Jayme Lewis began playing music at a very young age; his mother began teaching him piano at the age of four and he quickly began to show both talent and love for music. Jayme’s father taught him how to play bass at the age of seven and he has pursued the instrument ever since. He has been privileged to have studied bass with such virtuosos as Victor Wooten, Steve Bailey, Anthony Wellington, Mike Pope, Adam Nitti, Gerald Veasley, Oteil Burbridge, Chuck Rainey, Oscar Mesa and Bunny Brunel. Jayme holds both an Associates Degree in Music from Moorpark College and a Bachelor’s Degree in Music from California State University of Northridge. Jayme spends the majority of his time touring with the Jayme Lewis band, teaching bass online at www.labasslix.com, and producing artists out of his recording studio, Second Story Studios. Visit Jayme on the web at www.jaymelewis.com
6
Sight Reading for the Electric Bass: Book 1
Notes on the Staff Musical notation is written on a music staff, and appears as five parallel lines
stacked on top of each other. A bass player reads from the bass clef ( ? ), and each note ? is placed in one of two places: either on a line or on a space.
Solo Bass
The Line Notes
?
w E
? Solo Bass
w
w
G
B
?
w
w
w
w
D
F
A
C
w
w
w
w
Linewnotes havewa staff-linewgoing directly through the middle of the note head. F how theyAskip from line C E they move G up the staff. B Notice to line as
?
w E
w F
w
w
w
w
w
w
w
G
A
B
C
D
E
F
The Space Notes
?
w
w
#
w
w
w
w
w
w
G
A
B
C
D
w
w# # #
w
w ##
D
F
A C E G B D ? Solo Bass w w w# # w w w ? ### w ## wspacewbetween w w Space notes can be found in the two lines on the staff. Notice how w w w w F G A space B asCthey move D Eup. F they space to w G wA B C D ? Eskip from w w ? #w# # # ## # # # w # ### # # ## # # # # # F # E D C You will need to Gknow theseB while working in this book, so getAvery comfortable w ? them now. Don’t worry,w it’s not aswhard as youw think; If I warrange them all with ? #w# # # #on onewstaff you’ll see that they actually move in alphabetical order. n n n n# #n# # together ## n nb F A C E G B D w w w w w w ? w w w # ? #bw# # # w w w#b#b # # w #b#b # # #b#b# b# # b## b # # E
F
? ? #b b# #b# # b ##
G
A
#
B
C
D
E
##
F
G
A
B
###
C
D
n n nbn b n b n bnbb
7
Notes on Bass Guitar Here are two diagrams of some of the notes found on your bass guitar neck. These will be covered in more detail in the individual lessons in this book, but this page will serve as a master reference. Natural Notes & Sharps
G D A E
1
G#
2
D#
A
A#
B
F
E F#
A# 3
F
C G
4
5
B
F#
C
C#
G
G#
A
D
6
C#
7
G#
D
D#
E
A#
A B
D# 8
9
10
A#
E
F
B
C
C#
G
9
10
E
F
B
C
F
C
F#
D
F# 11
12
C#
G
G
G#
D
D
D#
A
A
E
E
11
12
Natural Notes and Flats 1
G D A E
2
Ab
A
Bb
B
Eb F
E Gb
3
Bb F
C G
4
5
B
C
Gb
G
Ab
A
Db
D
6
7
Db
D
Eb
E
Ab
Bb
#
A B
8
Eb
Bb F
C
Notice that some frets are represented by a flat symbol
Gb Db
G D
Gb Db Ab Eb
G
G
D
D
A
A
E
E
b and some are
represented by a sharp symbol . This is because some notes have two different names. Flats and sharps are commonly referred to as accidentals. Notes without the accidentals are called natural notes.
