After playing the trombone for a little over six years, I am having trouble reading music on a treble clef, since I am so used to bass clef. I am thinking “F” when I am looking at a “D.” Has anyone else experienced this problem? How long will it take me to get over it?
I was a bass player for years then switched to mandolin and fiddle and later to whistle.
I feel your pain. There is no cure but practice, practice, practice.
Better yet. Be a true traditional musician and learn by ear. I know it’s hard not to feel like you’re “wimping out” but in fact it is the best and only way to really learn traditional tunes.
Doc
After learning treble clef, it took me about three weeks to get completely comfortable with the bass clef. It helped me to visualize the two clefs as extensions of one another, with middle C halfway between them (one ledger line above the bass clef and one ledger line below the treble clef). You’ve already done the hard part (learning to read music). Reading the treble clef will become automatic very quickly.
One more comment, pertaining to Doc Jones suggestion to learn to play by ear.
Music notation can be misleading. Take the eighth-note triplet for example. In classical music, it is generally played very precisely as three equally spaced notes in a single beat. In American jazz, you usually hear it syncopated, like a sixteenth note followed by an eighth note followed by a sixteenth. In Irish music, it often sounds more like two sixteenth notes followed by an eighth note.
Although I think reading music can be a big help in learning the notes, it is not a substitute for listening to the real thing. It has almost no value in learning the subtleties of style.