9
ULTRABASS
BASS GUITAR PACK
NOTATION
Fingering diagrams
Fingering diagrams show you which notes to play and which strings to pick. The following illustration shows you exactly how the
fingering diagram corresponds to the fingerboard on your bass.
Tablature
There are various ways to write down music, such as standard notation, which requires a certain amount of practice before you
know where the notes as they are written are to be found on the fingerboard. Another problem presented by standard notation in
connection with playing string instruments is that the same note can be played in different positions and on different strings.
Standard notation, however, does not specify where the note should actually be played. This has to be marked separately.
In this book we will be using a diagrammatic form of notation known as tablature in the following exercises (apart from the rhythm
exercises in the chapter titled RHYTHM). The tablature for the bass guitar consists of four lines, with the bottom line representing
the E string and the lines above it representing the A, D and G strings. As in a fingering diagram, the tablature shows a view of the
fingerboard.
In order to provide a time sequence, the tablature is divided into measuresas in standard notation. The notes within the measures
are shown by means of numbers which are written on the strings to be played. The numbers signify the fret at which the
corresponding string is to be played. The length of the individual notes is also indicated, as it is in standard notation (see Ch. Note
values).
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