I've been playing bass for 5 years now, all the while I've been reading tabs and learning songs by ears. For the past few months I've been wanting to learn how to read sheet music for bass. I know all my notes, scales and the bass clef, but for some reason I can't seem to play bass from sheet music. I play piano and I can read the music fine for it, but every time I tried to play bass with sheet music I can't. If someone could help me, I would greatly appreciate it.
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Transitioning from tab to sheet music
- Thread starter DoobieDoober
- Start date
Do not think of music as TAB; that is do not look at the staff and think "third line is D so that's the open second string". Think "that note is a she step higher than the previous note" and think what a she step sounds like.
John
John
Okay, you've added more.
You say you can read fine. What's the problem exactly when you try to read on bass?
It takes me a long time to find each note and get the rhythm when I read on bass. I know every note of the neck without a second thought but for some reason when I read I just can't match them up.
Since you can already read bass clef, I'd suggest practicing all of the scales while looking at the music. The part you're missing is associating what's written with what note (as JTE pointed out, not fret) you're playing. Play the scales in different positions and on different parts of the neck. Once you get that locked into your memory, reading will become much easier for you.
If there's something you can't do, likely it's because you're trying to do too many things at once. Clap the rhythm, then add the notes... or the other way around. Playing correctly but at a slow tempo is very acceptable way to get into it. Or get easier music. There's no shame in playing very simple parts until you get better at it. Take your time. And try to remember how it was when you learned to read words in 1st grade. Same thing here. Sound out the word put them together. After you could do that you learned to read sentences with meaning. It takes a little time, be patient with yourself.
- Dec 13, 1999
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- Chuck Sher publishes my book, WALKING BASSICS:The Fundamentals of Jazz Bass Playing.
This is a nice resource. It has exercises that introduce a rhythm with just a few pitches, then it builds on that rhythm with more pitches. It works in a progressive manner, adding new rhythms to the ones you've already worked on, along with more pitches.
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All the above is good advice. Since you already sight read piano passages, the part most people struggle with....understanding rhythm. ..the difficult part you already have down. You just need practice translating the notes you see to pushing the string down at the right fret at the proper time(over simplification). This just takes rep after rep after rep to engraine it to muscle memory. Your plucking hand should be good to go since you have been playing the same rhythms with piano keys.
I assume you are using first position for your standard notation, i.e. the first 4-5 frets of your fretboard. That makes it much easier.
Reading the bass clef. The D line is my home base. If the fly speck is on or above the D line the note will be found on the D or G string. If the fly speck is below the D line you will find the note on the A or E string.
That seemed to speed things up for me.
Reading the bass clef. The D line is my home base. If the fly speck is on or above the D line the note will be found on the D or G string. If the fly speck is below the D line you will find the note on the A or E string.
That seemed to speed things up for me.
I went through this same process when I first started reading . I could play well enough, knew the notes on the neck and the notes on the clef but had a hard time reading. I eventually solved this fairly easily (I'll explain in a sec) and found that the main problem occurs from the number of mental processes going on. Looking at the note on the stave, translating to a note name, C for example, then looking at the neck and thinking "where's that C?" then "There's that C" then playing it. Eventually your reading becomes a shorter process of seeing a note and KNOWING it's that fret on that string. This eventually diversifies into knowing that note is that fret on that string AND that other fret on that other string AND that other fret on that other string so you can make a decision on the fly without much of a problem.
Piano is a little easier because there's only one of each note so the processes are already cut down. That note equals that key. When I see a note on the stave I have a spontaneous image of the note I need to play on the neck.
The way I practised my reading was a fairly popular system of separating the pitch and rhythm so there's no over complicating and confusing either process of learning. Look at the frets 1-5 as a kind of first position. Then look at each string separately, just natural notes, no sharps or flats. We end up with:
E, F, G, A on the E string.
B, C, D on the A string
E, F, G on the D string
A, B, C on the G string
Now take an empty sheet of manuscript paper (or write out on a program like Sibelius or Finale) and write random notes in whole notes/Semibreves for one string. So you get a page full of random notes from the E string: E, F, G, A
Then a full page of the A string notes: B, C, D etc.
Put on a metronome or drum machine as slow as seems really, really easy and just play through the notes. If you hesitate at any point just go slower. It should seem stupidly easy. Then build up speed. Write out as many of these random sheets as you need or just start at different places so you never memorise the notes. Also say the notes aloud and look ahead each time you play a note. So play the note then immediately look ahead .
Keep playing the E string notes until they seem easy then move onto A string. Then combine the two strings. Then the D string. Then combine E, A and D. The G string. Then all strings combined. Before you know it you'll be finding the notes are a breeze.
Then add accidentals on each string using the same system of each string. Then go through different keys: 1 sharp, 1 flat, 2 sharps, 2 flats etc.
This same method can then be applied to a 2nd position from frets 7 to 10. Rhythms can also be practiced in isolation.
I found doing this reeeeally helped me and got me started. Of course then gigging is the best practice but it used to bug me when my sight reading non-bass playing friends would tell me that you need to just read in bands to get better at reading. I still think that's a load of bull. They forget they had to start somewhere, probably playing very slowly through pieces as little kids.
Piano is a little easier because there's only one of each note so the processes are already cut down. That note equals that key. When I see a note on the stave I have a spontaneous image of the note I need to play on the neck.
The way I practised my reading was a fairly popular system of separating the pitch and rhythm so there's no over complicating and confusing either process of learning. Look at the frets 1-5 as a kind of first position. Then look at each string separately, just natural notes, no sharps or flats. We end up with:
E, F, G, A on the E string.
B, C, D on the A string
E, F, G on the D string
A, B, C on the G string
Now take an empty sheet of manuscript paper (or write out on a program like Sibelius or Finale) and write random notes in whole notes/Semibreves for one string. So you get a page full of random notes from the E string: E, F, G, A
Then a full page of the A string notes: B, C, D etc.
Put on a metronome or drum machine as slow as seems really, really easy and just play through the notes. If you hesitate at any point just go slower. It should seem stupidly easy. Then build up speed. Write out as many of these random sheets as you need or just start at different places so you never memorise the notes. Also say the notes aloud and look ahead each time you play a note. So play the note then immediately look ahead .
Keep playing the E string notes until they seem easy then move onto A string. Then combine the two strings. Then the D string. Then combine E, A and D. The G string. Then all strings combined. Before you know it you'll be finding the notes are a breeze.
Then add accidentals on each string using the same system of each string. Then go through different keys: 1 sharp, 1 flat, 2 sharps, 2 flats etc.
This same method can then be applied to a 2nd position from frets 7 to 10. Rhythms can also be practiced in isolation.
I found doing this reeeeally helped me and got me started. Of course then gigging is the best practice but it used to bug me when my sight reading non-bass playing friends would tell me that you need to just read in bands to get better at reading. I still think that's a load of bull. They forget they had to start somewhere, probably playing very slowly through pieces as little kids.
Interesting to read ur take on learning to read music. I guess I'm a little ol skool, cuz when i first started playing in band @ 9 yrs old, I don't remember having to learn anything- lol. I can't even tell you how i "learned" to read music. We were just playing and reading the music...don't ask me. When I switched over to the bass in 7th grade there was no difficulty to switch from trumpet to bass. When I teach, I don't start somebody on reading right away. At first I think its better to have some scales, pentatonics, and arp's under ur fingers first. Its really weird for me to read about such scientific approaches to learning music, but hey, I learned to play before the internet...before tabs too!! lol I remember the first time I saw tabs, prob @ 1980 or so. I was like, "what the hell are these?" lol I didn't understand why they needed them, why not just learn to read music??? But I get it, and understand why they exist. I wish everybody who is learning to read music the best of luck, IMO just buy the Simandl method and go thru it- you will definitely learn to read! I don't feel I have any useful advise to give for learning to read music, since its been a part of me since i was 9 yrs old.... sorry...
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