Learning how to read bass guitar notes on staff is an essential skill for any bass player. The process is a little different from tablature but once you commit the basic symbols to memory it should be pretty easy.
The musical staff is composed of five lines and four spaces that fix pitches. Bass music is usually written in the fittingly named bass clef. Notes can be extended above and below the staff by ledger lines.
Lines
The bass guitar is often a rhythm instrument as well as a melodic one. Its role is to provide a solid and steady rhythm for the other instruments in the band to play over. Bass lines often involve varying note lengths to create different rhythms and dynamics. This is an important aspect of bass playing to understand and master.
Bass notes are written on a staff and are read from the bottom up like all other music. Each line and space represents a specific note. There are also ledger lines above and below the staff that indicate additional notes.
When reading a bass guitar tab, the first ledger line above the staff is an F (or A in some cases). Below this the second leadger line is C and the third is D. The open string on the 1st fret is E. There are 2 natural notes above the E string – one being an F and the other being G. The E note is played with the first finger on the left hand and the G note is played with the second or third finger on the right hand.
One of the main reasons that bass players learn a lot of chords is to be able to easily switch between them without having to change their fretting hand position. This allows them to play more complex bass lines and riffs. A basic understanding of chord structure will help bassists achieve this.
Using the root notes of a chord as the basis for bass lines is another good way to add more depth to basslines. This method is commonly used in many styles of popular music. It can be difficult to get a good sound when trying to play the root note alone as it may not fit the groove of the song. This is where it is a good idea to use other chords and scales in conjunction with the root note to create a more full sound.
Playing with the length of your bass notes can also add to the texture of a bass line. Shortening your bass notes to a quarter or half note length can make them sound very different and give them more of a funk or groove feel. Similarly, lengthening your bass notes to a long note can create a much more sustained and mellow sound.
In addition to changing the length of your bass notes, varying the pitch can be a great way to create new rhythms. Playing a bass note an octave higher or lower can change the whole feel of the melody and give it a totally different sound. Walking the bass can also add a stepped progression to the chord sequence of a piece of music.
A great way to practice creating basslines is to simply write a few and then try them out. This will force you to come up with complete ideas that can be played. The resulting basslines don’t always have to be perfect, but they should be a definite starting point for your musical journey.
Spaces
Learning bass guitar notes on staff can seem overwhelming at first. However, if you have the right instruction and stick with it, you can learn this new language in relatively no time at all. You should start out by focusing on just two or three of the notes on a single string in one position, and build on this foundation over time.
Rhythm: One of the most important aspects of bass guitar playing is rhythm. The trick is to create a groove that feels right to the listener, and then make subtle variations on this basic rhythm over time. Try shortening some of your notes, or adding an extra beat to others. Also, experiment with different combinations of notes that sound good together, and add in some silence to give your bass lines some character.
Notes: The notes of the bass clef are arranged just like treble clef notes, but at a lower pitch. For example, the middle C on the first ledger line above the bass clef is an F, and the middle E on the first ledger line below the bass clef is an A.
The spaces on the bass clef are also arranged just like treble clef, but at a lower pitch. This means that the spaces above and below the bass clef can be played in either the treble or the bass clef, depending on what key your song is in.
In Bass TAB, a curved arrow with a text or number at the top of it indicates a string bend. If the word ‘full’ appears above the arrow, it means to do a whole-tone bend, and ‘1/2’ indicates a semitone bend. Bass TAB also occasionally shows other forms of bending, such as ‘pb’ (to pre-bend a note before you pick it) or ‘r’ (to release a bend).
A straight arrow with a text or number below it indicates a slide. If the slash slopes downwards like
Extended Techniques: While the basics of bass TAB are relatively straightforward, there is a whole range of advanced techniques that can be applied to bass music as well. These include slash chords, slides and fingering patterns. The most important thing to remember is that these advanced techniques should always be practiced over an existing piece of music, as they can be quite tricky to get right when you’re not used to them.
Once you’ve mastered the basics of reading bass guitar notes on staff, you can move onto more advanced topics. For example, you can try out some chromatic bass lines by copying the first bar of your rhythm into the next two bars and changing just one thing in each of them. Then, when you’ve mastered these, you can move on to longer phrases and even full songs. This is a great way to develop your bass skills over time, and it’s also a good idea to play along with recordings of songs you enjoy so that you can hear how the bass line should sound when you’re done.