Learning to Read

[bubinga5]

Ok im going to learn to read..i should have started years ago but oh well...ive decide i want to take my playing to more of a pro level and maybe get paid for it...

Im going to teach myself(i guess this is a no brainer??) so does anyone have any tips, websites that i can tap into...where is the best place to get bass clef notation, from simple stuff to maybe more advanced..there is an article in BGM about it but its on lesson 13 so ive erm...missed a few lessons..any ideas, tips, thoughts??

thankyou..

[Doddy]

Take a look at the Majors reading exercises in the Theory and Technique section-they are a good starting point.
Also check out www.studybass.com

[stevie]

Agreed - the Major's material is second to none.

The free midi files that you'll find on the internet are a really good source of dots for the bass. You'll need a midi player that will display the music (rather than just play it), but I believe there are some free ones around.

[zero9]

[quote name='Doddy' post='924022' date='Aug 13 2010, 03:24 PM']Take a look at the Majors reading exercises in the Theory and Technique section-they are a good starting point.
Also check out www.studybass.com[/quote]

+1

[Doddy]

There is something on Victor Wooten's site that helps you identify the notes.

[JakeBrownBass]

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=74284"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=74284[/url]

I'll repeat what the others have said, check out the link i've just posted.

The reading lessons start at session 20 and have been invaluable to me learning to read!

[Bilbo]

I recommend Rufus Reid's The Evolving Bassist as it starts you off reading open strings on minims and takes you from there

The secret of learning to read is to learn where the notes are on the stave, learn to read rhythms and the JUST DO IT - again and again and again and again and again....... It is a skill you develop by endless repetition. There are loads of transcriptions on here (look under Theory and Technique) and on the net so no excuses. Start simple and build otherwise you will get frustrated (although frustration goes with the territory in this case)

[Fat Rich]

Best bit of advice (can't remember which book I got it from) was to learn the different rhythm combinations of 16th notes as sounds rather than counting them 1e&a 2e&a 3e&a 4e&a etc.

For example, a sixteenth, an eighth and sixteenth would be [b]ba baaaaa ba[/b] rather than [b]1e a[/b].

Also, make sure you know all your notes on the fingerboard and on the stave, there are apps for iPhone/iPod like Bassclef that are great for that, plus probably others online.

And keep practicing, I used to be able to read reasonably well but now I can't remember and I'm having to relearn.

Edited August 13, 2010 by Fat Rich

[Doddy]

[quote name='Fat Rich' post='924077' date='Aug 13 2010, 04:04 PM']Best bit of advice (can't remember which book I got it from) was to learn the different rhythm combinations of 16th notes as sounds rather than counting them 1e&a 2e&a 3e&a 4e&a etc.

For example, a sixteenth, an eighth and sixteenth would be [b]ba baaaaa ba[/b] rather than [b]1e a[/b].[/quote]

I would never recommend learning rhythms this way. Eventually you will begin to recognise patterns and won't have to count them,but I would always suggest that you learn to count initially. That way you can still play through any unfamiliar rhythms by counting.If you just learn the sounds and you come across a rhythm you've not previously seen,you'll be buggered.

[bubinga5]

im not a total newbie when it comes to the language of music., just want a site that i can progress in a steady way...also it would be nice to have notation to (some) music and also have the ability to play the song also?

Edited August 13, 2010 by bubinga5

[bubinga5]

[quote name='Bilbo' post='924072' date='Aug 13 2010, 03:57 PM']I recommend Rufus Reid's The Evolving Bassist as it starts you off reading open strings on minims and takes you from there

The secret of learning to read is to learn where the notes are on the stave, learn to read rhythms and the JUST DO IT - again and again and again and again and again....... It is a skill you develop by endless repetition. There are loads of transcriptions on here (look under Theory and Technique) and on the net so no excuses. Start simple and build otherwise you will get frustrated (although frustration goes with the territory in this case)[/quote]
Bilbo (or anyone else) do you find its a skill you have to keep up all the time to keep sharp?

[Fat Rich]

[quote name='Doddy' post='924120' date='Aug 13 2010, 04:45 PM']I would never recommend learning rhythms this way. Eventually you will begin to recognise patterns and won't have to count them,but I would always suggest that you learn to count initially. That way you can still play through any unfamiliar rhythms by counting.If you just learn the sounds and you come across a rhythm you've not previously seen,you'll be buggered.[/quote]

Well, the point is to learn all the combinations, there's not many for sixteenths in a beat. Granted there are a few more combinations for triplets....

As you say if you come across something you haven't learned you wouldn't just be buggered, you might be bu bu buuu bu buuu buggered

[bottlebassman]

Im using studybass.com as mentioned above. Finding it really useful.

[Bilbo]

[quote name='bubinga5' post='924144' date='Aug 13 2010, 05:05 PM']Bilbo (or anyone else) do you find its a skill you have to keep up all the time to keep sharp?[/quote]

Very much so but not necessarily in a reading hundreds of charts all day every day kind of way. I find 15 minutes every day (ish) pouring over something lovely, like a Bach Cello Suite, is no hardship and easy enough to maintain. Also helps with the 'good intonation without looking' area of double ans fretless bass. I also have a 'reading rhythms' book on my desk at work that I can look at to tap out rhythms that will increase my ability to 'see' rhythms in the way Doddy describes (I don't count them or talk them, just see them in the same way you don't phonetically spell out written words but scan the whole. I find, for instance, that it helps to recognise that a half bar of sixteenths reads rhythmially the same as a full bar of eighths etc.

My 'project' at the moment is trying to get to read the treble, tenor and alto clefs as well as I can the bass clef. Its hard