Bass guitar notes...HELP!?!
Question:
Bass guitar notes...HELP!?
okay, so i started bass guitar 2 months ago, and i joined up with the jazz band. this is my 2nd practice and i feel like im not doing well. See, my bass guitar teacher didn't give me assignments to do the notes. That made me nervous, so i practiced the notes a lot at home, mostly the scale, e f g a b c d e f g a b, on the lowest frets of the neck and the open strings. And i brought the music to my bass guitar teacher.....and he seemed to expect me to know the frets higher on the neck, and i hadn't practiced them. Also, the notes were terrifying! Even when i first got them at jazz band, i was dazzeled! And the worst thing was, everyone seemed to know the notes but me, which was probably true, since all of them have been playing for 3 years. I got 1 of the songs learned when i came home, but i cant seem to get the notes right away! anyways, i need to know how i can practice the notes on my own, so i dont feel stupid the next jazz or guitar practice! I'll choose best answer!
Answers: whoa whoa whoa!
calm down, we can help!! lol. its all gonna be ok, take a deep breath, count to ten, have a glass of water, i'm gonna try to make this clear as day for you...
ok, ready....?
now, when you first learned where most of the notes are, you probably noticed that some notes are right next to each other, and others are not. lets make that pattern easier to understand.
in all of western music, there are only 12 notes that things are divided into, and that set of twelve repeats over and over again. its kinda like when you count from 0 to 9, thats really ALL the numbers there are. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. then you'd be at 10, which is like hitting 0 again, only in the next set higher. 11 is a 1, 12 is a 2, 13 is a 3, etc. so the pattern just repeats over and over.
music does the same thing, but it uses 12 notes. so, you'd count 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12, and then the pattern repeats again. some people think of it as being the face of a clock, it goes around in a circle, so you can start anywhere and go full circle from there. but keep in mind, as you through the notes you're going higher as you count (or lower if you're going backwards), so in that sense, its not just a circle, its more like a slinky which goes in circles but gets taller as it coils.
ok, so you already know the notes A, B, C, D, E, F, G....... these are the "naturals", but theres also the notes in the middle, which are called "accidentals". those notes will be your "sharps" and "flats".
all the sharps and flats actually have 2 names.... the note in between A and B is called "A#" (A sharp) or you can call it "Bb" (B flat). this note is sometimes called one, sometimes the other, depending on which is more useful at that time. lets say your best friend is named Mary Smith, and you see her walking down the hallway at school.... you could say "hey Mary, how's it going?", or you could say "yo Smith!! whats up?". now, thats two names for the same person, just like we'll name a note two things.
so, SOME notes have two names (the ones with the slashes in the middle), and going in order alphabetically, in order we have the following:
A, A# / Bb, B, C, C# / Db, D, D# / Db, E, F, F# / Gb, G, G# / Ab, then you'd be back to A again.
now, on the guitar, each fret moves up the distance of one note to the very next note, which is called a "half-step". this means that when you've moved from the open position to the 11th fret you'll have gone through all 12 notes in one set (called an "octave"). the 12th fret will be the very same note as the open string, one octave higher.
ok, so this means that what you were playing before ( e f g a b c d e) can be played STARTING on the thickest string at the 12th fret. by the way, that pattern is all the notes from the C major scale, so if you start on a C, that pattern will be the "do re mi fa so la ti do!" pattern. thats the pattern that music is all based around. its made of half steps and whole steps (a whole step is any 2 notes apart, for example, the 3rd fret to the 5th fret is a whole step).
starting on any note (a "root note" - sometimes called a "tonic" - is where a pattern starts) if you follow this pattern whole step, whole step, half, whole, whole, whole, half, that gives you a major scale for that root! so, if you start on a B, you get a B major scale, if you start on F#, its F# major scale, etc.
hopefully this all makes sense and you can use it to find where all the notes live up and down the fretboard and make useful patterns out of it. and dont worry, if you've only been playing for 2 months and havent had private instruction, you're doing fine and your teacher is being a little bit harsh expecting you to memorize all that so fast. most people dont get it that fast, so dont feel bad. just keep practising, and hopefully this stuff helps you so you can go in there and show him how much you picked up in a short time! Source(s):
me - guitar / bass teacher at the local music store.
give me a shout if you have questions! good luck! I play guitar, but here's an idea that helps me:
If you learn the notes on the first 5 frets of the E and A strings, you can figure the notes anywhere on the fretboard by a visual octave relation: Up 2 strings, and up 2 frets is the same note.
For example, on the low E string, the "G" note is on the 3rd fret.
Move up 2 strings (to the D string) and up 2 frets (to the 5th fret) and you have G again.
Once you learn the root notes and get good at looking at this "2-up, 2-up" (or "2-down, 2-down") relationship, you can see what notes are where almost immediately.
This helps me, and I would imagine for Jazz bass, where the root note is important in the groove, it would help also. your dog is on top? ookkk.... Have you learned any scale patterns (major or minor)? That was the easiest way for me to learn.. learn a basic pattern and move around the neck. Start on different notes. you'll start to get the hang of which note you're on, where, say the fifth of that scale is. The more you play with these patterns, the more you'll get used to playing a single note and instantly knowing where the fifth is or the minor 3rd (or any other note in respect to your root) is.. Starting with a C major scale would be the best jumping off point. remember: Major = root, Whole, Whole, Half, W, W, W, H. Lots of good advice here.
I'd like to add that within the first 4 frets you have a note range from the E an octave below middle C to the B just below middle C. That is a good very useful bass range.
I think you would greatly benefit from practicing the chromatic scale. That would be: e, f, f#, g, g#, a, a#, b, c, c#, d, d#, e, f, f#, g, g#, a, a#, b. They all can be played within the 1st four frets of each string and using each of your fingers.
The below link is a good free site of Bass lessons and some music essentials.
Have fun practicing and learning!