Very mediocre bedroom bassist needs philosophical advice

[Greenman72]

So, here's a little bit about me:
I'm 45 and employed in the financial services industry. (Not anywhere close to the music industry.)
My mom is an elementary piano teacher, so I played for a couple of years, but that was 30+ years ago.
So I know the basics of theory and notation. (I know that all cows eat grass, and that fat cats go down alleys eating birds.) But it's very far away from it being "automatic". I have to think about it.
Now I'm going through midlife crisis, and am really enjoying learning a new craft--the bass.

I'm currently playing along to tabs on Songsterr, but I'm starting to feel less satisfied with it. I feel like I want to start reading notation, which leads to a couple of questions:
1. Where do you find sheet music for bass? I like Songsterr's interface, but it doesn't have notation. (Note--my favorite Sirius station is Ozzy's Boneyard, if that tells you anything.)
2. Is there even sheet music available for this kind of music? Or do you "have" to play tabs? Aren't there famous bassists who cannot read music?
3. It seems like (on another thread) the general consensus is that, when reading music, you need to be looking at the music 95% of the time, and checking your left hand position ~5% of the time. Is that more or less true?
4. What are your suggestions for a person who wants to take a "deeper dive" into his musical journey? (Note - I already have both of Ariane Cap's books, but haven't really cracked them yet.)
5. My sister (who is a college-educated music teacher) says, "The best way to learn music theory is by playing piano." Agree or disagree? And if so, is it advisable to learn piano simultaneously? Or will that make my head explode?

 

[ddnidd1]

Not sure if this is what you are looking for, but it may give you a start.

lucaspickford.com - bass jazz fusion funk transcriptions solos metaphysics physics pickford william burroughs Resources and Information.

lucaspickford.com is your first and best source for all of the information you’re looking for. From general topics to more of what you would expect to find here, lucaspickford.com has it all. We hope you find what you are searching for!

www.lucaspickford.com

Thread 'Bass Transcriptions'

Aug 5, 2015

Instead of creating a new topic for every transcription, I thought I'd combine them all in one thread from now on.

Here are some of my older posts some of which were requests posted here on Talkbass:

• Invalid Link Removed
• Invalid Link Removed
• The Staple Singers - I'll Take You There | Bass Transcription | David Hood
• Invalid Link Removed
• Invalid Link Removed
• Invalid Link Removed
• Fischer Z - The Worker | Bass Transcription | David Graham
• Invalid Link Removed
• Donna Summer - Bad Girls | Bass Transcription...

• ChrisDev
• Replies: 1,532
• Forum: Tablature and Notation [BG]

• 

Transcriptions – Bilbo's Bass Bites

 

[TyBo]

I think your sis is right about piano being a good instrument to learn theory. Can't hurt, other than being one more thing to focus on.

Plenty of great musicians don't or didn't read music - many, many pop musicians don't read, including one of the most famous musicians, and bass players, (and songwriters, singers, bandleaders... ) ever, Paul McCartney. Beatles, Stones, Hendrix ... Ozzy ... reading is most certainly useful, but it's not a requirement for a lot of situations. Though it IS necessary for for a lot of work in studio, stage, and so on.
I'm a slow reader at best, myself, but it's not something I focus on. Just playing, especially with other people, strikes me as one of the best roads to improvement. Keep on keepin' on!

 

[FatStringer52]

I haven't checked some of these in a while, but hopefully most are still active.

Post in thread 'Best source for accurate transcriptions (standard notation)'

Jul 8, 2021

We have some talented folks right here that are kind enough to share their scores, such as ChrisDev and LeeNunn, amongst many more. Just visit the Tablature and Notation [BG] Forum. Other than that, these are the sites I have bookmarked for bass scores . . .

https://bassinstructor.ca/bass-notes-tab/

Link Removed

Transcriptions

Carl Radle Bass Lines

TRANSCRIPTIONS – Chris Phillips Bass

Free Bass Transcriptions | Here come the dots

transcriptions

https://www.sykestranscription.com/transcription-archive/...

• FatStringer52

• 

 

[bholder]

Learn by ear, as much as you can, way better for your playing...

 

[FatStringer52]

And another great site . . .

TRANSCRIPTIONS | Tom Read Bass

The largest online collection of FREE accurate bass transcriptions anywhere in the world!

www.tomreadbass.co.uk

Tom is also a member here and makes frequent post in the Tablature and Notation (BG) forum.

 

[Wasnex]

So, here's a little bit about me:
I'm 45 and employed in the financial services industry. (Not anywhere close to the music industry.)
My mom is an elementary piano teacher, so I played for a couple of years, but that was 30+ years ago.
So I know the basics of theory and notation. (I know that all cows eat grass, and that fat cats go down alleys eating birds.) But it's very far away from it being "automatic". I have to think about it.
Now I'm going through midlife crisis, and am really enjoying learning a new craft--the bass.

I'm currently playing along to tabs on Songsterr, but I'm starting to feel less satisfied with it. I feel like I want to start reading notation, which leads to a couple of questions:
1. Where do you find sheet music for bass? I like Songsterr's interface, but it doesn't have notation. (Note--my favorite Sirius station is Ozzy's Boneyard, if that tells you anything.)
2. Is there even sheet music available for this kind of music? Or do you "have" to play tabs? Aren't there famous bassists who cannot read music?
3. It seems like (on another thread) the general consensus is that, when reading music, you need to be looking at the music 95% of the time, and checking your left hand position ~5% of the time. Is that more or less true?
4. What are your suggestions for a person who wants to take a "deeper dive" into his musical journey? (Note - I already have both of Ariane Cap's books, but haven't really cracked them yet.)
5. My sister (who is a college-educated music teacher) says, "The best way to learn music theory is by playing piano." Agree or disagree? And if so, is it advisable to learn piano simultaneously? Or will that make my head explode?

1. Music stores. Online. You don't necessarily need to read bass guitar music. You can read anything notated in bass cleff.
2. Finding sheet music for every song you want may be a challenge. Most people who play covers learn them by ear. That's not to say there is no benefit to learning to read the notes. It's also useful to know theory and how to interpret chord notation. A really good musician can listen to music and write out a quick lead sheet. The lead sheet can serve as a memorization tool as well as a referenced for relearning the tune years later.
3. Looking at your hand makes it difficult to read. Whether it's necessary to avoid looking at your hand depends on your goals. If you want to be a competent reader, then aspire to look at your hand as little as possible. If you want to gig, aspire to engage with other band members and the audience, or at the very least be bop around a bit. From the audience's perspective, it's not very exciting to watch a bass player stand motionless on stage staring at his hand. If your just going to play along with tunes in the privacy of your own home, nobody is going to care, but it may limit your ability to progress.
4. Books are useful, but finding a good teacher would be far more useful. Find a good teacher is not necessarily an easy thing to do. Perhaps your sister can make a recommendation.
5. I agree, the best way to learn music theory is piano. But that will not teach you how to play bass. Well rounded bassist learns bass technique and music theory. Music theory is pretty much universal...it applies to all instruments.

I was a bass performance major in college but dropped out after 3rd semester. I learned to harmonize the major and minor keys, which teaches you the diatonic 7 chords. The program I was in was classical, so I did not learn to read and interpret jazz chord notation. However I did learn enough about theory to get a Real Book and start figuring it out. One of the adjunct guitar professors took time to mentor me and give my opportunities to jam and explore. Eventually I got good enough to become a full time professional musician in the military. I took an unusual path to a long and successful music career.

My process in school. Attend theory lecture to learn new concept. Complete class writing assignment to demonstrate understanding of new concept. Writing was done on piano. After that I was free to apply what I learned on bass. So the order was basically lecture, practice on piano, transfer to bass. Ear training and class piano are core classes in most music degree programs.

 

[mambo4]

1. Where do you find sheet music for bass? I like Songsterr's interface, but it doesn't have notation. (Note--my favorite Sirius station is Ozzy's Boneyard, if that tells you anything.)

Plenty of links already posted, and in the tableture and notation subforum

2. Is there even sheet music available for this kind of music? Or do you "have" to play tabs? Aren't there famous bassists who cannot read music?

yes there is sheet music for electric bass, I advise avoiding tabs.
yes there are famous musicians who can't read, I advise learning.

3. It seems like (on another thread) the general consensus is that, when reading music, you need to be looking at the music 95% of the time, and checking your left hand position ~5% of the time. Is that more or less true?

See my response in that thread

4. What are your suggestions for a person who wants to take a "deeper dive" into his musical journey? (Note - I already have both of Ariane Cap's books, but haven't really cracked them yet.)

I do not have Ariane Cap's books, but what I have seen seems like a solid approach.
You could also check the PDF link in my signature, I feel it covers 20% of Theory that gets used 80% of the time
You might consider what "deeper dive" means to you, what your goals are.
Play along with Spotify in the bedroom? Composition? Recording ? Cover band gigs? What styles interest you? Can you sing?

If your "musical journey" goal is just get better at music, then you won't go wrong with learning to read notation.
There is a centuries deep ocean of musical learning locked behind the door of literacy

5. My sister (who is a college-educated music teacher) says, "The best way to learn music theory is by playing piano." Agree or disagree? And if so, is it advisable to learn piano simultaneously? Or will that make my head explode?

You can learn both at once and each will improve your grasp of music and reinforce the other.

Some may disagree with some of this, and that's fine, but I have found all of it to be true for me.

 

[bassicmike]

I would ask what's your end goal with a bass?

Just playing? Playing with others? Playing rock covers? Playing jazz standards?

Lots of different ways to approach the bass depending on what you want to accomplish.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

When I was learning to play as a teenager, the only sheet music available for rock was piano transcriptions, with a rough approximation of the bass, written as left hand notation. I tried to learn to read for a while, but failed. As a young adult my Language Brain was too old to learn easily. Failing that, I learned to play entirely by ear, which worked well enough for the amateur bar and college bands I played in, but definitely not a Pro level of musical knowledge. If the goal is an accurate reproduction of recorded music, ear learning is probably better. There are a lot more transcriptions available these days, but not all of them accurate.

 

[PBassAcidJazz]

Try to learn some simple songs by ear, and start playing in a band and/or with others as soon as possible. Personally I've forgotten how to read music, and I don't think I'll re-learn. I'd rather focus on developing my ear and writing my own lines. However your goal may differ in this respect. Time is limited so you gotta set goals.

 

[FronTowardEnemy]

So, here's a little bit about me:
I'm 45 and employed in the financial services industry. (Not anywhere close to the music industry.)
My mom is an elementary piano teacher, so I played for a couple of years, but that was 30+ years ago.
So I know the basics of theory and notation. (I know that all cows eat grass, and that fat cats go down alleys eating birds.) But it's very far away from it being "automatic". I have to think about it.
Now I'm going through midlife crisis, and am really enjoying learning a new craft--the bass.

I'm currently playing along to tabs on Songsterr, but I'm starting to feel less satisfied with it. I feel like I want to start reading notation, which leads to a couple of questions:
1. Where do you find sheet music for bass? I like Songsterr's interface, but it doesn't have notation. (Note--my favorite Sirius station is Ozzy's Boneyard, if that tells you anything.)
2. Is there even sheet music available for this kind of music? Or do you "have" to play tabs? Aren't there famous bassists who cannot read music?
3. It seems like (on another thread) the general consensus is that, when reading music, you need to be looking at the music 95% of the time, and checking your left hand position ~5% of the time. Is that more or less true?
4. What are your suggestions for a person who wants to take a "deeper dive" into his musical journey? (Note - I already have both of Ariane Cap's books, but haven't really cracked them yet.)
5. My sister (who is a college-educated music teacher) says, "The best way to learn music theory is by playing piano." Agree or disagree? And if so, is it advisable to learn piano simultaneously? Or will that make my head explode?

I don't have anything to contribute to this thread other than I too enjoy Ozzie's BoneYard.

Rock on

 

[SJan3]

I'd advise making reading music PART of your development. At 70, I still practice sight reading as it both gives me new ideas and often forces my hands to go places they might not go by nature. You'll help your ears and technique by reading as well as learning from a recording.
When I was a kid I started in the Simandl book. Another place you can go is to Carol Kaye's website. She is the author of some terrific study books that can help open up your ears to new sounds as well as further your technique and musical understanding. Good luck!

 

[AllieM]

a good teacher to get your left (and right) hand together, transcribe songs you love by ear, play along by ear but not noodling - concentrate on the chord changes - that will teach you the theory you need. I use Transcribe! to learn songs, you can also use AI services to separate out the bass parts, put them in Transcribe!, slow it down, loop sections. I suggest learning by ear once you get some technical facility.

 

[JonathanPDX]

So, here's a little bit about me:
I'm 45 and employed in the financial services industry. (Not anywhere close to the music industry.)
My mom is an elementary piano teacher, so I played for a couple of years, but that was 30+ years ago.
So I know the basics of theory and notation. (I know that all cows eat grass, and that fat cats go down alleys eating birds.) But it's very far away from it being "automatic". I have to think about it.
Now I'm going through midlife crisis, and am really enjoying learning a new craft--the bass.

I'm currently playing along to tabs on Songsterr, but I'm starting to feel less satisfied with it. I feel like I want to start reading notation, which leads to a couple of questions:
1. Where do you find sheet music for bass? I like Songsterr's interface, but it doesn't have notation. (Note--my favorite Sirius station is Ozzy's Boneyard, if that tells you anything.)
2. Is there even sheet music available for this kind of music? Or do you "have" to play tabs? Aren't there famous bassists who cannot read music?
3. It seems like (on another thread) the general consensus is that, when reading music, you need to be looking at the music 95% of the time, and checking your left hand position ~5% of the time. Is that more or less true?
4. What are your suggestions for a person who wants to take a "deeper dive" into his musical journey? (Note - I already have both of Ariane Cap's books, but haven't really cracked them yet.)
5. My sister (who is a college-educated music teacher) says, "The best way to learn music theory is by playing piano." Agree or disagree? And if so, is it advisable to learn piano simultaneously? Or will that make my head explode?

For playing along to songs you can develop your ear and learn how to play them just by hearing the song, or playing it back a time or two in order to write your own chart or transcription for the part. There are tons of ear training resources out there but there's no single way to develop it. I used to turn on the radio or even the TV for commercial jingles and just find the key for whatever was playing. Once you get good at locating the root then other intervals get in your head and you can learn to identify them by their relation to the tonic.

So, yes you can find sheet music for lots of stuff, but you'd be better off in the long run by developing your ear so you can learn and play along to anything regardless of whether or not someone has already transcribed it for you.

As to theory, I don't think it's about playing piano but about having some understanding of an instrument that can build more complex chords. Piano is the obvious answer but guitar works too. Let's say we're getting into chord theory and we want to talk about a Maj7#11 chord. You are going to have a really tough time playing that chord on your bass, even with 5 or 6 strings you'll be missing something or it will just sound muddy because we can't span enough register with the left hand. So, we could totally learn to understand that chord with a bass alone, and plenty of people do, but it may very well click for you easier and faster when you can hear or even play that chord in it's entirety, hear all the notes, and evaluate them at once in a way that the bass is just not very good at.

 

[emilythemartian]

Whether you want to read sheet music and learning formal music theory is kind of a genre specific thing. Genres like classical music and traditional jazz benefit a lot from those things.

Genres like rock, pop, funk, punk, etc etc are usually played by ear. It's worth developing your ability to play by ear if you're more interested in those sort of more modern genres.

 

[gtirard]

I think you have a bias from learning the piano and maybe classical music when you were young.
It's more natural to learn chords, scales, and arpergios and learn to play by ear, just by reading chords names. IMHO. It also gives you a greater musical autonomy.

 

[Shenron]

1. Where do you find sheet music for bass?

Published transcriptions books. Even TAB books include standard notation alongside. Older books have only standard notation.

Depending on where you live, public libraries might have sheet music available for loan. Guitar books are largely more common than bass books but those exist too, as well as books with transcriptions for all instruments at once.

Internet material is almost always user-made and TAB only.

2. Aren't there famous bassists who cannot read music?

Yes, but does it matter? If you have decided you want to learn to read music then go ahead.

Also, all online discussions on reading music are flawed since the start because half of the people are talking about being able to read enough so that you can interpret sheet music at your own pace to learn a song, and the other half are talk about "prima vista" reading which is about picking up the score of a music you haven't even heard before and being able to play it immediately at full speed from the score alone. Very different skills.

3. It seems like (on another thread) the general consensus is that, when reading music, you need to be looking at the music 95% of the time, and checking your left hand position ~5% of the time. Is that more or less true?

You divide your attention between the score and the fretboard exactly by the amounts you need.

One side benefit of reading a score (whether standard or TAB) and play along in real time, is that it helps improving your ability to find notes on the fretboard without looking at it.

4. What are your suggestions for a person who wants to take a "deeper dive" into his musical journey? (Note - I already have both of Ariane Cap's books, but haven't really cracked them yet.)

I would simply suggest to constantly gather new music sheets all the time, so that you keep reading different scores.

Definitely start with music sheets of songs you know. Maybe even look for songs you can actually play already on the bass, and then move to songs you are familiar as a listener but haven't played on bass yet.

You don't have to find music sheet for songs you actually WANT to play. It might be frustrating if you then cannot find those, and it's also common to want to play songs at the edge of our ability. Simply pick any songs you have listened before, whatever is available in standard notation, no matter the genre, but possibly EASY to play so you focus on the reading. Practice reading that a bit and move on to another.

This is where I hope you have libraries where you live, otherwise buying books is either costly or leave you with practicing always the same.

5. My sister (who is a college-educated music teacher) says, "The best way to learn music theory is by playing piano." Agree or disagree? And if so, is it advisable to learn piano simultaneously? Or will that make my head explode?

Yes and no. A piano is a great aid because it requires no skills to just play a few notes for studying scales and chords, and because a lot of music theory is actually based on piano (names of many things are derived directly in reference to the C major scale). But a piano and music theory based on that also complicates other things such as transpositions which are a piece of cake on other instruments.

 

[BismarckHerring]

5. My sister (who is a college-educated music teacher) says, "The best way to learn music theory is by playing piano." Agree or disagree? And if so, is it advisable to learn piano simultaneously? Or will that make my head explode?

I agree with your sister to a certain extent, but I think it's more about understanding how scales and chords are mapped to the piano keyboard than actually playing. Understanding the layout of the keyboard makes it easier to visualize what's going on harmonically.

When playing bass or, especially, guitar, it can be easy to learn chords and scales without thinking much about how they are constructed and how they relate to each other. That's because the fretboard doesn't give you much visual information on which note is where, and because most notes can be played in two or even three different ways. The piano keyboard is much simpler and more visual. The notes are neatly arranged in a row from low to high and each note can only be played in one way. Once you learn the names of the notes in one octave, you know all the names of the notes.

So I recommend getting a cheap small keyboard and learn how to read music and how to construct scales and chords on it, but don't worry too much about actually being able to play.

 

[fearceol]

Learn by ear, as much as you can, way better for your playing...

This ^^^

Back in the Jurassic period (late 60's) when I started playing bass, there was no internet or tab. I wore out many LP's and many a stylus playing along to songs that I liked and figuring out the bass lines by ear. Often, I would have to play and replay a difficult passage (by physically moving the stylus back and forth across the vinyl) before I could nail that passage.

Yes, it was a lot of repetitive work, but I am eternally grateful that the lack of internet access forced me to learn in this way. I have never felt the need to use tab.