Learning notes on my bass

[Bass]

...Take a progressive book without tabs, and try to play the notes. Simple steps yield fastest results. But if you don't like the music the book offers, any book without tabs will do.

There are some great ideas here, and I really like this one. I'm working through the "Hal Leonard Electric Bass Method" right now, and it seems to be a good way to learn notes.

Also, there are 3 song books that accompany the method book. So if a person was ambitious they could learn some songs at the same time.

 

[mambo4]

What I did was memorize the "dots" up to the octave

E A D G
G C F Bb
A D G C
B E A D
C#F#B E
E A D G

then fill in the blanks on the fly


but the best method is probably Pac Man's sure -Fire Scale Practice Method
because you will both learn the notes on the fret board and the scales they belong to.

 

[rogerb]

It just takes practice, at first it may take a few seconds or more to figure out the note, eventually it should become instantaneous. We’re not talking one day to the next, weeks or months if you don’t practice hours a day. Same with reading the notes, and then there is note length. I’d say do all at once, but maybe separate exercises, as difficult as that may sound.

 

[JRA]

...it isn't rocket science, there's only 12 notes, it just takes time and practice.

Good luck and welcome to TB!

i'll second that!

good luck with your "notes," @Kgveteran!

 

[JC Nelson]

Jim Stinnett wrote many great learning books when he was alive.
His concept was to make it as simple as possible and gradually build on what you learn

Reading in Bass Clef
This is the book that helped me memorize the notes and learn to read music after wasting hundreds of hours learning orchestra and musical gigs by ear.

Reading in Bass Clef will build your skills in both learning the fretboard and learning to read music.
ribc

Mel Bay
Bass Fretboard Basics: Essential Concepts Series
Available on amazon for as little as $2.50 used, you can also view a low quality scan on scribd.com
This has a wealth of information from basic to advanced that will have you hanging with the music school graduates and talking their language.

 

[MotorCityMinion]

"...it isn't rocket science, there's only 12 notes, it just takes time and practice."

Yup, that's why I take my shoes off when I play. EZ_PZ.

 

[kmon]

I use an app called Fretuoso so I can work on notes anywhere. Very useful.

 

[J Wilson]

I wrote four (later, five) vertical columns, one for each string, starting with the nut at the top of the page, down to the last fretted note at the bottom, like . . . .

A (Open String)
B-flat
B
C
C#
D
D#
E

. . . and on and on.

Then the note across from the note on the next string below was a 4th above. A fifth two more frets uphill.

Then the note below the note on the next string above was a fifth below, a fourth below two more frets downhill.

And so on, working out the major 3rds, octaves, etc., until the little light came on. (Downhill, towards the body, Uphill towards the nut and tuners)

Got to know where you are.

 

[rebellovw]

In addition to what the others have said - I suggest singing/saying the notes as you play a scale up and down. Will be rough at first but keep at it. Then try to improvise saying the notes - A, A, A, G A, A , A C A - something like that.

 

[skycruiser]

I'd recommend learning to read music, kill two birds with one stone without much more overhead.

This. Almost better to read music and be able to play from standard notation than to know note names. At some point your mind switches to go direct from the note seen on the staff to playing the note on the instrument. It's a beautiful thing when you get there.

 

[JimmyM]

I learned how to read bass clef and find notes just by buying your basic Mel Bay beginner book and working through it. Don’t try to memorize too much at one time, though. Better to spend 3 minutes learning one note than 1 minute learning 3 notes.

 

[CaribooBass]

There are some great ideas here on how to learn the notes. All of them are valuable and I know you will find the method that works best for you.

Just a few thoughts from my experience.

A saying from my favourite musician.
“ Learn something fast, you will forget it at the same speed. Learn something slow and you will never forget it.”

Although that is badly paraphrased here by me, it is still a musical truth said by Itzhak Perlman.
So do not worry about having to learn things fast. Build your foundation strong and you will never regret it.

I learned where my notes are on the bass by playing a very technical song (not Beautiful Dreamer, thank you very much) it is much more advanced than that…..Happy Birthday!

Played it in all the keys I could with surprising results.
People are surprised when they start singing happy B-day and you play along.

I have rambled on enough. Enjoy your Bass journey.

Clayton

 

[Papageno]

1. Dump tabs.
2. get yourself a keyboard instrument (you don't need anything fancy; if you cannot, then even a keyboard app on a smartphone will do the job).
2. learn basics of music notation(*) (bass clef and treble clef) and music theory (scales construction and key signatures, chords construction). Use the keyboard to train your ear and sing.
3. with the help of the keyboard, explore the notes on the fingerboard of your bass, starting from the open strings (be very progressive).
4. sing the notes that you play.
5. play the notes that you sing.
6. read, sing, play
7. read, sing, play
...
1000. read, sing, play
....
10000. read, sing, play
...

(*) notes played on the bass sound one octave lower than the notes written on staff.

 

[g-dude]

(*) notes played on the bass sound one octave lower than the notes written on staff.[/quotes]

That’s the best part!

 

[JC Nelson]

Studybass.com also has a great layout for learning the notes on your bass.
Here is an example below, a pdf version is available on their website at the following link
Invalid Link Removed

 

[Tuur]

An exercises that has helped me in the past: pick a position on the fretboard (I’d stay with the first 4 frets), then start with the C major scale. Pick the lowest note (open E string) and go all the way up to the highest note on that position (b on the G string), playing each note and saying the note name. Do that a few times a day for a week, then move on to the next scale in the circle of fifths - I.e. F major. It will just be one more difference, changing b into b flat. Just keep going through the scales, no need to rush it’s a long term process.

then you can repeat that exercise on different places on the neck. You can also use arpeggios, triads, pentatonics or anything you’re learning once you’ve been on scales for a while.

Would also suggest writing it all out in bass clef to help you visualise the notes and improve your reading. No more tab!

This exercise helps with remembering where all the notes are, as well as your theory, learning the notes in each scale etc.

 

[Kgveteran]

My head is spinning ‍

 

[noeinstein]

My head is spinning ‍

Right?!
All these suggestions are good and will get you where you want to go, but thinking about all of them will make your head spin. As you can see, we all approach the same problem a little differently. Pick one that makes the most sense to you and get to work on it. Report back in one week.

 

[Kgveteran]

Right?!
All these suggestions are good and will get you where you want to go, but thinking about all of them will make your head spin. As you can see, we all approach the same problem a little differently. Pick one that makes the most sense to you and get to work on it. Report back in one week.

Right, im thinking i gotta do em all, it was killing me

Ok, im gonna do that, pick one and move on…shheeeeesh

 

[Kgveteran]

Exercise that helped me:

• Set metronome to a reasonable beat (phone app can work great here).
• Pick a note, say A.
• Play that note on the E string on a click.
• Now play an A on the A string on the next click.
• Now play an A on the D string on the next click.
• You guessed it, play that note on the G string.

Now pick a different note and repeat. A few minutes a day will really help.

Dude! I just got out of a lesson and my teacher threw me a curve ball (kudos to him). He had some notes that i was to just play, and i dont know my notes
I have to learn my notes and im starting tonight, i am going to put your exercise to the test! Im very optimistic, for what ever reason it seems very simple, thank you, i will update as i improve

HAHAHAHAHA i just did my A and i already know 4 notes omg its killing me!!!!!! I cant stop laughing

I guess its a combination of ready to listen and really listening Thanx again