learning to read???

[mcraeh]

Just wondering how some of you feel about reading? I just started learing to read some simple stuff and man I must say it really seems awkward, especially counting!! Ive always played by ear. Did any of you who read have any tough times when learning? Any suggestions for getting through this?

[S.P]

get books such as Louis Bellson's Modern Reading Text in 4/4 and Ted reeds Syncopation and first just learn to play those figures on the snare, playing the 1 2 3 4 on the bass drum helps. Do this with a metronome slowly. Once you are very comfortable with a page move on. But you can stay play that page in a different way. For example...play 8th notes on ride...1234 on hi hat...2+4 on snare...and read the figures with your bass drum food. or play 1+3 on bass and read it on the snare...or play a samba ostinato and play the figures over that...there's a myriad of possibilities.

And what i did at first when i had trouble counting was i did it bar by bar....played one bar only until i could play it comfortably..then moved onto the next..its tidius and slow..but it helped a hell of a lot.

Once your reading and independance get more advanced..you could work through the new breed...i havent tried yet
it gets amazingly hard after just a few pages

[Henry II]

Originally posted by mcraeh:
Just wondering how some of you feel about reading? I just started learing to read some simple stuff and man I must say it really seems awkward, especially counting!! Ive always played by ear. Did any of you who read have any tough times when learning? Any suggestions for getting through this?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Reading is a skill, just like learning double strokes, independence, etc. You have to spend time with it just like you do with other aspects of your playing. And it's worth the effort. JMHO.

My advice is to start by learning how to play snare drum etudes - short solo studies. There are 100's of books that contain etudes of varying degrees of difficulty. They can be VERY challenging but as a drum set player you really don't need to get into the difficult stuff (which is an art unto itself), unless you find you like it. So, start out with easy ones. Also, work out of Louis Bellson's book "Modern Reading Text in 4/4." That's a comprehensive book on reading rhythm that may require a teacher to help you through the tough parts of it.

WARNING - PRACTICING YOUR READING WITHOUT A METRONOME IS A WASTE OF TIME.

After you have gotten comfortable with easy snare drum etudes and at least the first 1/2 of the Bellson book, check out a book called "Chart Reading Workbook for Drummers" by Bobby Gabriele. It's a brilliantly simple and effective chart reading method book, but it presumes you can already read rhythm.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ June 18, 2005 05:03 AM: Message edited by: Henry II ]</font>

[Rhythmatist]

Reading to me is extremely important. It opens doors you wouldn't have otherwise and it will give you a better perspective on how rhythm, melody and harmony work together. Even though the majority of drumming is improvisatory in nature, learning to read can show you rhythmic possibilities you wouldn't have otherwise known existed.

My advice; find a good teacher that can give you the basics of reading and then work together to develop a progressive course of study. Most of the best players read to some extent and the sickest ones read like a bitch (Vinnie, DW, Ersko, S. Smith, Gadd, etc.). While it's true there are some who have been briliant without the ability to read they are in the vast minority. I wonder how much better they might have become had they learned?

[Steve Holmes]

Once you learn to read it allows you to get inside music in a more specific way. Writing out ideas really help with visualizing where things fall in relation to the quarter note. It helped me alot with poly-rythm stuff in particular.

[mcraeh]

Thanks for the info guys!! Im gonna stick to it, I just took my first lesson after playing for almost 20 years and I must say I felt like an idiot trying to read. But it appears that reading can only help, and make things much easier especially more complex stuff.

[matricks]

WARNING - PRACTICING YOUR READING WITHOUT A METRONOME IS A WASTE OF TIME.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I agree with that statement in regards to the fact that you need to have something kicking your ass into not slowing down your time when some hard reading pops up.

I would also add to that, once you've become comfortable and solid in your reading, record yourself playing things you are sight reading, and play those with AND without a metronome. Make sure you can read with solid time when you don't have a click pulling you along.

[got_a_matchgrip]

Great posts already, no need to expound, so I'll just say, i too learned to play by ear at first for a couple yrs, then took lessons AWA continued to teach myself to read after that...counting aloud is indeed always awkward at first naturally, as is anything else, esp aft playg by ear for a while, but keep going, it will work itself out.

It will smooth out in time w repetitive process, & will become easier as time progresses. You will start to hear exactly where the count is going/falling...

Reading should never be discouraged...it is a most indispensable AWA invaluable learning tool...great playing w/out readg CAN indeed be done, but even those great players who don't read are sensible enough to say this...

I am by no means a great sight reader of say what appears to be the VC, DW, or Virg status, but I can read. You'll find ways have been abbreviated too over the yrs to accomodate more specific & concise figures...eh, nevermind that now. You don't have to read "fly-poop" to read in general, altho if oneday so, fantastic!!

Keep trying. You'll start to see def improvement...then that excitement of eye-opening will prompt further progress...chip away a little at a time...great works don't just happen overnight. The universe wasn't created in a literal week... [img]wink.gif[/img] [img]cool.gif[/img]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ June 18, 2005 04:29 PM: Message edited by: got_a_match_grip? ]</font>

[slywhite]

Mcraeh,
Congratulations on taking this necessary step in your musical journey. After your twenty some years of playing it is awesome to hear. Of course it's awkward at first. But realize this, If you can count, You can read music. Counting, yes counting out loud is essential. I use this technique to teach youngsters how to read.
I use the phrase, "If you can say it, You can play it". All of the reply's to your post are right on.
Look at it this way as well...After you start reading multiple lines as you will for drum set charts, it's not always about playing fills exactly as they're written, but it's about being able to count numerous bars leading up to some dynamic in the music where there are accents or
attacks or other dynamics you must follow whether they be crescendo's or whether a passage is played piano or fortissimo. (You'll learn these and many other terms as you progress) I have the Michael McDonald and Friends DVD where Steve Gadd is playing for him. Guess what.
He has a music stand with charts next to his hi-hat. Same thing on the Babyface Unplugged. Almost every musician has charts in front of them. So if it's necessary for these guys it
show's you how important it is. Congratulations.
The other thing is, when you get charts or music for a gig during the week, you can "practice" at home and when you get with the band you "rehearse" instead of practicing. You already know your part. You know the breaks and the dynamics.

[Michaud]

Hi Mcraeh,

One thing I would suggest is to get a hold of Gary Chaffee's excellent books [Pattern Series], particularly the one dealing with Rhythm and Meter. When I studied with Gary at age 13, he commented to me that players should be exposed to fives and sevens as early as possible in their musical development. This wisdom made more and more sense to me as I walked down the road of my musical pilgrimage. I observed that if people are not introduced to things at an early stage, they will quickly develop an unhealthy aversion to the unfamiliar. After all, who will like quintuplets (5's) when they sound like dragged 16th note triplets to the untrained ear? Of course this can be overcome at a later stage, but a broad rhythmic pallete is most naturally developed as early as possible. This book will not only cover the more common note rates (e.g., 16th notes, triplets, etc...), but will also cover quintuplets (5's) and septuplets (7's).

My $0.02,

Steve Michaud