Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
what's the best way to memorize notes?
- Thread starter sublimestylee
- Start date
Try to think of the notes as a pattern. This helps with any type of memorization; I have found it to be the easiest way.
- Dec 13, 1999
- 11,736
- 8,941
- 70
- Disclosures
- Chuck Sher publishes my book, WALKING BASSICS:The Fundamentals of Jazz Bass Playing.
Playing through two octave scales and saying the note names as I played them. Once you get to the point that 8th note=120bpm and you're playing Db melodic minor, you'll be getting pretty solid...
http://www.studybass.com/tools/bass-clef-notes/
Just click the URL and do the drill over and over and over and over...
Just click the URL and do the drill over and over and over and over...
Learn some theory so you understand (much more important than memorizing or "knowing" is to UNDERSTAND) the logic of the fingerboard. The strings are tuned a fourth apart. Each fret is a half-step.
Take a major scale and learn it not only in a position, but learn that same key on each string. So you can play a G major scale with your first finger at the second fret? Good start, but that's got very little to do with "knowing" the G major scale. Can you play the G major scale all on the E string? Can you play it on the A string (even just going from B to B- and I"m ignoring the modal implications here on purpose).
And SING scales. That helps force your ear to work with your hands and eyes. You want to know what that next note's going to sound like before you play it. So instead of just running scales, sing each note as you say it when you practice.
Then looking at the logic of the neck so you see that the fifth is always on the next string higher and two frets higher (or on the same fret and one string lower), know that a major third is four frets on the same string and that it's one fret lower on the next higher string, etc.
Combine that with taking a note at random and finding it every where on the neck. Then once you know were all the Eb's are, you'll be able to figure out where all the Ab's are. And that'll lead you to finding all the Db's, etc.
jte
Take a major scale and learn it not only in a position, but learn that same key on each string. So you can play a G major scale with your first finger at the second fret? Good start, but that's got very little to do with "knowing" the G major scale. Can you play the G major scale all on the E string? Can you play it on the A string (even just going from B to B- and I"m ignoring the modal implications here on purpose).
And SING scales. That helps force your ear to work with your hands and eyes. You want to know what that next note's going to sound like before you play it. So instead of just running scales, sing each note as you say it when you practice.
Then looking at the logic of the neck so you see that the fifth is always on the next string higher and two frets higher (or on the same fret and one string lower), know that a major third is four frets on the same string and that it's one fret lower on the next higher string, etc.
Combine that with taking a note at random and finding it every where on the neck. Then once you know were all the Eb's are, you'll be able to figure out where all the Ab's are. And that'll lead you to finding all the Db's, etc.
jte
This isn't the end-all but...
One thing that helps me out relating to what jte says above is that I memorized the circle of fifths backwards and forwards. When you go counter clockwise, it is the order of fourths when you go clockwise, it is the order of fifths. If you know the strings on a six string bass, you already have half of the circle memorized! Knowing the circle can also help with chord progressions etc. later. If you can think in 4ths and 5ths, you can apply that to the fretboard. If you happen to know the note that you are on, you will easily know what the note is on the string below and above at the same fret.
One thing that helps me out relating to what jte says above is that I memorized the circle of fifths backwards and forwards. When you go counter clockwise, it is the order of fourths when you go clockwise, it is the order of fifths. If you know the strings on a six string bass, you already have half of the circle memorized! Knowing the circle can also help with chord progressions etc. later. If you can think in 4ths and 5ths, you can apply that to the fretboard. If you happen to know the note that you are on, you will easily know what the note is on the string below and above at the same fret.
also...
There is a program out there called Absolute Fretboard trainer that has some good excercises. It has one excercise where it shows you the note on the bass clef and you play that note on your bass. You can speed up or slow down the excercise to match your skill level. It has some other stuff that help you to get down the notes on the fretboard too. I think that seeing the note and playing on the bass is the best way overall but I think it helps to do different things for variety and for versatility.
There is a program out there called Absolute Fretboard trainer that has some good excercises. It has one excercise where it shows you the note on the bass clef and you play that note on your bass. You can speed up or slow down the excercise to match your skill level. It has some other stuff that help you to get down the notes on the fretboard too. I think that seeing the note and playing on the bass is the best way overall but I think it helps to do different things for variety and for versatility.
While deferring to the other posts, I have "hot spots" that I started with (e.g. the 8th fret C on the E string) and do things relative to that for a while. It's not perfect, but it's practical.
Every now and again I blindly pick a note then find that note on the lower 12 frets on every string as quickly as possible. It's somewhat effective, but a more structured system, as outlined by the other posts, is undoubtedly better.
KO
Every now and again I blindly pick a note then find that note on the lower 12 frets on every string as quickly as possible. It's somewhat effective, but a more structured system, as outlined by the other posts, is undoubtedly better.
KO
I personally tend to "colour by numbers." It would likely get my hand smacked with a pointer by some teachers, but I think of the chord root, say A, and then think of all other notes I am playing as they relate to the chord, like "now I play the 4th, then the 5th, then a run up to the root hitting the 6th and the flat 7th, then back down to the root of the II, then the 5th of that chord, then the IV, then a walk down the dominant to the root of the I." Which brings me back to A.
I find using this approach allows me to think quicker, as my fingers know where the numbered chord tones are regardless of where I am on the neck, I don't have to think about whether an F or an F# is the 6th of A, or what note the minor 7th is. I can also transpose to different keys very quickly.
I find using this approach allows me to think quicker, as my fingers know where the numbered chord tones are regardless of where I am on the neck, I don't have to think about whether an F or an F# is the 6th of A, or what note the minor 7th is. I can also transpose to different keys very quickly.
I usually do musictheory.net for the trainers. It's a bit more broad which is never a bad thing. I really like the triad trainer. This is all great for memorizing the notes on the staff.
But as for the notes on the intsrument - what worked best for me is just sightreading at least once a day.
If you really want to get awesome at it all. Transcribe by ear your favorite songs, and then sightread them. This'll work on everything.
But as for the notes on the intsrument - what worked best for me is just sightreading at least once a day.
If you really want to get awesome at it all. Transcribe by ear your favorite songs, and then sightread them. This'll work on everything.
+1 to musictheory.net. If you ever get done with that site, check out teoria.com
As others have said, play through scales on the bass and SING, not say, the note names as you play. You want to make sure you sing them in as close of a pitch as you can get to the actual thing, since this allows you to internalize the note and get its sound stuck in your head.
Also, try to sightread, even if it is painfully slow and frustrating.
As others have said, play through scales on the bass and SING, not say, the note names as you play. You want to make sure you sing them in as close of a pitch as you can get to the actual thing, since this allows you to internalize the note and get its sound stuck in your head.
Also, try to sightread, even if it is painfully slow and frustrating.
- Dec 13, 1999
- 11,736
- 8,941
- 70
- Disclosures
- Chuck Sher publishes my book, WALKING BASSICS:The Fundamentals of Jazz Bass Playing.
I disagree, trying to do too many things at the same time is a good way to insure nothing sticks. Learning the names of the notes and the corresponding relationship to key signature and position on the fingerboard is one exercise. Ear training is another. And trying to work on ear training by playing scales (especially if you're working on this at tempo) isn't the best way to go about it.
1. Know the names of your strings.
2. Know the sequence C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B, C ...
3. Know that each fret represents a semitone change from the adjacent fret.
4. Relate your neck position markers to notes.
5. Recognize the octave patterns across strings.
6. Or just use rote - there's not that many notes.
2. Know the sequence C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B, C ...
3. Know that each fret represents a semitone change from the adjacent fret.
4. Relate your neck position markers to notes.
5. Recognize the octave patterns across strings.
6. Or just use rote - there's not that many notes.
Transcribe (including writing it out). That's all you need. It will train your ears, your fingers, your eyes and your theoretical knowledge in synch. You'll never run out of material and you can find songs at all levels.
+1
Check out the following link for some great "cheat sheets":The first one has a fretboard layout with the notes.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Here's some TB links for learning to read bass clef and more:
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=419687 Read bass clef
http://www.download.com/NoteCard/3000-2133_4-10004005.html Download program-learning bass clef (recommended- TB member AlphaMale)
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=479642 Learn to read music 1 of 2
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=479401 2 of 2
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?p=6521582 Improve site reading
It's a drill.
Also forcing yourself to learn a score without using tabs.
Just like playing in the dark forces you to learn your neck without looking.
Also forcing yourself to learn a score without using tabs.
Just like playing in the dark forces you to learn your neck without looking.
