I had to learn music by ear because I couldn't sit there and go through all the little sight-reading exercises (I had a late start in my late teens). I have a good grasp on theory (chords, modes, etc.) as long as I find it useful. I can read all the notes and most of the rhythms (in slowmo) but it's so much easier just to listen to the tune and play it.

I am innately very musical, but have a very hard time reading music. The best way for me to play anything was either by ear or to memorize, both which came very easy for me. The notes go by way too fast. I did terrible on auditions on the sight-reading portions. I don't know how drummers do it!

Do the notes go by way to fast for you as well??

I've always been pretty crummy at sight reading, unless it's voice. Also bad about fingering. I started young with piano and voice, but no one knew I had ADHD. I had to rely a lot on my ear. I suck at the rythm part, and if it's at all complicated, I have to hear it before I can play it.

Do the notes go by way to fast for you as well??

I was never in band or orchestra so I didn't have that experience... the bands I've been in have either been rock bands or folk bands so nobody worried about the so-called "correct" way to do it. One strength I do have which might come partly from having ADD is that I can improvise really well. It's often because I can't remember everything note for note and never play the same solos twice!!!

The down side is that I gave up on learning classical guitar out of frustration with both boring sight reading exercises and the teacher.

Oh gosh, it's the same over here. I recall numerous times as the first/second chair, going over an orchestral piece for the first time, and when it was time for the flute solo to come in, the director landing his baton in my direction to hear..........nothing, while looking at a panic-stricken flute player. Ug. Getting a recording of the piece was totally essential!

I also loved the piano, but could not easily integrate the bass and the treble cleffs. My brain just could not wrap around that at all.

My problem with reading music was the Tempo I seemed to keep going up and down rather than keeping the beat steady.

I found it hard to figure out the rhythm from reading and misread quiet a lot in general. But I find it really easy to recognise chords, intervals and melodies by ear.

I also have a problem keeping the tempo. A metronome does not help because I can either listen to that - or play, but not both at the same time.

I've always thought I was an odd bird musically... I struggle horribly to sight read, can't play by ear, couldn't tell you off hand if what key you were playing in or if the chord you were playing was major or minor.... More or less, the only instrument I've had any success with in my life is my own voice because the technicalities didn't seem to matter so much...

I also loved the piano, but could not easily integrate the bass and the treble cleffs. My brain just could not wrap around that at all.

Sight reading sucks for me, though I might do better than the average. If I can build a mental image, I have fewer problems. My eyes never can keep up with (more accurately keep on the notes) the notes im playing, but that is also generally a problem. Once im floating through the music I dont have many problems, but there is definatly a disconnect between what im looking at and the other world of sound.

Piano, same problem. Seperate the two and im.. well I can play it ok, together is impossible! In music school it was required, one of the reasons I changed majors...

I'm terrible with sight reading too, I learn pretty much completely by ear, I can read music and I can play it, just kinda terrible sight reading with no prep compared to replaying music played to be with no music score.

i took piano for a few years didn't continue it frustrated me i couldn't read the music so i gave up like most things i start in my life theres a piano at the house i don't ever play it or touch it i just don't care for it anymore the feeling is gone

I was just thinking back to when I ws playing the cello. I guess I learned how to read at some point but I think I was better off playing by sound.

ASKDFASLDF YES It takes longer for me to process what im looking at like the Key the piece is in, the time signiture, dynamics little things like that. I thank dyslexia for that (sarcasm) but that doesn's stop my love for music.

Same here - while I had no trouble reading treble clef only or bass clef only - when I put the two together to read at the same time I just get lost. So like many others, I learned mainly by playing by ear.

For Jazz band, I was good with guitar and bass. When it came to classical training for piano I was slow at reading and often picked it up by ear. I was able to cover up my inability to sight read for a long time until one day where I had to play with someone else. I learned the piece in it's entirety but when the conductor asked why I never turned a page while playing the gig was up.

I can sight read pretty well (started early), but I cannot memorize anything, and I couldn't use a metronome if my life depended on it. It totally distracts me and makes me panic.

Sheet music just has wayyyy to many things going on all at once. I couldn't ever get the hang of the metronome either. In fact, while made it (barely) through music school, it was always a process of learning what I needed to know the night before the theory tests and hoping no one called on me to step out large. Fact is, I just couldn't pay attention through an entire song unless I was really dialed in.

I had to learn music by ear because I couldn't sit there and go through all the little sight-reading exercises (I had a late start in my late teens). I have a good grasp on theory (chords, modes, etc.) as long as I find it useful. I can read all the notes and most of the rhythms (in slowmo) but it's so much easier just to listen to the tune and play it.

Yes! Everything I know I have pretty much learned just from listening. I can read the notes, like the ones on the flashcards but on sheet music forget it!

sight reading is easy for me; I can learn music pretty darn fast. However, I really suck at theory. I had to take 2 semesters of it in college to minor in (vocal) music. I hated it!

I took piano lessons for a couple of years and even did recitals at the music festivals. My teacher decided she didn't want to teach me any further when she realized I was memorizing the pieces by ear. So she'd put the sheet up in front and I'd just kind of look at it and bang off the piece by ear. I guess the more complex it was, the harder it was to repeat just by ear. But like typing once your fingers know where all the keys are, the mind starts to make all these 'connections' and pretty soon you're typing 120wpm, with one hand behind your back... lol

I took piano lessons for a couple of years and even did recitals at the music festivals. My teacher decided she didn't want to teach me any further when she realized I was memorizing the pieces by ear. So she'd put the sheet up in front and I'd just kind of look at it and bang off the piece by ear. I guess the more complex it was, the harder it was to repeat just by ear. But like typing once your fingers know where all the keys are, the mind starts to make all these 'connections' and pretty soon you're typing 120wpm, with one hand behind your back... lol

Oh my, ME TOO!!
I was kicked out of music lessons when my teacher realized that I memorized everything. I was great at pretending like I could read the music. I will never forget when she "fired" me. I had some practice cards and every week she would quiz me. She always got mad because I didn't know very many. One day I decided to write the answers in pencil on the black keys...so small it was hard for her to see. I was going so well. She gave me a lot of praise and thought that I suddenly knew my notes after one year. Then she turned one over, examined it and started yelling. She said she never wanted me back and that I was a poor excuse for student. I smiled and finally got out of taking piano lessons. Now I regret it.

I still want to learn but I can't learn those darn keys.

So, is it merely an attention thing or is there something else going on with us that makes it extremely hard to learn the keys?? I would love to know. I see a pattern with all of us.

I played cello for my first two years in orchestra and bass for the other five. Didn't continue after high school. I don't remember having a lot of problems with sight reading, but then I usually had the easy parts. Fast, complicated crap would throw me a little but I was never alone...the whole bass section would be stumped.

I hated working with a metronome, especially the beeping ones. It was distracting and annoying. I would always have a count going in my head that I'd often check with the conductor.

I do remember that my brain would sometimes read a section wrong, as though I saw something completely different on the page. I wouldn't even realize it until I'd played the piece enough times to notice that I sounded off compared to everyone else. The only way to fix this was to practice the part very slowly and basically overwrite my brain's notes with the correct ones on the paper. Once that was done I was good.

I was always second chair clarinet, sax or flute. I could play every bit as well as first chair, but only the second time through. I sat second chair behind the same guy for several years. He's now a pro, I'm not. We were equally matched in all aspects of music, except for the reading. I was good at improvisation, mechanics, fingering, and tone. I couldn't get into college programs because I was unable to sight read well enough.

I can sight read only if someone near me has "caught" what we're playing already (but I have no trouble reading music). I never count the measures of rest after we've played something a few times (boring!). - I hate metronomes as well. ugh, what a horrible instrument. Like we need a ticking clock that doesn't even tell time!

I began playing the ukulele when I was about 5-6 sang in the second grade at school
"Well come along boys listen to my tail, let me tell ya bout the ole chrisom trail"
lol I remember the other kids gathered in a semi circle in front of me, odd how we remember such things. I then started piano lessens in the second grade but that was pretty tough for me didn't do well at site reading, played a few years.
In the 7th grade I picked up guitar more, got into drugs in the 8th grade lost the music till a senior in high school & began playing more guitar after entering choir, continued playing guitar, self taught, like folk, country, blues gospel, "Kiss" my motto
I was self diagnosed with ADHD at age 39 (11 years ago) (saw a CHADD program on Ophra ordered the check list & it was the 1st "test" I got em all right...lol. began meds for it about 5 years ago (legal meds)
I have PTSD from a traumatic experience 11 years ago & the PTSD can really drive the ADHD through the roof even on meds. I try to keep the stimuli to a minimum if I can , walking through "Home Depot" wears me out lol ( I am a Handy man) seeing all the things that I have installed or worked with brings up the pictures in my mind, gets very heavy in places like that. Oh & my shoe size is 11D I wear a size....shor......lol getting pretty detailed huh? Oh well, let God use it to your advantage. God bless!<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

My sight reading is fairly good, but it can be at times, challenging. With the piano, sight reading is not too difficult, however with the guitar it is not so easy....

But, I am a composer, not an instrumentalist, so I write far more music than I play. In fact, I can't play 95% of the music I write!

However, I can do the reverse, that being, writing down music that I hear...

OMG my meds make it sooooooooooooooo much easier to sight read!! That was one of my moments where I knew the meds were doing something really good. I sat down to play the piano and i was able to just go! I didn't have to stop and remember what i was doing every 30 seconds.