abc notation?

[Roadkill]

Hey, one I just did last week. I played it in the 70's but didn't keep the chart plus I didn't have it all that exact anyways - it's one of my favorite lines and the last one recorded by Berry Oakley before his death . This is a Google Drive "cloud" link, let me know if it isn't working for yah (I've never tried to share a chart out from there as "public"):
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B5J...3RkQmJyS0JIUDA
I put all my charts on the cloud to share with my guitarists.

[bassybill]

Originally Posted by Roadkill

I'm curious how many of yous guys that can, write out the bass lines (and song forms) in standard notation to learn them (and keep the other players "honest") or just learn them "by ear" because writing them out in standard notation is too much of a PITA?

I use shorthand cues for reminding me of stuff to help get through a gig where there's several tunes I haven't fully memorised. Usually a full chart is unnecessary in those situations, but I often include snippets of notation just in case I forget the main riff or feel of a tune right before it's counted in. See attached for examples.

[Roadkill]

^ Interesting, thanks!

[Anonymatt]

Originally Posted by Roadkill

I'm curious how many of yous guys that can, write out the bass lines (and song forms) in standard notation to learn them (and keep the other players "honest") or just learn them "by ear" because writing them out in standard notation is too much of a PITA?

I rarely write out lines in order to remember them. I will write out changes and stare at them while I play until I'm confident about them.

If something is kind of complicated or more than a few bars long (like a bassist/songwriter has a song w/ a very idiosyncratic basslines they're in love with), then it's much easier to read the music they wrote than it is to learn something by rote. Then I can just read the music while we get everything else together instead of waiting until I've memorized the line. But of course the trouble is weaning yourself off the music.

[Roadkill]

Originally Posted by Anonymatt

I will write out changes and stare at them while I play until I'm confident about them.

Does that look like this or ? :
Em - Am - Em - Em
Am - Am - Em - Em
B7 - Am - Em - B7

If something is kind of complicated or more than a few bars long (like a bassist/songwriter has a song w/ a very idiosyncratic basslines they're in love with), then it's much easier to read the music they wrote than it is to learn something by rote. Then I can just read the music while we get everything else together instead of waiting until I've memorized the line.

What if the sheet music for the bass line doesn't exist or is wrong (common with rock tunes)?

But of course the trouble is weaning yourself off the music.

Yup .

[Anonymatt]

Yeah, my chords will look like that. I try to draw barlines and all and sometimes I write spare rhythmic notation here and there for changes that don't happen squarely.

Oh, when I was talking about idiosyncratic basslines, I meant original stuff that my friends bring in, not tunes that there would be existing music for.

For popular stuff, I like to learn the chords and I jam it out with a chord/scale concept. Then when I have a full grip over that, figuring out particular lines or derivations of the "definitive music" is easier. And then I have a fundamental harmonic structure to fall back on. I'm not just playing a line I memorized or am reading--if I kinda flub something a little bit, I automatically begin comping. This has gotten more graceful for me in the last year or so.