Looking for a Good Melody Book

[Doley50]

I'm trying to put more arco into my playing , while also trying to
learn to read music.

I would like to find a book that has some simple melodies .

I'm slowly working my way up the fingerboard but it will be
awhile before I can play in the trebel cleff.

I mostly play fretted instuments and I always think in terms
of frets not postion with the bass.
Do you think this thourgh process will hurt me ?

Thanks John

[tzadik]

Wow, you sound very ambitious. This can be a good thing.

If you are not super strong at reading music yet, here's what I'd do.

Divide up your practice time between:

1. Got a piano? Find some piano music and get thee acquainted with treble and bass clefs by forced sightreading every day. It'll suck at first, but it does get better fast with practice, and I think it is probably the easiest, most musical way to learn both clefs.

See if you can find an old hymnal - typically the rhythms are easy and there is stuff in all keys. Start with the stuff in C and go as slow as you need to. There is some easy Clementi stuff too that I used when I was beginning to get my both-clefs-at-once thing happenig. It was simple and got me off to a good start.

2. For now, just bow open strings and stuff in the first few positions. If you insist on bowing more, GO SLOWLY, yse the best technique you can muster, and BE MUSICAL about it. You are right on with not going too high up the neck at first.

3. No one's going to stop you from thinking about frets, and honestly, I don't really know the names of all the "positions", and it hasn't slowed me down. Whatever you do, know what you're doing. Don't aim and hope. Know. Hear what is it going to sound like before you play it.

[Aaron Saunders]

I mostly play fretted instuments and I always think in terms
of frets not postion with the bass.
Do you think this thourgh process will hurt me ?

You'll start thinking in notes soon enough. If you make a concentrated, concious effort to think in terms of notes and DB positions, you'll leave the paint-by-numbers approach to music behind in short order.

[Mingus Fingus]

when i started playing i found the George Vance Progressive Rep. books to be very helpful in learning positions. it starts with very simple melodies like twinkle twinkle and gets progressively more difficult by the end of the 3rd book.

[Doley50]

Thanks for your advise.
Thinking in terms of notes !!!
I should have see that coming . But yes your right.
Thanks the kick.