Reading & TAB

Four lines: G D A E top to bottom. Numbers are frets. Spacing is a hint, not a clock.

G|------------
D|------------
A|------2-----
E|-0----------|

h hammer · p pull · / slide up · \\ slide down · x ghost · () or <n> harmonic (publisher-dependent) · S/P slap/pop (informal).

Bass clef ledger lines take time. Start by linking open strings to notation names: E1, A1, D2, G2. Then map fretted notes as “open + semitones.”

You do not need fluent sight-reading to build pocket — but naming notes unlocks walking and theory transfer.

Bass is written in bass clef an octave above where it sounds, so the notes sit on the staff instead of far below it. Learn where the four open strings are written and every other note is a step from one of them:

The bass clef's two dots sit either side of the F line, the fourth line up — that F is fret 3 on the D string. Lines from the bottom: G B D F A (Good Boys Do Fine Always); spaces: A C E G (All Cows Eat Grass).

Frets 0 to 4, one finger per fret from fret 1. Every natural note from low E up to B on the G string is here, so this is the box that sight-reading for bass starts in.

Read the naturals first: E F G · A B C · D E F · G A B. Then the sharps and flats are the frets in between.

G|----------------------------0--2--4--
D|-------------------0--2--3-----------
A|----------0--2--3--------------------
E|-0--1--3-----------------------------

Play E to B, naturals Stop

Clap gallop cells and slap grooves before fretting. Wrong pitches with right rhythm still groove; right pitches with wrong rhythm do not.

Every cell below is the same two notes — open E and G on the E string. Only the rhythm changes, and the rhythm is the entire difference between them. Read the counting line, say it out loud, then press Play and check whether what you said matches.

BPM Stop

The TAB columns are evenly spaced on purpose — that is the point of the warning at the top of this page. Two cells can look almost identical in TAB and sound nothing alike. The counting line, not the spacing, is what tells you the rhythm.

Name each note, count the bar out loud, then press Play and check. The TAB, the count and the sound come from one list, as above.

Line 1 — quarter notes, C · G · F · G. Names: C C G G F F G G.

Play line 1 Stop

Line 2 — eighths and a rest. Names: C C C rest E F G G G rest F E. A rest is a beat you count and mute, not a gap where the note happens to fade.

Play line 2 Stop

When TAB shows clustered numbers, decide the cell explicitly: write dah da-da above the bar. Count 1-e-&-a if you prefer 16th language — map the long note to the longer syllable.

• Treating TAB spacing as exact rhythm.
• Ignoring muting marks (x) and playing pitched ghosts.
• Learning only TAB and never naming a single pitch.

1. Read open-string wholes while naming pitches aloud.
2. Add fretted roots; still name them.
3. Clap a written gallop cell, then play it.
4. Transcribe 2 bars of your own playing into TAB + rhythm syllables.

You can explain a line three ways: TAB numbers, pitch names, and rhythm syllables — and they agree.

After improvising 2 bars, freeze and write them in TAB with rhythm syllables above. Reading improves fastest when you encode your own playing.

Move on when all of these are true on a normal day, not your best one:

• You can say where each open string is written on the staff without looking.
• Every note in first position named, naturals first, in under a minute.
• Lines 1 and 2 read, named and counted before you press Play — and you were right.
• Two bars of your own playing written down in TAB, names and rhythm, and they agree.