Learning from sheet music question.

[wittynamehere]

I picked up the bass about 3 months ago, and have been working so far without a teacher (I Live in the midwest), although I have found one that I think will be good, but he can't take me on for a few weeks, but I want to keep working in the meantime and I'm hoping you guys can give me some advice on what you do when you are learning a new song.

I snagged the Book "What Duck Done" and have been working on learning some of the songs in it, Time is Tight went pretty well, and now I'm on to trying The Dock of The Bay.

I'm finding that I am having a harder time in this, it seems like if I play for long stretches, I have trouble keeping time, loosing my place, etc. I've been working on it at 60 bpm, then backed it off to 50, but if I go any lower than that it gets exponentially harder it seems. I am wondering if I am better off choosing a section of the song, say 4 or 5 bars, getting it down, then working up to where I can play it at the tempo of the recording, then moving on to the next 4 bars and repeating the process, or is it easier to get the whole song down at a slow speed, then notch it up a bit at a time?

[Jim Campbell]

Originally Posted by wittynamehere

I picked up the bass about 3 months ago, and have been working so far without a teacher (I Live in the midwest), although I have found one that I think will be good, but he can't take me on for a few weeks, but I want to keep working in the meantime and I'm hoping you guys can give me some advice on what you do when you are learning a new song.

I snagged the Book "What Duck Done" and have been working on learning some of the songs in it, Time is Tight went pretty well, and now I'm on to trying The Dock of The Bay.

I'm finding that I am having a harder time in this, it seems like if I play for long stretches, I have trouble keeping time, loosing my place, etc. I've been working on it at 60 bpm, then backed it off to 50, but if I go any lower than that it gets exponentially harder it seems. I am wondering if I am better off choosing a section of the song, say 4 or 5 bars, getting it down, then working up to where I can play it at the tempo of the recording, then moving on to the next 4 bars and repeating the process, or is it easier to get the whole song down at a slow speed, then notch it up a bit at a time?

accuracy then speed..try doing a scale,finger exercise regimen with the metronome while saying the note names out loud.....if you can a good teacher and/or method book(s) would be helpful.....multiple short sessions with rest between would probably be better than long sessions for now

[Akshat]

I had a small doubt,is there any difference between the two,in the manner they are played or something?

[wittynamehere]

doesn't the fact that the bottom ones hang down work as some sort of "performance note", those notes are "heavier" so they hang down, and you should turn on your "metal face" when you play them?

Sorry, I'm prolly not caffienated enough to be humorous yet this AM.

[Febs]

Originally Posted by Akshat

I had a small doubt,is there any difference between the two,in the manner they are played or something?

There is no difference.

As a general rule, notes that are above the middle line of the staff should have the stems down, and notes that are below the middle line of the staff should have the stems up, so with respect to the direction of the stems, the bottom example is the better practice. However, in the bottom example, the stems are on the wrong side of the note heads (they should be on the left side, not the right). Again, however, there is no difference at all in how those two examples would be played.

[Jim Nazium]

Originally Posted by Akshat

I had a small doubt,is there any difference between the two,in the manner they are played or something?

No. The direction of the stems means nothing. It's just usually more convenient to write low notes with the stems pointing up and high notes with them pointing down.

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by Febs

However, in the bottom example, the stems are on the wrong side of the note heads (they should be on the left side, not the right).

That just indicates an extremely fast tempo...see, the notes are going by so fast that the stems are outrunning the noteheads.

[MonetBass]

Originally Posted by Hoover

That just indicates an extremely fast tempo...see, the notes are going by so fast that the stems are outrunning the noteheads.

Everyone's a comedian.

Back to topic: Yes, work on the measures you're having trouble getting down S-L-O-W-L-Y. The work it up to tempo. Then move on. +1 on working on scales, again slowly, then work up the tempo. Muscle memory will help you more than anything, and it may take a while to get that.

[Billnc]

Count really slow music twice as fast. Of course play it slowly but at 50 or less it's hard to count on the beat, I'll keep 16ths going in my head.

[Akshat]

thanks alot for clearing that up
cheers