Reading is easy!

Well, at least that is the attitude you should have about it. But really, the basic idea behind reading music is very straightforward, not hard or mysterious. Some people who have started the process have given up, claiming 'it's too hard'. But not being able to read music severely limits what gigs you can or cannot get.

Let me tell you a quick story about a guitar playing friend of mine- a story about attitude, a philosophy. He is a very impressive classical guitarist, a hobby player, who is frequently featured at his local guitar club gatherings. One of the classical pieces he was playing was very technical, a constant stream of arpeggios, with very challenging passages in a tasteful, beautiful piece. Later, I commented about how hard that must be, how many hundreds hours of practice it must have taken to get to that point where he can be so relaxed and fluid with it. His comment surprised me. He said that 'hard' or 'difficult' is an attitude. It is an attitude that permeates our cultural conscience, in many subjects. (I suppose its our way of making sure we characterize our experiences- some things are common and easy, other things are special or hard.) He claimed that if he were to teach a child that piece, he would never tell the child that it is hard or difficult. He would show the piece and break it down, with an 'anyone can do it' attitude. For the child then, with few of the fears of failure that come later in life, it would be a given that they could live up to the task, and they would be able to achieve the goal of playing that piece- at least much quicker than if the kid feared a 'hard' piece.

The point is this, basically- if you tell yourself something is hard or difficult to do, it will be, and you have made your task very difficult FOR YOU. You want or need to learn to read both bass and treble clef, so do it- it's easy! It really is a basic, easy task to read music. The thing that can make it difficult is WHAT you are reading and the technical execution of it. But don't confuse those two separate issues. Anyone can write a piece that is technically impossible- for instance, it includes notes that are out of the instruments range, making transposition necessary, or it has intervalic leaps that aren't executable at certain tempos by anyone (including your bass 'god' of choice), at least with standard tunings. But that is a separate issue from reading. I can read the impossible passages,but playing and execution, that's another deal.
So- On to some good online links that will get you started reading, both Bass and treble clef's!

Bass Specific- from STUDY BASS

Good General Reading instruction

Remember to take your time and absorb the details, burn them into your brain, and practice reading, initially in bass clef, then add treble to your repertoire.
Garret