| How did you first learn to read music? |
| I don't read music! |
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9% |
[ 13 ] |
| Brass/woodwind/percussion school band |
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21% |
[ 30 ] |
| Piano lessons and/or method books |
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22% |
[ 31 ] |
| Guitar/bass lessons and/or method books |
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16% |
[ 23 ] |
| Steel guitar lessons and/or method books |
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15% |
[ 21 ] |
| Other (please Reply with specifics) |
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15% |
[ 21 ] |
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| Total Votes : 139 |
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| Author |
Topic: What instrument did you learn to read on? |
b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 15 Jul 2014 9:26 am |
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I know that a lot of steel players don't read music at all, but for those who do, what was your starting point?
_________________
-š¯•“š¯•†š¯•“- (admin) - Robert P. Lee - Recordings - Breathe - D6th - Video |
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Dale Rottacker
From:
Walla Walla Washington, USA
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Lee Baucum
From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
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Posted 15 Jul 2014 9:29 am
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I started taking guitar lessons in about 4th grade. Nick Manoloff and Mel Bay books. I studied those with a teacher for several years.
Lee |
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James Marlowe
From:
Florida, USA
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Posted 15 Jul 2014 10:25 am
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took some lessons on organ.
_________________
J.R. Marlowe
Life has many choices. Eternity has TWO. I choose Heaven.
Black '95 Zumsteel SD10, 4+5;Black Mullen RP SD10, 4+5
NRA Life member |
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Tom Campbell
From:
Houston, Texas, USA
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Posted 15 Jul 2014 10:39 am
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I did the same as Lee; started at age six.
I still have those Nick Manoloff books for six string guitar and three of Nick's Hawaiian instruction books. |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 15 Jul 2014 11:36 am
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Piano, starting at age 6. I find reading for piano or (even easier) single voice lines much easier than for guitar, which is easier than for pedal steel.
I could sight read for piano pretty well at age 10. Unfortunately, I didn't keep it up when I switched to guitar in my early teens, so my reading chops are way down. Da' blues bug got me after seeing Michael Bloomfield with the Electric Flag - ya' don't need no stinkin' books to play da' blues. Leastways, that was da' woid on the street at the time.  |
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Richard Sinkler
From:
aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana
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Posted 15 Jul 2014 11:51 am
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First drums, the saxophone (5th grade only). Started in school band on drums in the 2nd grade. Played drums until 1971 when I switched too PSG.
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Carter D10 8p/8k, Dekley S10 3p/4k C6 setup,Regal RD40 Dobro, Recording King Professional Dobro, NV400, NV112,Ibanez Gio guitar, Epiphone SG Special (open D slide guitar) . Playing for 54 years and still counting. |
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Jerry Berger
From:
Nampa, Idaho USA
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Posted 15 Jul 2014 12:09 pm
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I started taking lap steel lessons at age 7 using the Oahu and Mel Bay music books. Here is a pic of me (on the right) with my first guitar. 
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David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 15 Jul 2014 12:10 pm
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Bass, at 14 I could read just about whatever you needed to (they only had four strings then and you didn't need to play Paganini transcriptions). But I had this bizarre (and very common) idea that you were only allowed to play one thing at a time - you had to quit bass to play guitar! I've never fully recovered....  |
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Rick Barnhart
From:
Arizona, USA
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Posted 15 Jul 2014 12:10 pm
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I wanted to learn to play music in elementary school, the only program available at that level was the recorder, which was little more than a plastic flute. By the time I was in jr. high, I could read treble clef pretty well, but my folks couldn't afford to buy or rent a quality instrument. I couldn't have a trumpet or a sax, but I refused to give up. I learned that you didn't have to rent or buy tubas and sousaphones, because the school district provided those. I had to learn bass clef, but it got me in both the symphonic and marching band. Actually, bass is my favorite instrument to this day.
_________________
Clinesmith consoles D-8/6 5 pedal, D-8 3 pedal & A25 Frypan, Pettingill Teardrop, & P8 Deluxe. |
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Jim Hollingsworth
From:
Way out West
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Posted 15 Jul 2014 12:35 pm
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First piano & then guitar. But I read better on guitar.
It'd sure be nice if someone developed a method to teach sight reading on steel......
Jim |
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Jon Light
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 15 Jul 2014 1:31 pm
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I studied piano and could sight read pretty adequately but I never carried it over to any guitar, Spanish or steel and to this day I am nearly illiterate on steel, as far as finding a note without going through a whole translation process of "ok, this a C chord, this is the 6th note of the chord so there's my A." or "this is an E string, I'm 7 frets up so there's a B"
It makes me feel dumb and one of my goals is to learn the neck a lot better. |
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Barry Blackwood
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Posted 15 Jul 2014 1:38 pm
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| Quote: |
| What instrument did you learn to read on? |
Pedal steel, of course. I just laid the book down across the strings and started in.
(Next week I'm startin' on War and Peace..!)  |
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Chris Tweed
From:
Cardiff, Wales, UK
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Posted 15 Jul 2014 1:53 pm
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Started out with formal (read forced) piano lessons at age six. Learned mostly exam pieces and exercises by Bartok and other contemporary classical composers, which were so avant garde, dissonant and obscure I had no idea whether I was playing them correctly or not. I never heard the originals apart from when played by my teacher.
Continued reading when learning violin for the school orchestra, but then abandoned it after taking up guitar and hearing Rory Gallagher. There was no looking back after that. Can't read for PSG at all. |
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Earnest Bovine
From:
Los Angeles CA USA
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Posted 15 Jul 2014 2:15 pm
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| Chris Tweed wrote: |
| exercises by Bartok and other contemporary classical composers, which were so avant garde, dissonant and obscure I had no idea whether I was playing them correctly or not. |
sounds like Mikrokosmos. Ick. |
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Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Posted 15 Jul 2014 2:47 pm
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I started out on cello and learned to read bass (and "K"!) clef. Now I can't read too fluently anymore, though I do okay when singing in my wife's choir (she's the director/conductor). But if you were to look at my scores, you'd see that I've written in little numbers over many of the notes (such as "4" "5" "2" "1", etc.) because I'm better at reading numbers (movable-do) than I am at reading notes on the staff. But if I lose track of the tonic, I'm sunk...
_________________
www.JimCohen.com
www.RonstadtRevue.com
www.BeatsWalkin.com |
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Earnest Bovine
From:
Los Angeles CA USA
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Posted 15 Jul 2014 2:55 pm
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| Jim Cohen wrote: |
I've written in little numbers over many of the notes (such as "4" "5" "2" "1", etc.) ...(movable-do) |
Shape-notes are for you. |
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 15 Jul 2014 3:00 pm
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| French Horn. Wish I'd stuck with it because I played it well. |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 15 Jul 2014 3:07 pm
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| The recorder. I still play it from time to time on my mediaeval recordings. |
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Paddy Long
From:
Christchurch, New Zealand
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Posted 15 Jul 2014 3:49 pm
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Guitar
_________________
14'Zumsteel Hybrid D10 9+9
08'Zumsteel Hybrid D10 9+9
94' Franklin Stereo D10 9+8
Telonics, Peterson, Steelers Choice, Benado, Lexicon, Red Dirt Cases. |
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Mark Wayne
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Ford Cole
From:
Texas
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Posted 15 Jul 2014 6:50 pm
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| Feeble efforts at piano in grade school, then years later, I learned to read vocal music and choir scores and learned to id intevals that way. Now if I could only translate those basic concepts to E-9 steel--what a trip! |
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Bob Russell
From:
Virginia, USA
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Posted 15 Jul 2014 6:53 pm
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I first learned to read from music classes in 7th grade. Then took theory classes in high school.
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Lots of stringy things, many of them slidey. |
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Jim Robbins
From:
Ontario, Canada
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Posted 15 Jul 2014 7:40 pm
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| Earnest Bovine wrote: |
| Chris Tweed wrote: |
| exercises by Bartok and other contemporary classical composers, which were so avant garde, dissonant and obscure I had no idea whether I was playing them correctly or not. |
sounds like Mikrokosmos. Ick. |
I liked Mikrokosmos! At least as a teenager trying to learn how to play piano as a second instrument after guitar. Avant garde and easy, what more could you want? |
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Tim Whitlock
From:
Colorado, USA
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Posted 15 Jul 2014 8:05 pm
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| Started on clarinet in 5th grade. Added oboe in 8th grade. Started teaching myself guitar at the same time, including reading music for guitar. Haven't translated to reading on steel and very doubtful that will ever happen. School band was an invaluable help to my musical growth. |
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