Give me something to practice!

LCMBassist · #1 12-13-2008, 11:22 AM

Ok guys, I'm needing something to brush up my theory on KEY SIGNATURES (including cycle of 5ths etc). and also my ear. Any pointers for good sites etc?

PoundinThunder · #2 12-13-2008, 11:28 AM

maybe try www.musictheory.net not sure if that has what ur looking for but i know they have a bit

ac1710 · #3 12-13-2008, 12:36 PM

For key signatures you've really just got to sit down and learn them. There's loads of patterns that will pop out at you when you look at them.

For your ear try listening to a song and hum the bassline along with it. Then turn the track off, pick up your bass and see how much you can remember.

Dbassmon · #4 12-13-2008, 12:53 PM

A teacher is wonder source of challenges and valuable critique and evaluation of your music progress, not that TBers aren't.

Serious students of bass/music get a teacher. Why? same reason Roger Federer or Tiger Woods had/has coaching. It provides a perspective you can not get yourself. It cuts the learning curve exponentially and keeps you practicing.

As far as good study of all the keys, the classical bass Method Simandl book 1, goes through every key in logical progression. It will teach you good fingerings for upright, some logical use of the third finger can easily be interjected for use with Bass Guitar. It will also teach you position shifting. If you can play this book from start to finish, you will be able to play the bass and have a good solid foundation in theory and fingering and probably be a good sight reader too. FWIW

LCMBassist · #5 12-15-2008, 02:56 PM

Ok cool. Thanks for the pointers. Now, I did learn the cycle of fifths inside out, along with all the keys, and I could read music (not sight read, but i could figure it out), as I HAD to do this for my entry exam to LCM. However, I promptly forgot it all! I'm useless at remembering stuff, and during the heat of writing a bassline for a song, I never really think to use my theory knowledge (I just play what sounds good, and this usually comes from the major/minor scales, and sometimes the Egyptian scale, weirdly). So, any pointers on broadening my horizons in a band setting?