Do you think note names, or fingerings/patterns?

Dusky Bass

Dusky Bass

May 19, 2024
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#1
Moderators: feel free to move/suggest another thread. Not sure where this would be fit best.

Hi, bass friends. General question for the group: When learning a tune, do you tend to memorize the notes, or fingerings/patterns/shapes? I noticed that if I rely on remembering the fingers, I tend to get too locked in to playing things in the same position over and over and my brain gets stuck in "fret numbers and patterns" mode. To expand a little; if say another musician asked what I'm playing, I don't readily describe it as "oh, it's Bb to Eb then F...", but rather I default to, "err.. I'm playing the 1st fret on the A string, then the 5th fret on the A with my third finger, then the 5th fret right below it on the D string with my fourth finger..." and it just feels so "non-musician-ly" of me. I've always struggled to more quickly grab the note names and describe what's happening in musical terms, e.g. "I'm moving from the V to the VI in the bar before the chorus...".

So, when I attempt to play a tune I've been working on and try moving the phrasing around a bit to a different position, I get so thrown off because I relied on knowing the fingerings/pattern versus knowing the fretboard and notes and what's happening with the chords at a bigger level. It bothers me because I want to be able to float freely around the fretboard and switch up where I play a phrase, but I realize that if I keep on old habits of memorizing fingerings (and fretboard numbers!), I'll likely never get achieve that freedom. 😭 How do I break this habit?
 
#2
As a guitar player it was alway patterns. That came with me to the bass.

Recently, I’m using the circle of fourths to commit to memory every note name on the fingerboards. I’m about 3weeks in and have an okay handle on them. Still need to think about some of them.

As soon as I have them cold I’m going to start working on intervals from the root using the same circle. Once I have that I intent to study chord tones.

My hope is to break free from scales and patterns and understand what is taking place in the songs I’m learning.

FYI I’m using courses from the talking bass website. Excellent instruction there.
 
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#4

Do you think note names, or fingerings/patterns?​


Yes, among other things.

When play I tend to cycle through different mental processes rather than consistently using just one. Much of what I do with head tunes is sort of memorize the song in a way that allows me to aurally anticipate what comes next. It's a form of visualization, like a golfer imagining a shot before taking it.

Some songs have more challenging chord changes that can fool me into hearing the wrong bass note. When this happens in pop tunes I may think of note names or chords. It happens much more frequently with jazz standards, and I find them much harder to memorize than the typical pop cover.

Many of the people I have know who are good at playing jazz standards from memory use some sort of numbering system like, or similar to Nashville Numbers. Unfortunately, I never learned to think in numbers :bag:; so I tend to be tied to lead sheets for jazz.
 
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#5
Dusky Bass said:
When learning a tune, do you tend to memorize the notes, or fingerings/patterns/shapes?
Click to expand...
I think there is a useful distinction between working out and crystallizing what to play and deciding how to play it. In terms of the what, I always think in notes/chords/intervals and I always write out a score, even for the most simple of things. Fingerings/patterns/shapes come later* for deciding/working out how best to play something rather than learning/memorizing/recalling how it goes.

* IME trying to work out what to play and memorise how to play it at the same time takes longer and leads to less effective long-term recall which means more mistakes in performance.
 
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#6
I always remember chord progressions as numbers, I think they are known here as Nashville numbers.
Those numbers are easy to translate to finger or fretboard paterns when you know song key (tonality). Best thing with this approach is that key can change - each singer will prefere theire own and ask for change on the fly. Also, progressions are often same or very similar between songs from same genre or time period.
But I have noticed that academicaly educated musicians I play with, think in notes as a base. They easily modulate and never make dumb mistakes. That's good foundational knowledge.
 
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#10
A mixture of note names (mostly root notes) and patterns (riffs, scales, chord notes, chord progressions). When I’m playing from a chord chart, it’s note names for the roots and fretboard patterns for other chord notes and passing notes. The better I know a song, the more I think in patterns, to the point where I cannot even recall most of the chord names without thinking of where I put my fingers.
 
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#13
I think of chord numbers and note degrees. Nashville some call it. Classical music's been doing it a bit longer. I do use patterns a lot, so the fingers can move without overthinking, but that's in the context of chordal framework.

I didn't know the actual notes on the bass when I started playing, so I tend to think of every tune as being in the key of C. So weirdly if I'm playing 12 bar blues in G, I'm picturing chord four as F not C. Or a minor 6th is always A flat to me. Unless I actively think about the fret board, like if calling out the chord name.

Anyhoo, however you get there, getting there is the point! :)
 
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#14
I've shifted to using the Nashville Number system and am getting proficient at knowing the intervals. For example, from a 1 chord to a 6 chord I know where all three target six notes are relative to the one without thinking. Same going from a 6 chord to a 4 chord, I know where all the 4's are relative to the 6 without thinking. That helps move around the fretboard easy regardless of key. As far as motion in the bass line from current chord to target chord, I use a combination of pentatonic scale (major or minor, both involve memorized box shapes) or the chord tones.
 
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#17
if I need to get a tune under my fingers quickly for an upcoming gig. Its patterns/ location all the way. Once the tune is in my head, then I start experimenting with different positions based on note “names” . I can then play it in different keys, and use different positions, strings etc. Also if I have to write a chart, then it’s of course the notes im following, not a pattern. I.e. I know where my hand has to be for say… Bbmin, etc.
 
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#18
I think in terms of both names and numbers/degrees for the chords but then the arpeggios just come out of my fingers on their own.
Thinking in straight number degrees gets cumbersome for secondary dominants, like “the 5th of the 3rd”.
Buts its still always best to quickly analyze any song by degrees when I first look at learning a new song, I, V/vi, V/ii, etc… but when Im playing, Im thinking “CM7, E7, A7”
The individual notes of the chords just happen from muscle memory.
 
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