Guitar chords to bass

imokyrok

Hi my daughter is joining the school musical and is the only one playing bass. The sheet music only has the guitar chords on it and she doesn't know how to change that into bass. Can anyone suggest a site which converts guitar chords to bass tabs? Not having much luck with google.

Dord

imokyrok wrote: »

Hi my daughter is joining the school musical and is the only one playing bass. The sheet music only has the guitar chords on it and she doesn't know how to change that into bass. Can anyone suggest a site which converts guitar chords to bass tabs? Not having much luck with google.

The easiest thing would be for her to play the root of the chord.

However, if it's a pre-written musical there may be some sheet music for the bass clef floating around online. Can she read music notation?

imokyrok

Dord wrote: »

The easiest thing would be for her to play the root of the chord.

However, if it's a pre-written musical there may be some sheet music for the bass clef floating around online. Can she read music notation?

No she can't read music notation but as far as I know the sheet music has guitar chords. It's for "High School Musical". I've tried googling it together with bass tabs but no joy.

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http://www.guitarhangout.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/bass-guitar-notes.jpg

have a look at this pic, it shows all the notes on a bass fretboard. If the guitarist is playing a C chord, then she would play the 3rd fret in the A string, as that is the note C

This would be the quickest way for her to learn, and the easiest way to translate it across.

Dord

imokyrok wrote: »

No she can't read music notation but as far as I know the sheet music has guitar chords. It's for "High School Musical". I've tried googling it together with bass tabs but no joy.

Ok, then the best thing is for her to play the same note as the chord that the guitar is playing. The picture that Frank linked to should help her if she's not familiar with the notes on the fretboard.

Quillo

You say she's joining a music school ? Surely they will be teaching the students something about reading for their instruments ?

Anyway - this might be of interest:

http://www.talkbass.com/wiki/index.php/Bass_Line_Construction:_Target_Approach

It might be a bit much for someone starting off though.

Johnny Storm

Quillo wrote: »

You say she's joining a music school ? Surely they will be teaching the students something about reading for their instruments ?

Anyway - this might be of interest:

http://www.talkbass.com/wiki/index.php/Bass_Line_Construction:_Target_Approach

It might be a bit much for someone starting off though.

That's what I thought too. But she's joining a school musical not a music school. :pac:

Quillo

Johnny Storm wrote: »

That's what I thought too. But she's joining a school musical not a music school. :pac:

Damn. My (stupid) mistake
Need more coffee....

imokyrok

Thanks for the help. I can always rely on boardsheads for a helping hand. I'll pass along your suggestions.

Dord

Might be a good idea for her to get some lessons after this. If she wants to play in musicals again it would be a great help!

Actually I know of a few bassists on another site I'm on who make a living playing bass in musicals. One of whom just got an endorsement with a well known guitar company.

imokyrok

She's been playing bass for about 2 or 3 years and she tells me that she can read tabs that you would find on ultimate-guitar.com. She was just given the guitar chords and she doesn't know how to change a guitar chord, which isn't a power chord, into a single bass note (whatever all that means). There are no teachers who play bass or guitar that could help her and she is the only bass player participating.

tubedude

Ok well it's fairly simple, you don't need to convert the chord to a bass note, she should just play a note on the bass that is the same as the chord. For an A chord, play an A note. It's that simple....

Dord

imokyrok wrote: »

She's been playing bass for about 2 or 3 years and she tells me that she can read tabs that you would find on ultimate-guitar.com. She was just given the guitar chords and she doesn't know how to change a guitar chord, which isn't a power chord, into a single bass note (whatever all that means). There are no teachers who play bass or guitar that could help her and she is the only bass player participating.

This is the problem with only learning from tabs. I did this intitially and regret it. Even some basic music theory knowledge is better.

Surely, they should have a lyric sheet with Chord names over it at least?

In terms of lessons, there are many bass teachers out there working from music schools or in private lessons.

Rigsby

imokyrok wrote: »

She's been playing bass for about 2 or 3 years

I dont mean to come across as callous , but I would have thought that after this amount of time playing bass, that she would have some idea of what to play over a given chord, (no matter how it's written), even if it's just the root.

I agree with "Dord" that some lessons on basic theory (preferably from a teacher, if not then a book or the net ) would be of great benefit to your daughter.

Malice

It might be off-topic a bit and apologies if so but I found my ear was (and still is) an excellent aid to figuring out what to play over a chord sequence. Even as a bass newbie, I could still tell when something sounded right as distinct from when something sounded wrong. Maybe that's something your daughter could concentrate on? This might be of some help.