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Progressive sight reading books in bass clef?

Fray Arsenio

Fray Arsenio

Mar 31, 2019
54
30
Madrid, Spain
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#1
Hi. I know sight reading but I'm looking for some books to improve it.
I don't look for books on theory nor books with tabs nor "how to" books. Just plain progressive sight reading books in bass clef.
What I'm exactly interested into is in becoming fluent in different key signatures, so increasing difficulty in that area would be perfect.
Any recommendation?
I've got and I've practiced extensively Modern Reading in 4/4 Time by Louis Bellson and 300 Progressive Sight Reading exercises... by Robert Anthony. Some recommendation in this line would be great.
Thanks in advance!
 
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#3
Fray Arsenio said:
Hi. I know sight reading but I'm looking for some books to improve it.
I don't look for books on theory nor books with tabs nor "how to" books. Just plain progressive sight reading books in bass clef.
What I'm exactly interested into is in becoming fluent in different key signatures, so increasing difficulty in that area would be perfect.
Any recommendation?
I've got and I've practiced extensively Modern Reading in 4/4 Time by Louis Bellson and 300 Progressive Sight Reading exercises... by Robert Anthony. Some recommendation in this line would be great.
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

The two you mention are the two I was going to recommend in the first instance. The foreword to the 300 by Robert Anthony implies that a second volume, presumably with more signatures (time and key) was planned but I don't think that ever materialised.

Have you considered classical materials, for example Storch-Hrabe, 57 Studies? Here's the cover...
20210331_121036.jpg

...and the first section of the second study (I'm sure that such a short extract meets fair use criteria!)...
20210331_121143.jpg
 
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#4
I also recommend classical double bass beginner books. Simandl 1 can be downloaded free from here. It's progressive, contains lot of weird keys, and the music to be played is very nice.

If you want to learn sight reading, you really just need to play a lot of sheets. If, for example, you aspire to play in bigband, just find a lot of bigband sheets and go through them. If possible, try for a real situation. I never really learned to sight read very well until I just had to.

However, if you are not aiming for one certain musical style, go with classical. In Simandl, though more than century old, you will find many lines that you can find in today's top bass lines as well. The big time span somehow helps to categorize your musical thinking.

After some time, you'll find that you can play the written pitches without even thinking of it (much). What will remain hard would be reading the rhythms. If you went through Bellson book, you've done yourself a big favor.
 
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#5
Great. Many thanks, bassyfred, Steve and Jj.
That’s what I’m looking for.
At this point I don't mind classical stuff, since what I want is practice, practice, practice. Both the Simandl book and the 57 studies seem good to me. I'll try those. Many thanks.

I went thru the full Bellson book some 100 times (or more) so I hope the rhythm will not be a problem.

jj.833 said:
I also recommend classical double bass beginner books. Simandl 1 can be downloaded free from here. It's progressive, contains lot of weird keys, and the music to be played is very nice....
Click to expand...
 
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#10
I did most of my reading out of Carol Kayes series Electric Bass Lines. There are 6 books (each fairly small) and are something like $6-$10/each on carolkaye.com. It may a bit under your pay grade, but the rhythmic aspect of a lot of the exercises (particularly the syncopation) took me a while to get through.
 
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#11
I have been working on sight-reading for a couple of years now, and I'm currently working on this:
ESSENTIAL SIGHTREADING STUDIES FOR ELECTRIC BASS - COMPLETE 3 VOL. SET
I have no affiliation with this collection - I'm just a user who likes it because it 1) has no tabs and 2) comes with recordings to play along to. I'm about halfway through the first book now, and it's been great. Link Removed
 
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#13
Trombone and cello study books will get you familiar with tenor clef and how to compensate for ledger lines beneath the staff. The Zimmerman edited “complete bass parts of” series including JS Bach, Beethoven symphonies, Brahms, Mahler, Mozart etc will give you plenty to chew on. I think these are still available in hard copy as well as digitally.

It can be challenging and fun to play along with the 6 Brandenburg concertos in real time. Thumbs up on the Simandl and Storch-Hrabe books. Don’t forget IMSLP, there’s a huge repository of sight reading material there for free too.
 
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#16
Anything written in bass clef will suffice.

Jeff Berlin Bass Education Packages 1 - 3
The many Jim Stinnett books
The Latin Bass Book
Standing In The Shadows Of Motown
60 Melodic Etudes - John Patitucci
Sitting In With The Big Band Vol 1 & 2
Ultimate Play Along Vol 1 & 2 - John Patitucci
Ultimate Play Along Bass Trax - Billy Cobham
In Session with the Dave Weckl Band Bass - Dave Weckl
Charlie Parker Omnibook
Any Aebersold where the bass lines were published seperately
The Bass Tradition - Todd Coolman
Carol Kaye - Electric Bass Lines Vol 1 - 6
Any big band chart.
Any musical theatre pad for bass
Any book of etudes written for bass clef instruments. Double Bass, Cello, Trombone, Bassoon etc - Storch-Hrabe, Simandl Etudes, York Studies and so on.
Any orchestral part of the aforementioned bass clef instruments. A lot of orchestral scores can be access for free so there you have it.
Any method book for the double bass - Simandl, Nanny, Rabbath, Vance etc
Any book of sight reading for the bass clef (treble as well if you really want to flex some chops)

Books of rhythms:
Modern Reading text in 4/4 - Louis Bellson
Odd Time Reading - Louis Bellson
Progressive Steps To Syncopation For The Modern Drummer - Ted Reed

Write out every exercise in all of these books in every written key. By the time you have finished you'll have forgotten the very first page so you've now got a wealth of information to pull out at any given time in every key.
 
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#18
Stolen from myself in another thread:

Bob_Ross said:
check out David Chesky's Advanced Jazz/Rock Rhythms For All Bass Clef Instruments. It's a great way to get comfortable with the kind of figures you often see in theater pit orchestras, show bands, and any pro situation where rehearsals are non-existent but you're expected to bring it from the first downbeat.
Click to expand...
 
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