sight reading

[sweet dissonance]

I know this has probably been posted elsewhere, but I'm a little confused about sight reading. I get how to identify notes, but how do you know where to play them on the fretboard? there are many different places to play each note. No one seems to be able to tell me this (that I've gotten the guts to ask).

[Paul K]

THe choice is yours. With practice, you'll be able to tell what choices are better based on the notes before and after it; 'cause it's gotta flow, baby!

[Luke73]

Indeed, the choice is yours.

 

You might consider how much shifting you want to do (making your left hand more efficient), or you might choose to play a note in a certain place on the fingerboard to achieve a desired tone (for example, the 2nd fret on the D-string 'E' sounds distinctly different to the 12th fret on the E-string 'E' despite the fact that it is the same note).

 

[Eric VB]

Here's my strategy for true "fly by the seat of your pants" sight reading.

 

1. The octave and a half chromatic catcher.

Also known as first position. Play with pointer over first fret and remaining fingers over the next three frets.

 

PROS: This allows you to play all of the chromatic pitches from low E to the B an octave and a half higher (on 4 string). Works on the assumption that a lot of bass music is within this range. In that case there is no shifting!

 

CONS: Watch out for pieces that call for a full two octave range. Be prepared to be shocked out of your non-shifting stupor to reach up to high Ds, Es, etc. If you try to resume back to first position too early you may cause more shifting than necessary. [Hint: get a 6+ string to cover a wider range without shifting.]

 

2. The hope the song stays in one key and doesn't have accidentals strategy.

Quickly glance through the piece before the song starts. If it looks like it stays in one key throughout without any accidentals try shifting to the "middle finger over the root" position.

 

PROS: This should be a very comfortable position that you've used a bazillion times. An octave and a half (4 string) of the key is conveniently within reach without stretching or shifting.

 

CONS: Some really icky accidentals and chromatic lines will have you stretching uncomfortably, especially something insane like a long 16th note run. Again, anything outside the range is going to require shifting unless you have an ERB.

 

3. The eyes glued to the page corollary.

In the above two strategies note that by limiting the amount of shifting your eyeballs spend more time glued to the page. This is infinitely helpful. In order to limit the damage brought on by shifting be sure to practice shifting a lot without looking at the fretboard. (Train your muscle memory.) If you can't do simple shifts and stretches without looking at the fretboard you'll just put yourself at a disadvantage.

 

If you're a touch typist you can type anything without looking at the keyboard. Similarly spend some time watching orchestral and other URB players. They don't need to watch their hand in order to make a shift. (In this case it actually helps that the bass is fretless. Better that a bad shift puts the note a little out of tune than to create nasty fret buzz.)

 

4. The most evil of keys: Db

On a 4 string just resolve yourself to the fact that this key isn't going to be pretty no matter what strategy you take. Remind yourself to at least get a 5-string as soon as possible.

 

5. Be glad you're a bass player.

Unless you're reading some crazy jazz runs or crazy funk rhythms most bass music tends to be fairly easy to sight read compared to melody instruments. (Or try sight reading piano music.) And listeners will spot a poorly played melody line way before they notice an out of place note in the bass line.

 

All bets are off, though, if you're sight reading for a traditional music audition. Rest assured that there will be something in there that will be unpleasant to deal with.

 

Somewhere I have a magazine with a transcription of Jaco's "Amerika". I still haven't sat down to learn it. If someone were to make me sightread that I'd have to send Erik over to taint punch them. Several times.

[jeremy c]

1) Get the Simandl method bass book. Read it cover to cover and do the fingerings exactly as written.

2) Start back at the beginning and play the book again, using 1 finger per fret and putting your second finger on the root. If the part goes up too high, put the root on the E string and try again.

3) Get a bunch of Carol Kaye books. A lot of these books are collections of riffs. Put your first finger on the root of the riff and play it, wherever your hand ends up. Make note of what chord each riff is based on.

 

You will now have learned to shift and how to recognize scales and chords. It worked for me.

[...]

Ninja voodoo magic guides my hands when sight reading. Sometimes it works and sometimes I find myself making absurd shifts at inopportune moments.

 

Lots of practice and the ability to try and look slightly ahead of where you actually are whenever possible helps tremendously.

[Paul K]

Here's my strategy for true "fly by the seat of your pants" sight reading. ...(snip...snip...snip...)

 

That was a truly GREAT post!

 

Peace!

Paul K

[jeremy c]

Learning how to read music at age 11

and

Getting a degree in music

 

didn't hurt my reading.

 

You need to be able to see the whole page and know how it will sound ahead of time. (Well, you don't actually need that, but it certainly is helpful.)

[ABGBrian]

In music school my teachers always said to focus on the measure coming next, not the one you're currently playing.

[Paul K]

What Zombieater's teacher said is right on. Taking that one step farther, one of the things that I think makes ex-drummers very damn good bass players is that drummers, starting with the basic drum rudiments, are taught rhythm phrases, while us ex-clarinet players (well, I was taught this way...) were taught to think of each note one at a time. It's kind of like the "phonetics" versus "whole word" theories of learning to read. The "Hooked On Phonics" cats can sound out any word on the page, but the "whole word" cats can do it in time.

[sweet dissonance]

Thanks this helps alot : )