HI, I am starting the sight reading section of the site. SR 01. Exersize 1. When Tomo Demonstrates this he counts while he is playing on the one and the three. Starting out is it better for me to count as im sight reading or say the name of the note aloud as I play it? Thanks for any help.
Scott
I'm a very poor reader, so take this with a grain of salt, but.... The written components contain both pitch and rhythm information and you'll eventually need to do both.
As a beginner, I tended to focus on pitch first. I think a more balanced approach is to do both in separate passes.
At some point you will internalize each position on the staff with a point on a string on the fingerboard - without all the extra thinking as you build your mental map of the fretboard.... " ok, that's a Bb and that is a step away from C and C is here on this string, so this must be Bb, and it says use a downstroke..., etc". It'll come to you without thinking; you'll take it all in with one look. YOLO-style. (you only look once).
Before even playing, I'll take a read through to identify the tricky parts, usually chords with lots of accidentals for me. Once I think I have a fretboard plan, I'll go through and count it, looking for those off-beats and syncopations that I have such a hard time with.
Once familiar enough with the part in my "head" , then I'll try to read and play it, very slow and out of time first, but counting. Then very slow in-time with the metronome... then build up the pace to a "musical" level so it sounds interesting.
I guess that's a long way of saying, it's not an either / or, but figure out a strategy to do both. For me it is note-name, fretboard location, note duration, then accurate counting and working in real-time. Once the repetition has built the fretboard map in your head for a given position, then it will be all note duration and accurate counting.