wasn't slow and it wasn't just quarter notes and it wasn't very tonal - you get the drift. There was NO WAY I was going to nail this even with a few run throughs but ... my experience told me that I was #1) basically in unison with most of the group, and #2) what they needed from 'guitar' was muted 'thunks' on the bottom of the ensemble (palm mutes) with bass, piano lft hd, bari sax and guitar. I just made sure that I hit the 1st and last note in each bar and played muted clicks on the rest of the rhythmic stuff I could grab. I started right and I ended right and nobody noticed that I didn't play even a third of what was on my page (they were too busy worrying about their own parts which were extremely difficult as well). The only guy that really nailed it was the percussionist (Bob Zimmitti). That day made me sweat. It also made me see that I needed yet more practice. Actaully I see that every day (sigh).

[octatonic]

Ok, so this is my world at the moment.
I am doing a music degree at the ripe age of 37 and I have been reading for a year.

Shortcuts? Not a single one.
The method is this.

1. Read every day.

2. Never read for more than 15 mins in one sitting. You won't take anything in after 15 mins. After 15 mins walk away from the instrument . Do something else for 5 mins or so- don't think about music- walk your dog, do the washing, kill someone, anything but music.
Then if you want to go back to it then do another 15 mins and then stop again. Repeat as required.

3. Work at a tempo you can deal with easily 90% of the time. You want to feel like you have to concentrate but you shouldn't miss entire bars because it is going by too fast.
To begin with you might have to forget the metronome. I did. It helped.

4. Count correctly. I e & a is the best way IMHO.
The American way of counting 1234 2234 3234 4234 isn't something I could deal with. 1 e & a, 2 e & a, 3 e & a, 4 e & a is easier to keep up with.
I still spend a few mins a day (usually on the bus) tapping my foot and counting whilst ghosting 16th notes with my right hand. It helps immensely.
If you can't count, you can't read.

5. Split the task up. Work on rhythm studies separately to note recognition.
get the Belson books for rhythms.
I try to read classical studies for note recognition- they are just straight 8ths (mostly) so it is relatively easy.

6. Enjoy it. This is probably the most important thing. I didn't enjoy much of the last year and I only have myself to blame really. It is hard but the rewards are there.
That isn't some sort of soft language to make you feel better- seriously, being able to read a piece of music from a page correctly, first time is one of the best things I've been able to accomplish in the last year.

I am still not brilliant- lots of ties and large intervals still mess me up.
It just takes time.

[J.S. Bach]

hmmmm? After reading through these great tips, i'm suprised nobody mentioned the repetitive writing of the notes on the staff. I know i can't be the only one who used to study for math or vocabulary tests by writing down the word/problem 10 or 20 times in a row the night before. More for the harder ones. lol

Or hasn't anyone ever memorized a new phone number by writing it down 100 times? Or a locker combonation? There is something that happens in the brain when using this method of remembering things that makes it stick so much better.

Try this... If you don't have blank sheets just draw the ledger lines on paper and randomly mark 10 or 20 notes. Then go back and write the names of notes above the marks.

Now make another staff below the first one. Copy the marks one at a time onto the new staff but this time write the names of the notes above the marks before moving on to the next note. Do this at least 10 times in a row and then start the whole process over with a new set of notes. Make sure to include notes on extended ledger lines as well.

You'll have no problems recognizing the notes in real time once you have done this exersize enough. If i were you, I'd put all of my time into doing these exersizes on paper, without any playing untill you can write down any note you see on a piece of music as quickly as you would write out the letters in the alphabet. Once you have that skill, and you'll be amazed at how short of a time it takes, then try playing and reading in real time.

Practice this method(no instrument-only writing) for 1 week, 1 hour per day, and that just might be enough to start the real time reading and playing... I'm serious. Writing it down is 100x's better and faster for memorizing than just sight reading alone.

[strat a various]

Tony
Here's something that will help. Besides practicing your pit band music, get some sheet music to tunes you know well. Learning to read a tune you know speeds up the ability ti acquire notes on sight. Don't be too concerned with rhythms at first, learn to read every note first. After a few sessions reading notes, start with simple rhythms, work your way up to complex parts.
If you feel energetic, get a couple of beginner and intermediate drum books, they concentrate on rhythms, sorts things out while getting used to the figures, so you''l get to know how the syncopated lines look.

[Budda]

Go to a Good Will store, or similar. Look for old sheet music. You can often find sheets (even non-complete pieces are okay for this) for $.05 to $.25 a piece.
It doesn't matter what the songs are.
Play through 1 or 2 new pieces each day. Start to finish. No going over it a 2nd. time. No pausing. Just barrel on through. Move on. Reading them twice is more memorization, as opposed to pure reading.
When you've read through them all, flip them over and play them from the last note to the first. This gives you 2 times the productivity from each piece of music. And playing them backwards works well for a few reasons. It keeps you from using as much memorization, aids in ear training. Upside down is still the same. Only the note-stems are upside down.
HTH.

[Budda]

P.S.
I've found some really old sheet music that has some beautiful art work on it, in the past. Actually get to be something I've collected some, just for the art work! LOL

[Tim Bowen]

Great advice within this thread. At best, I'll only reiterate in some way what has already been said, especially since I'm a mediocre sight reader at best.

Definitely read as much as you can. I read with students five days per week. To be fair, some of the pieces I've played to the point where it's memorization, which is not reading per se'. However, somebody is always bringing in an unfamiliar piece that I need to have a go at, so that's always a good kick in the butt. My bass clef reading sucks, mostly because my bass student clientele is sporadic. Whenever I have a few regular bass students, it always improves (imagine that!). I occasionally read with students while playing mandolin, which is an instrument than I'm far less intimate with than the guitar; I do toss out a few "excuse me" clams now and then, but hey, it's my ongoing education as well.

I think the most difficult aspect is actually syncopation. When I attended GIT in Los Angeles in the mid 80's, Charlie Fechter was in charge of the standard notation and sight reading department. His first book did not address pitch at all, it involved only rhythms, time signatures, incomplete opening measures and pickup notes, and such. Along these lines, any of (drummer and educator) Louis Bellson's various rhythmic studies are top notch.

Ledger line notes (those located above and below the staff) are sort of a thing. I'm not sure what to say about it, given that looking at a map is visual overload for me, and given that I'm drastically in need of bifocals. You just have to keep seeing them on a regular basis, that's all I can say.


A couple of reading exercises I employ with students:

* "Say and play" game. Say the names of the notes in real time with a metronome, and then play them. Repeat as necessary. Also, say a measure, play a measure - OR - say a line, play a line.

* Read "backwards". Start at the end of the piece and read your way toward the beginning. Or play the first line forward, say the second line backwards, and such. The possibilities are endless. Whatever shakes it up and causes one to think and react quickly on the fly, that's the ticket.

* Count out loud as we play, including the 'ands'.


Obviously, knowledge of time and key signatures, circle of fifths, natural signs, et al, can only be beneficial.

The prospect of "looking back" has been admirably addressed by other posters. As a music educator, this is probably the bane of my existence, and it's likely the sole reason that so many are intimidated by the metronome. Really, there's no problem with missing a note now and then. The problem is in not keeping the meter and form in mind, and in not viewing a piece of music as an ongoing entity that exists exclusively within the realm of real time. When reading with students, I'll occasionally encounter them trying to backtrack to find that "lost note", or worse, trying to BS their way by ear (an important, but very different discipline). At this point, I'll stop and ask the pupil to show me where we're at within the chart, and I'll ask them if they were "guessing". Sometimes, a student will admit that they were spewing forth notes simply because they felt that they "should". There's no problem with silence, there's only a problem with not knowing where you're at within the form and the meter. The trick is to not get pyschologically rattled, and first and foremost consideration is to play with conviction what you know to be correct, with proper meter, and to otherwise be silent. Honestly, it's a tough discipline to relate until you've been personally bitten in the line of fire in a professional working situation, when it counts (I've been bitten... it's education).

Whole note diamonds, half notes, dotted halfs, tied notes - time to look forward and scan and do damage control in advance. I'm not going to be able to sight read and nail a Bach two part invention or a Carcassi piece on the fly with no preparation. However, if I take a minute to visualize the piece and truly focus, I can see the vast majority of it.

My last bit here will seem like a bit of whining. That is, I always have trouble in quickly deciphering hand-written standard musical notation charts, regardless of how neatly that such might be written. As for published editions that are in keeping with standards of printing protocol... what can I say, I just see them more clearly.

[tonyguitargoat]

Thanks everyone, for your replies. I knew you'd have lots of suggestions.
One of the best is to read something every day, or it'll all float away again...

'Dep' means to deputize - replace someone temporariliy. I've already done one performance of the show, and it went fine. It's a 50s/60s nostalgia show and I knew most of the songs anyway. What was worrying me was that it was literally non-stop fifties for an hour, then non-stop sixties for another hour. Really NON-stop - no time to let go of the guitar, even to turn the page. I just had a list of the numbers and their keys in front of me - they all just segued into each other!

[martypapa]

Hey mate,
There I've made a flash game for the very purpose of learning how to read music and speeding up sight reading.

It's on my blog at:
http://martypapa.blogspot.com/2009/06/fast-keys.html

Hope you like it

[blacklinefish]

Originally Posted by Larry F

...focus on frets 5-9...

To me this is everything. If you are trying to sight-read then keep your first finger on the 4th fret for the "sharp" keys and the 5th fret for the "flat" keys. Learning to read music in the first few frets of the guitar is a trap!

A lot of discussions about note-reading on the guitar has the nay-sayers (and the frustrated) claiming that there are multiple places on the fretboard to play the same note. Forget about all that.

For the next month just pretend there is ONE place to find each note, just like the beginning of learning a wind instrument. You won't believe how fast you'll start finding the notes when you always play it with the same finger in the key you are playing in.

[Larry F]

Also, try to position yourself and the stand so that you can see the conductor. Even if you have a solid beat in the rhythm section, you'll score points with the conductor by watching him. It conveys that you want to be as involved in the big picture as possible, instead of sitting head down in your own little world of guitar, which is sometimes an instrument of isolation to other musicians anyway.

[brewwagon]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Score_following


bw