The Real Book - Volume 1, Bass Clef Edition

[Jim Carr]

You should get the regular book and learn to read treble...

+1
It is more practical.
It can be shared more easily, and you are more likely to be handed a treble lead sheet. Gotta do treble and bass equally--both are crucial.

 

[Phil Smith]

+1
It is more practical.
It can be shared more easily, and you are more likely to be handed a treble lead sheet. Gotta do treble and bass equally--both are crucial.

The bass clef book is great for working on your reading and once you've perfected that then you can get the treble version(i.e. book II) and work on reading from that.

True you'll receive a treble lead sheet however you'll be expected to play a bass line based upon the chord symbols unless there's a bass line written in bass clef for you to play.

On the reading gigs that I've been on and I'll be doing the first show of a production of "Sweeney Todd" tonight, the bass book is all about bass clef.

 

[Pbassred]

forgive me if this is a dumb question, but is the bass clef edition:
a/ the lead line but written in the bass clef.
b/ the bass line.

 

[Toronto Bassist]

It would be a/

 

[EADG mx]

And sometimes b/

 

[Chris K]

If you get the sixth edition , you can also buy the real book play alongs for that volume
and hear most of the songs . The play alongs have 3 cd's with 20 songs on each cd.
I just got volume I L-R that's 60 songs, a great way to hear the tunes and play with them.

On YouTube I find songs/versions I like to play along with and put them in a playback list. I use a computer speaker set of speakers + woofer with seperate volume control - that I turn all the way down. It's free, easy, and you play with the great guys.

 

[fdeck]

forgive me if this is a dumb question, but is the bass clef edition:
a/ the lead line but written in the bass clef.
b/ the bass line.

Fake books rarely have bass lines written out, except for a few songs that have well known written bass parts. In the treble clef books that I have seen, when there is a written-out bass part, it is in bass clef. The bassist typically reads the chord symbols, which are clef-independent.

I have been using my fake books to improve my treble clef sight reading skills.