Sight Reading Jazz Guitar

**masterguerrero** · 10-27-2011, 01:06 PM

Hello and greetings from Portugal

I've been playing for almost 15 years now, and jazz and blues guitar for 5 years, and finally i going to get (dont know the exact term in english) my major degree in music in a very high standard music school in Lisbon. Well i'm gonna try...my choice is obviously jazz guitar.

Well...the tests to get in are a bit challenging thou.
I can handle most of in (chords, scales, standards...) but sight reading and ear training is the most difficult for me.

In the past i studied classical music and flamenco with a private teacher for 6 years, and back then i could sight read pretty good.Now i'm a bit "rusty" in this area.

I'm afraid too of the "relative ear/pitch" questions. I have a good relative ear/pitch but i want to improve. I often practice with band in a box that has a ear training plug in software.
Can you give me some advice in this area?

And, the main issue, do you have recommended book in how to improve my sight reading?

I have many books: A Modern Method For Guitar 1,2 and 3 (berklee), Aebersold collection, William Leavitt's - Melodic Rhythms for Guitar and others.

I was thinking of buying William Leavitt's Reading Studies for guitar and advanced reading studies for guitar.

What is your opinion?

Thanks in advance

**fep** · 10-27-2011, 01:09 PM

Since you already know how to read music, I think the Real Book would be the best for you to practice sight reading.

**whatswisdom** · 10-27-2011, 01:13 PM

Originally Posted by masterguerrero

I was thinking of buying William Leavitt's Reading Studies for guitar and advanced reading studies for guitar. What is your opinion?

Great choice. Both books are very good for developing your reading--lots of variety between single-note lines and chords. Combine with Melodic Rhythms and The Real Book and you have a comprehensive program of study.

**mattymel** · 10-27-2011, 01:33 PM

I like sax books best. Nestico's Jazz Etudes (both volumes) are great. Way more fun than the Leavitt stuff.

**masterguerrero** · 10-27-2011, 07:19 PM

Thank you all very much for your replies. All your suggestions are very welcome...you helped me a lot!!!

Very good ideas on studying other instruments books specially sax book.
But in short term i have to aim to simple melodies to re-learn sight reading.

Thank you very much BCPete for your book. I'm gonna certainly check it out.

What about ear training? Any advices/thoughts?

**Reg** · 10-27-2011, 08:40 PM

For ear training... use one of the standard ear training programs...
There already set up... single note lines to counterpoint. Intervals to full chords... and many levels of difficulty... There were a few floating around this site ... but search the net... there are many.
With sight reading... there's a difference between learning or memorizing the notation and where and how to play on your guitar ... and Real sight reading... to practice you need lots of material. Your teaching yourself to recognize rhythmic and melodic patterns... Sight Reading is having that skill of recognizing rhythmic and melodic patterns and being able to be reading the notation ahead of what your playing.
As Jmstritt was saying... there is no one answer... Fake books are great source of lots of material... and as said... usually not guitar oriented. Get use to not having material transposed and i usually try and transpose tunes to different keys while reading... really forces you to get ahead.... even if you already know the material.
The key to sight reading is being able to recognize rhythmic and melodic figures... most start with rhythm first. Reg

**=DK=** · 10-27-2011, 09:05 PM

Originally Posted by masterguerrero

What about ear training? Any advices/thoughts?

Do you know what melodic dictation is? Basically you hear a melody, and write it down in standard notation. Usually you get to listen to it multiple times, before you turn it in.

Do you know what it means to transcribe a solo? It's melodic dictation applied to Jazz improvisation. As you listen to a solo on some Jazz album, you write it down in standard notation. I'm currently transcribing "The Incredible Guitar of Wes Mongomery", but it doesn't have to be a guitarist's solo, as has been stated. This exercise does wonders for both your ears and your reading.

**Arpeggio** · 10-29-2011, 04:32 PM

Originally Posted by masterguerrero

Hello and greetings from Portugal

I was thinking of buying William Leavitt's Reading Studies for guitar and advanced reading studies for guitar.

What is your opinion?

Thanks in advance

I'd recommend those two. The advanced one is only so in that it is positions 7 to 12 as opposed to the first book positions 1 to 7. Melodic Studies by Fred Hamilton starts simpler but has sight reading exercises on one string wich is different. Much better to use method books designed for it than to sight read in general, you'd have to have such a large amount of sheet music to get the same amount of diversity as the exercises in the books with all their positions and keys.

You could also say out loud the note names as you play them and at the same pitch, which is also good if you are new to solfege with the guitar to guide you.

TH · 12-01-2011, 11:01 AM

Regular is more important that what... that's what I think anyway.
Classical etudes for oboe, flute, etc are good for melodic material, especially since there are no position guidelines, you've got to do it yourself.
Modus Novus is a very good reading book because it's so atonal, and melodic at the same time.
When I teach, I've used Sight To Sound, by Leon White. It's a really good method written by and for the demands of a studio player. It addresses many different aspects, rhythm, fingerboard issues, melody, etc. with a goal of deep proficiency. Well thought out and very effective.
In the jazz vein, Lennie Niehaus etudes for sax are good. Jazz etudes by Greg Fishman are good for assimilating the bebop lexicon.
15 minutes a day.
One person's suggestion and suggestion only.
David

**Soco** · 12-02-2011, 01:36 PM

I read tons of Bach and that has really helped.

**mattymel** · 12-02-2011, 07:20 PM

these days i find the leavitt stuff pretty painful.
i always tell my students its a "thorough method for guitar" more than a "modern method..." but it is what it is.

i highly recommend "creative reading studies for saxophone" by joseph viola. that stuff is pretty deep and it will make you a much better rhythmic player, which is what i think is hard about reading when you get down to it.

CRFS gives you a specific rhythm (perhaps a triplet tied into a quarter note) to play over a cool sounding tone row. then you take a different rhythm (say 2 sixteenths 8th note triplet) and play over the same notes. you can spend hours on the same page of that book and you REALLY learn the rhythms. plus they usually sound pretty hip. WAY better than up and down f major scales for 20 pages straight.

**pierre richard** · 12-02-2011, 10:43 PM

violin studies as well as clarinet and flute studies are good for sight reading..as I have used over the years...

check out mel bays sight for sight reading skills books and do not forget jamie aebersolds site as well..

and the ones listed in this posting..

time on the instrument...pierre

**mdenney10** · 01-08-2012, 11:02 PM

for working on sight reading more complicated pieces, i've been using the Charlie Parker Omnibook lately, it works well, and has a lot of cool licks in it

**Arpeggio** · 01-09-2012, 07:14 AM

Originally Posted by mattymel

these days i find the leavitt stuff pretty painful.
i always tell my students its a "thorough method for guitar" more than a "modern method..." but it is what it is.

i highly recommend "creative reading studies for saxophone" by joseph viola. that stuff is pretty deep and it will make you a much better rhythmic player, which is what i think is hard about reading when you get down to it.

CRFS gives you a specific rhythm (perhaps a triplet tied into a quarter note) to play over a cool sounding tone row. then you take a different rhythm (say 2 sixteenths 8th note triplet) and play over the same notes. you can spend hours on the same page of that book and you REALLY learn the rhythms. plus they usually sound pretty hip. WAY better than up and down f major scales for 20 pages straight.

Good idea, I think sight-reading books for instruments other than the guitar would be more geared toward the technicality / style of their instrument therefore maybe different challenges from the "normal" on the guitar. Ships within 21 days on music room while amazon don't appear to sell it directly, looks like I'll have to wait.

**Drumbler** · 01-09-2012, 09:03 AM

I wish I had an answer.

One thing for sure is that you can't become a proficient sight reader in 30 days any more than you could go from being illiterate to reading War and Peace in 30 days.

You start by learning to read Golden Books and after a LONG time you can read novels.

The question often posed is "I will be attending music school in 4 weeks. How can I learn to proficiently sight read by then?"

Unfortunately you can't.

**JoshGuitar** · 01-28-2012, 01:04 PM

'Modern Reading In 4/4 - Louis Bellson' Helped me so much, reading pitch is relatively easy, the majority of things I've had to sight read for exams have been diatonic and fit in scale shapes and positions, the difficulty has been rhythmic reading.

**chrisnewlin** · 02-26-2012, 03:30 PM

Advanced Rhythms by Joe Allard is an absolutely fantastic sightreading book.
There's 120+ exercises that start gradually and become intensely complex, forcing you to read in different key signatures constantly. The exercises themselves are not all that musical, but if you're determined, they will get the job done more effectively than anything else.

ADVANCED RHYTHMS: C EDITION: Joe Allard:

**wolflen** · 04-18-2012, 11:06 AM

Originally Posted by Reg

... and Real sight reading... to practice you need lots of material. Your teaching yourself to recognize rhythmic and melodic patterns... Sight Reading is having that skill of recognizing rhythmic and melodic patterns and being able to be reading the notation ahead of what your playing.

this is a guitarist nightmare..most other instruments can do this without much diffuculity..but the guitar is illogical..(lets see there is a Bb on the third fret and one on the 8th fret..) knowing what position you will play before you play it helps achieve the goal of reading two bars ahead..

Get use to not having material transposed and i usually try and transpose tunes to different keys while reading... really forces you to get ahead.... even if you already know the material.

one of the best techniques in sight reading..reading songs you know by heart..lets say in G..but play them in Bb and as many keys as you can .. for variation-in a octave up or down as written..where possible..

The key to sight reading is being able to recognize rhythmic and melodic figures... most start with rhythm first.

very important point..seeing scale passages, arpeggios..runs in thirds and other common intervals....things you DONT have to read..like the written word..you dont read: and if or by to where when etc..that is things you already know you can pass by and concentrate on more difficult passages..

wolf

**jamieh** · 06-04-2012, 07:33 PM

When I started music school I was in the same situation with reading. Don't mean to blow my trumpet, but I recantly put together an article on some things that really helped me over the years, maybe it will be some use: How to Make Sight Reading on Guitar Easier

**dogbite** · 06-07-2012, 03:35 PM

i find the lennie niehaus exercises for jazz sax to be a wonderful reality check for reading on the guitar. they seem more, real, compared to guitar studies. jerry jennings has a nice fifth position reading book called "the guitarist's link to sight reading," but i'll mirror some of what has been said here:

if you want to get good at reading, read, read, read...

i'd like to add that i don't particularly enjoy reading but have noticed that it is in fact a great way to warm up and get the fingers and brain in sync...

**mbself** · 03-05-2013, 11:17 AM

I have been playing in public for over 20 years. In all that time, the need for sight reading has never popped up. But now I have decided that for my own personal growth as a musician I need to learn sight-reading and seek out playing situations where I must learn/perform from a sheet of some type (local jazz ensemble or a pops symphony or some such situation). I have done this in the past with our schools Jazz band, but frankly the music was so simple (and I had the music so far in advance) that I had time to 'beef up' the arrangement and bolster the whole set to fill in for the inadequacies of a canned arrangement written for teens to perform.

To prepare myself for an eventual swing at a more structured ensemble situation I have started a course of study and practice that includes the following:

1)Working through the entire Mel Bay Modern Guitar Method volumes 1-7
a. Playing each line of music without a metronome
b. Playing each line of music with a metronome
c. Recording a click track and a rhythm track to perform at speed and with accompaniment
d. Recording both sides of duets with click track so as to allow me to practice performing either side of the duet

2)Working throught Berklee 1-3 In the same manner as above

3)Working through Jody Fisher's series in the same manner as above.

4)Reading one treble cleff half of a Church Hymnal song per day.

5)Reading one article on sight-reading techniques/strategies per day.

At this rate (about an hour of work in the morning and an hour in the evening), I should be able to finish Mel Bay's books by Christmas, the Berklee books by Christmas of 2014, Fisher'sbooks by the end of 2015.

Doing it this way gives me at least 3-4 times with each and every song or exercise in each book with varying degrees of involvement in each progressive play through. That is the reason for the excessive number of months in finishing these texts (if only I couold work 8hrs a day on this...lol).

My questions are:
Is this adequate for my goals?
Is it overkill?
Anythng I am overlooking (aside from immersion into the playing settings and being forced by embarrassment to get my A$$ in gear)?
Are there any good books that address rhythm strategies only (as this is my current weakness...not rhythm as in rhythm comping or whatever....but reading the rhythms of the written melodies/harmonies on the page)?

Sorry for the lengthy post to start off with here......just didn't want to spread this out over two or three different posts.

**henryrobinett** · 03-05-2013, 01:27 PM

Wow. Way to set goals! Yeah, it seems good to me, if not a bit overkill. I always just got clarinet books and other material like that -jazz solos - Omni Book. I did a lot of reading, breaking it down into separate categories, where I can read away from the guitar. I like having goals where you can time it out - by Christmas, by 2015. That's great.

**Guitarzen** · 03-05-2013, 01:40 PM

I don't think it's overkill, I think it's the bare minimum to realistically ever get competent at sight reading. I wouldn't worry so much about doing all that so that you can prove something on the bandstand by sight reading a difficult piece. Real pros have the piece learned and memorized before they get on to the stage. Being able to sight read something is just a bonus and makes learning a new tune & rehearsals go much faster. Do it because it will make you a better musician and it will open up a vast repertoire of music not open to you if you don't read proficiently. When I was in school I spent like 3-6 hours every day working on my reading in some form or another during my music classes, and that didn't include home study. And it still took forever to get good at it. And it still could use some work! I'm not so sure having time limits for each goal is such a great idea. My experience as a teacher is that everyone learns at different speeds, and just because it takes you longer than someone else, doesn't mean squat. The important thing is you practice it on a daily basis. If you do that, it doesn't matter how long it takes you to complete a book, imo.

**mr. beaumont** · 03-05-2013, 01:47 PM

If you're playing jazz, I'd get onto reading jazz heads as soon as you can.

Note recognition isn't the hard part of reading--tricky syncopation is...

**cosmic gumbo** · 03-05-2013, 06:23 PM

This is one area of music that really suffers badly if you didn't learn it as a kid. It's a very difficult adult skill to develop. Few guitarists have the opportunity to use reading skills at a level where it's worth the work and regular maintenance. Pit musician? Do it, but it's not a substitute for more important playing, listening skills. Unless you are constantly reading new material, our wonderful brains start to memorize stuff without us being aware, and that is NOT sight reading.