That was the greatest thing about them. I still have my first one in a shoebox somewhere (because it exploded) today full of handwritten cool things people mentioned to me at jams.
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The Real Book: Bass Clef - which edition?
- Thread starter Matthew_84
- Start date
That was the greatest thing about them. I still have my first one in a shoebox somewhere (because it exploded) today full of handwritten cool things people mentioned to me at jams.
I think it's strange there even is a bass clef version. By definition, faking is you play from a lead sheet. And lead sheets are, by definition, the melody of the song (in the right octave) and chord symbols. Ok there's a few fusion tunes where a bass is written, but those are very much the exception.
But I guess if they can sell something...
But I guess if they can sell something...
The iReal app looks interesting. Kind of like a MIDI version of the old Jamey Aebersold book/cds?
- Feb 8, 2005
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- Endorsing Artist: Bag End - Dean Markley - Thunderfunk
I’ve got the original (well, the only ones we were using back in the day) 5th edition in bass clef, and even the original 5th volume 2 in bass clef as well. I’ve got the standard C treble both 5th and 6th as well, plus a few others and then dozens in PDF format.
I’ll go slightly against the grain here...I don’t disagree with what anyone has said regarding learning treble clef, it’s a good skill to have but I also love having the bass clef version to break out just for reading practice or learning tunes and whatnot. It’s a cool thing to have.
Funny/true story:
While still in high school getting into music in the mid 80s, I found out about this mythical “Real Book” from a tenor playing friend of mine who was a far more advanced musician than I was at that time. He told me I had to get one, all the serious cats have it and if you wanna gig you gotta have it, blah blah. Of course at that time I had no inkling of it being an illegal book.
OK so I go to Modern Music in Ft. Lauderdale, and walk up to the counter, and the exchange goes something like this:
Me: Yeah, I’d like to get a Real Book.
Guy behind counter: What’s that?
Me: well, um it’s this book of jazz tunes, my friend said I needed to get it
Guy behind counter: no idea what you’re talking about
Me: really? You don’t have anything like that?
Guy behind counter: never heard of it
Me: huh? My buddy told me you can get them here. You SURE you don’t have them?
Then the guy literally takes a look left, then right, then looks at me and says “Stay right there.”
He is gone like 5 minutes, going to the back of the store and comes back Like a drug deal going down, he shows me an item wrapped in unmarked brown paper, lays it on the counter and says “$15, cash only.”
I got about 10 years out of that book, gradually losing pages at the front until I had the obvious idea of getting the covers laminated and getting them wire bound at Staples.
I’ll go slightly against the grain here...I don’t disagree with what anyone has said regarding learning treble clef, it’s a good skill to have but I also love having the bass clef version to break out just for reading practice or learning tunes and whatnot. It’s a cool thing to have.
Funny/true story:
While still in high school getting into music in the mid 80s, I found out about this mythical “Real Book” from a tenor playing friend of mine who was a far more advanced musician than I was at that time. He told me I had to get one, all the serious cats have it and if you wanna gig you gotta have it, blah blah. Of course at that time I had no inkling of it being an illegal book.
OK so I go to Modern Music in Ft. Lauderdale, and walk up to the counter, and the exchange goes something like this:
Me: Yeah, I’d like to get a Real Book.
Guy behind counter: What’s that?
Me: well, um it’s this book of jazz tunes, my friend said I needed to get it
Guy behind counter: no idea what you’re talking about
Me: really? You don’t have anything like that?
Guy behind counter: never heard of it
Me: huh? My buddy told me you can get them here. You SURE you don’t have them?
Then the guy literally takes a look left, then right, then looks at me and says “Stay right there.”
He is gone like 5 minutes, going to the back of the store and comes back Like a drug deal going down, he shows me an item wrapped in unmarked brown paper, lays it on the counter and says “$15, cash only.”
I got about 10 years out of that book, gradually losing pages at the front until I had the obvious idea of getting the covers laminated and getting them wire bound at Staples.
Ha! The post for the Jack keeps getting loose, and it loses connectivity. I use the stupid thing every day. I think it’s a design flaw, but I love not needing a power or instrument cable. For now I’ll live with my fate, down the road I’ll get a “real” headphone amp like a PJB bighead or a Palmer pocket.
Yes something like that.
The app is really worth the money. You can change songs to other keys, and play it faster/slower.
They have a great forum as well iReal Pro Forums where you can find songs.
There is a massive ammount of songs in the forum.
If you would buy all the songs from the app as a book, you will need a forklift to move them...
iReal Pro is worth it for the Real Book chords and the flexibility it offers. There are also a bunch of basic Aebersold things in the 'exercises' playlist. You can create your own playlist of prefered songs, change styles, keys, and tempo.
But there aren't any melody lines. For that you'll need a paper copy. Having the melody line in front of you on gigs is really good, so as you construct lines you can avoid the melody notes, and/or see what kind of counterpoint and harmony your line is making.
But there aren't any melody lines. For that you'll need a paper copy. Having the melody line in front of you on gigs is really good, so as you construct lines you can avoid the melody notes, and/or see what kind of counterpoint and harmony your line is making.
I know what the Treble book looks like. How do they notate the book in bass clef? I looked in my piano bench and I have a "New Real Book" from Scher Music, 1991, treble clef. I don't know most of the songs :0.
Groove Master
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- Apr 22, 2011
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Do you know which edition your mates have? It could be useful to have the same one. Just my 2¢
I also prefer to use the treble clef edition because it is more useful on the bandstand and I much prefer reading the treble clef for the range of a 4 strings bass.
I also prefer to use the treble clef edition because it is more useful on the bandstand and I much prefer reading the treble clef for the range of a 4 strings bass.
