Practice material for fluent upper register playing

[RyRob813]

I would like to get good at playing upper register and ledger line notes on the fly. I'm good with just a high D or C, but then if it's in a quick eighth note line I might forget that I can just go across the strings for a certain note instead of the whole back down, and then I screw up that run.

So I'd like to get some literature that's nearly all upper register ledger line notes to practice with. Does anyone have a link to a website with it, or something they could attach to me in an e-mail, or a book to suggest?

If so, post back or pm me

Thanks!

[WillPlay4Food]

Why not just take the stuff you're currently practicing and move it up an octave? Or am I not understanding your question? I know my teacher is now making me do all my exercises both below and above the 12th fret.

[RyRob813]

Originally Posted by WillPlay4Food

Why not just take the stuff you're currently practicing and move it up an octave? Or am I not understanding your question? I know my teacher is now making me do all my exercises both below and above the 12th fret.

Yea I had thought of that and I actually am going to do that, I do it all the time anyway...but I'm more so concerned with the notes from the 5th fret to the 12th...that's the area I have to think a split second about

[jperalta]

Most etude books will have excercises like this. Books like 40 Etudes for Solo Cello, Op. 73 by David Popper will have excercises in all ranges of your bass that will help you think across the strings and not just up and down them.

[DocBop]

If you're not working on sightreading up the neck then just take basic improv excerises and play them above the 12th fret. Take Real Book tunes and play thru the changes in arpeggios, play the chord/scales in 8th's and any other improv practice. Play the heads of tune up an octace. Also classical music lots of etudes and also look at other bass clef music like trombone music.

[WillPlay4Food]

Originally Posted by RyRob813

Yea I had thought of that and I actually am going to do that, I do it all the time anyway...but I'm more so concerned with the notes from the 5th fret to the 12th...that's the area I have to think a split second about

I hear ya man, I'm in the same boat. What my teacher had me do was work on scales / modes / arpeggios in all keys on the whole neck.

For example, take the oft-abused C major scale. Play it everywhere on the neck. Find every C on the neck and play the C major scale. You'll need to learn different fingering patterns as the C at the 10th fret of the D string doesn't allow you to use 3 strings to play the familiar 2-4, 1-2-4, 1-3-4 pattern. Pacman's scale practice method is another way to learn your neck and also gets you away from root to root scale practice.

Also practice everything in 2 or more octaves. Use different fingerings to play the scales up and down.

[RyRob813]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the help!

[Blake Bass]

I'm not sure if this book is still in print but it has a ton of upper register stuff and it's pretty challenging. Chord Studies For Electric bass by Rich Appleman and Joseph Viola.
Berklee press Publications, distributed by Hal Leonard.

[DocBop]

Originally Posted by Blake Bass

I'm not sure if this book is still in print but it has a ton of upper register stuff and it's pretty challenging. Chord Studies For Electric bass by Rich Appleman and Joseph Viola.
Berklee press Publications, distributed by Hal Leonard.

+10

That is a great book. I like the trombone version of the book because the pages are cleaner, the bass version has fingerings written and page gets cluttered.

[Audiophage]

I've been working through the Simandl Method Part 2 lately. It's for Double Bass, but it deals with thumb position which means that a large majority of the book has you reading ledger lines. Actually, it gets to a point where it surpasses the range of the average bass guitar, because when you get really high on the DB the space between notes gets exponentially smaller due to the larger scale.