Beginners Questions?

[Zachry23]

I am a beginner moving right along in my Hal Leonard "Bass" book. I've learned and memorized how to read all the standard notation I've been taught thus far, and plan to continue to learn all the notation a bassist must know. BUT, when I play the music I use the tab provided w/ the standard notation.

How much might this limit me? Or how far can I get?

I also have a question about my teacher. He has been teaching me just about music theory. I have never even played for him once, and I have been going there a month.

Is this normal?

Is sightreading music when you read music as you play it, not w/o playing it?

[metalandjazzman]

when you go home just mess around the bass. Like take a knife for example messing around ewith the bass gives you your point. And music theroy gives you your sharpness Most bass players and guitar players just read tabs and dont know a thing about music.
But music theroy you learn spcial skills. And if you get good enough in your music theory you can move up on the doubble bass or frettles bass. Learning music theroy on electric guitar is a gift. Just listen what the man is telling you and play at home.

[wayleft]

I think I disagree with the above. IME theoretical knowledge does not translate directly to a physical skill. Not to criticize your teacher but If someone wants to learn for instance the C major scale they should be using their brain, hands, and ears all at the same time.
On the other hand MetalandJazzman is correct that an understanding of musical theory in general is usable not just with the electric bass but indeed with almost any instrument.

[metalandjazzman]

Well not to over load you. It could be very helpful if you learn bass cleft and treble cleft.

[Zachry23]

still not sure you guys answered my ???

[Hutch1]

Did your instructor tell you how long it will be before he starts having you play the bass during lessons?

He might have a decent plan to get you well-grounded in theory before playing live with/for him--though, like metalandjazzman said, you can certainly play at home.

Reminds me of pilots. They spend a LOT of time in ground school learning the fundamentals of flight, regulations, aircraft systems, etc., before they ever get behind the yoke. So it sounds like you might be in "Bass Ground School."

[rcarraher]

Originally Posted by Zachry23

I am a beginner moving right along in my Hal Leonard "Bass" book. I've learned and memorized how to read all the standard notation I've been taught thus far, and plan to continue to learn all the notation a bassist must know. BUT, when I play the music I use the tab provided w/ the standard notation.

How much might this limit me? Or how far can I get?

I also have a question about my teacher. He has been teaching me just about music theory. I have never even played for him once, and I have been going there a month.

Is this normal?

Is sightreading music when you read music as you play it, not w/o playing it?

You'll find the standard two schools of thought here about TAB. I personally love it, both as a teaching tool, and a learning tool. I do prefer it in both instances with the standard or what I call universal notation. (Standard notaion in the bass clef can be applied o many instruments, for instance trombone. Bass Tab is for a bass.)

Your second question is a little more difficult. I teach mostly begineers, and am not nearly as worldly or even good as a lot of guys here, that said, although theory to me is a foundation, I try to make my lessons fun. I stress theory, technique, practise, learning scales etc...but I always, from lesson one, try to apply it in a practicle way by ending the lesson with a song or riff that the lesson applys or works in. Usually something that might interest the student as far as a song goes. As a teacher, you want your students to succede, therefore, you need to keep there interest and the easiest way to do that is to make it fun for them.

[cassanova]

Originally Posted by metalandjazzman

Well not to over load you. It could be very helpful if you learn bass cleft and treble cleft.

Originally Posted by metalandjazzman

Well not to over load you. It could be very helpful if you learn bass cleft and treble cleft.

Not trying to sound like a jerk, but before giving advice about reading notation, you should really learn how to spell it correctly first. It's clef, not cleft.

But you are correct, learning to read in both F and G clef will help the OP with his overall musicianship.

[BiigM]

IMO it's totally wrong to have a teacher and not play for the first month. Ok, he want's to give you a good theoretical foundation which is a good idea. But the good plan would be to give you this while you are learning your instrument.
By not actually playing the instrument you are not getting the technical side of things, the natural eartraining you get from practising, and all the other stuff that (along with theory and reading), makes a good bassplayer.

Personally I never start my students out on theory only. Usually I do the opposite for some weeks maybe a month. Most people want to play, and I see no reason to delay the fun stuff. If you play around with the bass without any technique pointers from your teacher, you just might imprint a lot of stuff that will be hard to remove again.

The only time I exclude time with the instrument, is if the student hurt their hands or something like that.

As for the tab question. Try to use it as little as possible. When learning to read i have my students cover the tab. Then after having read the music they can use it to se if they read it right.

[Jim Campbell]

Originally Posted by Zachry23

I am a beginner moving right along in my Hal Leonard "Bass" book. I've learned and memorized how to read all the standard notation I've been taught thus far, and plan to continue to learn all the notation a bassist must know. BUT, when I play the music I use the tab provided w/ the standard notation.

How much might this limit me? Or how far can I get?

I also have a question about my teacher. He has been teaching me just about music theory. I have never even played for him once, and I have been going there a month.

Is this normal?

Is sightreading music when you read music as you play it, not w/o playing it?

sight reading as i know it means that a guy can hand you a piece of music,cold...... and you are able to play it first time from the page...it's a really worthwhile skill to have...tab is a great tool,but the standard language of music is notation......and in a lot of situations there will be no tab available.....using tab as a shortcut around notation will definitely limit you

[mambo4]

RE: teacher
It seems odd that your teacher hasn't had you play yet.
I would think that proper technique would be among the first lessons.


RE: Tab
I think sticking to TAB will indeed limit you.
The only situation where I think Tab is worth any time is if you haven't memorized the notes on the neck.
Once you have memorized the notes on the neck, it is just as easy to deduce where to fret, unless having to choose between 1 or 2 possibilities hurts your brain too much.
If you are going to make a habit of using one or the other, you will benefit far more from learning notation in the long run.

Sight reading means that you can look at the page and play it, without stopping to "figure it out".
I've been playing for ~20 years and I'm maybe 15% able to sight read, tho I can figure out simple rhythms rather quickly.
It has not really been a focus for me, but I certainly wish I had focused on it early on.

If you are just starting, now is the time to invest in learning to read notation. I will be challenging but it will pay off tremendously in the future.

[Zachry23]

Thanks for all the contributing post. It helped.

[oldrookie]

I think theory gives you a way to understand what is likely to happen next... a way to figure out what the writer is probably going to do and that helps you prepare and adapt quickly to musical events.