Treble Clef in relation to the Bass' range.(Excluding harmonics)

[The_Orlonater]

I'm having trouble reading a lot of tapping music where the top part is being read in Treble Clef. I thought bass only goes up to the first G(g1?) in Treble Clef. Apparently it goes up to G2, can someone please help me with all the Treble Clef notes? Starting from C only!(C in Treble Clef, it looks like an E, and it's your low E).

Please ask me to clarify if needed.

[amacintosh]

Middle C is the 17th fret on the G string. Bass, however, is read an octave lower than it is written, so the fifth fret on the G string would be read as middle C but actually it is an octave lower. I don't know whether or not this treble clef would be also written an octave higher than it is though.
Is that what you were looking for?

[Mushroo]

Hi Orlonater, if the piece is written specifically for bass, my hunch is that Middle C on the treble clef (one ledger line below the clef) is the 5th fret of your G string. Strictly speaking, this would be "wrong" by an octave (as Alec alludes to), but it would be the most convenient way to notate a 2 hand tapping piece.

[DudeistMonk]

Unless I'm mistaken The Lowest C on your bass (unless you have a 5 String is the second space in the bass clef.Which means that next C up (G string 5th fret) is middle C (the note right in between the bass and treble clefs) and you have another C at G string fret 17 which is the first C in treble clef.



G_____<--- G that sits right on top of the treble clef - Highest note you can play on a 24 fret 4 string bass
E_____
C_____ <------Treble C - G string 17th fret
A_____
F_____

C <---- Middle C G string 5th fret
_____
G____
E____
C____<---- bass C - A string 3rd fret
A____

EDIT:

Middle C is the 15th fret on the G string. Bass, however, is read an octave lower than it is written, so the third fret on the G string would be read as middle C but actually it is an octave lower. I don't know whether or not this treble clef would be also written an octave higher than it is though.
Is that what you were looking for?

That rings a bell...I think he is right, was writing my response when he posted...put too much damned effort into that diagram to delete it

[The_Orlonater]

Originally Posted by DudeistMonk

Unless I'm mistaken The Lowest C on your bass (unless you have a 5 String is the second space in the bass clef.Which means that next C up (G string 5th fret) is middle C (the note right in between the bass and treble clefs) and you have another C at G string fret 17 which is the first C in treble clef.



G_____<--- G that sits right on top of the treble clef - Highest note you can play on a 24 fret 4 string bass
E_____
C_____ <------Treble C - G string 17th fret
A_____
F_____

C <---- Middle C G string 5th fret
_____
G____
E____
C____<---- bass C - A string 3rd fret
A____

EDIT:


That rings a bell...I think he is right, was writing my response when he posted...put too much damned effort into that diagram to delete it

Hey, thanks for that. I've been told the middle C is on the 17 fret on the G string.

https://www.student.gsu.edu/~jmatthe...sic/Broken.pdf

Here's what I'm reading. I know there's a tab under it, but I want to understand Treble Clef better, so..

[The_Orlonater]

Hey guys, I think I figured it out. Let me explain it. Parenthesis are what it looks like in Bass clef.

24th fret G (Looks like a B on the 4th fret on the G string)

22nd Fret (Looks like an A on the 2nd fret on the G string)


and so on?

That would work with the piece I'm about to show.

[alexgeddy]

Here's a link that shows the piano note frequencies to a bass guitar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_key_frequencies

Middle C is the 17 fret on the G string and the Low B is at 31 hertz. if you get over the frequency thing it kinda straightens it all out....

Hope this helps

Bill

[The_Orlonater]

Originally Posted by alexgeddy

Here's a link that shows the piano note frequencies to a bass guitar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_key_frequencies

Middle C is the 17 fret on the G string and the Low B is at 31 hertz. if you get over the frequency thing it kinda straightens it all out....

Hope this helps

Bill

So, if this is true then that means our hgihest G on the 24th fret looks like the B on the A string 2nd fret in bass clef. The piece of music I'm reading is different. One side is lying to me..

[HaVIC5]

This is where things get confusing, distinguishing the different between WRITTEN pitch and SOUNDING pitch. In case you didn't know the bass guitar (and it's cousin the upright bass) are examples of transposing instruments - instruments that read one thing, but the actual sound that is produced is different. The actual sound that is produced on a bass guitar is transpose down an octave from what you read on the page, meaning that the bass is written an octave higher than it actually sounds. If you were to play the low E below the staff on the piano and the low E on the bass, you'd find that the E on the piano is one octave higher than the one on the bass.

Why is it like this? Well, for one, if we were reading ACTUAL pitch, we'd be way the heck down in the gutter as far as ledger lines go (low E is the space below the 4th ledger line down, yikes!) and it would be really difficult to read, especially in fast passages in the lower register. Composers and arrangers have then customarily written the bass part up an octave so everything is laid out nicely in the bass clef and we don't have to read notes way too low for their own good.

This translates into how we read the treble clef. The sounding, or ACTUAL middle C, as in the C above the bass clef and below the treble clef, is indeed what the orlanator suggested in post 5 - the 17th fret on the G string. However, when we would see that in a part, we would read it as it was written, or the 5th fret G string. This means that on a 24 fret bass we would read all the way up to the G above the staff on a treble clef (24th fret G string), but it would only sound like a G on the second line of the treble clef. Composers and arrangers rarely incorporate treble clef sections into parts because it is so high on our range, and reading ledger lines above the staff is considered easier (generally the 12th fret G 3 ledger lines up is considered comfortable).

What people reading out of the Real Book or playing parts NOT written for bass guitar sometimes do to keep it in a comfortable reading range is play treble clef parts DOWN from what's written (in other words, TWO octaves below how it sounds). This would mean that middle C would be played on the 3rd fret A string. This should definitely not be done when you are playing a part specifically written for bass, but when you are reinterpreting music that's written in treble clef, this is a perfectly valid solution.

[amacintosh]

My bad, the frets I gave are B flats... no sleep last night, up drinking, then had to get up at 530 to catch a plane, must remember not to do that again