Chapter 2

Explanation of the Notation Used in This Book

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This book is designed to teach bass to those with no music-reading experience whatsoever. However, some form of notation is necessary in order to get across the concepts taught. Therefore, this book makes use of fretboard diagrams and a modified form of tablature, both of which are explained here.

Scale/Interval Diagrams

In Chapter 1, we briefly looked at the fretboard diagram; now let’s take a closer look. These diagrams will be used to display scales, notes, intervals, and arpeggios (all of which will be discussed in subsequent chapters). When we’re dealing with open strings or notes within the first few frets, the nut will be included in the fretboard diagram. This diagram is telling you to play the note at the third fret of string 4:

Open strings are indicated by a circle to the left of the nut. This diagram is telling you to play string 3 open (unfretted):

These diagrams are most often used to display a set of notes, such as an interval (two notes), a scale, or an arpeggio (which we’ll cover later). In these instances, one note will usually be the root—the note from which the scale or arpeggio gets its name—and will be indicated by an open circle on the fretboard or, as an open string, a circle within a circle.

In the diagram below, the E notes (open fourth string and fret 2 of the second string) are the root notes. These two notes are the same, only the one on string 2 is one octave higher than the open fourth string.

In this diagram, the G note at fret 3, string 4 is the root:

Eventually, we’ll use diagrams that cover other areas of the neck, away from the nut. When that happens, a fret marker along the bottom will tell you where you are. In the following diagram, the fret marker tells us that the first fret of the diagram is fret 7. Therefore, the note at fret 8 of string 4 (which is the note C) is the root.

You’ll notice that your bass has fret inlays along the fretboard to help you keep track of where you are. Most often, these will appear at frets 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 15, 17, and 19 (maybe more, depending on your bass). The marker at fret 12 is often different than the rest (a double dot, for instance), as the notes at that fret are exactly one octave higher than the open strings.

These fret markers normally appear along the upper edge of the fretboard, too, which helps make them visible even when you have your bass in playing position.

Tablature

Tablature, or “tab,” is a notation system based on the physical properties of the instrument, as opposed to the musical pitches. The system has been around for almost a millennium, with its first documented use dating back to the 1300s. With regard to stringed instruments, such as the bass and guitar, tablature uses a set of horizontal lines to represent the strings. Bass tab has four horizontal lines—one for each string.

Open strings are indicated with a “0” written on the lines. This example tells you to play the open E string and then the open D string:

Other numbers indicate the exact fret location along the string. In this example, you’d play the third fret of string 4 and then the second fret of string 3:

Although it doesn’t often happen on bass (as opposed to guitar, for example), if you see two (or more) numbers stacked vertically, you are to play them simultaneously. This example tells you to play the seventh fret of string 3 and the sixth fret of string 2 at the same time:

We normally play one note at a time on the bass; therefore, the tab will usually consist of a long string of individual numbers.

This is an easy system to read with regard to what notes to play and on what strings. The one detail it lacks is the rhythm. In other words, you can see what notes to play, but when do you play them? We have that covered, too. Read on!

Rhythm Notation

Rhythm makes up one half of standard notation. Whereas the pitches are represented vertically by notes on the staff, the rhythm is indicated by different noteheads and the stems attached to them. As mentioned, we’re not going to use standard notation in this book; instead, we’ll use tablature. But we’re going to add to the tab by incorporating the rhythm element of standard notation. This notation is sometimes referred to as rhythm tab or tab rhythm notation and has become quite popular in the internet world of today. Rhythm tab, just like standard notation, is read from left to right. The music is divided into measures, which are indicated by vertical lines, called bar lines, drawn through the staff.

Just as with standard notation, each piece of music begins with a time signature, which appears right after the word “TAB” on the first staff of the example. A time signature consists of two stacked numbers. The top number tells you how many beats each measure contains, and the bottom number tells you what type of note is counted as one beat. The most common time signature is 4/4, which is also sometimes denoted by a “C,” which stands for “common.”

We use different noteheads and stems attached to the tab numbers to indicate different rhythms. The example below demonstrates different rhythmic values in a 4/4 time signature.

Notice that eighth notes look like quarter notes, but each one has a flag at the end of its stem. Normally, when several eighth notes appear in a row, the stems are connected with a beam. Also note in the following example that the direction of the stem depends on what string the note is on.

Of course, music does not only consist of notes; it also consists of silences—places where you don’t play anything. This is called a rest, and we have different symbols for different rest rhythms, as well.

Unlike notes, though, there is only one kind of eighth rest. You normally won’t see two or more eighth rests in a row; instead, you would use a larger-value rest.

So, instead of this:	You’d see this:

Check out the following examples to see some more rhythmic notation conventions. These aren’t meant for you to play, obviously (although you will be able to by the time you finish this book!), but you’ll absorb some basic concepts just by looking at them. You can try counting them, though!