Learning to play from sheet?

Hertz32

 i can play sheet music on flute, just not guitar or bass. Does anyone know where I should start to be able to transfer this ability? 

frankus

There are a few books that teech fretboard familliarity - Leon White's Site to Sound was recommended to me also the MIT sight reading book... worke well while I had the time to practice.

Phil_aka_Pip

So you can read, are you familiar with the layout of the fingerboard? If so please ignore the next info, but if not:

1. Natural notes are all 2 frets (2 semitones 1 tone) apart from each other except for the pairs BC EF which are 1 fret (1 semitone) apart.
2. The open strings are from 6 to 1 EADGBE (Elephants And Donkeys Grow Big Ears- so silly you won't forget it)
3. The note in between X and Y where XY != BC or EF is X# or Yb; in terms of fret location B#=C, Cb=B, E#=F, Fb=E.
4. using this information you can make a map of the entire fingerboard. Don't think that looking at a diagram in a book is as good as making your own picture with the names of each note on each fret.

The next thing to note is that guitar music is written an octave higher than it sounds, mainly for classical guitarists to keep their tadpoles on the stave. So what sounds as middle C (1st fret on the B string) is written in the 3rd space on the stave, the first leger line below the stave represents the C on fret 3 of the A string or fret 8 of the low E string.

After that, your knowledge of scale and arpeggio shapes should help you find your way around.

Bass music is written in bass clef, which locates F on the 4th line. As a flautist you may not be so familiar with it. Middle C is the first leger line above the stave. I think the electric bass sounds one octave lower than the music is written.

Hope this helps, sorry if I insulted your intelligence. 

DulcetJones

What Phil_aka_Pip said.  Another plus for this is that when you are forced to find the notes this way you will remember them faster and better. 

Phil_aka_Pip

Remember Sesame Street? "Today's letter is 'T'" ?

Well, try it on your guitar. Play all the Gs - any octave - any position including open strings, from low positions through to high positions. Tomorrow, do C# (so that you're not relying on remembering where the Gs were in order to do G# 1 fret higher). Do it with a metronome so you have to find the next note on the beat. EG play at 90bpm G on the low Estring fret3, octave up on the D string fret 5, open G same pitch, G on the high Estring fret 3, then up to the 5th position so you can get Dstring fret 5, B string fret 8, then move up again ... etc. Teaches you octave shapes for your Wes Montgomery stuff as well ... makes you find these things quick too.

Hertz32

Cheers Phil! 
I'm making pleasingly fast progress! built up a Cmaj scale just using your advice and I'm now focusing on playing that everywhere on the neck, saying the notes out loud as I go  

fretmeister

I've never really bothered with learning standard notation for the bass even though I've done it for piano and sax in the distant past.

but I've joined my daughter's school orchestra so I've been thrown in the deep end with reading bass clef. The music is often re-arranged into easy keys for the kids so I can't just download the original from iTunes and have a quick run through by ear when I get there!

I found a book called "Simplified Sight Reading for Bass" which seems to be helping. It starts from the very basics and begins with rhythm reading before getting to the notes themselves. I found my copy on ebay for about a quid (with a CD too!) so it might be worth having a look.

It's this one - but check ebay first!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Simplified-Sight-Reading-Bass-Josquin-Pres/dp/0793565189

Phil_aka_Pip

@Hertz32 good one! You may notice that deriving your scale/arpeggio patterns from first principles (a) saves you buying a book of them (b) gives you a more though understanding of why they are what they are. If you play rock solos you may find the strictly 3-notes-per-string scale patterns will be more useful. Otherwise the scale patterns that the classical players use which may have 2 or 3 notes per string but keep you "in position" (ie not requiring a position shift to execute the pattern from bottom to top) may be more useful.

Best of luck!  

TimBloomer

For me Reading Studies For Guitar by William Leavit was by far the most useful book i came across when learning to read the dots. That and lots and lots of patience.