Sight Reading Archives

Janek Gwizdala is tackling another common issue for bassists with his latest instructional book, “Bass Player’s Guide to Sight-Reading”. It is accompanied by over 80 videos that provide a deeper understanding of each lesson and example.

A reader asked Damian, “Can you explain how to read a lead sheet?” Damian offers up a in-depth column, complete with example charts and more.

Q: I am thinking about entering a music program when I get to college. How should I prepare for playing bass in a college program? What will I need to know? How good do I need to be? A: Whenever I speak with younger players getting ready to enter a collegiate music program, my first instinct is usually to tell...

If 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...

Q: I’m a bassist starting my last year in high school now. I really feel that I need to become a sight reader as quickly as possible due to an upcoming audition for the music university I wish to attend. A friend of mine did the audition and they ended up handing him some crazy bebop tune – not close...

I’ve written in the past about the importance of scale work to solidify instrumental technique (see the Lowdown archives for those columns and more). If we are new to learning a particular scale it is probably wise to start by playing from root to root (e.g. C-C in C major) until we are comfortable. This may prove helpful at first,...

Bowing Fun offers up exercises for bowed instruments – double bass (violin, viola and cello too) – designed to develop sight-reading skills and agility. A friend recommended that I check out this app, as he’s enjoyed it thought might be worthy of a review here. I have mixed feelings about it, but decided it was worth sharing the good and...

Q: I’m at the point where I’m handling lead sheets better on gigs, but I sometimes get lost and/or second guess myself, usually resulting in me getting lost. Do you have any tips for becoming a good sight reader? A: Reading chord charts, and especially written notation, is one of the most useful tools you will develop as a working...