Do you know what note you're on?

[chris_b]

When you're reading a book you don't think, there's an L or a Q. You don’t even read the words or their order you just know what they mean.

The aim should be the same for music and playing a musical instrument.

On a bass, you must know your fret board inside out; know your scales, chords etc, but hitting the right notes should be instinctive.

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1363686921' post='2015693']
For me, I will obviously know the root note of any chord I'm playing. After that, my brain turns to the note's relationship to the root.
[/quote]

I'm the same, but I'm trying to pay more attention to what notes I'm playing and what notes are in what chords, just because it's easier to busk changes if you can see where you're going!

[chrismuzz]

Most of the time I couldn't tell you what note I was playing without looking at the fretboard and figuring it out. I'm usually cool with knowing what interval I'm on relative to the key I'm currently playing in though. I seem to be best at figuring out major 7th, minor 2nd, and tritones though

[bigjohn]

I don't think about it, but if I stopped dead in my tracks I could name what note I'm playing pretty quickly if not instantly.

Apart from the is it a B flat / A sharp? instances where I probably haven't bothered to work out which key I'm in. I play a lot of chromatic runs and never transpose anything, don't sight read either so I tend not to bother. Generally though, I could shout out what note I'm playing as I play it. If I wanted to. And played slow enough

I'm not bad at recognising notes I hear either. Playing them makes that much easier.

[skankdelvar]

Do I know what note I'm playing? Generally, yes, because I started on guitar and learnt how chords are made up.

But the sort of music I like to play tends to confine me to obvious choices and root-based patterns more important for their rhythmic support than for their colour. Sometimes I get the urge to chuck in a passing note or to change the chord from underneath. But then people get sulky and scowl at me.

F'r instance, 'Not Fade Away' is (IMO) just begging for a quick fifth to support the last vocal line in each verse. Threw one in and the singer / guitard went bug-eyed crazy demanding to know "Who played that B ?!?"

[yepmop]

[quote name='thunderbird13' timestamp='1363688966' post='2015750']
I have a real problem in playing in that I can close my eyes now and name every note on the fretboard and yet put me in a band situation and I struggle to name the open strings ( honestly ) .Its not about nerves its more that once I get ino playing that part of my brain slows down and I rely upon shapes and what sounds good
[/quote]

+1 to Shapes and especially "Sounds Good".
In a relaxed situation at home you could point to and fret position and I can almost instantly name the note. I a practice/Jam session apart from the root note my mind just goes blank and that's when playing what sounds good kicks in.

This is part of the reason i'm trying to learn a bit of theory to help me.

[lowdown]

All the time - And i can hear, and know the chords [others are playing] as well.



Garry

Edited March 19, 2013 by lowdown

[lojo]

I would know what note I am playing because I know my fret board, but I would not think the note, only the patten involved, and some key roots to anchor the song in my head, if that makes sense

[Ant]

nope! im useless with theory scales and everything that goes with it, its something i really need to work on.

i know what shapes work for me but thats about it

[4 Strings]

I'm mostly aware of the intervals, I'm often aware of the notes. Mainly, I think, because I play mostly by ear and have to form lines and choose notes from the chord and chord type (major, minor, seventh etc).

If its a rehearsed song I aim to be on auto and so don't think about it.

[JTUK]

Notes and intervals... if I have to go to something fast, I'll go to shapes and then revert to the start-off point which will be the
the root note of the chord.

When you are piecing together a track, you might want to play the song with chords at some point so you can get a feel of how the
bass moves between the bars and chords.
I favour this way as I then don't have to learn the bass line

[BigRedX]

I try to never use patterns because that means that I am repeating myself. When composing a bass line each note (or rest) is carefully considered to be what I consider the best one at any given point in a song.

[Wil]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1363708201' post='2016289']
I try to never use patterns because that means that I am repeating myself. When composing a bass line each note (or rest) is carefully considered to be what I consider the best one at any given point in a song.
[/quote]

Good point. I try and make a concious effort to compose lines with my ears rather than my hands, it's difficult though. I like this quote on the subject:

"Your hands are like dogs, going to the same places they've been. You have to be careful when playing is no longer in the mind but in the fingers, going to happy places. You have to break them of their habits or you don't explore; you only play what is confident and pleasing. I'm learning to break those habits by playing instruments I know absolutely nothing about, like a basoon or waterphone" - Tom Waits

[thodrik]

I am generally aware of the notes, keys and intervals I'm playing. Since I did a fair bit of music theory when I was younger though, I would be pretty worried if I wasn't! However, if I'm playing in a tuning that is below E standard (say C/C sharp) I might say 'play an open A' to the guitarist, as if I say 'play an open F sharp' it generally confuses them.

Sometimes though I prefer the 'grip it and rip it' approach than thinking carefully about every note I'm going to play in a given song. However even then its not as if I'm not generally aware of what I'm doing.

I don't think that patterns are necessarily a bad thing either. They appear in all forms of music Being aware of lots of different chord or fingering patterns is a good thing and can help provide a skeletal framework that can be adapted when composing music or even improvising. I would say that being a slave to the same three fingering patterns, chord structures and time signatures is a sign of laziness, but to some people it equates to a 'signature sound'. That is why I generally don't think about it too much and just play bass.

[BigRedX]

I always remember an interview with Jon Anderson of Yes done at the time of the release of his first solo album. Because he'd composed all the music himself but had no conventional musical training (or at least compared with his bandmates in Yes), he said that every note had to be individually considered from all the ones available. I was an impressionable teenager at the time I read this, so I have no idea if it was true or simply bollocks made up to give the album extra publicity. However I do think that his basic idea was sound. Whenever I find myself slipping into comfortable patterns or chord sequences, I'll start deliberately throwing in notes or chords that would normally be considered to be wrong. Of course most of the time the result isn't very musically pleasing, but it also throws up plenty of new ideas worth pursuing.

Edited March 19, 2013 by BigRedX

[bassmachine2112]

It,s simple
Fat string,next to fat string,next to thin string,thin string
then
No hold down,no dot,no dot,-dot,-no dot,-dot -no dot,-dot-no dot-dot-no dot,no dot-double dot
Double dot is the same as no hold down at the far away end
Here,s the clever bit to impress people -it repeats itself again from double dot towards the other hand waving about near yer depending if you swing low or scratch yer armpits a bit ,roughly where yer belly button is.
Simples

[thodrik]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1363711451' post='2016385']
I always remember an interview with Jon Anderson of Yes done at the time of the release of his first solo album. Because he'd composed all the music himself but had no conventional musical training (or at least compared with his bandmates in Yes), he said that every note had to be individually considered from all the ones available. I was an impressionable teenager at the time I read this, so I have no idea if it was true or simply bollocks made up to give the album extra publicity. However I do think that his basic idea was sound. Whenever I find myself slipping into comfortable patterns or chord sequences, I'll start deliberately throwing in notes or chords that would normally be considered to be wrong. Of course most of the time the result isn't very musically pleasing, but it also throws up plenty of new ideas worth pursuing.
[/quote]

Interesting idea that. You should try twelve-tone serialism stuff. Devoid of patterns and often devoid of much melody, but really interesting all the same.

[WhoNeedsYou]

I've only JUST started to know what notes I'm playing other than open strings!. However, since being given a dep gig to do (30 plus songs in a week to learn) I've been forced to print out a neck note diagram & learn fast.
It's actually amazing how quickly I've caught on for some who has point blank refused to conform past learning things br ear for the past 17 years.
I got by simply on guess work & memorising things in the past. Mad really cos its much simpler to look at a sheet with idiots chords/notes on than having that scary blank moment on stage.

[heminder]

When I play something I eye up where all the root notes are across the whole fretboard. Navigating between them and adding modal colours of different scales is the fun part. The only notes I record the name of in memory is the root, the rest I just go by their intervalic designation (eg. flat 2nd, perfect 5th, etc).

Edited March 19, 2013 by heminder

[Bass Lady]

Always know what notes I'm playing. Don't always know what song though!

[discreet]

[quote name='Bass Lady' timestamp='1363732188' post='2016870']
Always know what notes I'm playing. Don't always know what song though!
[/quote]

Outstanding!

[lowdown]

[quote name='Bass Lady' timestamp='1363732188' post='2016870']
Always know what notes I'm playing. Don't always know what song though!
[/quote]

Quote of the thread....



Garry

[icastle]

[quote name='Bass Lady' timestamp='1363732188' post='2016870']
Always know what notes I'm playing. Don't always know what song though!
[/quote]

I am so with you on that one!

[Bass Lady]

Why thank you kind sirs.

[ZenBasses]

As my old music used to say

''Ben, you are playing all the right notes. Just not necessarily in the right order''

I must get better with notes scales and all that. I tend to play with instinct. But as other have said you tend to get into a comfort zone.

Reading threads on here in start to realize how little I actually know. I've always got by but you know one day pooh will come out when asked to do something that is alien to me.