Learning sight reading

[Lifeformed]

I've had quite a few years of piano lessons when I was younger, but I never was great at sight reading. I was just taught how to play specific songs.

When I try to play some sheet music, it takes me forever to get comfortable with it (4-6 weeks of practice). Does anyone have any tips for how to learn both playing the correct notes and also playing in the correct rhythm? I want to be able to eventually play a piece fairly competently on my first attempt.

I also have a midi keyboard, so if there's any cool software out there, I'd be interested in hearing about that too.

[Melbu Frahma]

I've had quite a few years of piano lessons when I was younger, but I never was great at sight reading. I was just taught how to play specific songs.

When I try to play some sheet music, it takes me forever to get comfortable with it (4-6 weeks of practice). Does anyone have any tips for how to learn both playing the correct notes and also playing in the correct rhythm? I want to be able to eventually play a piece fairly competently on my first attempt.

I also have a midi keyboard, so if there's any cool software out there, I'd be interested in hearing about that too.

Mmm. Well, it always helped me to associate the notes with the point in the melody that it comes at - like, note where the only quarter note A#s are in relation to the rest of the notes, etc. It sometimes helps to hum it, too, if you're given a few seconds to study it before having to play it.

Wish I could be more helpful, but sight reading was just about the only musical skill that came completely naturally to me.

[Evahn]

sight reading was just about the only musical skill that came completely naturally to me.

I'm slightly jealous ... the only kind of sight reading I can do is with chord symbols, and maybe rhythm slashes too if necessary. I read words fairly slowly as it is, let alone stacked notes with melodies.

I might not know what I'm talking about so feel free to disregard this, but you could first try practicing sight reading, like find some fairly easy pieces and see how well you can play through them from start to finish in one try.

[Kidd Cabbage]

I'm at Berklee College of Music right now, and the best advice I can give you is simple.

Just do it. Practice. The more you do it, the faster you will get. Get a big honking book of sheet music, and play through each song as fast as you can. Ignore mistakes, and fix them on the second time through. Don't get used to analyzing it before you do it - just get used to doing it.