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Learning to read F Clef

#22
kreider204 said:
I had a similar experience. I started on saxophone for several years before learning bass. In my case, I learned to play bass from method books that contained NO tab, so I started learning the F clef right away by associating the note on the page with the fingering on the bass, not with the name of the note. So, I would see the dot, think "That's this fret on this string," and then think "And that fret on that string is an F#, so that note is an F#." In other words, I associate the notation with the instrument, and only then with the note it represents. I can still read both G and F clef just fine - and in my head, I'm always imagining fingerings on sax or bass respectively.
Click to expand...

haha, yeah, I can read and play for tenor sax also (although "play" is a relative term.)
I made the mistake, and I do think it is a mistake, to lean too much on tabs, they always felt like "cheating" in a way, like I really didn't know what I was playing. I'll break the habit soon.
I'm getting a lot of great tips here so I should be able to nail this down by...oh, I don't know, summer maybe...:smug:
 
#23
Here are a few links you may want to check out:
~Sight Reading
{www.studybass.com/lessons/reading-music/bass-clef-fretboard-notes/bass-clef-notes-fretboard.pdf} Note: paste web address to your search bar to Download this cool doc: clef to fretboard translation. Memorize this!
1 Learning
2
Improving
Practicing
Sight reading source material
Transcribe/read transcriptions free online

Link Removed
Fretboard note trainer online
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

~Newbie Sight Reading
Beginner's Bass Clef tips
1 Learn rhythm
Downloadable read "bass clef" software
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
print bass clef flashcards/staff paper
Intro to transcribing

~Newbie Rhythm
1 Learning
2
 
#27
...just found this useful nugget while wading through some older threads:

6) to keep your eyes on the chart, do not sit facing the music. Rather, sit so that the headstock is pointed at the music stand, and you are sighting down the neck toward the chart.

I was sitting like I did when playing a trumpet - chest facing the music- however, by turning sideways I can see the music and still have a "visual" on the fret board...I started doing this today and just like that my accuracy jumped....so simple and brilliant.
 
#30
... that is exactly the type of information I was hoping to get from you guys. I know, man do I know, that learning to read a different clef is going to take a while, it is pretty humbling looking at half notes and plucking along, but with just a few "tips" here and there the process becomes very doable.
Another thing I am quickly finding out during this process is I really suck at using all four fretting fingers. I 'm just now discovering my pinkie. :cool: .. funny how I have been avoiding it.
 
#31
It was the devil for me to convert from G clef to F clef at first. I still kinda see both at the same time. The trick for me was to just think up to the next line or space. After studying classical upright for a few years, though, it seemed natural to read F clef. Nowadays I have the problem of having to think BACK to G clef when I need to. Or some days I just can't think, lol. Thank goodness I don't HAVE to read much these days.
 
#32
To follow up on Xaxxat, I've got some more flashcards. These are two-sided, notes on one side and note names on the other. Print 'em out, stick 'em together. They work good for drilling and I still go through them every once in a while!

I've also got some key signature flash cards which may help as well.

(The original site isn't active any more, so they're PDFs. Here they are two files at a time, unfortunately. lol)

:bassist:

5sg.
 

Attachments

#37
Russell L said:
It was the devil for me to convert from G clef to F clef at first. I still kinda see both at the same time. The trick for me was to just think up to the next line or space. After studying classical upright for a few years, though, it seemed natural to read F clef. Nowadays I have the problem of having to think BACK to G clef when I need to. Or some days I just can't think, lol. Thank goodness I don't HAVE to read much these days.
Click to expand...

I don't want to lose the ability to read g clef but I have been avoiding it right now. I'm actually trying to "forget" that one ledger line below the staff is a C, because in my new world it's an E.
...I hadn't been doing much sight reading for my horn lately anyway, just scales and such to keep my armature strong. Nope... it's all about the bass now. :cool:
 
#39
I recently purchased this book Amazon.com: Hal Leonard Bass Method - Complete Edition: Books 1, 2 and 3 Bound Together in One Easy-to-Use Volume! (9780793563838): Ed Friedland: Books upon suggestion.
Just about finished Book 1and I have to say that I have never had more fun practicing all those little ditties that make up these type instruction books. The play along CD sound track makes the exercises feel more like actual bass lines (which, I guess they are) then just "studies". I'm at the point now where I juuust about can sight read them.
If you have stumbled onto this thread looking to improve/learn reading for bass I highly recommend this book. For 15 bucks it is a no brainer to grab it.
 
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#40
repoman said:
I don't want to lose the ability to read g clef but I have been avoiding it right now. I'm actually trying to "forget" that one ledger line below the staff is a C, because in my new world it's an E.
...I hadn't been doing much sight reading for my horn lately anyway, just scales and such to keep my armature strong. Nope... it's all about the bass now. :cool:
Click to expand...

Naw, don't forget the G clef. Become like a keyboardist and be able to read both. The more you read F clef the more used to it you will get. For me now it's like a little switch I have to turn in my head, going from one clef to the other. (Just don't ask me to learn the C clef now, nope, I've had enough, LOL).
 

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