Scales for (upright) bass

September 6, 2007 2:47 PM

I can't seem to find any good printable scales online for the upright bass.

I've played the upright bass for about 7 years now, but it's always been in school bands. Thus, I never really learned my scales -- I just played what was written on the sheet music. Now I'm taking lessons and trying to learn electric bass, and the book that I bought and my instructor keep telling me "Practice your scales!"

Since I've always read sheet music, I find it almost impossible (and definitely unproductive) to practice scales by thinking them out in my head. For example, it doesn't work when I think to myself, "You're playing a C minor scale, so flattening the 3rd and 7th means flattening the.......... E... and the........ B."

Since I've always looked at sheet music, I would LOVE to find an online repository of sheet music scales I could print out. Obviously, I need them in the bass clef. I would need the major, minor, and diminished scales for A through G. I would also like any fun scales that are the basis for jazz or bass lines, but what I really need to focus on now are the Big Three listed above. The main 2 octaves usually played on the bass (open E through high D) are all I really need also, but the next octave up would be cool too.

(I found this available for download, but I hate the idea of paying $9 for something that someone, somewhere has probably put out for free.)

Also, some blank sheet music would be cool too. Low priority though.

Thanks so much!

posted by dondiego87 to Computers & Internet (14 answers total)

I don't play bass, but I do play guitar. Can I make a few observations?

* Learning scales in one key on a bass is the same as learning them in all the keys, with the exception that some scale patterns won't work in all positions (you fall off the bottom or the top of the neck)

* Each scale has lots of ways to play it, depending on whether you want to stay within a "box" on the next (like a 4-5 fret range), whether you want to play 3 notes per string, etc, etc. For guitar I know scales starting on each note of the scale, within a box. So for Cmaj, I know Cmaj starting on C, Cmaj starting on D, Cmaj starting o E, etc.
I got most of these from The Guitar Grimoire which is basically just a big book of scales, but 90% of the information in it is redundant since they show scale patterns for each key, even though they're really identical but moved up or down a few frets.

* So, for major scales, why not just work them out for C (no sharps or flats - C D E F G A B), for minor scales work them out for A (no sharps or flats for harmonic minor A B C D E F G)?

* I have some blank sheet music in PDF form at home that I made. Making your own is simple or I'm sure you can find some with an internet search. I just used a drawing program, drew 6 parallel lines, copied and pasted and I was done.
posted by RustyBrooks at 2:56 PM on September 6, 2007

P.S. there is tons of stuff on the web for free, you just have to search for it. A few seconds of looking found this

http://www.studybass.com/lessons/bass-scales/

which looks like it has some lessons and excercises for major scales.
posted by RustyBrooks at 3:00 PM on September 6, 2007

To pretty much second what RustyBrooks said, once you learn a scale in one position, you know it in any position. Just move it up and down. What you want to focus on is the shapes. When you learn a scale, learn how to play it in every position you can. So, if you have that C Major Scale down, play it there. Then move it up a fret and play the same shape.

To get the notes down, what might be helpful is to say the notes as you play them. This will help you know where all the notes are on your fretboard, too, which is a very useful skill (one you may already have, though).

But yes, scale shapes. Know them. Love them.
posted by synecdoche at 3:05 PM on September 6, 2007

It'll do you more good to write them out for yourself.
posted by ludwig_van at 3:36 PM on September 6, 2007

And I disagree with this:

Just move it up and down. What you want to focus on is the shapes.

Focusing on shapes makes you a guitar player. Knowing the scales makes you a musician.
posted by ludwig_van at 3:36 PM on September 6, 2007

Response by poster: Poster here. I echo ludwig_van -- focusing on shapes makes no sense to me. I don't know if you're aware, but the double bass (which is what I'm focusing on; I guess I didn't make that clear enough in the question) has no frets. There is no fretboard, just a neck. Although the advice given so far could probably be useful for bass guitar (shapes, just moving up & down the fretboard, etc.), it's very much NOT useful for the double bass.
posted by dondiego87 at 5:30 PM on September 6, 2007

Response by poster: Oh, and most of the stuff I found on the web was a) for bass guitar, b) not what I was looking for, c) incomplete or d) just crap.
posted by dondiego87 at 5:32 PM on September 6, 2007

Indeed. But really, write out the scales for yourself and then keep them for reference until you don't need to look at them anymore. If you really don't want to do that I could write them out for you, but it's like that whole teach a man to fish thing. Or if you don't know how to write them I can explain/provide you with links, but it seems from your question that you already know about scale construction but just aren't fluent with it (a minor scale also has a flatted 6th though).
posted by ludwig_van at 5:37 PM on September 6, 2007

Focusing on shapes makes you a guitar player. Knowing the scales makes you a musician.

And then forgetting the scales makes you... a better musician.

I second figuring out your own scales, but if you must have sheet music: Dr. Morton. (not free, and not printable off of the internet)
posted by nonmyopicdave at 5:37 PM on September 6, 2007

And if you're playing any kind of jazz, you'll really want to be able to come up with stuff like the third and the seventh in C minor without any hesitation anyway.
posted by ludwig_van at 5:38 PM on September 6, 2007

Honestly I think of scales and chord shapes mostly as "here's the 1st" and "here's the 5th" and "here's the 6th" etc. I can name the notes if I need to but mostly I don't. If I'm trying to make a particular sound it's more important to know where the note is relative to the key I'm in than the actual note, because I'm not playing a horn or piano or something.

But yeah, you should write them out. I guess make some blank sheet music. I can play all of my scales in open position if I have to but I don't like it. I don't know crap about double bass though.
posted by RustyBrooks at 10:21 PM on September 6, 2007

This is something that your instructor should definitely be able to give you or you're not getting your money's worth. Most of them have piles and piles of scale sheets, chord charts, and fingering information laying around, and if your instructor can't dig some up for you between lessons he or she isn't doing a very good job.

And don't be so quick to discredit the bass guitar scale shapes that you come across online--while the tab based ones are going to be useless, the shapes *are* going to apply in a lot of situations (especially if you're going to be playing *any* sort of jazz). They definitely apply across to fretless bass guitar--all you have to really worry about is the situations you'll need to switch hand positions, and that's something that your instructor should be showing you. Yes, it important to know the theory behind the scales and the actual notes you're playing, but a certain amount of automaticity with basic scales shapes is invaluable on basically any string instrument.

And finding sheet music for free online is pretty damn tough: I've looked for it every time I've picked up a new instrument, and the only thing I've ever had repeated success with is public domain arrangements for classical piano. Most of the people who are willing to do even simple scale transcriptions are going to charge for it.
posted by Benjy at 11:02 PM on September 6, 2007

Response by poster: @ludig_van and @RustyBrooks
OK, thanks for the advice. I'll just write them out myself; that makes sense anyway, since writing does help cement things into one's memory. I am hoping to eventually get them into my MUSCLE memory, knowing shapes and having an instinctive feels for things and such, but for now I think I'm going to have to sheet music it.

@Benjy:
Luckily, I'm getting free weekly bass lessons from the bass professor at my university.
posted by dondiego87 at 5:34 AM on September 7, 2007

I forgot to mention it last night, but if you haven't been to talkbass.com they have excellent forums for both electric and upright.
posted by Benjy at 9:52 AM on September 7, 2007