Jeff Berlins Bass Mastery A Complete Reading Course

[la bam]

Hi all, hope all is well.

 

Ok, so having been playing for 30 years, gigging for over 20 years mainly rock, indie, pop, and chart music, I've started straying into liking different genres.

 

After watching a lot of YouTube @Jeff Berlin has won me over with his angle on teaching and academic study.

 

I cant read music, I dont know scales, or any real music theory, but I'm willing to learn.

 

I kinda get what Jeff is saying, and i agree. I still remember Marcus Miller saying something similar too in a magazine years ago, about learning a language by immersing yourself in it. Learn the notes, as jeff says.

 

So, I've bought Jeff's pdf of his book Bass Mastery A Complete Reading Course. Has anyone else tried this, or used this book? How did you like it.

 

Just one thing so far .... I've opened up the first real page and it's just notes on a page, but I cant read. I think I remember that EGBDF are the lines and FACE inbetween at school (30 years ago) is this the same for bass notation? 

 

Also the first lesson - whole notes on the E string - starts with a note under the lines with a line through it, and the number 0 underneath, the next note just under the line with a 1 underneath it, and the next note on the lowest line with a 3 underneath it. I really dont know what they mean. Am I missing something obvious?

 

Really looking forward to learning all this.

 

Any help appreciated.

[la bam]

Ah, just had an internet look...

 

Is bass clef:

 

bottom line G, then rising up from there?

 

And 2 notes below the bottom line E, 1 note below F?

[funkle]

7 hours ago, la bam said:

Ah, just had an internet look...

 

Is bass clef:

 

bottom line G, then rising up from there?

 

And 2 notes below the bottom line E, 1 note below F?

That’s right. 
 

If you are really unsure of what you are doing, getting a teacher to go over it with you is good too. 
 

I’ve been steadily working my way through the course. I bought all 6 packages. It is fantastic and one of the best things I have done in my career. Super logical etudes, progressively getting trickier and more detailed. Start at the beginning and work your way through slowly and you’ll get exactly where you need to. I’ve almost finished up the second book and will start the third in a couple of months I think. 

[funkle]

By the way my context for comments is I have studied with Jeff at Players School in 2007-2010 and started doing the course as a way of getting back into daily reading over the lockdowns after long periods of not practicing. I have to admit I skipped a lot of the first book, at least until later lessons. 
 

The numbers you saw in lesson 1 I think indicate which fretting fingers to use for a note. 0 would be an open string, 1 would be index finger, and so on. 
 

Go slow and steady and you’ll do great. 

[la bam]

Thanks for that, that's helpful, I'll give that a go.

[lownote]

GABCDEFGA

 

Good Boys Deserve Fruit Always

All Cows Eat Grass

 

Edited March 9, 2022 by lownote

[Bilbo]

It works. Keep at it.

[Joe Nation]

I think the 0, 1 and 3 might be frets, but could also be fingering as funkle suggested. It should tell you at the back of the book what the notations mean. The bass clef is also known as the F clef - the blob in the middle of the clef is in the same place as an F. Just remember that and work your way up and down from there (remember, only natural notes sit on the stave, sharps and flats are marked with a # or b, never got my head around why that is).

 

The treble clef is the G clef, the centre of the curl of that one is on the line for a G. I just looked it up and there's also a C clef which looks like a weird B-shape, it's used rarely for soprano/alto/tenor registers. You can also move the treble and bass clefs to get different registers, which puts the notes in completely different places on the stave but to the untrained eye it will catch you out. Now I've thoroughly confused myself and most of the rest of you, I'll shut up...

[Doddy]

16 hours ago, la bam said:

Just one thing so far .... I've opened up the first real page and it's just notes on a page, but I cant read. I think I remember that EGBDF are the lines and FACE inbetween at school (30 years ago) is this the same for bass notation? 

That's right for treble clef. Bass clef is GBDFA on the lines, and ACEG in the spaces.

16 hours ago, la bam said:

Also the first lesson - whole notes on the E string - starts with a note under the lines with a line through it, and the number 0 underneath, the next note just under the line with a 1 underneath it, and the next note on the lowest line with a 3 underneath it. I really dont know what they mean. Am I missing something obvious?

 

 

The note under the stave on the first ledger line is a low E- the open E on your bass. The next note under the stave is an F (E string, first fret), and the note on the lowest line is a G (E string, third fret).

I would assume that the numbers underneath are the fingers to fret with, with 1 being the index finger and 3 being the ring finger.

[la bam]

Cheers all, I've got through the forst 4 exercises, so off to a decent start.

[la bam]

I tell you what is gonna take some defeating - when theres a whole note on a ACEG section, and my brain is reading it as a zero, because I'm used to tab, instead of its actual position on the music.

[funkle]

Patience and kindness is important here. As long as you turn up regularly and do the work, you will get where you need to go. 

[funkle]

And by the way there are good teachers around - @TKenrickcomes to mind!

[Oomo]

Does anyone know what the difference between his reading book and the separate package courses are?

 

Is the book a starting point, then the other courses a more advanced follow up?

[funkle]

21 minutes ago, Oomo said:

Is the book a starting point, then the other courses a more advanced follow up?

Yes, just so. 
 

I have felt more progress following his course with just reading my way through it than I have felt in a while. I speak as a reasonably experienced player, but seriously, just start with Book 1 or 2 and just keep turning up. 
 

I still need to transcribe/work on band music/etc alongside, but if I could only do one bit of practice a day, I would do Jeff’s etudes for 30 mins a day and call it good.

(As an aside, doing them naturally fixed some technical problems I had on the G string and it feels great.)

[TKenrick]

On 16/03/2022 at 13:42, funkle said:

And by the way there are good teachers around - @TKenrickcomes to mind!

Thanks, Pete (the cheque's in the post 😉)

 

@la bam learning to read on the bass is hard, which is why 95% of players avoid it at all costs. I definitely felt frustrated when I switched from TAB to notation but 10 minutes a day can work wonders and in 6 months your bass playing will be in a totally different place.

 

I haven't checked out Jeff's books yet, but given his prowess on the instrument I'm sure they're a great way to get yourself in shape.

[Greg Edwards69]

That book sounds good. Jeff is certainly a very vocal advocate of bass education (that gets him into deep water sometimes).

 

My sight reading used to be very good, with treble clef, which I used to play the clarinet and keyboards.  These days, not so much.  I bought an electric piano last year with the intent of improving my sight reading and keyboard skills again. I think my reading was worse than my playing as I haven't done so for around 25 years since I started playing bass guitar as my primary instrument.

 

I did get a couple of cello books a number of years ago with the intent of improving bass clef reading, but they quickly ended up on a shelf. I really ought to get back into it properly.

[Bilbo]

I always believed that that  visceral sense of frustration when you are practicing was an indicator that you are working on something you need to work on. If you don't feel it, you are probably coasting and not making much progress. 

 

As for it being hard, trying anything you can't already do is challenging but it's not shovelling coal into a blast furnace 🤣

Edited March 24, 2022 by Bilbo

[Guest]

Many players are comfortable where they are, and don’t want/need more. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. However, most players at some point in their life feel a sense of being limited, and the need to expand their knowledge. This may just a burst that never happens again (the fallacy that understanding why something works stops you from being able to do it), you may have plateaus, some times for years, where you would like to get better, but don’t, and a small minority of players are never content and always seek to improve (Allan Holdsworth was a classic example). And this need to I,prove doesn’t necessarily mean taking theory or reading sessions - for example, if you play in a studio/recording situation for the first time you may well find your technique and timing aren’t good enough. What sounds good when you play it often comes back when recorded totally differently. 
 

There’s nothing inherently wrong with either theory knowledge or learning to read music. It’s people’s application of it that results in some musicians being labelled too technical, too busy or lacking feel. It’s sometimes said that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, so if you are going to do it, make a fair go of it as initially the value of it might seem a bit hard to judge, and in the very short term it’s unlikely to make you play better

 

[greghagger]

On 08/03/2022 at 23:39, la bam said:

Hi all, hope all is well.

 

Ok, so having been playing for 30 years, gigging for over 20 years mainly rock, indie, pop, and chart music, I've started straying into liking different genres.

 

After watching a lot of YouTube @Jeff Berlin has won me over with his angle on teaching and academic study.

 

I cant read music, I dont know scales, or any real music theory, but I'm willing to learn.

 

I kinda get what Jeff is saying, and i agree. I still remember Marcus Miller saying something similar too in a magazine years ago, about learning a language by immersing yourself in it. Learn the notes, as jeff says.

 

So, I've bought Jeff's pdf of his book Bass Mastery A Complete Reading Course. Has anyone else tried this, or used this book? How did you like it.

 

Just one thing so far .... I've opened up the first real page and it's just notes on a page, but I cant read. I think I remember that EGBDF are the lines and FACE inbetween at school (30 years ago) is this the same for bass notation? 

 

Also the first lesson - whole notes on the E string - starts with a note under the lines with a line through it, and the number 0 underneath, the next note just under the line with a 1 underneath it, and the next note on the lowest line with a 3 underneath it. I really dont know what they mean. Am I missing something obvious?

 

Really looking forward to learning all this.

 

Any help appreciated.

Hi, if you want more of a manual that gets you started reading by yourself with a teacher then check this book out. It explains how to work out the notes and rhythm. 
 

https://www.gbshed.com/books/reading-music-for-bass-players