Sight reading studies for steel-string (or not)

topdog91

My 2024 guitar plan is to get decent at sight reading and everything that comes with it, formalize my theory knowledge with ABRSM etc. I imagine a lot of us are in the same boat, I know a fair bit in the rock / metal / blues / folk tradition, I have a good ear, I know my intervals and modes and how to use them, but I'm lacking the polish and it annoys me that I'm blocking myself from participating in more formal situations. I can read but at a geriatric snail's pace, not useful for real-life.

I'm currently working with a book I've had on the shelf forever, Music Reading For Guitar by David Oakes. I'm great at starting books and not finishing them. This is a new addition to my practice routine which I'll be returning to after a rough 2023.

Anyway my main question is what is a good source of sight reading material? The exercises in the book are fine but the actual pieces are few and far between. I know myself, if I play something a few times, I'll start to learn it (humble brag) and then I won't be reading it any more.

From reading online, it seems that sight reading exercises for guitar tend to be for classical. I know the notes are in the same places, but somehow I get the feeling that it will be frustrating to play them on a steel string guitar (electric or acoustic) and I'd rather not add another guitar to the arsenal.

(We know where this is going...)

So what's a good source of hopefully fun material that isn't too challenging (although this is a function of tempo)? A jazz real book? Violin something or other? Something else? Or just play the classical exercises on my Strat?

I know nothing in a good way.

ArchtopDave

There are a number of books from Berklee Press, which have been around long time. There's William Leavitt multivolume "A Modern Method For Guitar".
There's also his Jazz Songbook in the same series.
.I can not immediately locate it, but I'm pretty sure there's a Sight Reading book by Berklee Press.
Also, by William Leavitt there's Classical Studies for Pick-Style Guitar.

That lot alone would keep you occupied for a good while!

Tannin

@topdog91 you can move it yourself. Simply edit your original post.

topdog91

ArchtopDave said:

There are a number of books from Berklee Press, which have been around long time. There's William Leavitt multivolume "A Modern Method For Guitar".
There's also his Jazz Songbook in the same series.
.I can not immediately locate it, but I'm pretty sure there's a Sight Reading book by Berklee Press.
Also, by William Leavitt there's Classical Studies for Pick-Style Guitar.

That lot alone would keep you occupied for a good while!

Much appreciated, apparently my Google-fu let me down. Funnily enough the Leavitt book is on my radar because I keep hearing about it, but I didn't know it contained studies, or what it contained. Will check out the others, thanks a bunch.

topdog91

Tannin said:

@topdog91 you can move it yourself. Simply edit your original post.

Done and thank you! Great feature, didn't know about it.

Brad

Dunno if jazz I’d your thing or even on your radar, the skills are transferable but here are what I use. 

The Real Book - learn a tune every day

A Modern Method for Guitar by William Leavitt - loads of etudes and duets in these books. 

Melodic Rhythms - William Leavitt - Mostly 8th note based, Jazz style etudes. 

Reading Contemporary Rhythms by M. T. Szymczak - pretty much exclusively 16ths based. 

Charlie Parker Onmibook - all the heads and usually the first chorus of a solo. A must have book for many reasons. 

Jazz Duets do a lot of really good resources that are notation only. The benefit is you’ll learn some language if you want. 

To be honest, if you really want to improve your sight reading, get gigging where you have to read. My reading chops are much better when I have a spate of gigs where I have to read. Getting thrown in at the deep end is terrifying but it really sharpens the focus. 

beed84

I used 'Progressive Reading for Guitarists' by Stephen Dodgson and Hector Quine. Yes, it's aimed at classical guitarists, but sight reading is more of an exercise than learning full pieces. Besides, you might find a different and more studious approach will freshen up your electric playing in the long run. It's good to try different things.

stratman3142

I'm in a similar boat. I can't sight read the dots on the stave and I'm painfully slow at working it out. I'd love to get better but it's never been an absolute necessity.

I have played in a couple of bands where it was necessary to follow charts, but I managed to get by, even though I couldn't sight read. I was lucky that the band leader would send me stuff in advance, so I could do a lot of preparation.

One band played James Bond Theme music. In that band, the leader would send me the charts in Sibelius and I'd listen to those played back in Sibelius, plus listen to the original recordings. So I could do a lot of preparation, including listening and looking at what was on the chart in Sibelius. Then, at the gigs, I'd use the charts as a reminder. 

The charts included 'dots'. But a lot of sections were notated as chord charts using slash or rhythmic slash. A good knowledge of numerous chord types was needed. 

Tommy Tedesco's Book 'For Guitar Players Only' gives some good practical examples of the types of charts that might be encountered, plus exercises.

I had to get used to reading the dynamic signs (ff, mf, mp etc), and repeats and jumps (i.e. D.C, D.S, Coda etc). At one rehearsal, I embarassed myself at the start of 'Gold Finger'. It sounded amazing and powerful when the whole band came in. I got excited and slammed into it failing to remember the 'mf' and 'mp' signs on the chart. I can still picture the formally trained musicians turning around to look at me with a 'wtf' expression on their faces.

Another challenge was the discipline of playing exactly what was on the chart. Sometimes there was a bit of leeway, but sometimes the guitar was tracking another instrument. Or the chord voicings had to gel with other instruments.

I haven't used Sibelius for a while. I use Musescore now to create my own charts for songs. They're a combination of dots on the stave, slash and rhythmic slash chord notation But they're a reminder and I couldn't sight read the dots if I hadn't played them before.

When I transcribe solos, I like to use Guitar Pro for the dots on the stave and also the tab. The two together gives a fuller picture of how and where to play things. But I couldn't sight read what I've written from cold.

topdog91

Brad said:

Dunno if jazz I’d your thing or even on your radar, the skills are transferable but here are what I use. 

The Real Book - learn a tune every day

A Modern Method for Guitar by William Leavitt - loads of etudes and duets in these books. 

Melodic Rhythms - William Leavitt - Mostly 8th note based, Jazz style etudes. 

Reading Contemporary Rhythms by M. T. Szymczak - pretty much exclusively 16ths based. 

Charlie Parker Onmibook - all the heads and usually the first chorus of a solo. A must have book for many reasons. 

Jazz Duets do a lot of really good resources that are notation only. The benefit is you’ll learn some language if you want. 

To be honest, if you really want to improve your sight reading, get gigging where you have to read. My reading chops are much better when I have a spate of gigs where I have to read. Getting thrown in at the deep end is terrifying but it really sharpens the focus. 

Thanks for all the recommendations. I finally picked up AMMfG and wow, loads of material there. Feeling happy that there's so much out there. As for jazz being my thing, as I alluded to, I'll take whatever comes that doesn't "require" a nylon-string guitar, because I don't think there's much chance of my usual rock / blues etc favourites being published in standard notation. And even if they were I'd start playing by ear. Better to play pieces I'm unfamiliar with.

As for the gigging, that may come, but I don't see that I'm yet at a level to even take the most basic sight-reading gig you can think of. (Assuming standard notation, I can handle chord charts no problem.)

beed84 said:

I used 'Progressive Reading for Guitarists' by Stephen Dodgson and Hector Quine. Yes, it's aimed at classical guitarists, but sight reading is more of an exercise than learning full pieces. Besides, you might find a different and more studious approach will freshen up your electric playing in the long run. It's good to try different things.

That's true, I think adding this more "studious" part will have a positive impact on the stuff I'm more comfortable with.

stratman3142 said:

I'm in a similar boat. I can't sight read the dots on the stave and I'm painfully slow at working it out. I'd love to get better but it's never been an absolute necessity.

I have played in a couple of bands where it was necessary to follow charts, but I managed to get by, even though I couldn't sight read. I was lucky that the band leader would send me stuff in advance, so I could do a lot of preparation.

One band played James Bond Theme music. In that band, the leader would send me the charts in Sibelius and I'd listen to those played back in Sibelius, plus listen to the original recordings. So I could do a lot of preparation, including listening and looking at what was on the chart in Sibelius. Then, at the gigs, I'd use the charts as a reminder. 

The charts included 'dots'. But a lot of sections were notated as chord charts using slash or rhythmic slash. A good knowledge of numerous chord types was needed. 

Tommy Tedesco's Book 'For Guitar Players Only' gives some good practical examples of the types of charts that might be encountered, plus exercises.

Another cracking book, thank you!

Again, I don't know how you got the gig if your sight reading wasn't good, but I guess you just found the right gig at the right time.

Well, I'm making progress with Music Reading for Guitar, we're on page 22 of 159 and it's going fine. Again, I'm not a complete noob, just new at really trying to read in real time. I find the rhythm much easier than the pitch at present but am improving at that too. I'm frankly (not) amazed at how the more I practice the easier it becomes... Must remember that for 2024. 

Facebook knows me too well; this came up today...

ArchtopDave

Yeah…. There’s an amusing Dawn French video, where she is in court and gets a number of famous guitarists to play without and then with music sheets….. of course they all make a complete hash of the latter.

digitalkettle

ArchtopDave said:

Yeah…. There’s an amusing Dawn French video, where she is in court and gets a number of famous guitarists to play without and then with music sheets….. of course they all make a complete hash of the latter.

Allow me...

ArchtopDave

digitalkettle said:

ArchtopDave said:

Yeah…. There’s an amusing Dawn French video, where she is in court and gets a number of famous guitarists to play without and then with music sheets….. of course they all make a complete hash of the latter.

Allow me...

Many, many, thanks @digitalkettle . This video is utterly brilliant.     

fretmeister

It doesn’t matter what you read as long as you are reading and not playing from memory.

I’m a bassist. I use double bass pieces and trombone stuff, and the bass clef of piano parts to practice with.

Notes are just notes. Classical, jazz, metal etc does not matter for developing the skill. In fact as genres have specific features it is very useful to move around a lot.

I play big band jazz a lot. Most of that is in flat keys and so my sharp key reading is poor. But there’s plenty of ‘bone, DB and piano stuff in sharp keys.

Just read everything you can find. I use sample exam sight reading tests all the time. There’s hundreds available.

topdog91

fretmeister said:

It doesn’t matter what you read as long as you are reading and not playing from memory.

I’m a bassist. I use double bass pieces and trombone stuff, and the bass clef of piano parts to practice with.

Notes are just notes. Classical, jazz, metal etc does not matter for developing the skill. In fact as genres have specific features it is very useful to move around a lot.

I play big band jazz a lot. Most of that is in flat keys and so my sharp key reading is poor. But there’s plenty of ‘bone, DB and piano stuff in sharp keys.

Just read everything you can find. I use sample exam sight reading tests all the time. There’s hundreds available.

Thank you, I'm starting to get the idea now. However I do enjoy it more when I feel I'm playing something "real" as opposed to the exercises which I appreciate have a value (not allowing ear / memory to dominate). It's like a reward.

EricTheWeary

I've only ever knowingly known one person who was a good sight reader on guitar /bass.He used to practice using Andrew Lloyd Webber scores. Easily available and you can check against a recording if you want. It's sort of rock playing but a lot of small variations rather than say getting the four chords down on a Taylor Swift song.[Says the man who thinks more than two chords is showing off] Something like pit work is also one  of the most likely needs to read I guess. 

fretmeister

topdog91 said:

fretmeister said:

It doesn’t matter what you read as long as you are reading and not playing from memory.

I’m a bassist. I use double bass pieces and trombone stuff, and the bass clef of piano parts to practice with.

Notes are just notes. Classical, jazz, metal etc does not matter for developing the skill. In fact as genres have specific features it is very useful to move around a lot.

I play big band jazz a lot. Most of that is in flat keys and so my sharp key reading is poor. But there’s plenty of ‘bone, DB and piano stuff in sharp keys.

Just read everything you can find. I use sample exam sight reading tests all the time. There’s hundreds available.

Thank you, I'm starting to get the idea now. However I do enjoy it more when I feel I'm playing something "real" as opposed to the exercises which I appreciate have a value (not allowing ear / memory to dominate). It's like a reward.

I get that.

Mind you, there are so many big band tunes that half of the time I don’t recognise the tunes even when we are playing them all together!  

I have to go and find old black and white clips on YouTube!

AntonHunter

I had a lesson with Brad Shepik about 15 years ago and he recommended the Bach solo Violin Partitas and Sonatas for reading practice. Finally bought myself a copy about 10 years ago and bloody hell they're tricky! Lovely pieces though if you persist with them, I managed one of them at about 50% tempo...

Coldfingers

Not that I'm qualified to give advice on the matter, but here are some thoughts based on my "experience" (and I use that term loosely!)...

Having decided that I wanted to be able to read notation, I started off with Leavitt's Modern Method book. Starts from the absolute basics, but moves quite fast. I only managed half of Vol one, but by then I was able to read (slowly/de-cypher) the keys of C,G,D,A and Bb. There weren't that many tunes, but lots of exercises so I bought his "Classical Studies for Pick Style Guitar" and "Melodic Rhythms for Guitar" - you're equipped for many of the tunes though some are up at the dusty end and I hadn't covered that as yet but could work things out.

Another book I bought was "25 pieces for Plectrum Guitar" by Adrian Ingram - all these so far are aime at plectrum/pick style as opposed to finger-style.

After a bit of an interlude, I went back for another go but this time used Mel Bay's Guitar Method - there's a lot more material on each key in these.

Another break and I used the "Hal Leonard Guitar Method" (complete edition). I thought this was the most straightforward of the 3 "methods", and in hindsight I think I'd have been better off starting with Hal Leonard, then Mel Bay, then Leavitt!

I've got the David Oakes book as well, not sure I thought much of it though!

Then if you're looking to consolidate your reading try something like Russ Barenberg's Bluegrass Solos or Steve Kaufman's Parking Lot Picker books - you'll need to make the effort to keep to the notation and avoid the TAB though :-)

Edit: Just read you've picked up a copy of Leavitt's MMFG - there was a massive "study group" thread on the Jazz Guitar Forum where they broke it down into more manageable lessons that you might find useful. I've opened my copy again for this year and starting at lesson 1 again by way of revision :-)

That's enough, I don't half ramble once I start!

Edit - last one.... "Carcassi, melodic and progressive etudes, OP 60". You'll know the natural notes in the open position after Etude No 1.

duotone

This ‘Solo Guitar Playing’ book by Frederick Noad was recommended to me in another thread: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26721341-frederick-noad

Here is an older version of the book to see if it’s of any use: https://archive.org/details/SoloGuitarPlayingFrederickM.Noad/mode/2up?view=theater

ESBlonde

Firstly I can hardly read, but rarely gave s practical need other than 'show' work.
The legendry session guitarist reader was Tommy Tedesco, it was said he could read fly s#1t. 
He wrote an inspirational book called "for guitar players only" and its been reprinted. He does some simple exercises on reading as well as some great anecdotes about hus life and work. One of his quotes was 'read everything, no matter what the instrument' as a method of sharpening your eye/mind.

th22

The MI book, Music Reading by David Oaks is really good. Very practical and concentrates on the 5th position which can be used for the majority of reading situations.