Some general questions in order to advance!

JoshCollins · #1 06-01-2010, 10:37 AM

Recently, I've been looking at ways to improve my playing and generally get better altogether.

I know there's a couple of weaknesses that I have and they are to do with Sightreading. I'm merely a novice at this sort of thing but I know in order to get much better it's vital that I can read music. Does anyone have any basic advice on where to start and general advice on sight reading?

Any help would be much appreciated!

Regards,

Josh

mr. beaumont · #2 06-01-2010, 10:44 AM

the william leavitt books, "a method for guitar" are a little dry, but they will kick your ass in to good sightreading gear.

be sure to supplelement with a real book and learning some actual tunes. The best way to get better at sight reading is to do a bunch...and it's not like riding a bike--you have to keep at it to keep your chops up.

JoshCollins · #3 06-01-2010, 10:58 AM

Awesome stuff, Thanks Mr.Beaumont!

I've got a real book here as well, I've been going through that with that chords and such too.

mr. beaumont · #4 06-01-2010, 11:05 AM

the real book is great for sight reading, because it's just one voice (which is what you'd likely read on a jazz gig anyway) and the rhythms aren't "straight," there's plenty of syncopation which, IMHO, is the tricky part.

one more suggestion, just cuz i like it--fernando sor's studies for guitar. Yeah, it's classical, but it's musical, and it gets progressively more difficult to play and read as you go further in.

I've found I tire of any practice method that doesn't sound like music after a while.

JoshCollins · #5 06-01-2010, 11:10 AM

Sight reading Jazz gigs? I'd love to do that but I'm nowhere near ready for that. I trust that's way off, right?

The best way I found of getting better with techniques was doing a song that used them in context. I remember building my legato strength from a lot of Greg Howe and Satch stuff, that's great stuff there!

mr. beaumont · #6 06-01-2010, 12:36 PM

sight reading a head to a tune, or at least playing "cold" off a chord chart, will happen sooner than you think...It's impossible to know every tune, and while I probably know a hundred-some, i don't play 'em all every day, or every month, for that matter...

sometimes you'll have a minute to look things over and then it's "one, two, three, four..." It's the ultimate acid test, and it's also the quickest way to learn: sink or swim.

Joe Dalton · #7 06-02-2010, 07:47 AM

Sightreading is just practice. There is no talent involved just do do do. Remember never to play the same tune more than once. Also try to practice with different styles. If you practice only one style your internal memory will often start to take over and fill in certain notes without even seeing them.

Reg · #8 06-02-2010, 08:20 PM

Get your sight reading of rhythms down... any rhythm study or even percussion books. You need to get to the point where you recognize rhythms well enough to be able to look ahead at pitches. I sight read well, as well as horn players,( and we can read harmonies). I learned early that getting the rhythm correct was more important than the pitch. Obviously get the pitch correct also, but if your going to make mistakes... error with note 1st... By recognizing rhythms I mean when you see four quarter notes in a bar... you know the rhythm already for that bar and can concentrate on pitch... this works with more complex rhythms once you learn to recognize them. You get to a point where your a bar or two ahead with rhythms... then you can start to look ahead at pitches, same thing... there are tons of standard pitch patterns that you begin to recognize... anyway start with rhythms. Berklee has reading studies etc, so do most real music stores. Best Reg