Mark Michell Releases Sightreading Instructional Book for Bass

Mark Michell: Sightreading 101 for Bass, Reading Standard Notation, Vol. 1If you’re looking to beef up on your sight reading, listen up. Scale the Summit bassist Mark Michell has just published his second instructional book entitled Sightreading 101 for Bass, Reading Standard Notation, Vol. 1. Michell was motivated to write the book after having to learn to read music notation and seeing the gaps in other method books.

“Most of the sight reading books I read I never felt were very thorough, and I felt something as foreign as reading standard notation for bass is such a specific new foreign thing that you can’t leave anything to be assumed,” he says. “I’ve designed my book to go at a very gradual pace to be thorough with no gaps unfilled. That way the fast learners can go at their own pace and the slow learners won’t be left in the dust.”

The 116-page book is written for players with little to no experience reading standard notation. It’s packed with over 140 exercises with examples and figures to guide you. Topics covered range from learning the notes on the fretboard and parts of the musical staff up to memorizing key signatures and how to subdivide and count rhythms. Michell notes that sight reading is a huge topic and that volume two of the series will be out later this year.

Sightreading 101 for Bass, Reading Standard Notation, Vol. 1 is available now through Michell’s website, where you’ll also find a PDF sample of the book.

Sightreading 101 for Bass Topics:

  1. Learning the Notes on the Fretboard
  2. Utilizing the Full Fretboard
  3. Parts of the Musical Staff
  4. Learning the Notes in the Staff
  5. Notes on Ledger Lines
  6. How to Analyze a Piece of Music
  7. Sight reading Tips, Methods, & Approaches
  8. Reading Note/Rest Types & Values
  9. Understanding Keys & Time Signatures
  10. Memorizing Key Signatures
  11. Recognizing Patterns
  12. Memorizing Intervals Spacings
  13. Recognizing Arpeggio Types
  14. Reading Rests
  15. Playing in Different Keys
  16. Mixing Note/Rest Types in the Same Measure
  17. Reading Rhythms & Syncopation
  18. How to Subdivide & Count Rhythms
  19. Grouping Rhythms Visually before Playing
  20. Selection of Practice Etudes

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Leave a Reply to Steve Cook Cancel reply

  1. chromeo

    now this is a great case of that ‘shut up and take my money’ meme)

  2. I’m throwing all my money at the screen but nothings’ happening!

  3. Don’t dis this kind of book out of hand guys. Remember that teachers don’t just throw War and Peace at kids and tell them to read that until it makes sense. They read books with simple sentences and words to begin with and progress from there. If this book is well planned then it will make it a lot easier to learn to read music fluently than just playing from randomly selected scores.

  4. I just bought it so I’ll let you know.