Again, thank you for your input.

For me it's been a kind of hand-eye coordination thing. I don't mean to make myself out to be anybody at all. I'm not, but it might help to mention that I'm not entirely without musical instincts. I am now 66, but I wrote for a major publishing company in Nashville at age 19 and recorded a couple of times at Columbia Studios at about the same age - all with guitar - all with instinct. I took music theory classes for a couple of years, and know and understand my theory reasonably well. But I can't slap my butte with both hands - easily - when it comes to sight-reading.

I think this is because I have depended on my ear for so long I just don't trust black dots on a page. I am having to completely unlearn that. I'm experiencing an epiphany. "If you look at them long enough, those little dots tell you where to put your fingers." <grin>

With an understanding of theory it does help to see quickly, for example, this is just another triad with an added 2nd (ninth). But still, something is and always has been missing for me where sight-reading is concerned. I think what is missing is just the constant "drill" of figuring things out in real-time quickly. This is why I like reading a constant flow of new material.

Your point about Hymnals is a good one. I have plenty, but when I play them they all sound bad. (The problem is me, not the hymn) And because they sound bad, all the time, the playing of them becomes boring in the extreme. For reasons unidentified, having, as it were, a musical group, playing behind me just makes it fun; especially when I can speed up or slow down or go back over this or that section indefinitely.

News Flash!
I have just discovered a web site with lots of hymns in MIDI format. I will experiment with bringing them into BB and see where that leads me.

Best Regards

Woody

Woody - Sacramento