*** Playing when the music is in the Treble Clef ***

[WarPhalange]

Fun facts:
*technically, the bass is also a transposed instrument, sounding an octave lower than written
-but since it's a full octave, the note names remain the same.

I thought it was the same case with guitar?

 

[Minotauros]

I thought it was the same case with guitar?

Yes, guitar transposes too. Middle C is 2nd string, 1st fret, not 5th string 3rd fret.

 

[Jim Campbell]

Could anyone please explain what we bassists do when the score is written in the Treble Clef?

I can read the Bass Clef, but I've just got the sheet music for 'Galveston' and it's in the TC.

I appreciate, I think, that 'our' E; F; G is 'their' C; D; E, etc. but what do we do when faced with this situation?

I assume most music is written in the Treble Clef?

Those infamous '6 notes' at the start of Galveston, in the TC they're: A; B; A; F; E; D.

Thanks everyone.

try this.....photocopy some staff paper in groups of 2 with just enough room between for the middle C ledger line.....transfer whatever dots you can find with ledger line notes onto the treble staff and everything else as normal..... practice reading up and down both clefs simultaneously and it will start to make sense

 

[groooooove]

i just read it..

you need to know both. tenor clef pops up in a lot of bass music too. you should know atleast those three..

 

[REDLAWMAN]

Jim: I've had 12 espressos already this morning, but I didn't understand what you just said at all....... Everything after 'transfer' just went blank.......

As for Tenor Clef, I've never even heard of that.......

 

[JTE]

I think what Jim Campbell is getting at is to understand the grand staff as a whole. One could think of the grand staff (both bass and treble clef) as one huge array of eleven lines and 10 spaces. The lowest line would be G, and the lines would go from that G to B, D, F, A, C (this is middle C), E, G, B, D, F. That's hard to keep track of where you are so it's been simplified by breaking it in half, with middle C in between. The line for middle C is only used when you actually have the note, so that's why it's a ledger line. It's the line in between the two staffs.

So, treble clef (G clef) isn't a different clef, it's an extension of the bass (F) clef. If you look at it that way, then you can easily figure out the notes in treble clef. Again, make sure you're looking at the key signature and any accidentals- it's not just the note names, but whether there's a sharp or a flat associated with that line/space too.

John

 

[thesilence]

I'm getting a little confused now because of my inexperience, so please bare with me guys.

Looking at the start of the Galveston score, there's the Treble Clef and then notes that on the treble clef are: A; B; A; F; E; D.

If the music were written in the Bass Clef, these notes would be: C; D; C; A; G; F.

Do I need to mentally convert the former into the latter and play the latter?

I've played trombone (and pretty much any brass instrument) for a very long time, sometimes I would be asked to double a french horn part or I would grab some trumpet sheet music for the fun of it and mentally transcibed on the fly. The difference between bass and treble clef is the location of the notes

 

[chadhargis]

If I'm reading those first six notes correctly, then it's the Glen Campbell song, "Galveston". If so, the bass part is not very difficult. There is a part where the song transposes up before "I can see her", and it comes back down. Pardon my lack of music theory knowledge to put it in proper terms.

If it were me, I'd find a Nashville Number Chart, or I'd do as has been suggested and transcribe it. The bass line isn't crazy, and you should be able to pick it up and write down the notes. If you prefer scale intervals, you should be able to write down if it's the 1,2,3 etc.

I have faith in you. If I can play that song, anyone can. Now go learn "Make Believe". Still don't see how Glen hits those high notes in that song seemingly without straining.

 

[Jim Campbell]

I think what Jim Campbell is getting at is to understand the grand staff as a whole. One could think of the grand staff (both bass and treble clef) as one huge array of eleven lines and 10 spaces. The lowest line would be G, and the lines would go from that G to B, D, F, A, C (this is middle C), E, G, B, D, F. That's hard to keep track of where you are so it's been simplified by breaking it in half, with middle C in between. The line for middle C is only used when you actually have the note, so that's why it's a ledger line. It's the line in between the two staffs.

So, treble clef (G clef) isn't a different clef, it's an extension of the bass (F) clef. If you look at it that way, then you can easily figure out the notes in treble clef. Again, make sure you're looking at the key signature and any accidentals- it's not just the note names, but whether there's a sharp or a flat associated with that line/space too.

John

exactly....thanx john