bass tab /sheet music

[johnczyk]

probably a dumb question-i am trying to teach myself to play bass....I have a book with bass tabs in it.
on the song page it will show something like F5 or C5 on top of the line with the treble clef? Is that the name of a particular bass cord.??
I seem to noticethat the basstab seems to differ sometimes even when the same F5 etc is above.
also what is the lines that are lead by the treble clef?
The bass clef lines are right below it?I first thought it was the guitar music but I dont think so-why would that be in a bass tab book.
then of course are the actual bass tabs which I know what they are.
ugh

thanx

[arkarus]

The treble clef is most likely the melody, you can play that using the bass if you know how to read music notes. The stuff about the treble clef are indeed the chords that are used in the bars below. The guitar usually either strums these chords shown or plays a patten within those notes which can be associated to the melody. The reason why the bass tabs are different at different location that involve the same chord is because as long as the bass guitar plays the notes or at least some of the notes from the chord that is played at a given time then it is fine to add extra notes to give variety to music or what some would call flavor. So for the most part the chords are provided for two reasons imo, 1 is that it allows you to follow were you are located in the music (helpful if your playing with other people) and 2 is that you can use that information to create improvisations for music by playing your own pattern within the given chord (as long as you play the root note as some point in time)

That is what I know from my knowledge of playing for 5 months, so it might not be the best explanation but I hope it helps.

[E2daGGurl]

The bass tab usually follows roots and fifths (and then some other parts) of that chord symbol (the letter/number combination) written above.

Guitarists, vocalists and many other instruments read treble clef. There is a "missing line" in between the two clefs - written as an extra (sixth) line below the treble clef for middle C - and extra (sixth line) above the bass clef (same middle C). The treble lines are therefore E, G, B, D and F (the spaces within the staff are consequently F, A,C,E). Note that these don't correspond at all to the lines in tab (which represent strings).

When learning to play bass, most books/systems teach you a bit about reading the treble clef - but to sight read bass music, you need the bass clef. A good system will teach you to use those chord symbols to build bass lines even if all you have is the chart given to other musicians for the treble clef.

There are lots of places on the web, including Wikipedia, where you can study the music stave or staff (the two clefs together).

So, if the chord is, say G7, your notes could be G, B, D or F in that bar or segment of a bar, while the melody could be anything at all that the composer deems melodious with a G7, and the rhythm guitar will usually be playing G7 - and you, the bass player, will fool around with one of those four notes - until the chord changes.