How to Read Music Fast All You Need to Learn How to Read Music Fast and Easy

1. 

   Mo
   August 5th, 2010 - 18:11

   Sight Reading Music

   The only thing you can really do is more and more practice. Try doing theory books if you’re not already. They’ll definately help you get a better understanding of reading music.
2. 

   Azathoth
   August 8th, 2010 - 21:17

   How to Read Music Hub

   Ask your teacher to help you with your sight reading. That’s probably a significant part of what’s holding you back.

   However, it takes a lot of time to learn piano. It’s not like guitar, where you learn three chords and can play almost every song in existence. It’s a long process and it takes about 3 years to start sounding good. Of course, everyone progresses at a different rate, but 3 years is a decent average. Part of the reason you’re in beginner books is that you’re still definitely a beginner at piano. All you can do is keep plugging away at it, and don’t be afraid to ask your teacher for help.

   Two things about your friend:

   1. Other peoples’ learning speed is meaningless. What matters is how you’re progressing. You’re not any smarter or dumber or anything because of how quickly you can learn a piece.

   2. Just because your friend can hit the notes, doesn’t mean she can play well. She may have just learned Fur Elise because it sounds good. She may have learned a simplified version. There is a very good chance that, if she has only been playing for a year, she only knows one or two impressive-sounding pieces. The fact that she knows Fur Elise doesn’t mean she can pick up the score for something she likes and play it with less than torturous effort. I could play through most of Fur Elise when I had no idea what I was doing, my technique was a crime against nature, and I could hardly read sheet music. I suppose you could say it sounded impressive but I was still not a good musician.

   I started music lessons with a teacher who was actually good when I was 14. (Prior to that I had a teacher who wasted my time for two years, then a two year break. So we’re probably in roughly equivalent situations.) Now, I had a lot of unlearning to do, but I was in beginner books for about 18 months. I was going through ‘Spike and Party Cat in Music City’ and had a few outside duets and a book called ‘Adult Piano Adventures’ or something like that. I’ve had lessons with this guy for three years and I’m now at what I’d consider intermediate level. I’ve started learning this piece (the first one in the video): This is what the score looks like:

   Thing is, classical music requires a lot of niggling sensitivity and particular technique. Honestly, if you’re more in to pop music your ability to distinguish your portato from your staccato is less important. So if you’re more in to pop music, you could make progress faster. However, your teacher might be the type to insist that you learn proper technique, which is kind of a drag at first because it takes a while but on the other hand, you sound better and you avoid getting hurt.

   Don’t be discouraged by what I’ve said, though! I didn’t practice much while I was in the beginning stages because I thought my pieces were stupid- don’t do that to yourself. Keep applying yourself and you’ll make good progress.

   Take a video of yourself practicing once a week and look back on what you were doing. It’s next to impossible to see your own progress, but if you keep a record you’ll see how far you’ve come. Also, it’s good recital prep.

   EDIT: John W, first off, I’m a girl.

   Second, I know guitar is much more complicated than that. I was quoting my dad -a guy who made his living as a rock musician in the 80s- and just pointing out that if you want to be able to play most pop tunes, you can start to fake it by learning a few chords. If my memory isn’t too unreliable, some punk band in the 80s touted exactly that concept. If you took a typical pop song and broke it down, there would probably be about three chords that you’d have to learn to play. That’s all I meant.
3. 

   GazeRock
   August 10th, 2010 - 22:14

   How to Read Music Hub

   Practice and have patience. Everyone wants to play be able to play the awesome hard stuff… but you have to build a strong foundation for yourself first.
4. 

   John W
   August 13th, 2010 - 18:30

   Sight Reading Music

   I can’t help you much without knowing what exactly you do and how you practise (and because of my own lack of “serious” experience, too), but…

   Azathoth wrote:

   “However, it takes a lot of time to learn piano. It’s not like guitar, where you learn three chords and can play almost every song in existence.”

   … you might think twice before listening to a guy who begins his elaboration with such a piece of absolute BULLSHIT.

   Playing guitar is learning three chords?? I’m simply baffled.

   I’d say we’ve got an unreliable narrator here
5. 

   Noah
   August 17th, 2010 - 04:18

   Music Theory for Beginners

   Azathoth gave you a good answer. I can only add that you might be careful how fast you push yourself.

   I think it’s great to want to move ahead as quickly as possible. However, I have had many students whose desire to “graduate” to higher levels outweighs their willingness to make sacrifices and put in lots of effort. Just don’t forget that without work, all the desire in the world isn’t going to get you any closer to your goals.

   Knowing that there is NO way around hard work is both good and bad. It’s bad because…well… very few people I’ve met actually LIKE hard work and delayed gratification. On the other hand, it’s good because you will always know WHAT to do to get to where you want to be – there will be no confusion if you keep this basic idea in mind – It all comes down to simply DOING.

   Comparing yourself to others is a lose-lose situation. On one hand, you’re better than everyone (which incurs jealousy TOWARD you) and on the other hand (more likely) you’ll always feel inadequate because there will always be someone “better” than you. Replace those thoughts with thoughts about why YOU like the piano, why you like music, what it does for you, etc. That’s what it’s all about anyway, right? In order to move forward more effectively, we have to stop and deal with what we have RIGHT NOW – do your best and don’t worry.

   …and read Azathoth’s reply again!

   Good Luck,

   Noah Blankenship

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