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The middle line on bass clef, I know is a D and when I sight read a note in that spot I have no problem nailing it. The C and E on either side of it are the problems. I don't know of its my eyes, but I am always screwing them up. Most of the time I will reverse them and play the wrong notes. I think it may be that I don't see the center line well, or quickly enough. I may try marking that center line with a highlighter and see if it helps.

Does anyone else have a certain spot that is an annoyance?

Coincidentally, I sometimes have the same problem with C and A on the treble staff. I don't think it has anything to do with the middle line but rather that our brain mixes up those notes with the position on the other staff (C3 and C5 are like mirror images).

It takes me longer to read notes on the bass clef than the treble clef. (I'm still at the stage of having to figure out what each note is individually on both clefs.)

I think it's because I look at what's on the treble clef first and therefore seem to have more practice with the treble clef, somehow.

You are not alone, I mis-read those central space notes all the time.
I think it's because there isn't a close reference point for that bar line.... The notes are too far from the outside bar lines to quickly determine.
It's easy to recognise a house at the end of a street, because it stands alone on one side. But the ones in the middle look so similar we have to carefully check out the door numbers.

solfege and flash cards are a solution. I have issues with multiples cut in the neck for the notes in the extreme octaves of the piano... I prefer to play "older" composers, so when I have to play Debussy, that uses the whole keyboard, I'm in deep trouble reading... it just takes time.

For a while, I messed up that bass clef e pretty much every time it came around. I didn't play a consistent error either--just any random wrong note. I named this conditions "E blindness."

I had a couple of discussions about reading recently. One thing that came up was the fact that traditionally the way we learn to read is oriented to C. And guess where the "one area in the bass clef" is - around C. We sort of manage to get "C is over there in the treble clef, so it's down one in the bass clef." But it never really sticks. I discovered the same thing, Isabelle - my weak spot was those C's - and it didn't really make sense, but there it was.

The latest exploration we had was instead of reading based on the lines and spaces, to only consider the lines at first - and in the beginning, only top, bottom, middle. The first thing that happened when I played with this was that this C-orientation disappeared. All notes were equal. And then C reappeared as "between the middle line and the one below it". For some reason that I can't explain, that seems to have fixed it for me.

By pure chance around that time I also came across a little Russian animation teaching reading. I can't remember the details, except that I think notes were personified, and everything was playful and cute. The thing that struck me, because of this lines-idea I was exploring, is that this old Russian cartoon began by teaching only lines. The space notes came much later. I wondered whether there was a special reason for it.

The thing about lines is that you have a middle. With the spaces there are four, so there is no "middle space". I don't know if this makes any difference.

I used to take for granted how I was "reading" notes.

Thanks to everyone for posting. I don't feel like a dumb you know what now.

Computer downloaded and printed scores is a problem too because it is often so small or tightly printed. This can also be a problem with regular manuscripts. Makes me think the publisher/printer was trying to save money. We need to be able to clearly see where we are going!!!

Ataru, when I was first learning to read music, the legend notes made me nuts, so I put a small piece of masking tape on those keys and marked however many lines needed so I could quickly find them. Don't need that anymore, but I'd a score has many, I will locate them before trying to sight read the piece. Solfege!!!! I had to do that with the teacher I studied with. I hated it at first, I mean really hated it.

For "seeing" practice I think I might put some random notes and chords on manuscript paper and throw in a bunch of those C and E troublemakers. Then I'll work it with the metronome.

I sometimes misread notes that are 2 and 3 lines above and below the treble and bass clefs. I found a useful app (called Music Theory) for my smart phone that quizzes you on single notes, intervals, chords and scales. The repetition has helped me in getting all the notes solid in my head.

Pianogirl, thanks. I will check that out.

When I get idle time, I play with Music Tutor on the iPhone. But, don't forget you can write on the music

Hi

Why don't you write the letters down just for one short passage where the notes are played and then visualise where the are positioned on the piano and do these sections by memory. Once you have memorised it when you then look at the music it will all seem clearer.