The Major's Bass Boot Camp - Session 15

[Major-Minor]

The Major's Bass Boot Camp (Session 15)

8 sight reading exercises, all in 6th position (bass guitar)


MBBC15 - 6th position study (1)
[attachment=42162:MBBC15.pdf]
[attachment=42190:MBBC15.mp3]

This rather classical sounding piece (no syncopation) features all the scale notes of E major that are available in the 6th pos.
So once you have played the first 2.5 bars, you have covered all the notes that crop up thereafter. I have fingered each note just the first time it appears.

E major has 4 sharps - F#, C#, G# and D#.


MBBC15a - 6th position study (2)
[attachment=42164:MBBC15a.pdf]
[attachment=42191:MBBC15a.mp3]

This is in the rather nasty key of Eb minor.
There are 6 flats - Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb and Cb.


MBBC15b - 6th position study (3)
[attachment=42166:MBBC15b.pdf]
[attachment=42192:MBBC15b.mp3]

An exercise with multiple time signatures and key changes, starting in the really horrible key of Ab minor (7 flats - so every natural note is flattened).
The rhythm of the first 2 bars might remind you of Leonard Bernstein's "America" from West Side Story ... "I'd like to be in A-me-ri-ca". This relationship between a 6/8 bar and a 3/4 bar is sometimes referred to as a HEMIOLA. This is a good exercise for getting your head around the difference between "simple" and "compound" time signatures - "simple" being divisible by 2, "compound" by 3.
In bar 17, I have written a time signature change to 9/8. This means 3 main beats (foot-taps) each with 3 sub-divisions ie each main beat is a dotted crotchet (1/4) and each of 3 sub-divisions is a quaver (1/8th).


MBBC15c - 6th position study (4)
[attachment=42169:MBBC15c.pdf]
[attachment=42193:MBBC15c.mp3]

A 60's Motown type groove in A major - 3 sharps: F#, C# and G#.


MBBC15d - 6th position study (5)
[attachment=42171:MBBC15d.pdf]
[attachment=42194:MBBC15d.mp3]

Nominally in the Key of Bb, but with a bluesy dominant 7 feel. Lots of minor 3rds and flattened fifths (Db and F flat respectively). To be theoretically correct , the flattened 5th should be written as an F♭but often would be seen as an E ♮so I've used both options to help you get used to these 2 ways of writing the same note (the ENHARMONIC).


MBBC15e - 6th position study (6)
[attachment=42173:MBBC15e.pdf]
[attachment=42195:MBBC15e.mp3]

In a light latin ballad style.
Another E major exercise. Mostly notes from the scale, but an occasional accidental appears - A#, D natural, E# (or F natural).


MBBC15f - 6th position study (7)
[attachment=42176:MBBC15f.pdf]
[attachment=42196:MBBC15f.mp3]

Key of F major (one flat - Bb) but like study number (5) above, this has a bluesy dominant character, so includes lots of 7ths written as accidentals.
And, as before, the flattened 5th (of the F scale) is sometimes written as a Cb and sometimes as B natural. In bar 29 for instance, there is both a Cb and B, but note how I have used them. Where a Bb is preceded by the semitone above, it is easier to read when written as Cb. But when a C is preceded by the semitone lower, it is better with a B natural.

Also notice, in bar 20, I have written an F# rather than Gb. As the next note is B natural, it's easier to "see" the relationship of a 5th between these two notes if written this way, as both notes are ON the line. If I had written Gb leading to the B, it would look like a sixth at first glance (one note in the space, one note on the line). I could of course have written the B as a Cb but then Cb moving to C natural is not ideal (and not wrong either - but the idea is to find the most instantly recognisable way of reading these notes and to then be able to find the best fingering).

MBBC15g - 6th position study (8)
[attachment=42179:MBBC15g.pdf]
[attachment=42197:MBBC15g.mp3]

A swingy bluesy feel in F minor (4 flats - Bb, Eb, Ab and Db).
The dotted quaver / semiquaver construction is always interpreted as swing triplets in this style of writing. See Boot Camp Sessions 2 and 2A for more on this.

The Major

Edited February 9, 2010 by Major-Minor

[danthewelshy]

thanks once again Major! These are of great help as per usual, im currently working through the Motown styled one.

Cheers

[Major-Minor]

[quote name='danthewelshy' post='741308' date='Feb 10 2010, 06:54 PM']thanks once again Major! These are of great help as per usual, im currently working through the Motown styled one.

Cheers[/quote]
Thanks for the reply danthewelshy. Its good to know that somebody is able to use this stuff !

The Major

[billphreets]

thanks major.. ive found all of these installments helpful, can never get enough reading practice!

[Major-Minor]

[quote name='billphreets' post='742528' date='Feb 11 2010, 08:49 PM']thanks major.. ive found all of these installments helpful, can never get enough reading practice![/quote]
Cheers billphreets !

I'll keep on adding to the sight reading sessions. But the next session, which I'm working on right now, will be "Creating a Walking Bass Line".

The Major