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What book(s) would you recommend for a student who knows the pitch notation pretty well, but who needs to work on rhythmic notation?
Thanks!
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06-09-2015 07:31 AM
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The Real Book(s)- sight read through the whole thing. I do it when I'm too tired to really practice anything else.
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The Omnibook? plenty of those crazy bop rhythms.
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Carol Kaye has a new book out called "Guitar Sightreading Studies". She spent decades as a top studio player (-she actually started studio work as a guitarist, switched to bass and became quite famous---for a studio bass player---but still teaches guitar as well as bass.)
It's a small book with a CD that stresses fingerings and reading rhythms. I just got it, so I haven't been through it yet but I feel comfortable saying she's expert at sightreading with thousand of recording sessions to her credit.
Book and CD come to around 13 bucks (US). The book is around 8 bucks (-you can buy it without the CD) and the CD is under 6 (-you can order it without the book), and the pair is $12.60 plus shipping. She ships fast too, usually the day you order.
The Official Carol Kaye Web Site
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Steve Carter has some suggestions on his web site.
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Thanks for the HU.. just ordered
Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
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Originally Posted by SamBooka
Thanks for the HU.. just ordered
Great. Another member here gave me heads up last week and that's when I ordered it. And then there were three....
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here are my thoughts Originally Posted by SwingSwangSwung
https://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/getti...tml#post492414
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Bellson's Modern Reading Text in 4/4
Reg mentioned it in the other thread. Kind of the traditional standard text for reading rhythm. I got a copy. It's great because it's progressive and systematic. Rhythm-only text. Each new exercise builds on the last. Cheap too. Less than $10.00?
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I remember Reg mentioning that. I made a note of it. Now I'll move it up the list of things to get. Originally Posted by matt.guitarteacher
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there's no single book that will work for sight reading. The reason is that in order to get good at sight reading, you have to continually read new material. Working from a single book will allow your memorization skills to take over and then you're not really sight reading. One solution to this is to use the soloist feature of band in a box to generate new material for you.
NOTE - There's a huge difference between being a good reader and being a good sight reader. Concrete example, when I studied with Pat Martino he was writing out complex lines with octave displacement. Yet, a couple times I witnessed him struggling mightily to sight read relatively simple things. Obviously, his musical knowledge of melody and rhythm were vast but his ability to sight read was limited.Last edited by jzucker; 06-11-2015 at 03:51 PM.
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Agree. That's why the Bill Leavitt (Modern Method for Guitar) books have sight-reading exercises that are particularly un-melodic and wander all over the place. Few people will remember how these terrible lines go and end up playing them by ear. Nevertheless, Leavitt strongly still advises to only play them a maximum of twice in a row before moving on to a different exercise, lest your brain try to remember them at all. Originally Posted by jzucker
I do like the suggestion of using the soloist function on BIAB, though. Thanks for that idea, Jack.
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regardless of what leavitt attempted to do, the reader will still remember things and then it's no longer sight reading.
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I read what ever I can get my hands on. My current reading routine consist of: real book 6 (goal is to read entire book), leavitt's books, guitar position studies by Roger Filiberto (Melbay publication), my transcribed solos and heads , transcribed solos by other people, and whatever else I feel like reading.
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Like Jack said it's better to learn how to read well by reading lots of new material.
Last edited by smokinguit; 06-11-2015 at 05:12 PM. Reason: writing clarity
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I guess it depends on how often you come back to it and how much of an audiogenic memory you have. In my case, I would only look at the same exercise maybe once a week maximum, rotating it among a bunch of others. Leavitt's lines are (deliberately) so unmusical that there is no chance that I would remember anything substantial of them at all. Of course YMMV. And BIAB soloist guarantees you a new line every time so that is indeed better still. What's missing, IMO, is the feedback loop to confirm that you got it right. When you don't know what something is supposed to sound like, it's easy to play it wrong unwittingly if you're not yet a great sight-reader.
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I agree with this wholeheartedly. When I'm reading out of the real book and I don't know a tune I make sure to listen to a definitive version of the tune to get a feel of what the song is all about. Originally Posted by jasaco
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In any case, the leavitt sight reading books are not random or atonal, he repeats the same melodic material over and over again in different keys, etc. and the meolies are somewhat predictable. Those books are good to go through once or twice to get different positions under control etc, but you have to keep finding fresh material to improve. Some atonal books are useful for several passes, e.g. joe allard's advanced rhythms and tom bruner's book. I've been working hard on reading for about 6 months now and I go to the music library every few weeks and get new violin/clarinet/trumpet/etc etudes. I'm also now reading through the Bill McCormick books that I hadn't read through before, and those are also good, as they have lots of cool ideas in them. Originally Posted by jzucker
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I can't agree with this. The point of being a sight reader is to get from the notes on the page to the sound, without knowing what it should sound like. The rules of music notation are not that difficult to understand, and then it is just a matter of getting from sheet to instrument. Stuff has to be really complicated rhythmically before it gets tricky to figure out. But if you know what something is supposed to sound like when you read, you aren't sight reading. Originally Posted by jasaco
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Oh, I agree completely with that. It is the point. I'm just saying that, until one gets good at it, it's easy to make unwitting mistakes. It would be cool to have an app that scores you for accuracy, or beeps when you make an error... maybe I'll invent one of those... Originally Posted by pkirk
Agree with that too. If I need to learn a specific song for a gig, then I'll listen to a bunch of versions, but if it's supposed to be sight-reading practice, then I won't. Originally Posted by pkirk
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Again, I think the term "sight reading" is always a problem in its misuse and misunderstanding with guitarists. I've never picked up on this with horn players or pianists. (If you like long-winded, see previous bloviating here: https://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/getti...tml#post495813
Technically, sight reading is reading something cold, which you've never seen, as a performance. No stopping, slowing down for mistakes, difficulties etc. That's what Jack and others are talking about when they say that it has to be something you've never seen before, or it's not sight reading. But the same term is also used a lot by people who are talking about "reading music" otherwise, or the process of "working through" material to learn music-reading skills.
I really thought the OP was talking about the 2nd one, learning to progressively read rhythms better. Maybe I'm off there. You can "read" things multiple times, work them out, stop and count etc., and you should, if you don't yet have that stuff together. But that's not sight reading.
Anyway, if they can read basic rhythms and are looking for something to work through, which systematically progresses through more difficult material, the Bellson book is pretty good for that.
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IMO, for the basics, Roger Filiberto, Guitar Position Studies . . (Mel Bay). For fun, Bugs Bauer Etudes for Clarenet, in the key of C. For a challenge, Omin Book for C instruments. Could be a progression from easy to near impossible. :-)
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I'm working through the Wohlfahrt etudes which is really helping my reading.
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I don't know if anyone else experiences this, but over the years I've found that reading unaccompanied, or with a metronome, is very different than reading with an ensemble. Alone, I'm thinking about what I'm reading, or counting or maybe not thinking at all, but with a group, my ears kick in and I automatically start listening, comparing and adjusting, particularly when playing lines with other instruments. It's not harder or easier, it's just different. I think Jack's suggestion of using BIAB is a good way to prepare.
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not too modern, but every teacher here goes through thiese books with students:
Walter Götze: Solostudien für Plektrum und Konzertgitarre Heft 1-2-3
I think these are very good books, goes from 0 really, but in the end of Heft 3. You will feel You can read sheet music.
If finished with these, let the C.P. Omnibook come ;-)
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