The Major's Bass Boot Camp (Session 6)

[Major-Minor]

The Major's Bass Boot Camp (Session 6)

1st position Bass Guitar sight-reading / Half position Double Bass sight-reading

I promised to include some easier sessions for those new to music reading and theory and so here is the first such session.

It's all in the first position (DB half pos.), such that the 1st finger is locked to the 1st fret, 2nd finger plays 2nd fret and in my fingering system (you will be getting used to this by now), we use the 4th finger on the 3rd fret. This is to avoid getting an overstretched hand and muscle strain problems in later life.

I've restricted this first "easy" session to semibreves (whole notes, one bar long), minims (2 beat notes), crotchets (one beat notes) and quavers (half beat notes).
And towards the end, I've introduced the quaver rest (half beat rest).

So, download this pdf:
[attachment=39324:MBBC6.pdf]
And this mp3:
[attachment=39325:MBBC6.mp3]
Let's get started.

I've fingered the first few notes, and also each time a new note appears. After that, you need to get your brain in gear, and try recognizing the notes and applying the fingering you should have memorized. If I had fingered the whole piece, you would end up looking at the fingering rather than the notes, and this exercise is purely about getting to know how the notes look on the page and transferring that information to your hands and then the bass.

The whole piece is in one key - A minor. This key has no sharps or flats in it's key signature. However, the "dominant" chord in A minor is E (or E7) and has a G# in it. as it's major 3rd. So in bars 32 and 48, I have written this note to get you used to seeing what are called accidentals - notes from outside the key signature. We'll talk further about this point another time (it's complicated and possibly confusing !). This session is just to get you reading notes.

I've put chord symbols in to help you get used to seeing them on the page, and also the way that certain notes fit nicely into chordal patterns. On the mp3, the piano plays these chords in a basic fashion to help you hear the harmony. You'll notice that this piece is an 8 bar sequence repeated several times. I've varied the bass line styling on each 8 bar phrase.

The first 8 bars are all minims. That means each note lasts 2 beats (2 foot-taps).

From bar 9, we get a crotchet passage. That's one note per beat. In bar 12, you will see I've signposted the note E. This note is not in the chord of D minor, but we call this a "passing note" as it moves between two chordal notes (notes which are in the chord). As it is not on the strong beats of the bar (1 and 3), it fits in quite nicely. We'll use lots of "passing notes" in future sessions.

At bar 17, the style changes to a typical bass line style I'm sure you will recognize.
The first crotchet note is a beat and a half long - the dot after the note signifies half as much again. It is therefore called a "dotted crotchet" - ie one crotchet plus a half crotchet in length.
The second note is also a beat and a half long, but the note starts half way through a beat. This half beat note (quaver) is "tied" over to the crotchet, such that, in total, we have a note that lasts one and a half beats. This is a syncopated note ie a note which does not start on the beat and continues over the beat (foot-tap).
The final note in the bar is a crotchet (1/4) falling on the 4th beat of the bar.

In bar 25, we start a passage of quavers (8ths).
Note: in bar 30, I've written more "passing notes". The Es and Ds in this bar are not in the F chord, but are in the scale of F, the E being the major 7th of F, the D is the major 6th of the scale. In actual fact, the D notes change the nature of the harmony very briefly into a D minor7 chord. We tend to think that a given chord is constant for however many beats it is written for. But in truth, the harmony is constantly changing within a bar, because many other notes are flying about in the bass part or the melody or other internal parts. The given chord sequence is, by necessity, really an abbreviation, because otherwise we couldn't take it all in if every chordal extension was written (although this does happen quite often in Big Band and Jazz charts).
For instance, at the end of bar 31, I've written a moving passage, from G down to the E of the next bar. So we get F# and F natural which fit in fine in this instance, but are not directly "in" the chord of G. They momentarily change the harmony but we don't need to write that on the part.

In bar 34 and 35, I've introduced the semibreve (whole note) - a note which lasts the full bar - 4 beats. After this I've started to mix up the different note lengths - minims, crotchets and quavers. In bar 41, I've introduced the quaver rest - for a half beat there is silence in the bass part.

The Major

[stevie]

This is most welcome. I have a stack of books on reading for the bass and the only one that is any good doesn't progress past the first position and has been out of print for decades. None of the material I have contains musically interesting exercises like this one. I have high hopes of this series of lessons from The Major.

[Major-Minor]

[quote name='stevie' post='700575' date='Jan 4 2010, 04:01 PM']This is most welcome. I have a stack of books on reading for the bass and the only one that is any good doesn't progress past the first position and has been out of print for decades. None of the material I have contains musically interesting exercises like this one. I have high hopes of this series of lessons from The Major.[/quote]
Cheers Stevie. I'm only too happy to produce this stuff as long as it is of interest to you guys. Please let me know if there is anything that you need particular help with and I can taylor the sessions accordingly.
I've had a fair bit of time over the holiday to produce this stuff, but as I'm going to be fairly busy in the coming weeks, my production rate will probably slow down a bit.

The Major

[stevie]

[quote name='Major-Minor' post='700592' date='Jan 4 2010, 04:23 PM']Cheers Stevie. I'm only too happy to produce this stuff as long as it is of interest to you guys. Please let me know if there is anything that you need particular help with and I can taylor the sessions accordingly.
I've had a fair bit of time over the holiday to produce this stuff, but as I'm going to be fairly busy in the coming weeks, my production rate will probably slow down a bit.[/quote]

I've noticed that there are quite a few players here on Basschat who can read, but who struggle with anything beyond the first position. I've been working through the Filiberto Bass Position Studies book and am semi-confident at sightreading up to the fifth position now, but it has taken me longer than it should have done - and I still stay at the bottom of the neck whenever possible. What I (am probably others) need is a system - a methodical approach - for reading at any position on the neck in all (or at least the common) keys.

The Filiberto book is based on the use of positions - basically the fifth, seventh and ninth position. Wendi Hrehovcsik's book Music Reading for Bass (the Complete Guide) promotes the use of 'scale forms', or what I would call box positions. Is this the best approach? It might well be, but I have my doubts about an author who thinks she can cover Walking Bass Lines in half a page.

The timing aspect of reading is covered in depth by a number of methods - not surprising, since this is something all musicians have to learn - but I've yet to find a decent method for learning how to gain reading mastery across the entire bass guitar fingerboard. I'm tempted to see what the double bass literature has to offer. Still, if you have any insights that would help me master the remaining section of the fingerboard, which is currently uncharted territory, I'd be very interested to hear them. If your boot camp lessons could include some material on these particular points, so much the better.

[danthewelshy]

[quote name='Major-Minor' post='700592' date='Jan 4 2010, 04:23 PM']Cheers Stevie. I'm only too happy to produce this stuff as long as it is of interest to you guys. Please let me know if there is anything that you need particular help with and I can taylor the sessions accordingly.
I've had a fair bit of time over the holiday to produce this stuff, but as I'm going to be fairly busy in the coming weeks, my production rate will probably slow down a bit.

The Major[/quote]

Its definatley of interest and I look foward to any future sessions you do. Reading practice is what I need so this all is good for me personally

[billphreets]

thanks major , a most welcome edition to your series.. reading is an area im determined to improve on!

[Major-Minor]

[quote name='stevie' post='700697' date='Jan 4 2010, 05:37 PM']I've noticed that there are quite a few players here on Basschat who can read, but who struggle with anything beyond the first position. I've been working through the Filiberto Bass Position Studies book and am semi-confident at sightreading up to the fifth position now, but it has taken me longer than it should have done - and I still stay at the bottom of the neck whenever possible. What I (am probably others) need is a system - a methodical approach - for reading at any position on the neck in all (or at least the common) keys.

The Filiberto book is based on the use of positions - basically the fifth, seventh and ninth position. Wendi Hrehovcsik's book Music Reading for Bass (the Complete Guide) promotes the use of 'scale forms', or what I would call box positions. Is this the best approach? It might well be, but I have my doubts about an author who thinks she can cover Walking Bass Lines in half a page.

The timing aspect of reading is covered in depth by a number of methods - not surprising, since this is something all musicians have to learn - but I've yet to find a decent method for learning how to gain reading mastery across the entire bass guitar fingerboard. I'm tempted to see what the double bass literature has to offer. Still, if you have any insights that would help me master the remaining section of the fingerboard, which is currently uncharted territory, I'd be very interested to hear them. If your boot camp lessons could include some material on these particular points, so much the better.[/quote]
There are no easy or quick fixes with music reading I'm afraid ! It's all about recognizing patterns and seeing the possible fingerings in different positions. Like any skill it takes practice. The more reading you do, the more you will see things you've seen before and you will build up a repertoire of fingerings in all the positions.

The Simandl bass tutor is fairly standard in the double bass world and guides you through all the positions in a nicely graded way. But it does have some limitations as a bass guitar tutor. The position naming is rather confusing for the BG player and the exercises, although well written, do tend to be rather "classical" in approach as you might imagine. I'm trying to produce practical playing examples in these Boot Camp sessions, short passages you might find on a typical reading gig.

Stevie - I'm going to try to provide you with some suitable material, to get you moving up the neck. Bear with me - I will try to drip feed this stuff over the next few months. Each one of these sessions is several hours work, so i can't rush things.

The Major

[stevie]

[quote name='Major-Minor' post='703077' date='Jan 6 2010, 04:48 PM']There are no easy or quick fixes with music reading I'm afraid ! It's all about recognizing patterns and seeing the possible fingerings in different positions. Like any skill it takes practice. The more reading you do, the more you will see things you've seen before and you will build up a repertoire of fingerings in all the positions.

Stevie - I'm going to try to provide you with some suitable material, to get you moving up the neck. Bear with me - I will try to drip feed this stuff over the next few months. Each one of these sessions is several hours work, so i can't rush things.[/quote]

Thanks for the advice. I'll just keep on plugging away then. I'm looking forward to the new stuff. It is very much appreciated.

[64k]

Great post!

Question though does anyone else have trouble with the .ipb files attached to these lessons, wouldn't a move popular format be better? say .pdf and .mp3

Mac osx does'nt seem to like them, I can't find a program to open them, what do you all use?

[Dad3353]

[quote name='64k' timestamp='1365668452' post='2042476']
Great post!

Question though does anyone else have trouble with the .ipb files attached to these lessons, wouldn't a move popular format be better? say .pdf and .mp3

Mac osx does'nt seem to like them, I can't find a program to open them, what do you all use?
[/quote]

Can you not just re-name the files, changing the extensions to 'pdf' and 'mp3'..? It works for me.
Hope this helps...

[64k]

Cheers Dad3353, that works for me too!