Sight Reading Mastery

The exercises in Sight Reading Mastery are limitless and continually challenge, develop and improve your sight reading skills - however far you advance.

Sight reading is the single largest barrier for most guitarists in the ability to engage with countless compositions and arrangements. This book is the culmination of over a decade of experimenting with getting people to sight read fluently on the guitar. The biggest challenge to any sight reading endeavor is to have immediate access to where the note is on the guitar at any given position. The exercises presented in this volume are a direct outgrowth of this problem in trying to systematically organize a solution. There are 130 practice sheets for sight reading. These practice sheets begin in open position and continue through twelfth position. Taking into account practicing all twelve keys, this amounts to 1,560 possible exercises based on key. If you did one a day it would take over 4 years to play them all. That's a lot of sight reading and a lot of getting to know your fretboard! You will not find any information on beginning to read notes on the guitar. This book takes for granted that you can find where basic notes exist on the instrument and locate them with the corresponding position on the musical staff. You will also find that there are no time signatures, key signatures, or rhythms given. This will be discussed further in the book with the explanation of how to approach practicing these exercises. These exercises have been tested with a variety of different students who play many different genres over the past decade. Even my oldest "guinea pig" who is almost 90 has attested to their benefit. My hope is that you find this as a lifelong aid in the quest to become as proficient a guitarist as possible and run out of excuses for being a poor sight reader. This book seeks to fill the note reading gap for classical, jazz, rock, and any other guitarist looking to hone their sight reading skills.

This book was written with one purpose in mind: to improve your bass playing skill in 24 clear lessons. Each of the exercises featured in (title is based on solid music theory concepts and structured academic approaches. The book contains etudes grounded in common (and not so common) chord tonalities written in melodic form. They are all geared to teach when to play the right notes at the right time. Each lesson builds on the previous one to introduce increasingly more sophisticated concepts and techniques. This approach enables the bass student to polish his/her reading skills and technique simultaneously. A focus on reading requires players to find more accurate left-hand positions and fingerings to play the notes as they are written. Reading brings together mind, body, and instrument, thus resulting in better playing. By studying this book, the bass student will find that better technique will be coupled with greater expressiveness. We all seek the ability to play with freedom and artistry. The better you can play, the better you will express the art that is within you.

Sight-reading fluently is probably the most appreciated skill for music performers. A musician that can truly sight-read gets more gigs. But that honestly is not the only valid answer. What about your reputation? What happens when other musicians figure out that you can't really sight read music? How about the amount of time you could save if you could sight read a little bit better? And how about reading well enough so you can properly choose your new repertoire?Those are just a few reasons why you might want to improve your sight-reading. Music at first sight is a book that will give you the tools you need to bring your sight-reading skills up a few notches. Competence and excellence are easier said than done. Regardless of where you are in your musical career, the concepts revealed in this book require constant attention."Slow but steady wins the race. Consistent, effective effort leads to success." - Aesop - The Tortoise and the Hare

Book 4 includes the use of triad inversions in sight-reading exercises, clapping exercises notated as melodies, key signatures of up to four sharps and flats, and 6/8 meter.

The exercises in Sight Reading Mastery are limitless and continually challenge, develop and improve your sight reading skills - however far you advance.

Beginner Bass Guitar Instruction