Tab-free Bass lines

billhilly66 · #1 05-31-2009, 04:19 PM

I’m looking for some bass lines on some rock tunes I need to either learn or re-learn and all I can find is tab. I can’t do tab. Anybody know where I can find these lines in regular notation?

Amitio · #2 05-31-2009, 06:34 PM

What songs you looking for?

Rudreax · #3 05-31-2009, 07:11 PM

If it's something like rock, you're probably have a better chance either transcribing something or putting something like duck tape over the tabbed parts in music books.

paul_wolfe · #4 06-01-2009, 08:17 AM

The Bass Players White Pages are a pretty diverse selection of tunes - they've got tab as well, but they got the notation too.

paul_wolfe · #5 06-01-2009, 08:18 AM

Oops I mean BASS TAB WHITE PAGES

Don't be put off by the 'Bass Tab' in the title, all the songs (about 190 of them!) have got notation for the melody line of the tune plus notation for the bass lines (as well as tab).

I did a review of it here:
http://www.how-to-play-bass.com/bass...ite-pages.html

billhilly66 · #6 06-01-2009, 11:36 AM

Thanks! I’ve got some rock gigs coming up and I’ve got charts for the tunes but didn’t want to spend the time to pull the lines off the recordings if I didn’t have to. Sounds like that ought to save me some time.

Too bad all the tab sites I’ve seen on the intertubes don’t have notation along with the tabs.

MetroBass · #7 06-01-2009, 01:19 PM

I haven't found a site that provides standard notation free of charge. As with most sheet music it the one way the composer / writer gets credit (money) for their compellations. However, the bass tab white pages is a cheep (19.95) alternative for a good selection of rock tunes. Also you can purchase the entire Beatles catalog for around 30.00 from Amazon. Both books together will only set you back around 50 dollars.

Lefty Geek · #8 06-01-2009, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MetroBass

I haven't found a site that provides standard notation free of charge.

Wait, I thought standard notation was better than tab!

billhilly66 · #9 06-01-2009, 01:38 PM

It is if you can't make heads or tails out of tab. How do they know what position I'm gonna play stuff in anyway?

doggo · #10 06-01-2009, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MetroBass

I haven't found a site that provides standard notation free of charge. As with most sheet music it the one way the composer / writer gets credit (money) for their compellations. However, the bass tab white pages is a cheep (19.95) alternative for a good selection of rock tunes. Also you can purchase the entire Beatles catalog for around 30.00 from Amazon. Both books together will only set you back around 50 dollars.

But there are pay sites that offer bass lines in standard notation? What are they?

billhilly66 · #11 06-01-2009, 02:16 PM

If there were, it seems like I’d have come across them in one of my google searches. Nothin but tabs though. Tabs are ubiquitous and omnipresent. It’s a conspiracy!

rarisgod · #12 06-01-2009, 02:19 PM

I can recommend software like Guitar Pro or PowerTab. I don't use PowerTab, so I'm not sure if it provides notation, but i know Guitar Pro provides both notation and tabs.

paul_wolfe · #13 06-02-2009, 02:47 AM

Quote:

Original post by doggo

But there are pay sites that offer bass lines in standard notation? What are they?

One I sometimes use is found at http://www.sheetmusic.direct.com

(you'll need to select your country).

This has basslines to a wide range of songs and pretty cheaply too, most are $0.99 a song. Downside is that when you have paid for it, you have to access your account and then you get to print it out. No PDF. No downloadable file you can store on your system.

But it's a pretty cheap resource if you're in a hurry - also it has the individual songs from some books. So if you wanna learn one song only from say the latest Tower of Power book, you can get it and don't have to buy the whole book.

Check it out.

BananaKing · #14 06-02-2009, 03:08 AM

In all seriousness, if you have the time, use your ear.

Tab books are nice and all, but they become useless when you're stuck on the bandstand and the bandleader calls out a tune that you're unfamiliar with.

If you have good ears and can ask the other players a few questions, you can generally fake your way through.

I would suggest sitting down with a CD and picking out your favorite lines by ear. Much, MUCH more useful than Tab Books.

It also saves you some money.

LowDown Hal · #15 06-02-2009, 03:11 AM

Go to http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/ and search for your tunes in a format called Guitar Pro. You download the guitar pro sw to use these files. They typically have notation and tab and are easy to edit if you want to.

TL5 · #16 06-05-2009, 08:17 AM

I use:

www.musicnotes.com

cnltb · #17 06-05-2009, 08:18 AM

transcribe them yourself i'd say.

billhilly66 · #18 06-05-2009, 08:43 AM

I already did. I transcribed the passages I needed and stuck them in my chord charts.
It’s a shame there’s so much tab available but no standard notation for bass lines.

TL5 · #19 06-05-2009, 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by billhilly66

..no standard notation for bass lines.

Did you miss my link?

EADG mx · #20 06-06-2009, 11:54 AM

In this case I'd say transcribe them yourself. There's not a lot of rock/pop notation out there.

If you really want to go that route though your best bet (free of charge) would be Powertab and Guitar Pro.