I am thinking of getting serious and buckling down to really be able to read, even knowing that it will be years of study. I am chord and theory heavy, with limited reading abilities.
Question: Has anyone done this and followed through? How long did it take to reap the benefits of the tedious work involved? What were the benefits in the end?
I am considering giving up playing around with styles, etc (anything that gobbles up hours!) and just study. Any comments appreciated.
Zuki

Anything you can do to expand your knowledge is a good thing. Since you have a good knowledge of theory, I think it won't take you nearly as long as you think to read music. All it is is a written form of what you already know.
Good luck!
DonM

I started out to learn to read music many years ago. Chords & Melody just to be able to play well known tunes. The interest increased and became an obsession to the point of wanting to know why chords need certain note to form the chord (theory). I now find a great pleasure from reading music and playing.
I wish I could have learnt to play by ear because the benefit would be that it would easier to improvise which at present I find hard to do.

Graham UK

Zuki,

Here is a simple exercise to help you with your sight reading; You need to learn the staff ledger lines, notes, and chords intuitively. The best way to do this is through repetition. I learned how to do this with Index Cards. I made up cards with chords, notes, ledger lines, keys, etc. and drilled myself each day on the train ride to work until I could read and name the notes on the card immediately. It was frustrating at first, but after a week or two, I was humming along.

Eventually I increased the complexity of the cards with complex chords and voicings.

Give it a try, it's cheap and it's fun!!!

Al G

Learning to play by ear or reading music is not mutually exclusive, IMHO.
If you play by ear you can learn to read music. If you read music, you can learn to play be ear.
Starkeeper

...I wish I could have learnt to play by ear because the benefit would be that it would easier to improvise which at present I find hard to do.
Graham UK

Graham, there are a lot of us that cannot read that wish we could look at sheet music and play. As far is playing by ear, the best advice I have is to close the fake books, then close your eyes and play any song that comes to mind. Believe me, it will not be difficult for you to do this.

Cheers from a guy that plays a lot and cannot read anything other than guitar tabs and old history books.

Gary

yo all. time once again for my monthly yadas. zuki, here's my humble take on things. first of all, a friend of mine and i have basically started playing keyboard together and taught each other along the way. funny thing is that he is a totally ear person who rarely plays lead and loves harmony and is awesome figuring out bass while i am strictly a leadist, if you will and i have limited albeit growing skills with ear. all the songs i know with a few exceptions i learnt from sheet music. it really isn't all that hard to pick up; i picked up the basics in two hours and i'm no genius or prodigy. the sight reading is mainly having a very good knowledge of the timing. anyone can play the notes to any song, its the tempo and length of each note that makes all the difference. so if you want to work on sight reading, concenrate on having down cold all the time signatures etc. i hope that my rambling has helped you in some way. Zack

Friends,
Thanks all for your suggestions and support. I'm selling my styles board and getting an 88 note slab to carry on the road to chart a new course called acclerated sight reading.
And since I've just taken on a bigger role with Suzuki, I'll use the Keyman........
Zuki